DO LAWSUITS & CENSUSES CONNECT TWO JESSE CASEYS?

 

by Nancy Gilbride Casey

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 later was 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.

If you have not read the first post in this series, you may want to read it now: Two Jesse Caseys: Father & Son?


In my last post, I offered some evidence from my research that Jesse Casey of Georgia and later Tennessee could be the father of Jesse Casey Junr. of Roane, Tennessee. Why do I think this is possible?

There are two major reasons. First, a court case from Franklin County, Georgia followed Jesse Casey to Roane County, Tennessee. The second, is that Jesse Casey Junr. had a Georgia birthplace.


Wray for Elliott vs. Jesse Casey

In 1818, Wray for Elliott vs. Jesse Casey filed in Roane County, Tennessee, continued a lawsuit first brought in Franklin County, Georgia in 1806, on a debt owed since 1788 by Casey.

In part, the case states:


"William Wray for the use of William

Elliott complains of Jesse Casey in custody in a plea

that he render unto him the sum of three hundred &

Seventy six dollars & sixty nine & a half cents which

to him he owes & from him [??]; for

this that whereas; at to wit in the count of Roane afore-

said at a superior court begun the county of Frankl

in the State of Georgia at the April term of said

court in the year 1809; by the consideration & judge

ment of said court, the said William Wray for the

the use of the said William Elliott, recovered against

the said Jesse Casey, the sum of three hundred and

fifty four dollars & seven cents for his debt and in-

terest, and also the further sum of twenty-two dollars,

sixty two and half cents for his costs, by him expens

ed in the prosecution of said suit; making in the

whole the sum of three hundred & seventy six dollars

sixty nine and a half cents of which Judgement no

satisfaction has as yet been had, nor has the same been

reversed, annulled, paid off, discontinued or suspended, but

remaining in full force against the said Jesse Casey

as appears by the record remaining in the said Sup

=erior Court, for the county of Franklin in the state of

Georgia an [??]

of which record the ˄pltff has ready to produce as the court

direct."¹



Evidently, Jesse did not pay this debt in Georgia. Excerpted from the Franklin County, Georgia case:


"Yet the said Jesse Casey altho

so indebted as aforesaid and often requested

the said sum contained in the said writing

obligatory to pay hath refused and still

doth refuse to the damage of the said William..."²


And so the lawsuit followed him years later in his new Tennessee home. (Mental note to self to find the court minutes to see what happened next!)

Jesse Casey Junr.'s Georgia Birthplace

The second clue that the two men might be connected is found in two U.S. censuses. Censuses taken up to 1850 only enumerated the heads of households, and did not include a person's birthplace. In 1850, when the information was requested, Jesse Casey Junr.—by then known as Jesse E. Casey—then living in Jefferson, Newton, Arkansas, had a Georgia birthplace; it was also the birthplace listed for him when residing in Jackson, Newton, Arkansas in 1860.³




Jesse E. Casey's 1860 Jackson, Arkansas household included his second wife Elizabeth Rash McPherson, their blended family, and his mother-in-law Sarah Rash.



Given this information, it is quite possible that Jesse Casey of Georgia and later Roane, Tennessee, could be the father of the Jesse Casey Junr. born in Georgia. But more evidence is needed.

Next up, examining the friends, associates and neighbors of both men reveals several important connections.

Until next time...

Special thanks to Vonda Fairbanks Dihm, a longtime Casey researcher and author of "Descendants of Jesse E. Casey, 1797-1863," for providing me with the Georgia and Tennessee court documents to follow up on.

 

NOTES

¹ Roane County, Tennessee, Case 768, Wray for Elliott vs. Jesse Casey, October term 1818; Roane County Archives, Kingston.

² Franklin County, Georgia, Superior Court, April 1806 Session, William Elliot vs. Jesse Casey, Jesse Casey, William Turner and John Kelly indebted to John Williamson, 17 March 1806; images provided by V. Fairbanks Dihm [e-address for private use] to Nancy Casey, 23 September 2021 via email.

³ 1850 U.S. Census, Newton, Arkansas, population schedule, p. 88 (penned), Jackson Township, dwelling 263, household of Jessee E. Casey; image Ancestry (https://ancstry.me/2U1uUu5 : accessed 11 March 2020); citing NARA Microfilm Publication M432, Washington, D.C. Also: 1850 U.S. Census, Newton, Arkansas, population schedule, p. 88 (penned), Jackson Township, dwelling 263, household of Jessee E. Casey; image Ancestry (https://ancstry.me/2U1uUu5 : accessed 11 March 2020); citing NARA Microfilm Publication M432, Washington, D.C.