A Fresh Look at Jesse Casey's 53 Acre Survey

It is always valuable to set fresh eyes on your ancestor's records, because you never know what you will find. 

In the process of writing an article about my husband's 5x GGF Jesse Casey, I realized that I had never transcribed one survey for 53 acres he owned in Roane County, Tennessee.¹

Another look at this record revealed new information. 

I was able to...

• Add an earlier date to Casey's Tennessee timeline—The survey was taken "In pursuance of the Entry No. 128 dated 1 September 1807 made by Jesse Casey..." This locates Casey in Tennessee earlier than the survey date of 24 February 1808, which I had previously noted. It further closes the gap between when he was last in Georgia on 17 March 1806, and when he first appeared in Tennessee.²
  

• Discover the parcel's chain of ownership—The 53 acres were part of a 1,000 acre parcel first claimed by William Tyrell Lewis, who assigned it to James Glasgow, who assigned it to James R. Rogers, who assigned 53 acres to Casey.
  

• Learn some land terminology such as:

• Entry—Another word for claim for land. The claimant had to pay a fee and register the land at the district land office, in this case in Tennessee's District 4.
• Poles—A term of measurement in the metes and bounds surveying system equal to 16-1/2 feet.
• Warrant—"An official document issued in payment for debts and redeemable in land."
• Waters of—A term meaning "on the watershed of a river" not necessarily on the river itself. In Casey's survey, the land is noted as "...cany creek the waters of the Tennessee river."³

Two terms which I've been unable to find definitions for:

• Set aside—A notation at the top of the survey states "Set aside by claimant 20 Jany 1817." 
• Lifted—A note at the bottom of the survey indicated the survey was "lifted November 29th day 1808."

I asked Tennessee State Library and Archives expert archivist Chuck Sherrill about the terms, but he was unable to find their definitions. He also questioned the set aside action: "Why would they have gone to the trouble to search back through the surveyor’s records nearly 10 years later in order to show that Jesse was not going to take up that tract? And since Jesse himself signed that notation, it must have been done at his insistence." He noted that, "People often had land surveyed and then, for one reason or another, sold or transferred their rights in that tract to someone else. In those cases no one went back into the survey book to show that the land had changed hands." Further, he theorized that there may have "...been some ongoing issue or dispute that caused Jesse to take that action in 1817. Maybe he had been displeased with the location and had for years been arguing with the commissioners about exchanging those acres for another tract?"⁴ More research for another day!

Casey's 53 acres were on Caney Creek (yellow), the "waters of the Tennessee River." He later owned property on Crab Orchard Creek, also known as "Casey's Creek" (green).⁵

• Discover another Jesse Casey signature under the set aside statement. This is the 4th signature I've found that matches several others in Roane County court documents.⁶ Importantly, these differ from the signature by mark made by Jesse E. Casey (aka Jesse Casey Junr), arguably the son of this man.

Jesse Casey's signature (lower right), matches previously found signatures on Roane court documents (below).

State v. J. Casey, 1815

 

State v. Casey, 1816

 

Jesse Casey v. Benjamin Hembree, 1816

 

I'm constantly reminded how valuable it is to review sources discovered in the past. Each time we do, we see them with the benefit of more knowledge and context under our genealogical belts that can add new understanding to our ancestors' lives.

Until next time...

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

 

NOTES

¹ Roane County, Tennessee, Survey Book, Vol. B-1, Mar. 1807-Nov. 1813, p. 122, No. 178, 24 February 1808, Jesse Cassey survey for 53 acres on on Caney Creek, "...set aside by claimant 20th Jany 1817"; digital images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QHV-F3CN-Z9X5-N : accessed 6 June 2022); citing Tennessee State Library & Archives, Nashville; FHL 008661749, image 70.

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 TNGenWeb, "Land Terminology" (https://www.tngenweb.org/tnland/terms.htm : accessed 7 April 2023); citing Fred Smoot, Common Words in Middle Tennessee Land Documents (Sausalito: Dog Trot X Press, 1995).

⁴ Chuck Sherrill, Nashville [(e-address for private use),] to Nancy Casey, e-mail, 12 April 2023, Jesse Casey 53-acre survey; privately held by Casey [(e-address for private use)].

⁵ Willis Hutcherson, Marilyn McCluen, Mable Thornton, Tax Lists of Roane County, Tennessee, 1814-1821 (Roane County Records Commission : nl, 1969), np, map of "Roane County Tennessee 1809-1817"; digital images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/viewer/282423/  : accessed 29 March 2022).

⁶ Roane County, Tennessee, County Court Minute Books and Case Files, 1801-1980, 287, State vs. Jesse Casey, 1815; Roane County Archives, Kingston. Also: Roane County, Tennessee, County Court Minute Books and Case Files, 1801-1980, 287, State vs. Jesse Casey, Sworn Statement, 18 January 1816; Roane County Archives, Kingston. Also: Roane County, Tennessee, County Court, Case #1012, Jesse Casey vs. Benj. Hembree, Testimony of Jesse Casey, 17 July 1816; County Courthouse, Kingston.