Rev. Joseph Rhea

A Patriot of the American Revolution for VIRGINIA with the rank of Staff Officer. DAR Ancestor # A093547

v.   JOSEPH 'REV.' RHEA, b. 01 Jan 1714/15, Taughboyne Parish, Co. Donegal, Ireland; d. 20 Sep 1777, Virginia; m. ELIZABETH MCILWAINE, 01 Jan 1751/52, Ireland; b. 01 Jan 1731/32, "Tifannan" near Londonderry Ireland; d. 19 Dec 1793, Bluff City, Sullivan Co., TN.

• from Descendants of Matthew Campbell 'The Rebel' RHEA

his eldest son prepared a manuscript of the Rhea family in 1830 (a copy of which was in the possession of Rhea Anderson, and is now a part of the Rhea papers housed in the Tennessee State Library and Archives in Nashville). He stated the following: He was the pastor of the Presbyterian church at Fahan for twenty years and then sent the following:

"As I have received the congregation of Fahan from the Presbytery of Londonderry, I have labored in the work of the ministry above twenty years in that place and as the congregation has fallen into very long arrears and has been deficient in the original promise to me which was 24 pounds yearly. I am unable to subsist any longer among them and I do hereby demit my charge of them and deliver them into the hand of them from whom I received them. Subscribed this 16th Aug. 1769. Jos. Rhea

P.S. I have only this further request of the Presbytery that they will see justice done me in that congregation in my absence."

The manuscript continues, "Having prepared for the same, he bid farewell to his connection and friends, and with his wife and seven children, the youngest about 2 years old, he embarked on board the Brig 'George', Captain Richard Paul, Commander, bound for America. They lay at anchor on Laughfor (Logh Foyle?) at Quigly Bay near "Carmagniglaon" and on the 27th of September 1769. The Brig hove up anchor and sailed." Rev. Rhea kept as journal during the voyage. The journal has been preserved and is part of the Rhea Papers at the State Library and Archives in Nashville TN.

The Rhea family belonged to a period in Protestant Ireland when at least one of almost every family group pulled up roots and crossed the ocean for America. On the point of land on the Northern coast of County Donegal are the Cliffs of Horn Head. Horn Head Castle was the name of the ancestral home of Elizabeth McIlwain's grandmother, Frances Stuart Scott. Ships from Belfast and Derry going to America could be watched from Horn Head as they passed by.

A cairn, or pile of stones at the viewpoint is said to have been created by relatives who deposited a stone as a ship passed by carrying family members. Old Irish ballads still survive recounting these sad stories of long ago.

Rev. Joseph Rhea b.1715 d.9/20/1777, son of Matthew Rhea (Reagh) II and his second wife, Elizabeth McClain, married Elizabeth McIlwaine in Ireland about 1752. (Picture of Elizabeth on the McIlwaine page) They came to America in 1769. His first church of record in America was in Piney Creek, Maryland in Carroll County. As stated in the Rhea history, Joseph requested leave to travel to Virginia and upon doing so was shown land by Col. William Preston. He thus removed from Maryland and came to southwestern Virginia and eastern Tennessee, settling in Sullivan County, Tennessee.

http://www.suddenlink.net/pages/fpreston/jorhea.htm

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=32536450

GEDCOM Note

[John Latta 11jul1795.ged]

FROM THE BOOK "NOTABLE SOUTHERN FAMILIES"

As a family, the Rheas have followed principally the pursuits of ministers, lawyers, doctors, farmers, and merchants. There were several of the family who were stockholders and assisted in organizing the East Tennessee and Virginia Railroad (now the Southern).
Seldon Nelson, in his series of articles on the Rhea family says: "The descendants (of Rev. Joseph Rhea) have occupied nearly every position in life....The ministry seems to have been the chief calling in the professional line, but there have been some merchant princes among them...... There have been very few politicians among the descendants, and very few who have held office."
The family has always responded to the country's call in time of war. There were three who served in the Revolutionary War; Rev. Joseph Rhea as Chaplain, and his sons John and Matthew Rhea, as officers. At least four of the Rhea family were in the War of 1812, of (which) two were captured. Three served, and one died, in the Mexican War. About eighty members of the family served in the War Between The States; all but two being in the Confederate Army. Of these, two died from their wounds; five were killed in battle; and were made prisoners, or captured. Many were on staffs of officers or commanded companies, regiments or battalions. At least fourteen of the family served in the Spanish-American War. One entered the World War (W.W. I) during its first year, as a surgeon with the Canadian Contingent. More than sixty, most of whom were officers, served at the front and at least one was killed and several were wounded or gassed.

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Joseph Rhea graduated at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, with honor and distinction, in 1742, was a minister of the Presbyterian Church and had charge of a church in Fahan, Ireland, at the time he resigned to go to America.
Rev. Joseph Rhea with his wife and children, John, Matthew, Margaret, William, Joseph, Elizabeth, (Samuel and James were born later in America) sailed from Ireland and landed in America at Philadelphia, in 1769.
He commenced preaching in Piney Creek, Maryland in 1772. In 1775, he went to the Holston Country, Tennessee, to locate land, and there purchased about two thousand acres of land. In 1776, he joined as
Chaplain, the troops under Col. Christian, and in this capacity campaigned into Virginia and Tennessee.
There is much in Draper's Mss. (Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin) about Christian's Cherokee Company. The following is cited from an orderly book, once the property of Capt. Joseph Martin:
Six Mile Camp, 5 Oct 1776
"Parole William Burge.
General Orders:
Mr Ray (Rhea) will preach on the Augusta Line at one o'clock, and Mr Cummins on the Fincastle Line.
All others who choose to attend may do it. The church will be at the time to give warning, the men to attend with their arms by companies, and to observe as much decency and regularity as the ground will admit of"
In their capacity as chaplains, at the time, Rev. Rhea and Rev. Cummins were the first ministers to preach in the territory that is now Tennessee. Rev. Joseph Rhea died in Piney Creek, Maryland in 1777. In the following year 1778, his family moved by wagons to the land in Sullivan County, Tennessee, which he had purchased and which is still in possession of his descendants.
Rev. Joseph Rhea became the founder of a large family which resides principally, in Tennessee and Virginia. His descendants are more numerous than those of the other emigres of the Rhea family.
(Notable Southern Families - page 257)