Thomas Green

Thomas Green

• Gender: Male
• Birth: circa 1770 - Pittsylvania County, Virginia
• Death: October 18, 1842 (67-76) - Roane County, Tennessee, United States
• Parents: Jarvis Green (died 1782) and his 1st wife
• Foster son of Thomas Turley
• Husband of Amey Keesee - married 5 January 1792 in Pittsylvania County, Virginia

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Origins

Jarvis Green fathered, first, with a first wife, Thomas Green, (born about 1770 in Pittsylvania County, Virginia); and then with Sarah Griggs, three more children: John, Elizabeth and William.

Comment from <AncestryImage>:

Thomas Green ( Grine is a transcription error) Legend has it that Thomas Greene was orphaned at about 10 years old when his father, Ltn Thomas Greene, [SIC] died in the Revolutionary War, raised by John and Molly Turley. At his marriage, his father-in-law (Jesse Keesee, father of Amy Keesee), had the Turley name removed from his registered name, leaving him known as Thomas Greene. His son, Theodorick, is reported to have said that his father, Thomas, was a first cousin of General Nathanael Greene. [He wasn’t.]

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Family

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Green-2766

Thomas married Amy Montague Keesee (1776-1854) on 2 January 1792 in Pittsylvania County, Virginia. They brought their family from Virginia to Roane in 1811. Thomas' name appears in various records, but in general he maintained a low profile. Thomas died in 1842 and Amy died in 1854. They are buried in the Swan Pond Methodist Church Cemetery.

Thomas and Amy had the following children:

1. WILLIAM MADISON GREEN (1795-), served in the War of 1812 (no record), m. Mary Smith in 1819. He died in the 1860s and his will was proven in Jefferson County, Illinois in about 1862.
2. VIRGINIA "JINSY" MONTAGUE GREEN (1796-1862), m. Hezekuah Balch Moore in 1812. They moved to Jefferson County, Alabama.
3. AVERY B. GREEN (1798-1880), m. a cousin, Mary Taylor, in 1825. They moved to White County, Tennessee in the 1830s.
4. THEODERICK (1799-1865), m. Mary Hassler, daughter of Michael Hassler of Swan Pond, in 1821. Theoderick died in Arkansas in 1865. His and Mary's children are shown in the Roane 1850 census as follows: Jonathan (1828), James J. (1830), John (1833), J. L. (1835), Almeda (1838), Theoderick B. (1840), Letha A. (1841), Amanda (1845), Avery (1846) and Milly (1849).
5. MICHAEL GREEN (1802)
6. SEATON GREEN (1803)
7. THOMAS GREEN (1805), m. Tanisy of Georgia. They lived in St. Clair, Alabama and he is buried in Springville, Alabama.
8. JONATHAN GREEN (1805)
9. ENOCH GREEN (1806-1859), m. Isabella Edwards in 1830. They moved to White County, Tennessee and later to Jefferson County, Illinois.
10. LUCINDA GREEN (1807), m. James Suddath; they were in Marshall, Mississippi by the 1850s.
11. BLUFORD GREEN (1808), m. first Betsy Underwood, second Catherine Dugger in 1827. They lived in Roane and had the following children, as reflected in the 1850 census: Martha (1834), Mary (1839), Caroline (1841), Jane (1843), Albert (1845) and Catherine (1849).
12. AUSTIN LETHERIDGE GREEN (1811-1903), m. first Delia Crow in 1836; they had 7 children. Austin married second Emily R. Pryor, nee Liggett, in 1850; they had 9 children.
13. WILLIAM M. GREEN (1814-1867)

Comments

Managers of Thomas Greene,

I am contacting you about this profile: Thomas Green

I am desperately trying to correct all of the misinformation about Thomas Green. I have proof that Thomas was the son of Jarvis Green who was the son of George Green. I have DNA cousins who were the descendants of Jarvis Green through his wife Sarah Griggs. DNA doesn’t lie. His father was not named Thomas. His guardian was THOMAS Turley who lived next door to Amy Keesee who became his wife. Thomas Turley was the brother of Elizabeth Turley who was married to Simeon Justice who was the brother of Mary Justice who was the wife of George Green, Thomas Green’s Grandfather. All makes sense.

One more thing. Many years ago I could get into The Library of Virginia website and that is where I found the two marriage licenses and Jesse’s letter. Right now my copies are in a large box that is in the back of our garage that is packed to the very front. Unfortunately, to get in any LOV records you pretty much need to know exactly which box the records you want are in, which is almost impossible. Even going to Richmond doesn’t guarantee success. I really wish all of you could see them. It would convince you. Maybe one of you might know how to get those records. I will send my info on George Green’s deeds, etc. as soon as I can. Based on those deeds, his name was George Gerves Green. Apparently Gerves was a fairly popular English name back then. It was he who sold his land in Halifax Co, Va in 1770, 1771 and 1776 as he was referred to as Gerves in one of them. His son Jarvis never went by that name. Mary apparently died not too long after her father, prompting George’s move to North Carolina. All of his children were still under age at that time.

Betsy Today at 5:43 AM Another quick note...I firmly believe that Simeon Justice and Elizabeth Turley Justice we’re keeping Thomas Green until Simeon died in 1883. That would explain why he ended up in the home of Thomas Turley. Thomas and Amy were married in 1792 and Thomas Turley died in 1796. At that time Simeon’s sons chose William Justice as their guardian. He was the only one of Simeon’s brothers who still lived in Pittsylvania County by then. Both boys were almost of age but had been in trouble with the law and the judge deemed it necessary. I have no way of knowing if Thomas ever lived with his father, Jarvis, but suspect that Jarvis and Sarah Griggs did not have him in their household.

Betsy Today at 5:32 AM Another quick note. Many years ago I saw copies of both of Thomas and Amy’s marriage licenses and also Jesse Keesee’s request for their marriage. From what I saw, Jesse was literate but neither Thomas or Amy could read or write...Thomas, because his guardian could not afford to send him to school because he was also the guardian for the two youngest sons of Simeon Justice and Elizabeth Turley Justice who were his nephews, and Amy because very few females were educated back then. The first copy of the license which had the info of who Thomas was, was wrong and one of the clerks noticed. She even wrote a note at the bottom of the license. Since that was a Friday, it was Monday when it got corrected. In the first version he was actually shown as Thomas Grene Turley but the corrected version reads “Thomas Green”. There was no “e” at the end.

Betsy Today at 5:13 AM Thanks so much! The Ancestry DNA test is the only one I have taken. A couple of years ago I did a gedcom and sent it to one of the Justice name managers for comparison. That’s how I know that Mary Justice was not Jarvis Green’s mother. I found no connection to John Justice. I can do another gedcom and send it in if that will help. I have numerous docs for George Green and Jarvis that I can send.

You can follow George from 1753 in Lunenburg to Halifax Co, Va and then to Tyron Co, NC. After studying the history of Lunenburg it appears that when the County was formed the king was issuing grants in order to encourage people to move west. Lunenburg was cut from the much larger Brunswick County and was mostly a wilderness. It appears there were people who didn’t receive grants but moved there and “squatted” there. After seeing the entire deed from Israel Brown, I saw that George was noted as being “from this County” so he may have been one of the squatters. Over the years I researched all Green families that our Thomas might have been connected to but eliminated all of them. The only person that had possibilities was George. When I realized that Mary Justice was married to him the light came on. Her Father John lived just down the way from Jesse Keesee on Harpin Creek in Pittsylvania Co. I knew there had to be a connection! Then all of the pieces of the puzzle began to fall into place. I believe that it was Thomas Green himself who started the rumor about being related to Nathanael Greene. Gen. Greene was stationed in Pitts Co for a few weeks. A very young Thomas was likely awed by his presence. Both Gincy and her little brother, Austin, passed down the story. My grandmother told me the story. But after years of research, I couldn’t fine any evidence. The Thomas and Mary Whipple mentioned in some postings are very well documented and could not possibly be connected.

Sincerely,

Betsy

His name was shown on the first license document as Thomas Grine Turley on Friday, January 2nd but was corrected in a new marriage license document that reads Thomas Green (no Turley) on Monday, January 5th, 1792. He was not related to the Turley family in any way. Thomas Turley was his guardian and the brother of his great-aunt, Elizabeth Turley Justice. Her husband was Simeon Justice, the brother of Thomas’s step-grandmother, Mary Justice Green. To present him as Thomas Green Turley is simply incorrect. He is not a Turley and never was. I believe that Jesse Keesee was probably appalled when he say the first doc. Poor Thomas and Amy could not read it so did not know of the mistake until Jesse told them.

Thomas Turley Greene

Thomas Green and Amy Keesee marriage bond From: Roots of Roane County, TN by Snyder E. Roberts, pages 151-2, Courtesy of ML Gentry

References

• Thomas Green was never related to anyone named Turley. He was just fortunate to have him as a guardian. The county clerk simply wrote his name wrong. Per notes on the marriage license, the error was corrected two days later. When Thomas and Ames were married in 1792, Thomas Turley was about 62 years old and died four years later.
• https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sUdPlzYj7W6ShmFl-TwXC1WN8cS3wcf...
• THOMAS GREENE/GREEN (1770-1842) married (1792 in Pittsylvania County, VA) AMY KEESEE (1776-1854).
• Will: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S7WF-SNGK-P9?i=31&wc=M6Q7-N... image 32-33
• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/25553600/thomas-turley-greene/
• "Roots of Roane County, TN" by Snyder E. Roberts, pages 151-2"
• "Virginia Marriages, 1785-1940," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/X5YP-K5R), Thomas Green and Amey Kezee, 02 Jan 1792; citing Pittsylvania, Virginia, reference Page 15; FHL microfilm 33,326.
• Genealogy Report: Descendants of George Keesee I, updated 18 September 2000 by Carolyn E. Billingsley [1] Compilation or records related to George Keesee I and his descendants

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