Richland-Orangeburg County ScArchives Biographies.....Reese, Evan 1707 - November 30, 1757 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/sc/scfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Sherry Reese snsmith80@yahoo.com February 10, 2022, 3:14 pm Source: https://oursweetlovestory1.blogspot.com/2021/05/genealogical-history-of-reese-family.html Author: Sherry S. Reese Evan Rees was born circa 1707 in Wales. His arrival in America was documented on Passenger and Immigration Lists in 1724 so he may have arrived at the same time as his father and the rest of his family. A book called “Samuel Griffin of New Castle County on Delaware, Planter and his Descendants to the 7th Generation” By Thomas Hale Streets (published in 1905) states, “Evan Rees and James Howell were the heads of two Welsh Baptist families who settled in Duck Creek hundred in 1733, having come hither, with others (James Hyatt, Nathaniel Wilds, David Evan, David Rees, Evan David Hughs and Joshua Edwards), from the Welsh Tract in Pencader hundred, and were members of that church. (Morgan Edwards’s “History of the Baptists in Delaware.”) Although this book states the first settlement of Duck Creek as 1733, it is apparent that Evan’s father John Rees was already in possession of land in Duck Creek before his death in 1728 and that he left that property to his heirs, including his only son Evan. A family data collection record lists the marriage of Evan Rees to Sarah Lewis of New Castle County, Delaware in 1731. There is another Delaware Land Records record stating that Evan Reece resided in New Castle, Delaware in 1751 so maybe he still had land holdings in that area. His wife Sarah Allison Lewis may have received land in this area from her family. A family data collection record has Sarah Lewis being born to John Lewis and Sarah Reece in New Castle, Delaware in 1711, but this record may have her mother’s maiden name confused with her own married name. If her mother’s maiden name was indeed “Reece” then it is possible that she was from another family that spelled their name “Reece” and that the Evan Reece who resided in New Castle in 1751 was a relative of hers. A record in the Delaware Wills and Probate Records list a Will for Evan Rees probated July 18, 1737 in Kent, Delaware although it is known that the Evan Rees in our line did not die in Delaware. This Will may have belonged to a different Evan Rees whose family also came over to settle that part of Delaware from Wales. That Will listed Evan’s heirs as daughters, Eleanor and Mary; son David; son-in-law George Griffith; granddaughter Esther Rees; and son Richard. We know our Evan Rees had a son named Joseph Reese so it does not appear that this is the same Evan who later moved to South Carolina. There was a David Rees also listed in the New Castle County book named above who may have been the son mentioned in this Will who also resided in Duck Creek, Delaware. Another family data collection record shows Sarah Lewis married Evan Rees in New Castle County, Delaware in 1731 and that she later died in South Carolina on November 2, 1757. Her parents were again listed as John Lewis and Sarah Reece. A Find a Grave Index record lists Sarah Allison Lewis as being born in 1711 and dying November 2, 1757 in Orangeburg County, South Carolina. Her spouse was listed as Evan Reese and her son, Joseph Reese, is also listed. In further verification that Evan Rees may have passed through Virginia on his way to South Carolina, this story mentions Evan Rees. “In 1748, William Hay, from Virginia, erected a "gris mill" to the great benefit and encouragement of the inhabitants of the community, but for want of a blouting cloth it could not be called complete. The expense, he said, of this mill had reduced him to so low a pitch that he was not able to buy the cloth, and so he humbly petitioned his excellency and their honors of the council to send for a cloth for him, for which he would make payment as soon as he was able. His petition was certified by John Fairchild, Thomas Howell, John Lester, Gilbert Gilder, James Weston, Evan Rees, John Pearson, James Lessly, Thomas McPherson, that the mill had been erected and was actually at work” (Council Jour., Sept.6, 1749). Evan Reese’s birth and death dates are documented in a Find a Grave Index as having been born in 1707 and dying November 30, 1757. His wife’s name is listed as Sarah Allison Lewis, and his son, Joseph Reese, is also listed. Another Find a Grave Index listed the same date of death and shows that he was buried in Pioneer Graveyard in Orangeburg, South Carolina. A monument has been erected at this location that states “Rev. John Giessendanner’s and Other Death Records of Unmarked Graves in this Plot.” “Evan Reece Nov. 30, 1757” is inscribed as the 5th name from the bottom. After Evan’s wife Sarah Rees died and was buried on November 2, 1757, Evan Rees died on November 30, 1757, in Orangeburg County, South Carolina, while on his way to Georgia. On December 1, 1757, he was interred in the churchyard of Orangeburg by Pastor Giessendanner, the body of Evan Rees(e), a settler on the north side of the Congaree River, who died at the home of Luke Patrick in Orangeburg on Tuesday, November 30, then being on his journey to Georgia. Additional Comments: Photo showing Headstone including Evan Reese in Pioneer Graveyard in Orangeburg, SC. Photo: http://www.usgwarchives.net/sc/richland/photos/bios/reese14nbs.jpg File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/sc/richland/bios/reese14nbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/scfiles/ File size: 5.8 Kb