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Gee of America

Ralph Gee was in New Hampshire, on Ordione's Point--in today's Rye--by 1631, and perhaps as early as 1623 or 1624. He was living in George Mason's stone manor house.

Robert E. Gee, researching Gee of New York, identified four separate migrations of Gee from England to America during 17C.[1]

(1) Peter Gee, the first of the Boston family line. We know today that Peter was christened in Newton Ferrers, Devon. (See Gee of Devon.) This branch contains some fascinating characters. Parish records in Newton Ferrers, Devon show that he was crossing the Atlantic regularly. He was fishing or more likely trading dried fish on the Isles of Shoals, six miles off the coast of today's Portsmith, New Hampshire, by 1653. He may have been related to early Gee of New Hampshire Gee. His son Joshua was kidnapped by the Barbary pirates and held for six years until ransomed. Back in Boston, he used his shipbuilding knowledge to open a shipyard.

Joshua Gee's shipyard appears on the first printed map of Boston, the Bonner Map of 1722. It was located on the southwest side of Prince Street, and his mansion stood on the corner of Salem and Prince streets, known then as "Gee's Corner." The adjoining lands were also in possession of the Gees.

Joshua owned one of the first plots at the Copp's Hill Burying Ground, where is is buried. His son, Rev. Joshua, became Cotton Mather's co-pastor at the Second Church. (There is frequently confusion between this and the Old North Church.)

Rev. Joshua Gee's portrait and that of his wife hang today at the headquarters of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Rev. Joshua's son, also Joshua, was a member of the Harvard Board of Overseers and one-time candidate for President of Harvard. The descendants of Peter's son John have been documented by Robert E. Gee.

This branch pronounces Gee with a hard "g", as do Gee of Lyme. The closest related branch is Gee of Leeds and Gee of Leicester. Circumstantial evidence points to their being related to Gee of Rothley, Gee of Hull and Gee of Bishop Burton. More participants are needed to clarify the relationships.

(2) Henry and Charles Gee were the first of the Virginia line. The beginnings of this line have been extensively documented. [2] This branch includes veterans and heroes as early as the French and Indian War. A story passed down through the Virginia family has the founding Charles as the son of one Thomas Gee of Boston. Speculation has been that this Thomas was the son of Peter "the Fisherman" Gee of Boston. However DNA results done as part of this study prove that the two families are not related.

The descendants of Charles and Hannah's son Charles are covered by Garnette S. Teass and Marian Kessler in The Gee Family Tree, Charles and Hannah, to the Year 2000 (2001), which extends an earlier family history book, The Kin of Dr. Ned Gee, Lunenburg County, Virginia.

John3 seems to be a RecLOH mutation at CDYa. While multiple parallel mutations on a single marker are not common, this marker is one of the most volatile. John3 moved to Cumberland, NC, with his brother James Gee, a signer of the Liberty Point Resolves thirteen months before the Declaration of Independence. John3 went on to found the Tennessee branch, which has been partially documented by Zola Rymer Graf. [3]

The descendants of Eason Gee m. Abigail Davis have been documented by Lon Gee in Samuel Gee and His Descendants, self-published, 1964. This Eason was the son of John3 of Cumberland, NC and founder of the Tennessee branch.

The Texas descendants of Eason Gee (d1835) have been extensively documented by Deedee Williams.

A closely related line descends from David Gee/Jay, born around 1740, married Lydia ____, lived in Montgomery Co, MD. The earliest records show David using the Gee spelling, records between 1780-1810 show him using both Gee and Jay. After 1810, the family seems to have settled on the surname Jay. This line descends through his son William Jay b 1767 m Anne King in Fredrick Co, MD (across the river from Loudon Co, VA) in 1803. Deeds show the couple lived in Loudon Co for a time. They had three sons: Joseph Jay b 1814 (moved to Iowa), Jonathan King Jay b 1818 (to Minnesota) and Stephen H. Jay b 1820 (also to Minnesota). All descendants are believed to have been active Catholics into the mid-20th century. This information is through the courtesy of the Jay Family Association. The genetics show this family being very closely related to the descendants of Charles Gee d1709. His descendants either stayed in Virginia or moved south into North and/or South Carolina. The move from Prince George County north to Maryland would not have been logical. However from Henrico County it would make more sense, providing additional evidence for Charles d1709's descent from Mr. Henry Gee of Henrico.

(3) Solomon Gee, the first of the Connecticut line, was born in Devonshire in 1698 and settled in Lyme, CT. See history of Gee of Lyme

(4) John Gee, the patriarch of Gee of New York, was born in England about 1635 and died in Eastchester in 1702. This line has been documented in a series of four articles by Robert E. Gee.

John1 signed the Eastchester Covenant in 1635. He is believed to have come from Fairfield (CT) and settled in Dutchess and Westchester Co., NY. Their son Joseph2 was born 1676 and married Abigail ____.

Two of the participants descend from John1-->Joseph2-->William3. He was born in 1704 and married Catherine DeRosselle. Their son Joseph4 married Rachael____. Moses5 married Phebe ____ and moved to Gallia, OH.

Another participant (189265) descends from Joseph2's son Moses3-->Ezekiel4-->Isaac5-->Joseph6. This is a textbook story of how DNA can help place lines. DNA plus original research in the paper trail has established that this participant's modern line in Gratiot County, MI, ties back to Lyons Township, Wayne Co., NY. This discounted family lore of German ancestry and tied to two published accounts of their ancestor and his brother cutting their way through thick forests and crossing a frozen river on their pioneering journey to Michigan.

The closest related line to Gee of Westchester and Dutchess Counties is Gee of Southwark. The DNA study needs more participants before clarifying the relationships.
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[1] "The Gee Family: The Line from Peter the Fisherman (1614-1682)", The American Genealogist, 55, No. 2, April 1979, pp. 100-107.
[2] The Gee Family, Descendants of Charles Gee (d. 1709) and Hannah Gee (d. 1728) of Virginia, with a Chapter on the English Background, W.J. Fletcher, 1937.
[3] A Family Chronicle of S. Bradford Rymer, by Zola Rymer Graf, McClenathan Printery, Inc., Dunkirk, NY (1960).


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