Tuesday, May 3, 2016

Beeks line: David Rees 1655-1706 Immigrant

This will be a very short post, for such an important person in the Beeks line.

We know that he was born about 1755 in Redstone, Pembrokeshire, Wales, that he married Elinor Lloyd, and that he purchased land in Pennsylvania in 1686.  At the time, he was referred to as of "Llandewl" in the county of Pembroke. The land he purchased was 200 acres, part of land belonging to Francis Howell.  As far as I've been able to determine, Francis was not related to the Rees family nor to the Lloyd family, but that is subject to change.

At any rate, this was part of the William Penn land that Penn had so heavily promoted, especially to Quakers, and the Rees family was strongly Quaker.  That probably meant they were not wealthy, but they did have enough money to come to Pennsylvania and to buy land.  The land was somewhere in the area of Newtown, Pennsylvania, and the Reese family stayed there until David died in 1706.  He would have been about 51 years old, and he left eight children, some born in Wales and some in America although I've not found a really good listing for where each child was born. 

There are two children who are in the Beeks line: Morris, who married Sarah Butterfield and Thomas, who married Margaret Bowen.  Later two of Henry's grandchildren married, because it was not unusual for first cousins to marry at that time.  Hannah Rees, daughter of Morris Rees and Sarah Butterfield, married Thomas Rees, son of Thomas Rees and Margaret Bowen.  (It is hard to keep these Rees names straight, especially when they migrate to the Reese spelling, or going backward, dealing with the very Welsh Rhys spelling.)

This is as much as I've been able to learn to date about David Rees. I'd like to know more about him.  Did he prosper in America?  What Quaker meeting was he a part of?  Did his children all stay within the Quaker faith (Morris and Thomas did, but what of the others?)?  And what became of his wife, Elinor? 

 The Beeks line includes a lot of interesting people, but I think the Welsh Quakers are among the most interesting.  I'd love to walk among them for an afternoon and listen to them and watch them at work and at worship.

The lines of descent are:

David Rees-Elinor Lloyd
Morris Rees-Sarah Butterfield
Hannah Rees-Thomas Rees
Solomon Rees-Anna possibly McNeal
Owen T Rees-Margaret Moon
Eliza Rees-Samuel G Dunham
Margaret Catherine Dunham-Harvey Aldridge
Cleo Aldridge-Wilbur Beeks
Mary Margaret Beeks-Cleveland Harshbarger
Their descendants

Thomas Rees is the son of Thomas Rees and Margaret Bowen, and the older Thomas is the son of David and Elinor.







 

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