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The Vess & Vest Families of Virginia

/ J. V. / 1 Comment

Anyone who has researched Peter Vess, has likely come across a “Peter Vest” on a War of 1812-1814 military service record for Surry County, North Carolina. Unfortunately, there are no other records to support a connection with our Peter Vess.

I can honestly tell you, the Surry County, NC War of 1812 record, meant very little to me a month ago; but now, after extensively researching different families in North Carolina, a few names on this record stand out in which require further investigation…

Earlier Research: William Tunwell Vest

My earlier research on the VEST family largely focused around a William Tunwell Vest of Stokes County, North Carolina.

According to an 1812 probate record, he had a wife named Lucy (ALFORD) and they had 9 children: Samuel, Charles, William Jr., Isham, John, Elizabeth, Polly, Jenny (Jane) and Mary.

The only interesting thing I found in regards to William Tunwell Vest is a neat account regarding his son Charles Erwin Vest:

Summary:
In 1792, the Board of Commissioners came together in search of a person who would manage a building project for the “Statehouse.”

Later documents suggest it was the rebuilding of the Guilford Courthouse.

Charles Vest [whose occupation, on census records, states manufacture] “made an offer;” however, “never reported his estimate.” The project was then appointed to Rhodham Atkins.

North Carolina Digital Collection

Unfortunately, there are no records connecting the VEST and VESS families together.

I think many VESS researchers are attracted to William Tunwell VEST, because at first glance, he truly makes a great lead in Vess Genealogy:

1) VESS and VEST are similar surnames and we do find many records for our Peter under the surname VEST.

2) He lives in North Carolina. According to census records, our Peter was supposedly born in North Carolina.

3) He is from Virginia. According to our family story, our VESS family traveled from Virginia to the Carolinas.

4) His sons are old enough to be Peter’s father and one of them was named “John.”

“Charles” Peter Vess May Not Exist

Sometimes, you might see the name “Charles Peter VESS” as Peter Vess of Rutherford County, North Carolina.

In my opinion, I do not think there is a “Charles” Peter Vess and that the name originated from researchers trying to connect Peter Vess to the William Tunwell VEST line.

See, Charles Erwin VEST (son of William Tunwell VEST) had a son named Charles VEST Jr., who married a woman named Catherine. [*Correction: Catharina] I strongly believe that many quickly assumed that had to be Peter [Vess] and Catharine “Katy” [Cook] and therefore, “Charles” must be Peter’s first name.

Unfortunately, when new records began to reveal more about Charles Vest Jr. and his wife Catharina VOGLER (who married in 1809), the idea that Peter Vess is “Charles Peter Vess” was already stuck in circulation on the Internet.

But of course, I could be wrong.

The Vest Family: What I Do Know

The VEST family is just as complicated and fascinating as our VESS family.

You can find many public family trees related to the VEST family on Ancestry.com, MyHertiage.com, Familysearch.org, Wikitree.com, etc.; however, none seem to be consistent and very few offer solid records to support their findings.

I do not know where the VEST family comes from; however, some public VEST family trees date their lineage back to Germany through a MOSES VEST, born in 1650 Basel, Warendorf, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. I have not come across any trees with attached documentation though; so I cannot confirm this is true.

VEST Family Tree: DRAFT (not entirely accurate)


I DO KNOW the VEST family originated in Powhatan and Chesterfield County, Virginia (1700’s) and migrated down to Bedford and Franklin County, before migrating west out of Virginia into Kentucky, Missouri, and Indiana; with the exception of William Tunwell Vest who migrated down into Stokes County, North Carolina.

Unfortunately, there are no records (as of yet) connecting the VEST and VESS families together, but there are still a few early VEST and VESS records lingering around without a connection to either family.

A “VESS” Family In Virginia

I cannot tell you how exciting it is to see the VESS name on early Virginia records!

Revolutionary War Records
If you dig deep enough, you can find the “VESS” name on documents dating back as early as the Revolutionary War!

So far, I’ve uncovered a Peter and Samuel “VESS” on Revolutionary War records. I remember I found 3 of them, but I cannot remember the 3rd name (sorry).

Samuel Vess 1779 Revolutionary War record – Ancestry.com
Corporal Peter Vess 1777 Revolutionary War record – Ancestry.com

Before dismissing them as VEST family though, I have found a pocket of VESS’s hanging out in Patrick County, Virginia in which I have yet to figure out whose tree they belong on (VESS or VEST).

Patrick County, Virginia
Perhaps, Peter and Samuel Vess on the Revolutionary War records (above) are the same Peter and Samuel Vess listed on the 1790’s Patrick County Land Tax record.

The Samuel listed on the 1790 tax record could be Samuel Harvey VEST (b. 1757 VA), son of William Tunwell Vest. He would have been old enough to serve during the Revolutionary War and Patrick County, VA is just above Stokes County, North Carolina; however, there is no documentation to support it. I DO KNOW, the Peter listed above is too old to be our Peter Vess.

Interestingly, that’s not even the only VESS record for Patrick County, NC!
There is also a marriage record for Jonathan VESS and Elizabeth HERON dated 1792.

This is supposedly, Jonathan Vess who traveled to the Republic of Texas in 1825 and helped establish Morales, Texas. I have no idea who his parents are and whether or not he is a VEST or a VESS.

And lastly, I have discovered a William VESS of (Koger Creek) Patrick County, Virginia on a Deed record located on RootsWeb.com.

Interestingly, other names listed beside him include JOHN DUNCAN (like John Duncan shown above with Peter and Samuel Vess) and a JAMES HERON, as in Elizabeth HERON who married Jonathan VESS. I am not sure if this William VESS is Jonathan “William” VESS, which is a name that is often associated with Jonathan VESS of Texas (married to Elizabeth Heron).

So, just a quick recap:
There is a Peter, Samuel, Jonathan, and William (Jonathan and William might be the same) VESS in Patrick County, VA in the 1790’s that do not have any records connecting them to either the VEST or VESS family.

Unfortunately, early census records for Patrick County, VA have been lost. 😦
BUT, Patrick County, VA was created from Henry County in 1790, which was created from Pittslyvania County in 1776; in which, leads me back to the Peter VEST on the War of 1812-1814 military service record…

Many surnames on that record are connected to families who originated from Pittsylvania County, Virginia and some have connections to the VEST family (William Tunwell VEST) as well as the BELLEW family (Nathan’s wife’s family)!

Next Stop In Research: Virginia

I feel as if I am getting closer!!

I have not explored Virginia yet and I don’t think I would have been very successful at researching records in Virginia (in the beginning) without knowing what I know now.

Virginia is a tough state to research, for that early records are super scarce. If your family didn’t do anything significant, their record is likely not available yet, especially, digitally.

Digital records for Virginia are broadly Indexed and requires hours upon hours of scrolling through digitalized slides of records. Simply, you can’t just type in a specific name and it will take you directly to the record pertaining to that name…you have to know a time, place, and event and then search from there, deciphering scribbles from deteriorated records. Super fun!

But, I am motivated, excited, and ready for a new challenge!

I will be sure to post an update on my research soon!







Sorting Through Name Variants For VESS

/ J. V.

Yesterday, I had this ingenious plan to locate the parents of Nathan Vess! Unfortunately, it isn’t the most easiest of ingenious plans.

I am a firm believer that the reason why Vess genealogy is so difficult, is because of a name change! The challenge now is figuring out what original surname our “Vess” name evolved from!

Here are my candidates based North and South Carolina census records 1790-1820.

VEST
WEST
BEST
VOSS

Name variants (as found on census records):
VIST
VERT
VASS
BASS
BOSS
BESS
WIST
BOST
VOST
WISS
VISS
VAST
BAST

My Monster SpreadSheet

I’ve decided to use a spreadsheet to track families with similar names in areas where I know some of Peter and Nathan’s neighbors and family have been.

So far, I am beginning to see distinct family migration patterns emerge…



As you can see, the WEST family is pretty widespread.

According to the WEST FAMILY DNA PROJECT, there are several different WEST lines with majority of them being connected to an orphan from England. There is also a West line connected to the Thomas West, Baron De La Warr and Benjamin West, an 18th century American artist.

UPDATE: According to several researchers who have done Y-chromosome research, it has been confirmed that there is no DNA relationship between Vess and West families. 🙂

Now, their DNA records do show that there is a West family connection with the South Carolina West family, but they do not know whose line they originate from. They also have a list of unrelated WEST families, with the assumption there was a name change at some point. Interestingly, while browsing the list, a few familiar names caught my eye.

Unfortunately, the WEST FAMILY DNA PROJECT website has been taken down or moved without a working link; so, I am unable to reference it again. However, I did manage to download a few pages of information the last time the website was active. 😉

Hopefully, with a little more investigation, I will be able to separate different WEST families.

Well, that is my project for the week!

Revisiting The VEST family

I did come across an interesting thing on the VEST family, but I don’t want to get side-tracked! I really need to work on the WEST family first. BUT, according to a BIO on FindMyGrave.com, for a VEST ancestor, it states their family is of “Scotch Irish origin.”

This is interesting for several reasons:
1) John Jay Vest is related to North Carolina Senator George Vest.
2) “Jay” is a surname that is related to both BEST and WEST families. And, middle names, especially, prior to the 1800’s, came from their mother or grandmother’s maiden name.
3) More importantly, this is the first time that I’ve seen anything stating the VEST family having Scot-Irish origins. Other family trees (a lot of them) have traced the VEST family to a Moses Vest (1600’s) from Germany.

This really needs further investigating…but first, the WEST family!










A Mysterious John Vess In South Carolina?

/ J. V. / 4 Comments

There are many different VESS family lines today, many of which that have descended from Peter and Nathan Vess of North Carolina; however, there are actually a few unrelated families with similar surnames that, at one point or another, diverted from their original family tree with the Vess name (such as the Vest family).

The ultimate challenge in Vess Genealogy is trying to trace Vess lines accurately back to their original families.

A while ago, I stumbled on a Greenwood, South Carolina record with the name “John Vess.” Unfortunately, the document is not dated. By the looks of it, (I am certainly no expert), I would say it was probably created sometime in the 1800’s; which leaves us to ponder…who was living in South Carolina in the 1800’s?

South Carolina Online Records

Dating The Document

To figure out who this John Vess might be, we first need to date the document.

Unfortunately, I am not entirely familiar with the history, districts, or residents of South Carolina. Like, North Carolina, counties and districts were frequently changing during the 1800’s, scattering records across several different areas creating some research challenges.

However, according to some recent research, Greenwood was named after a plantation in 1824. In 1897 Greenwood County was established, which was previously part of Abbeville and Edgefield, far from the Bellew and Gosnell families in Glassy Mountain, Greenville, South Carolina who are connected with Nathaniel Vess.

According to the document, the residents referred to Greenwood as a “village” that consisted of “32 families” from the Abbeville District; in which makes this document a bit older than 1824, but probably not quite as old as 1900.

Possibly Created Between 1843-1860

Today, with an approximate range of dates, I was able to find the residents named on the Greenwood document on a single record: The 1850 South Carolina, Abbeville, Greenwood census record.

Interestingly, I found nearly all the residents, except one or two, including John Vess. I found him on a different census: The 1850 South Carolina, Abbeville, Saluda census record.

Saluda and Greenwood are next to each other. They will both eventually become their own county, but at this time, they are part of Abbeville County.

Ancestry.com 1850 census record South Carolina, Abbeville, Saluda

The undated Greenwood document was likely created between 1843 and 1860.

According to the 1850 census, some of the residents named on the Greenwood document are in their twenties, so we can probably, safely assume, the Greenwood document was created sometime after 1843. Many of the other residents are over 50 and are missing on the 1860 census (including John Vess), suggesting the document could not have been created after 1860. So, this gives us a pretty good date range to research a local Vess family in the Greenwood area.

About John Vess of Saluda, SC

Looking at the Greenwood document, named is John Turner and John Vess. I found John Turner (30 years-old) on the 1850 Abbeville, Greenwood, South Carolina census. But, there is no John Vess on that census.

As previously mentioned, John Vess (25 years-old) is on the 1850 Abbeville, Saluda, South Carolina census record. He is listed living with an Alexander Turner.

This is the only census record I can find for this John Vess. He was born in 1825, in South Carolina. He married Drucilla Turner, daughter of Alexander Turner. According to the 1850 census record, they married within the year.

According to the 1860 census record, Drucilla Turner (Vess) is without John Vess, but she has a 7-year-old son named James Vess. She is living with her father, Alexander Turner.

I also discovered another VESS record, who appear to be two brothers named William E Vess (22) and John Vess (24), both carpenters, born in North Carolina, living with a Brooks family in Abbeville, Saluda Regiment (Edgefield), South Carolina. They are approximately around the same age as the John Vess found living with Alexander Turner, yet born in different states. I do not know what to make of this…

The ages of William and John would make them possible children of Peter and Nathaniel Vess; however, all their children can be found living in North Carolina.

According to the 1850 census records, Nathan (Nathaniel) and his family are living in Buncombe County, North Carolina. All except his oldest son, Andrew Jackson, who is living in Haywood County with his in-laws, Parmer.

Peter’s children are living with their mother, Catherine, in Bill’s Creek, Rutherford County, North Carolina. All except for his son, Andrew Logan, who is living in Montford Cove, Rutherford County, North Carolina with his in-laws, Halford.

Pondering Possible Relations

At first, I thought John Vess (married to Drucilla Turner) was the son of Peter Vess, for that an 1854 newspaper clipping (Petition for Divorce) states his son was no longer a resident of North Carolina. But, we find him on the 1850 census record, with his wife Elizabeth and their children, living in Bills Creek, Rutherford County, North Carolina with his mother and siblings. Unless, he moved in between census, he is unlikely to be Peter’s son. Also, all of Peter’s children were born in Rutherford County, North Carolina.

Although there is some debate on whether or not Nathan’s older children were born in South Carolina, all of his known children can also be found in North Carolina in 1850.

Perhaps, this John Vess is the son of Jonathan Vess, the so-called brother of Peter and Nathan Vess, which we know so little about.

As for the brothers, William and John Vess, born in North Carolina; I strongly suspect they are likely related to the VEST family, because of their trade. The Vest family of North Carolina appears to be well educated and the son of William “Tunwell” Vest, Charles Vest, was a manufacture (construction trade). It would only make sense that his sons or even nephews would take on a similar trade. Whereas Peter and Nathan Vess are farmers.

But there are other possibilities too, due to name changes. These Vess families could also be related to the West, Wiss, or even Voss families of South Carolina. Further research is certainly needed.