Richard Epps/Memphis, TN

We are researching my husband's family and his grandmother was named Bertha Beatrice Epps b May 3, 1880. She listed her father as Richard Epps of Memphis, TN on her SS application. She married Thomas Leonard Tate, he died in 1906 leaving her with two sons Virgil and Jesse, she placed them in a Catholic orphanage and married a Larry Smith. She may have married someone else inbetween Tate and Smith. Any help on her parents will be appreciated.
Sharon poweltat@quixnet.net