Things Named Veazie Places Named Veazie People Named Veazie The Site for All Things Veazie!

If you have visited Veazie.org recently, please REFRESH this page to ensure you have the latest update for this page

Family of Benjamin VESEY and Rebecca GRAHAM

Benjamin VESEY b. 1764 Mar 234096 at (bapt) Christ Church, Braintree, MA4096. d. abt Oct, 18285336 at prob Perry, OH5336.
Rebecca GRAHAM

Married2033 1826 Nov 22033 at Perry, OH2033.

Benjamin and Rebecca were married by David Robbins, Justice of the Peace.

Sprague841 and Bass831 say of Benjamin only: "to Braintree, Vt. in 1785, to the west in 1815." Benjamin Vesey appears as in the list831 of selectmen for Braintree, VT, between the years 1793 and 1811.

Benjamin was married (at least) twice. He married, probably first, Eunice (perhaps) Lamb. The death record1520 for son James Madison Vesey lists his mother as "Eunice Vesey." "Pioneer Women of Perry [Ohio]"828 has "Benjamin and Eunice (Lamb) Vesey" arriving in Perry in 1816. There appears to be no other records for Eunice, either indicating her first name or surname.

Bass831, p 182, regarding sisters of Samuel Spear: "The third m. a Vesey, probably Benjamin; went to Ohio about 1815." Stewart2846 has Dorothy Spear, born "about 1758," a daughter of Samuel Spear and Mary Ford, and brother of the above mentioned Samuel Spear, married (without reference) Benjamin Vesey. Speare5487 also has Dorothy Spear, born "about 1758," a daughter of Samuel Spear and Mary Ford, married (without reference) Benjamin Vesey. Speare has Dorothy came from Braintree, Mass. to Braintree, Vt., perhaps with her other two sisters and her brothers, but "one record gives her coming to Braintree, Vt., as about 1800. She went to Ohio with her sister Hannah in 1815. No record of her family." Regarding Dorothy Spear, it appears that both Stewart and Speare either had the same source, perhaps Bass, or Stewart repeated Speare's information. If Dorothy Spear had married Benjamin Vesey in Vermont, then Dorothy moving to Ohio "with her sister Hannah" is a strange phrase, as is "no record of her family," as many of Benjamin Vesey's children were born2230 in Braintree, Vt., and later appear in other records. Without further information, the marriage of this Dorothy Spear and Benjamin Vesey is doubtful. It may be that Stewart and Speare (and Bass?) confused the marriage2852 of Benjamin's grandfather Benjamin, and Dorothy Spear (born in Braintree, MA), the daughter841 Samuel Spear and Elizabeth Daniel.

Pioneer Women of Perry (OH)" mentions "(Mrs Benjamin) Eunice Lamb Vesey," mother of several sons and five daughters. Four daughters are specifically named: Abigail, Rebecca, Vashtia and Rowena; Elizabeth would be the fifth daughter. The death record1520 for son J M Vesey lists "Eunice Vesey" as his mother.

Benjamin's marriage832 to Rebecca Graham in 1826 is certain. Benjamin later divorced Rebecca ~1828, assumed from notices of divorce in the Painesville (OH) Telegraph830, published Dec 18, 1827, and Jan 4, 1828. As the will5336 of Benjamin Vesey, signed Mar 5, 1828, does not mention his wife, it is assumed they were divorced (or the marriage otherwise considered dissolved) by March, 1828.

Because of the doubt that Benjamin married Dorothy Spear, Eunice is herein listed as the mother of Benjamin's children. As J M Vesey's mother is listed1520 as Eunice, it is all but certain that Eunice was the mother of the children born after ~1810.

The will5336 of Benjamin Vesey mentions "oldest son" Jonathan Vesey; "three youngest sons" Madison, George and Harris Vesey; Betsey Ford, Rebecca Butler, Abigail French, "daughters" Roena Calwell and Vashta Graham. He signed his will Mar 5, 1828. The will was proved and approved Oct 20, 1828.

As Benjamin Vesey was about 62 years of age when he married Rebecca Graham, it seems likely she was a widower, and Graham was not her maiden name. Possibly a coincidence, Benjamin Vezey was one of three men directed to appraise a portion of the estate5335 of Hugh Graham, who died between Jan 12, 1825 (when Graham signed his will), and Jun 26, 1826, when his will was entered into probate. The date of probate was just a few months before Benjamin married Rebecca.

Heirs of Hugh Graham mentioned in the probate records5335 were: Rebecca, his wife; children: Hugh W Graham ("eldest son"), David Graham ("second son"), Archer Graham, Alanson Graham, Rebecca Norris (wife of Benjamin Norris), Sally Haskell (wife of Silas Haskell Jr), and Fanny Graham (a minor under the age of 21 years.) A William Graham was another appaiser of Hugh Graham's estate, and that William Graham may be the father of Electa Ann Graham who married Salmon Vesey.

A Rebecca Vesey was deeded5319 land Feb 19, 1831, from Archer Graham, in Perry, OH. That Archer Graham may have been both her son, and the husband of husband Benjamin's daughter Vashtia Vesey. Rebecca also deeded land to Jesse Heartwell (other records AKA Hartwell), Oct 1, 1835, in Perry.


828. Ohio, Pioneer Women of Perry, Lake Co., Ohio (http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ohlake/history/mpwperry.html)
830. Ohio, Painsville Telegraph, Index to Divorces (http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ohlake/vitalrec/teldiv.html)
831. Vermont, Braintree, History of, by Henry Royce Bass, Rutland, VT: 1883; www.archive.org; www.ancestry.com; books.google.com
832. Ohio, Geauga County, Marriages - http://files.usgwarchives.org/oh/geauga/marriages
841. Genealogy of the Families of Braintree, Mass. 1640-1850, Waldo Chamberlain Sprague - CD, NEHGS, Picton Press
1520. Michigan Death (and Burials), 1800-1995, 1867-1897; www.familysearch.org
2033. Ohio County Marriages, 1789-1994 (1774-1993), familysearch.org (www.ancestry.com)
2230. Vermont Births and Christenings, 1765-1908; familysearch.org
2846. Ford, Andrew, Descendants of -- of Weymouth, MA, Compiled by Mrs Elizabeth (Cobb) Stewart, NEHGR, v119, Apr 1965; americanancestors.org
2852. Massachusetts, Braintree Records, Samuel A Bates, Esq., Town Clerk of Braintree, Mass., Daniel H Huxford, Printer, Randolph, Mass: 1886; www.archive.org
4096. Massachusetts, Braintree Records of Christ Church (Braintree/Quincy, Mass.), Mayflower Descendant, Vol 35, No 1 Jan 1985; americanancestors.org
4646. 1820 Fed Census OH, Geauga Co., Perry; familysearch.org
5319. Ohio, Geauga County, Deed Index Extracts - pre 1841; http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ohlake/govt/deeds/
5335. Graham, Hugh, Will and Probate records, Ohio Wills and Probate, 1786-1998; www.ancestry.com
5336. Vesey, Benjamin, Will and Probate records, Ohio Wills and Probate, 1786-1998; www.ancestry.com
5487. Speare Family, The, From 1642, Geneal. Rec. of Certain Branches, by Charles Leon Speare; Rutland, Vermont; The Tuttle Publishing Company, Inc. 1938; archive.org