FAMILY HISTORIES: GEE Family *********************************************************************** Excerpt taken from "A Short History of the Gee Family" B.C. Maxey, Tompkinsville, 22 March 1927. He noted this was contained in a letter writted by W. Sanford Gee to his nephew Hart L Gee on 3 July 1906. Taken from the files of the late Eva Coe Peden and submitted by Sandi Gorin on 10 Aug 2000 *********************************************************************** The family name is Gee, the letter G taking the soft sound or sound of the letter J. By natural inference, seeing the name written or in print it would be called Gee - G hard as in McGee, but this is erroneous. The name does not come from either Irish or Scotch people. The family is of French lineage or extraction. We are descendants of the French Hugenots [sic], or protestants, the noblest and best of the French people of four hundred years ago. Our ancestors in France suffered and warred for freedom of conscience, being persecuted in merciless manner by the Roman Catholics. You will recall the final culmination of those persecutions as history presents it in the awful Massacre of Bartholomew at Paris about three hundred and fifty years ago when Prince Coligne, leader of the protestant host and sixty to seventy thousands of his people were cruelly and heartlessly murdered. "About this time ancestors of ours fled to England for protection. In England the family was characterized by noble traits in civil and religious life as it had been in France. "A prominent member of the family there Rev. Richard Gee D.D. who devoted his life to preaching and teaching having been the Dean in a prominent Protestant Cathedral and school. "The head and first representative in our family in this western world was Sir William Gee, who as I understand sailed and settled with Capt. John Smith, helping that distinguished gentleman to make his settlement at historic Jamestown in the colony of Virginia. At this point it is due that I say that this particular information was furnished me by the Rev. Virginius O. Gee an Episcopal minister, at Bowling Green, KY. He was a native Virginian, cultured, fine looking and prided himself much though in a modest way in our family history. "That part of the Gee family of which you and I are descendants emigrated from Virginia in the year 1790 going into the then wilds of Ky. The head of this family was Jesse Gee, your great, great- grandfather. His body sleeps at a little place called Center Point, on the Cumberland, up in the foot hills of the Cumberland Mts. near to the old Gee homestead located about 1790 in what was then known as Barren County. This old homestead, I am pleased to say is held by Lieut. L. W. Gee and his brother, scions of the family. It is located sixteeen or eighteen miles from Glasgow, KY. "John Sanford GEE, the youngest son of Jesse GEE, was your great- grandfather. He died at about 84, and about the year 1853 or 1854. His remains lie buried in a little family grave yard on the old Gee Homestead just referred to and out from Glasgow. "He married a Tudor - Miss Susan Tudor. From this union there resulted a large family. The sons were: Neavill, Jesse, WIlliam, John Sanford and Lucas, Henry another son died in his youth. The daughters were Nancy, who married a Huffman; Elizabeth who married a Lollar and Susan who married a Tudor; a cousin perhaps. "John Sanford GEE, your great-grandfather was in respects a remarkable man. He was above the average man of his day in intelligence. He was a sort of dynamo as to energy. He was a little below average height but was alike stocky and wiry. "He started in life with a choppinhg axe, a good name, and the best strain of blood in the Cumberland River region, as his capital in stock. He became a farmer, a teacher, a surveyor, a justice of the Peace, the proprietor of a still house and the owner of a landed estate, amounting to 1300 or 1400 acres. "Some of this land was purchased with money received from high grade apple and peach brandy and sold at twenty five cents per gallon. He owned slaves and it is due in this connection that reference be made to 'Aunt Charlotte" a patient a faithful negress who helped him and his good wife to rear their children, and who after emancipation made her home with her master's children. "Honesty, industry, intelligence and modest self respect are the salient traits of character with the family. In temperament they were impetuous and sensitive, but peaceable and companionable; French Virginians by ancestry, they naturally are susceptible of much feeling over a subject in which they are interested and therefore they are ardent patriots, religionists, professional or business men, as the case maybe." *********************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free genealogical information on the Internet, data may be freely used for personal research and by non-commercial entities as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may not be reproduced in any format or presentation by other organizations or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for profit or any form of presentation, must obtain the written consent of the file submitter, or his legal representative and then contact the listed USGENWEB archivist with proof of this consent. 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