1746 - after 1830
Pennsylvania - Virginia - North Carolina - Kentucky -Tennessee - North Carolina
Our story so far:
Hendrick Dewees, 1570 Holland - nothing known, but he is presumably the father of
Adriaen Hendricksz, 1595-1674 Holland - the bookstore owner, wife Hilegond Govertsdr
Hendrick Adriaensz, 1615-1661 Holland - New Amsterdam - captured in a raid, died in captivity
Gerrit Hendricksz, 1640-1770 Holland-Pennsylvania - farmer? - wife Zytian Lieuwes
Cornelius, 1678-1734 Holland - Pennsylvania - farmer - wife Margaret Kuster
Garrett, 1710-1769 Pennsylvania - occupation unknown - wife Mary Unknown
Henry Deweese was the youngest child of Garrett and Mary. Born in 1746 in (old) Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, he was part of the next movement west. In 1768 (December 12), he married Elizabeth Hughes in the St Michael & Zion Lutheran Church in Philadelphia. Shortly thereafter, Henry and Elizabeth began their travels, first to Botetourt County, Virginia - some of their children were born there as early as 1772, and he may be on the 1773 tax list there. By the time of the 1790 census they had moved to Burke County, North Carolina (which became Buncombe County in 1791 and where they appear in land sales thereafter). His sons moved on to Kentucky and Tennessee, and he possibly lived with them for some time in his old age, but if so, he returned to Buncombe County in time for the 1830 census - and that is his last appearance in official documents. (that I have found)
I don't know what his occupation was. Most of the people moving west called themselves farmers, but they had to know how to do just about everything - and depending on where they settled in the mountains or valleys, they might actually have spent most of their time hunting. Botetourt County was a large area, and I'm not sure if the Deweeses lived in the mountainy parts or not, but Buncombe County is definitely mountainous. For what that's worth.
Henry and Elizabeth married in 1768 and their first son, our next ancestor John, was born in 1769. We aren't sure if Henry and Elizabeth were still in Pennsylvania
or whether they had already moved to Virginia. The rest of their children were born in Virginia. They had possibly 9 children:
John, born 1769 in Philadephia County, Pennsylvania or Botetourt County, Virginia
Lewis, born 1771
Garrett, born 1772
James, born 1775
Morgan, born 1778
Unknown little girl, born 1781
William, born 1781 (a twin?)
Nancy, born 1784
Henry, born 1789
John, Lewis, Garrett, William and Henry are all Deweese names. This is the first appearance of James, Morgan and Nancy, so I think they must be names from Elizabeth Hughes's side of the family.
I have found Henry on some sort of tax list for Botetourt County starting in 1773:
Botetourt County, Virginia, its men, 1770-1777 by Charles T. Burton [Troutville, Va. : C.T. Burton, 197-?]
This is a little confused. (or I am a little confused)
Deweese, Cornelius tax list of J Bowman date may be 1775 s side of Roanoke
Henry tax list of Philip Love date may be 1773 Roanoke R -> Fincastle bord
Delinquent list (whole county) 1774
tax list of A Donnelley 1775 Greenbrier R
John tax list of unknown date may be 1771 Lower New R
tax list of unknown date may be 1772 Sink Creek and New R
Cornelius could possibly be Henry's brother, and John is possibly Cornelius's son (he can't be Henry's son because that John was b. 1769 or so).
Henry continues on the list until 1785:
Botetourt County, Virginia, its men, 1780-1786 by Charles T. Burton [Troutville, Va. : C.T. Burton, 197-?]
| 81 | 82 | 84 | 85 | 86 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deweese, Harel | 4 | |||||
| Henry | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 500 | |
| Paul | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | MD 5 | |
| William | 4 |
The back country was organized into military districts - that's what the number 4 is: Captain Wilson's company (until 1781) and then Captain Martin's. It was located in what is now Floyd County. MD means "military district" and it indicates someone eligible for the 82 draft. The 500 refers to acres - and apparently it was listed only by last name, so Burton just assigned the number to the first "Deweese" on the list.
I have no idea who Harel Dewese could be, but Henry had a cousin Paul (son of Samuel, who was definitely in Virginia) and both a cousin and a brother William. Also unfortunately, I did not know Elizabeth's name at the time, so I didn't look up her family. People migrated in family groups in those days.
1785 is Henry's last year on those lists (as you can plainly see), and by 1790 he was in North Carolina. He is in Burke County (one year later it became Buncombe County - where Ashville is) for the 1790 census:
1790 - Burke Co, NC - 12th Company, p. 104 - Henry Dweis 2 5 3 0
Henry Dweis 2m over 16, 5 m under 16, 3 females, 0 slaves
2m over 16: Henry 44, John 21
5m under 16: Garret 16, James 15, Morgan 12, William 9, Henry 1
3 f: Elizabeth Hughes, unknown female 9, Nancy 6
On the same page (and so more-or-less in the same area) are Peter Hughes 1 2 1 0, and Jno Hughes 1 4 1 0.
Henry did a lot of buying and selling land in Buncombe County, starting in 1796:
Dewees Henry Bk, Pg
1796 Dec 21 150, 50 acres on Ivy from State of NC #268, 267 3.136
1797 Sep 15 50 a on Ivy to John Holcombe 4.32
1797 Sep 29 power of attorney to Thomas Love 4.26
1797 Sep 30 93 a on Choats Creek to Job Broughton 4.27
1798 Dec 5 Henry et al 100 a on Little Laurel from State of NC #504 4.318
1799 July 17 Henry et al 50 a on Ivy to Job Broughton 3.216
1801 Oct 17 ? on Ivy from Robert Anderson 7.254
1805 Aug 9 320 a on Ivy from Thomas Love 10.418
1807 Apr 22 160 a on Ivy to Jesse Buckner A.256
1807 Oct 15 200 a on Little Ivy to Jabez Jarvis C.100
form: Wooley, James E. Buncombe County, North Carolina, index to deeds, 1783-1850. (Easley, S.C. : Southern Historical Press, c1983.)
Other Deweeses in the property records: John, Edward, Garrett, Levi, Humphrey P, Lewis M, and Morgon. Because of the habit of using the same names over and over, it isn't always certain who these people are, but Henry did have sons John, Lewis (maybe), Garrett, and Morgan, as well as grandsons Humphrey, Levi, Lewis (sons of Garrett), a nephew Edward (son of William) and a grandson Edmund (son of Garrett).
The Hugheses on the property lists are: John, William, Ann, Amy, James and Jeremiah.
Henry's son John would marry Elizabeth Sams - and the Samses in the area were: William, Reuben 1806 - Little Ivy; Edmond 1796 Big Ivy; Hackley 1806 Little Ivy; James 1794-6 Little Ivy; John 1806 Ivy; Lot 1802 Ivy; Warren 1818 Little Ivy, Burdit 1807; Benoni 1810; David 1844; Edmond jr 1837; Greenlee 1811; Larkin; Nancy 1832; Rachal 1819; Sarah 1815.
Henry's grandson Henry would marry Amelia Hudson, and the Hudsons in the area were Thomas and John.
Although the Deweeses continued to buy and sell land in Buncombe County, they begin appearing in Kentucky tax records in 1799. In that year, Garrad Dewees and Henry, John, and Margon Dewwees appear on the rolls for Logan County. The Hugheses had apparently moved there earlier. In 1794 David and Jesse Hughs appear, and others came later - David jr, John, Roland, William. Ezekiel and Thomas Hudson were on the rolls in 1795, but not any other date. Logan Co, Ky Taxpayers 1792 - 1799 no other bib info, sorry
There is no census for Kentucky for 1800, but there is a tax list for Logan County, and Henry appears on it:
1800 - Logan name of taxee - land (1st, 2nd, 3rd class) - watercourse - surveyed, patented etc.
males 21+ males 16-21 slaves 16+ total slaves horses stud horses
Deweese, Henry - Muddy River 1-1-0-0-2-0
1m over 21 = Henry, 1m 16-21 = probably William 19 , 2 horses, 200 acres 3rd class land
wife Elizabeth, daughter Nancy, other unknown daughter, son Henry not counted
Deweese Garrett - Deerlick - 1-0-0-0-0-0 they all seemed to have 200 acres? 3rd class land
John - Muddy River - 1-0-0-0-3-0
Henry - ditto 1-1-0-0-2-0
Marson - ditto 1-0-0-0-1-0
James - ditto 1-0-0-0-1-0
Hughes, John 1-0-0-0-2-0
Butler County was formed from Logan in 1810, and Henry possibly appears on the 1810 census there, living with his son John:
1810 Butler County KY (total population 2181) census
John 11011-03011
1m under 10 John 5 (not here William 8; Elizabeth 2)
1 m, 3 f 10-16 Henry 14, Lavinah 12, Patsy 10, unknown f
1m, 1 f 25-45 John 41, Elizabeth 30
1m, 1f 45+ ??? father Henry 64, mother Elizabeth Hughes?
There seems to have been a general movement elsewhere in the 1810-1820 time segment. Henry's son Garrett moved back to North Carolina - if, indeed, he ever
left; several other of Henry's children - Morgan, William, Nancy - moved to White County, Tennessee. It seems that Henry moved to Tennessee as well - at least
for a while. He is there for the 1820 census. . .
1820 Tennessee, White, Sparta 309 (350)
Henry Deweese - 000001 // 00001
1m, 1f over 45
. . . but in 1830, he is back in Buncombe:
1830 North Carolina Buncombe 3rd Regiment 291
Henry Deweese 00000000001 //00000000001
1m, 1f 80-90
And that is the last we see of him.
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To Elizabeth Hughes (this is mostly speculation about which family she belongs to)
To Hughes Home Page
Forward to Children of Henry and Elizabeth
Forward to next ancestor, John
Questions, comments, additions, corrections? Contact me at: lee@leesgenes.com
Page last updated 4 April 2011