Putting It All Together: Two Jesse Caseys

Photo by Aaron Chavez on Upsplash

 

by Nancy Gilbride Casey

If you have not already read the first three posts in this series, catch up here:

• Two Jesse Caseys: Father & Son?
• Do Lawsuits and Census Connect Two Jesse Caseys?
• Two Jesse Caseys and their FAN Club 

Note: In these posts, Jesse Casey refers to the man b. about 1768, and Jesse Casey Junr. refers to the man b. about 1798, who was later known as Jesse E. Casey or J.E. Casey, and lived in Roane/Morgan, Tennessee and later Arkansas. He is my husband's 4x great grandfather.
 

In my last post, I examined how various friends, associates, and neighbors of Jesse Casey of Georgia, identified him as the same man who migrated to Roane County, Tennessee in the early 1800s. I utilized this same technique to determine if this man was related to Jesse Casey Junr.—born about 1798 in Georgia, who also lived in Roane County, Tennessee, in the early 1800s.

 

What did I learn? 

 

Associates Link Jesse Casey to Jesse Casey Junr.

As seen in the previous post, court and land records—and the friends, associates and neighbors named in them— provide important linkages between Jesse Casey and Jesse Casey Junr. in Roane County, Tennessee, which serve to solidify a close relationship between the men. The two most significant associates to link the two Casey men are John Thomas and Hartwell Hart.

Online trees indicate that Hartwell Hart was the grandfather of Martha "Patsey" Coe, the wife of Jesse Casey Junr.² In addition, land records indicate that Hart’s land adjoined Jesse Casey’s Roane property.³ If Hart was Martha “Patsey” Coe’s grandfather, and also Jesse Casey’s neighbor, then it is quite probable that Jesse Casey Junr. met his future wife through his father’s close association with Hart.

The other associate, John Thomas, served as bondman for Jesse Casey, Junr.'s 1817 marriage to Patsey Coe in Roane County.⁴ Bondmen for marriage licenses assured that the groom was able to be legally married, was not already married, under age, or ineligible due to a close relationship to the bride. This assurance was given in the form of a certain amount of money—or bond; in the case of Jesse Casey Junr., the bond was a not insubstantial $1,250. The bondsman was usually a friend or relative; if the groom defaulted, the bondsman would have to pay any legal damages.⁵

 

Marriage bond of Jesse Casey and Patsey Coe.

Indeed, John Thomas was related to Jesse Casey Junr. by marriage. In 1814, he married Barbara Casey in Roane County.⁶ Barbara was Jesse Casey Junr.’s first cousin, the daughter of Anthony Casey. Thomas’s signature, shown in his own marriage bond, is identical to the one on Jesse Casey, Junr.’s bond:

 

Marriage bond of John Thomas and Barbara Casey.

Land records hold several clues to relationships: Not only are sworn chain carriers of significance, but also the proximity of landowners’ properties to each other. In Roane County, Jesse Casey was considered a pioneer of the area around Crab Orchard Creek. So much was he associated with the place, that many land documents state that Crab Orchard Creek was also known as “Casey’s Creek.”

 

Detail of Roane County map showing Crab Orchard (or Casey’s) Creek, a tributary of the Emery River.⁷

 

Several land transactions place both John Thomas and Hartwell Hart in the vicinity of Casey’s Creek (or Crab Orchard Creek). They also show a close association between Casey, Thomas and Hart by being sworn chain carriers for each other:

• In 1812, Hartwell Hart was a sworn chain carrier for Jesse Casey’s 104-⅔ acre plot on Crab Orchard Creek.⁸
• In 1814, Jesse Casey was a sworn chain carrier for Hart’s 50 acres on “Casey’s Creek.”⁹
• In 1815, land surveyed for Hartwell and Archibald Hart was located, “...about two miles above and on the same creek where Jesse Casey lives.”¹⁰
• An 1816 survey in Roane County for Hartwell Hart indicated that this 16-acre parcel was "...on the mountain on Caseys Creek...joining to Caseys land."¹¹
• Hart’s 10-acre plot surveyed in 1816 was located on “...the mountain on both sides of Caseys Creek.”¹²
• John Thomas' land parcel, "...on the waters of Crab Orchard Creek," was surveyed in 1817 by sworn chain carriers Jesse Casey and Henry Hart.¹³
• In 1827, Jesse Casey was a sworn chain carrier for a survey of Thomas’ land located "Beginning at a White Oak near Jesse Casey line of a fifty-acre survey..."¹⁴ In this case, the sworn chain carrier was likely Jesse Casey Junr., since Thomas had been his bondsman.

In addition, both John Thomas and Hartwell Hart were also witnesses in lawsuits involving Jesse Casey:

• John Thomas was a witness in an 1815 Roane lawsuit State vs. Jesse Casey.¹⁵
• In 1815, Hartwell Hart was a witness in the Roane County lawsuit B. Hembree vs. J. Casey.¹⁶

Two Jesse Caseys in One Record

The most crucial piece of direct evidence supporting a possible familial relationship between Jesse Casey and Jesse Casey Junr., is found in a land survey conducted in 1821 in Morgan County, Tennessee.¹⁷

In the survey, 6 acres of land entered by Jesse Casey was surveyed:

Jesse Casey ~ Filed Sept. 23rd 1822 <<Scale 40 po pr Inch ~

No 2037

Filed 22 September 1822 in pursuance of an entry made by Jesse Casey, of no. 3501. Dated

the 30 Sept. 1820. Founded on part of a Certificate

No. 19. Issued by the Register of East Tennessee to John McClelland

for 30 acres of land. I have surveyed for the Said Jesse Casey, Six

acres of land in Said county on Cabbin Creek, a water of Clifty Creek.

Beginning on a white oak & maple. There North forty poles to two.

Hickorys. East twenty four poles to a white oak. There South forty poles to

a Dogwood on the hill side. Then West Twenty four poles to the Beginning.

William Snow } Surveyed August the 31st 1821 ~

Jesse Casey, } S.C.C. Benj. C. White, D.C. ~







According to Tennessee law, land surveyors hired chain carriers, who were to be paid by the land enterer.¹⁸ Therefore, if land enterers did not survey their own property, and sworn chain carriers were generally family members, then Jesse Casey, S.C.C. was very likely Jesse Casey Junr.—and the son of Jesse Casey, land entrant. If born about 1798, Jesse Casey Junr. aged perhaps 23 years old—was old enough to swear an oath to carry chains for his father’s survey.¹⁹

 

One More Family Connection

Jesse Casey and Jesse Casey Junr. are also connected through Anthony Casey. Not only was Anthony Casey the bondsman for his daughter Barbara’s marriage license in 1814, he was also a bondsman for Jesse Casey Junr.’s suit against Benjamin and Joel Embree in Roane court in 1822.²⁰

1814 marriage bond signature:

1822 lawsuit bond signature:

 

In this case, Jesse Casey Junr. must have been the plaintiff. He signed by his mark, as he did on his 1817 marriage bond. 

1817 marriage bond signature by mark:

 

1822 lawsuit bond signature by mark:

 

This contrasts markedly with Jesse Casey's signatures on court documents signed in 1811, 1815, and 1816, prior to the 1822 case noted above:

State v. J. Casey, 1815²¹

State v. Casey, 1816²²

Jesse Casey v. Benjamin Hembree, 1816²³

While Jesse Casey Junr.—by then known as Jesse E. Casey—continued to live in Morgan County through at least 1830, Jesse Casey is not found then in either Morgan or Roane County. He probably died sometime before the 1830 census. Censuses of 1810 and 1820 for Roane were lost; Morgan County was formed in 1817, and their first census of 1820 was also lost.

 

Conclusion

It is clear from the evidence that Jesse Casey and Jesse Casey Junr. are almost certainly father and son. An analysis of court and land documents, and the men’s friends, associates, and neighbors, show that Jesse Casey moved from Georgia to Tennessee in the early 1800s. His associates Robert Allison and William Turner connect him to both Franklin and Oglethorpe, Georgia, and Roane, Tennessee. The three men appear in records of both places. Allison was likely an in-law to Jesse Casey via his son Ambler’s marriage to Allison’s daughter Polly.

Jesse Casey’s son Jesse Casey Junr. was born in Georgia prior to his family’s migration to Roane, Tennessee. Through a close association between Jesse Casey and Hartwell Hart, Jesse Casey Junr. met his future bride Martha Patsey Coe, Hart’s granddaughter. Jesse Casey Junr.’s marriage bondsman John Thomas was married to his first cousin Barbara Casey. His uncle Anthony Casey, Barbara’s father, served as his bondsman in a Roane lawsuit. Jesse Casey Junr. assisted his father as a sworn chain carrier for an 1821 land survey.

Jesse Casey and Jesse Casey Junr.’s relationship is illuminated by interweaving their connections with kith and kin, shown below:

 

 

Applying the FAN club methodology to examine a potential relationship proved invaluable to studying the connection of Jesse Casey to Jesse Casey Junr. The men's associates were revealed by a thorough review of court and tax records, land surveys, tax records, and marriage bonds, while laws and practices of the time provided needed context to assemble the puzzle pieces.

Until next time...

 

NOTES

¹ Morgan County, Tennessee, Register of Deeds, p. 198, Jesse Casey, Entry 1213, 75 acres on Emery River, 19 April 1830; digital image, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS5Q-MS9S-B : accessed 24 May 2022); citing Entry Takers Book, Vol. C, page 121, entry 1213, Jesse Casey, Morgan County Courthouse, Wartburg; FHL film 008264362, image 278.

 

² Family Tree, profile for Martha Coe LHTS-QLM, tree view; FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/tree/pedigree/landscape/LHTS-QLM : accessed 16 June 2022).

 

³ Roane County, Tennessee, Survey Book, Vol. B-1, Jan 1814-June 1823, p. 405 , No. 1935, Hartwell Hart survey for 16 acres "on the mountain on Casey's Creek," and "Joining to Casey's land," 10 August 1816; digital images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QHV-F3CN-Z9NJ-P?i=700&cat=369408 : accessed 16 May 2022); citing Tennessee State Library & Archives, Nashville; FHL 008661749, image 701.

 

⁴ Roane County, Tennessee, Loose Marriage Bonds & Licenses, unnumbered page, bond of Jesse Casey, Junr. and Patsey Coe, 4 April 1817; database with images, "Tennessee, Marriage Records, 1780-2002," Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/1169/images/VRMUSATN1780_074680-00116  : accessed 15 May 2022), image 117; citing Tennessee State Library and Archives, Roane County Project Roll A, Nashville. “Patsey” was a common nickname for the given name Martha.

 

⁵ Tennessee Law The Early Days, “Banns, Marriage Bonds and Licenses, and Bastardy Bonds,” TNGenNet (https://www.tngenweb.org/law/bond.htm : accessed 16 June 2022).

 

⁶ Roane County Clerk, Tennessee, Loose Marriage Bonds and Licenses, December 1801-December 1818, bond of John Thomas and Barbara Casey, 1 December 1814; database and images, "Tennessee, Marriage Records, 1780-2002," Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/6810258:1169 : accessed 19 May 2022), image 90; citing Tennessee State Library & Archives, Nashville.

 

⁷ Fred Moore, "Roane County Tennessee 1809-1817", Tax Lists of Roane County, Tennessee, 1814-1821 (Roane County Records Commission : nl, 1969), unnumbered page; digital images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/viewer/282423/ : accessed 17 May 2022).

 

⁸ Ibid, p. 66,, No. 967, 12 July 1814, Jesse Casey, 104-2/3 acres on Crab Orchard Creek; digital images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QHV-F3CN-Z9NJ-2  : accessed 11 May 2022); citing Tennessee State Library & Archives, Nashville; FHL 008661749, image 532.

 

⁹  Roane County, Tennessee, Survey Book, Vol. B-1, Jan 1814-June 1823, p. 125, No. 1103, 4 April 1814, Hartwell Hart survey for 50 acres on "Casey's Creek.”

 

¹⁰ Ibid, p. 139, No. 1139, 10 April 1815, Hartwell & Archibald Hart survey for 40 acres on on Turkey Creek/Emerys River "about two miles above and on the same creek where Jesse Casey lives.”

 

¹¹ Ibid, p. 405, No. 1935, Hartwell Hart survey for 16 acres "on the mountain on Casey's Creek," 10 August 1816.

 

¹² Ibid, p. 338, No. 1743, 14 September 1816, Hartwell Hart survey for 10 acres on "the mountain on both sides of Caseys Creek.”

 

¹³  Ibid, p. 290 , No. 1712, John Thomas survey for 48 acres "...on the waters of Crab Orchard Creek," 2 September 1817; digital images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QHV-F3CN-Z9FR-P  : accessed 15 June 2022); citing Tennessee State Library & Archives, Nashville; FHL 008661749, image 663.

 

¹⁴ Morgan County, Tennessee, Survey Book, Vol. B, October 1827-Feb. 1832, p. 14, 31 August 1827, No. 544, John Thomas survey for 100 acres "...Beginning at a White Oak near Jesse Casey survey of 50 acres"; digital images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS5Q-9SNJ-D  : accessed 17 May 2022); citing Tennessee State Library & Archives, Nashville; FHL 008264364, image 328. 

 

¹⁵ Roane County, Tennessee, County Court Minute Books and Case Files, 1801-1980, 287, State vs. Jesse Casey, 1815; Roane County Archives, Kingston.

 

¹⁶ Roane County, Tennessee, County Court, B. Hembree vs. J Casey, 16 September 1815; Roane County Archives, Kingston.

 

¹⁷ Morgan County, Tennessee, Survey Book, Vol. B-1, Jan. 1814-June 1823, p. 439-440, Jesse Casey, Survey No. 2037, filed 23 Sept. 1822; digital image, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QHV-F3CN-Z9F6-K : accessed 18 July 2022); Register's Office, Kingston; citing FHL film 008661749, images 718-719.

 

¹⁸ Henry D. Whitney, compiler/editor, Land Laws of the State of Tennessee (Chatanooga: J.M. Deardorff & Sons, 1891), p. 69; digital image, Google Books (https://books.google.com/books : accessed 4 May 2022). "And no surveys shall be made without chain carriers, who shall actually measure the land surveyed, and shall be paid by the party for whom the survey shall be made..."

¹⁹ Speculation Lands Collection, "Surveying Units and Terms," University of North Carolina, Ramsey Library, Special Collections, (http://toto.lib.unca.edu/findingaids/mss/speculation_lands/terms/surveying_terms.htm : accessed 19 July 2022). “Generally, there was a legal requirement that chain carriers take an oath as to the honesty of their work; therefore the chain carrier should have been of legal age. It was a common practice for a member of the family to serve as a chain bearer for the surveyor.”

²⁰ Roane County, marriage bond of John Thomas and Barbara Casey, 1 December 1814. Also: Roane County, Tennessee, #1395 Jesse Casey vs. Benjamin Hembree & Joel Hembree, 9 September 1822; Roane County Archives, Kingston. Also: Roane County, #1395, Jesse Casey vs. Benjamin Hembree and Joel Hembree.

²¹ Roane County, Tennessee, County Court Minute Books and Case Files, 1801-1980, 287, State vs. Jesse Casey, 1815; Roane County Archives, Kingston.

²² Ibid, State vs. Jesse Casey, Sworn Statement, 18 January 1816; Roane County Archives, Kingston.

²³ Roane County, Tennessee, County Court, Case #1012, Jesse Casey vs. Benj. Hembree, Testimony of Jesse Casey, 17 July 1816; County Courthouse, Kingston.