I am elbow deep in Tryon County records and thus far, no “Vess” families.
They simply do not seem to exist and I have yet to make any connections with the “Vess” family seen in Patrick County, Virginia [1790’s].

There are a lot of interesting families in Tryon County, North Carolina. Many of which are on my “Families of Interest” list, including the Duncan family. They raise an eyebrow, for the fact, there is a Patrick County, VA tax record between Samuel Vess and Peter Vess and Samuel Vess and John Duncan. I do not know if the Duncans in Tryon County, NC are related to the Duncan family in Patrick County, VA.

I keep searching for a Vess-Duncan connection and I may have found one:

Peter’s first 3 sons were born and lived (briefly) in the Knob Creek area. So, I figured, I should take a look as to who they married:

John Vess married Elizabeth Taylor.
Taylor family has numerous properties all near Knob Creek and have been in the area since the area was considered Tryon County.

Josiah Vess married Zilla Early.
The Early family is complicated, however, Zilla’s mother is Nancy Duncan.

Andrew Logan Vess married Malinda Halford, whose grandfather obtained land on Knob Creek in 1792.

So, from what I can tell, Peter’s sons married into families who likely have settled in the area when it was considered to be Tryon County. However, further research is required.

Zilla’s family doesn’t seem to have any connection to Bill’s Creek Baptist Church (they were not early members with Peter). It may not be too much of a stretch to consider that the Vess and Early families knew each other outside of church; either they attended another church together, were neighbors, or migrated together (there are Early families in SC).

I need to do further research on these families. I need to finish mapping out all these families to see if there are any visible connections there. I am confident I am on a roll! Tryon County has opened up so many different doors, I just don’t know where to begin! 🙂