Vess family White County Tennessee

Pryor, William, Peter and Willis: White County, TN 

/ J. V. / Leave a comment

I am pretty convinced that Pryor and William Vest of Wilkes County, North Carolina ended up in White County, Tennessee. While the evidence may seem compelling that they may be related to Willis Vess, I haven’t been able to find any solid evidence to prove it.

1807 Wilkes County, North Carolina

In 1807, Pryor and William VEST are in trouble, both with serious court cases. Pryor Vest had been charged with assault. Who he had assaulted is unknown, but the jury had found him not guilty. It appears that William Vest was also involved, as it was ordered that the prosecutor pay for all costs and jail fees for “both cases.” I assume they were in jail and perhaps for a lengthy time, since it also mentions “12 months of good behavior;” but perhaps that meant 12 months of no other infractions. Either way, they probably had a good reason to leave town and start a new life…

1814 White County, Tennessee

In 1814, Pryor Vest obtains land in White County, Tennessee on Caney Fork.

1815-1818 White County, Tennessee

In 1815, Pryor Vest obtains more land on Caney Fork.
From 1815-1818, Pryor and William Vest are listed on the tax records.

1820 White County, Tennessee

In 1820, Peter VESS comes along on the 1820 census.

1823-1826 White County, Tennesse

From 1823-1826, the tax lists show Pryor and William VEST, but under various spellings.

1823: Pryor VEST and William VEST
1824: Prior VASSE and William VASS
1825: William VEST
1826: William VIST and Willis VIST

1830 – 1850 White County, Tennessee

In 1830, Peter VESS is listed on the 1830 census. There is also a Lucy Vess, but doesn’t seem to be listed near Peter Vess or any familiar neighbors.

In 1831, William “VESS” obtains land on the south-side of Caney Fork, which will later become Van Burren County.

Our known ancestor, Willis Vess, is shown on the 1830 census record for Franklin County, Alabama (indexed as VISS); however, in 1837, 1846, and 1849, a Willis “Vess” obtains land on Caney Fork (mountain side, which I believe per the map, the mountain side is the south side of Caney Fork). Note: The TN 1826 tax record Willis is listed as VIST. Is this our Willis Vess or a different Willis Vess??


Willis Vess in Alabama obtained numerous plots of land in Franklin Co. Alabama, who’s to say, he didn’t obtain land elsewhere?

What Ties Them All Together

The tax, land, and census records, show Pryor, William, Peter, and Willis all on Caney Fork, near the same neighbors: Plumley, Dodson, and Hodge. Incredibly, the same Hodge and Dodson family from Virginia where we find records of Samuel, William, and Peter VESS/VEST.

Later census records for Willis Vess state he was born in North Carolina and we have records of Pryor and William VEST being in Wilkes Co. NC prior to 1814.

Also, John P. Vess, who married Sarah Whitlock, believed to be the brother of Willis Vess, has an 1880 census record stating he was born in Tennessee and his parents were born in North Carolina. Interesting how that fits with Pryor and William’s history having lived in North Carolina prior to Tennessee.

Also, Willis Vess has an intriguing land record in Alabama that mentions a heir named William Vess. A person we have yet to identify; unless it is his nephew, William Vess, son of John P. Vess (not 100% confirmed). There is a William Vess on a census record for John P. Vess, but he is listed as a “step-son.”

Of course, census records are notorious for being somewhat inaccurate.

There is also the VESS name itself. Every known Vess line has earlier records with the VEST name. We can usually tell them apart from the VEST family from Virginia, but how records over a period of time end up showing various different spellings, like VESS, VISS, VIST, POST, VASS, etc. I have not seen any VEST family records have such an array of different surname spellings like our VESS family.

Time Line

Trying to fill in the blanks as I locate records…

Tax and land records are available on Familysearch.org, but it stops loading after about 20 slides and takes a long time for it to work again – so progress in searching records in a file of 1500 slides is super slow.

YEARName Record Location
1814Pryor Vest Land RecordCaney Fork
1815Pryor Vest Land RecordCaney Fork
1815Pryor and William VestTax ListCaney Fork
1816Pryor and William VestTax ListCaney Fork
1817Pryor and William VestTax ListCaney Fork
1818Pryor and William VestTax ListCaney Fork
1819
1820Peter Vess Census RecordCaney Fork
1821
1822
1823Pryor and William VestTax List Caney Fork
1824Prior Vasse and William VassTax List Caney Fork
1825William Vest Tax List Caney Fork
1826William Vist and Willis Vist Tax List Caney Fork
1827
1829
1830Peter VessCensus RecordCaney Fork
1831
1832
1833
1834
1835

Vess/Vest Family Of White County, Tennessee

/ J. V. / 1 Comment

While investigating Willis Vess, I may have found my way back to the Patrick County, VA Vess/Vest family!

My game plan to try to uncover the origins of the Alabama Vess family include looking at maps, neighbors, spouses, genealogy records (census, land, probate, etc), and the history of Alabama.

Investigating Land Records

Franklin County, Alabama was first established in 1818, before Alabama became a state (December 14, 1819). Records of early settlers of northern portions of Alabama may be found in the Mississippi Territory records. Unfortunately, I haven’t found any records of interest.

The earliest record I’ve found on Willis Vess is an 1830 census record for Franklin County, Alabama. However, he is listed as being between the ages of 30-40, living with two females between the ages of 15-30. This does not appear to match the timeline reported on family trees. Also, he is 10 years younger in the 1840 census (listed as being between the ages of 20-30). Census records are notorious for their mistakes.

Interestingly, on the 1830 census record, I do recognize two familiar family names next to Willis Vess: SUGG and THARP.

Willis Vess lived near both of them and the Sugg family has records as early as 1819. In fact, despite the 1820 Alabama census record being supposedly incomplete, it does contain some families from the Foxtrap area [THARP, SUGG, MATLOCK, THOMPSON, and DEBOIS].

Littleberry Matlock is shown on the Alabama Genweb plat map, living next to Willis Vess. Further research reveals that he married Phoebe Tharp whose father is Robert Tharp (1820 census above) and supposedly (not confirmed yet) her mother is a Thompson from Rutherford County, North Carolina. Interesting!

After 1830, we believe Willis Vess married Talitha Whitlock; unfortunately, I have not been able to find a marriage record. However, we do know a lot about the Whitlock family due to extensive research by Anna Popejoy and published works by the Whitlock Newsletter via Google. The Whitlock family arrived in Alabama in 1820 and lived in an area referred to as Saints cross (which is near Foxtrap). I figure this may be how Willis Vess and Talitha Whitlock met each other.

The oldest children of Willis and Talitha Vess married into the Willis family, which may suggest the Vess and Willis families were close (they were close neighbors shown on the map below) and it is believed that the Willis family may have connections with the parents of Willis Vess (no evidence yet).

I do not know when the Willis family arrived in Franklin Alabama, however, both John Willis and Willis Vess appear on the 1830 census record (several pages apart).

Looking at the President’s name on their undated land records for Franklin County, Alabama, it appears that John Willis purchased land near the Foxtrap area before Willis Vess. John Willis’ record [No. 5972] was signed by Andrew Jackson who was President between 1829-1837 and Willis Vess’ record [No. 8737] was signed by Martin Van Buren who was President between 1837-1841.

The map below (looking at surrounding families) seem to have been something that was put together sometime after the 1850’s. The earliest known neighbor near Willis Vess is James Dubois [No. 8705, also issued in 1837] who is seen on the 1820 census record (above). The land record for John Willis signed by Present Andrew Jackson is not dated, but was likely issued between 1829-1837 and land records No. 19711 and 19712 was signed between 1857-1861 when James Buchanan was President. Unfortunately, nothing seems to reveal any clues about the Vess family prior to 1830.

Willis Vess appears to have owned several properties in the Foxtrap area.

I found 3 land records for Willis Vess:
No. 8737 August 5, 1837
No. 20457 & 20252 April 2, 1857 *No. 20451 & 20452 on map (above)
No. 25798 March 1, 1858 (William Vess as heir) *No. 25797 on map (above)


Who is William Vess?
None of the family trees I have come across for Willis Vess have a William Vess on them, so I am not entirely sure who he is; however, it certainly makes my next discovery extremely intriguing…

1846 Tennessee Record: Peter, Willis, William Vess/ Vest

There is one Willis Vess record that intrigues me the most and it is a land record for White County, Tennessee (1846) on Caney Fork.

Is this Willis Vess of Alabama?

Tennessee Virtual Archives

Willis Vess of White County, Tennessee, appears to have 2 land records for a property on Caney Fork:
No. 2012 dated 1831
No. 9156 (addition to No. 2012) dated 1849

The property interestingly joins Daniel Dotson (Dodson).

Looking at census records, I do not see a Willis Vess; however, there is an 1820 and 1830 census record for Peter Vest, whose neighbor is Daniel Dotson (Dodson).

In addition, there is also a William Vess. He also purchases land in 1831 No. 2071, whose property takes over land once owned by John Medley (see 1820 census above). William Dodson and Sam Moore are witnesses listed on the record. William Vess can be found on the 1830 census record. Is this William Vess, the William Vess who is “heir” to the Willis Vess of Alabama’s 1858 land record in Franklin County, Alabama??

And, furthermore, is this Peter Vest, the same Peter Vest listed on the Patrick Co. Deeds (1791-1941 Indexes, grantor pg. 77 on FHL Film 33,333) with wife “Margaret,” who appears to have land next to the Dodson family on North Fork in Patrick County, Virginia? A 1793 transaction which was witnessed by George Dodson Sr., George Dodson Junior, Benjamin Fletcher, and Thomas Dodson.

Perhaps, it is Peter and William Vess of Patrick County, Virginia (Deed Records) on North Fork with William Willis??

Is there an actual connection or is this just coincidence?

Conclusions

Wow!

A Franklin County, Alabama land record for Willis Vess and “heir” William Vess.
A Willis and William Vess in White County, Tennessee, with a Peter Vest.
All near a Dodson family.
And… interestingly, there is a Peter Vess and William Vess in Patrick County, Virginia, not only living next to a Dodson family, but ALSO a Willis family.

I don’t have enough documented evidence to make any solid connections, but I am absolutely intrigued!

Tennessee is a mixing pot of Vest, Voss, Vaulx, and Vess families! Hopefully, with more research, we can determine which family the Vess/Vest family of White County, Tennessee belongs to!