Last year, in my Fall 2023: Vess Genealogy Recap post, I mentioned the SOUTHER family and their intriguing close connections to the VESS family. I have yet to determine whether or not they are kin or just a bunch of coincidences. 

• Souther and Vest/Vess families in Brushy Mountain community in Wilkes County, North Carolina (1805 & 1830). 
• Souther family were members of Bill’s Creek Baptist Church same time as Peter and Catherine Vess (between 1828-1836).
• Souther family obtained Peter’s land (1842)
• Souther married Elizabeth Taylor, ex-wife of John Vess, son of Peter Vess (1854).
• Souther is listed next to Rachel Crook, Catherine’s mother on the Buncombe Co. census (1830). 

Fall 2023: Vess Genealogy Recap

When researching Vess genealogy, I read a lot of records (AND I MEAN A LOT) and PLUMMLEY is another name just as intriguing as SOUTHER….as it too seems to follow the VESS name! 

Plummley/Plumlee/Plumly Family: NC, SC, & TN

In 1824, Prior VEST in White County, TN obtained land on Caney Fork, joining the PLUMLEYS line. On the 1830 White County, Tennessee census, there is a Lucy VEST (believed to be the wife of Pryor Vest), listed on the same page as Joel and Denton PLUMMLEY (sons of Issac Plummley). 

In the 1830, Rutherford County, North Carolina census, Nathaniel VESS (NESS) and father-in-law John BELLEW, are listed next to Constant PLUMMLEY. 

Constant PLUMMLEY is the son of William PLUMMLEY Jr. & Hester O’NEAL. Wiliam’s parents are William PLUMLEE Sr. and Phoebe DENTON (remember Denton Plummley mentioned earlier). William’s brother is Issac Plummley, (Constant’s uncle) who settled in White County, Tennessee. 

William Plummley Jr. died in Glassy Mountain, Greenville County, South Carolina in 1830. Glassy Mountain is where I strongly believe Nathaniel Vess met Clarinda Bellew, as the Bellew and Gosnell families were prominent families in that area at that time.

Furthermore, on the 1830 census for Greenville, South Carolina (which also includes the Plummley family) is a mysterious “Polly Vess.” 

Interestingly, the wife of William Plummley Sr, Phoebe Denton, comes from Shenandoah County (once Dunmore Co.), Virginia. Her parents are Abraham Denton and Sarah O’Dell. 

Her father listed her (as Plumbly) in his 1774 will, made in the “County of Dunmore.” 

Interestingly, there are “VESS” records in Dunmore county, as early as 1775, via Samuel and William Vess. 

Now interestedly, according to family history published on Ancestry.com, posted 29 Feb 2012 titled, “Captain” Abraham Denton, 1700-1774,” the Denton family had issues with the law prior to moving to Dunmore County, VA. Would that consider them as “outlaws,” and if so… any connection to our family story about an O’Donnell & O’Neil outlaw? Could O’Donnell have been O’Dell and could O’Neil be referencing Hester O’Neils family? Or again, just all coincidence?

I look forward to researching this family further; maybe it will lead me to another “Vess” record!