The Death of John Dease

John Dease, son of Mark Deese and his wife Nancy [Maiden named unknown] lived his life on America frontier in a place called the Mississippi Territory. John and his brother, Mark  moved into this area in 1800.

I John Dease do upon Oath say that in the year eighteen hundred I became an inhabitant of Washington County in the Mississippi Territory... s/John Dease

By the end of 1805, John had married the Widow Bridget Burk/Burke and by pre-emption acquired 320 acres upon which he built his home. His marriage to the Widow Bridgett Burk added another 360 acres to their holdings. No Last Will has been found for John but the 1820 U. S. Population Censuses indicates that he and Bridgett had 5 sons between 1805-1820; and 1 daughter between 1810-1820.

Bridgett is last listed on the 1830 Census with her husband, a son and a daughter. Her date of death is unknown but is believed to be between 1830 and 1840. John is enumerated  alone in the 1840 U. S. Population Census and we know he passed away on 22 October 1846. His Obituary was printed in the “True Democrat Newspaper” whose Editor is believed to be his oldest son, Oliver Cromwell Dease. Sadly, the obituary makes no mention of wife and family.

[COMMUNICATED]

Departed this life, on the 22d inst., JOHN DEASE, aged 77 years, a native of West Meath, Ireland. Mr. Dease was well and extensively known to the people of East Mississippi, having been the first settler of that section of country lying between the Pascugoula and Pearl rivers; and, amid all the privations and discouragements incident to an entirely new country, he succeeded in amassing a considerable fortune, in raising a large and highly respectable family, and constantly preserved the reputation of an honest, independent and generous hearted man. He proved his zeal for the general good of the country by many liberal donations, the chief of which was con- tribute towards the erection of the orphan asylum of Mobile. All who knew Mr. Dease have ample reason to respect and revere his memory. His numerous friends and relatives have wept over the loss which heaven, in its inscrutable judgment, has called upon them to bear, but not as those without hope. It pleased God to grant him, in his last hours, the full and abundant consolations of his church, which he received, nothing wavering, but with triumphant pace and joy. May his children, and children's children, emulate his virtues, and terminate their earthly career, as he did, in the confident hope of a blissful immortality.

Note & Comments: In John’s  Public Lands Pre-emption Case No. 76 he made the following sworn statement:

That he was twenty-one years of age on the 3d March, 1803.That would make John Dease birthdate to be 3 March 1782.

Now we have his obituary in October 1846 stating that he is 77 years of age. Substracting 77 from 1846 would make John Dease birth year to be 1769.

No Obituary has been found for Bridget and no tombstone has been found for John or Bridget.

John Dease is my 3rd Great Grand Uncle and by marriage, Bridgett is my 3rd Great Grand Aunt.

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1. "John Dease," Death notice, Obituary, True Democrat, Paulding, Mississippi, 28 October 1846, Page 2, column 2; Digital On-Line Archives, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/:viewed & transcribed 9 March 2023); https://www.newspapers.com/.

Public Lands Pre-emption~John Dease, Case No. 76

 Page 642

John Dease’s Case, No. 76 on the docket of the Board, and No. 29 on the books of the Register.

Claim.--- A right of pre-emption of fifty acres, under the third section of the act.
The claimant presented his claim, together with a surveyor’s plot of the land claimed, in the following words and figures, to wit:
To the Commissioners appointed in pursuance of the act of Congress passed the 3d day of March, 1803, for receiving and adjusting claims to lands south of Tennessee, and east of the Pearl river.
March 9, 1804
Please to take notice, that the following tract of land, situated on the waters of the Tombigbee river, in the county of Washington, beginning at a pine, and running thence, north, twenty-two chains thirty-five links, to a corner pine; thence, south twenty-two thirty-five links, to a pine; thence east twenty-two thirty-five links, to the beginning; containing fifty acres, having such shape, form, and marks, natural and artificial, as are fully represented in the plot annexed; which said land is claim by John Dease, in and by virtue of the third section of the said act, as a pre-emption; and is now exhibited in the Register of the Land Office east of  Pearl river, to be recorder as directed by said act. To all which he begs leave to refer, as also to a copy of the plot herewith filed.
                                                                                      JOHN DEASE
[Plot omitted]

Chain bearers, James Powell, John Hinson, Surveyed 23d day of February, 1804, by Natt Christmas.
Entered in record of claims, volume 1, page 80, by Edward Lloyd Wailes for
                                                          JOSEPH CHAMBERS, Register
Daniel Johnson and James Powel, chain carriers for the preceding survey, were sworn before ransom Harwell, Esq., Justice of the Peace.
James Powel and Daniel Johnson were produced as witness, and were duly sworn, and being interrogated by the Board, both testified, that they were not directly or indirectly interested in the establishment of this claim; that, some time in the fall of the year 1802, John Dease, the present claimant, entered upon the land now claimed, and commenced the building of a mill; that he had, from that time to the present, continued the prosecution of said work; that he has built a house upon said land, for the accommodations of himself and workmen, and the last year cultivated a small garden; that he was twenty-one years of age on the 3d March, 1803.
The Board ordered that the case be postponed for consideration.
A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774 - 1875
American State Papers, House of Representatives, 10th Congress, 2ndSession
Public Lands: Volume 1
Top of Form
Page 642 of 857

Page 725
John Dease’s case: commenced in page 642
On due consideration, the Board is of opinion that this claimant is entitled to a right of pre-emption to three hundred And twenty acres of land, to be locate as follows:
Beginning on the southeast corner, on the east side of Bilbo’s creek, and so far therefrom as to leave the mill dam and saw mill of the said Dease, which are now erected, in the centre of said tract; and thence, due west, fifty-six chains seventy links; thence due north, fifty-six chains seventy links; thence, due east, fifty-six chains seventy links; thence, due south, fifty-six chains seventy links, to the beginning. And the Board doth order that a certificate be granted to him accordingly.

The Land allocated to John Dease can be seen on the below Land map. The said tract is in such shape as a box with 4 equal sides.
 

The said tract shape is “due west, fifty-six chains seventy links; thence due north, fifty-six chains seventy links; thence, due east, fifty-six chains seventy links; thence, due south, fifty-six chains seventy links, to the beginning.”

John Dease and  the widow, Bridgett Burke were married sometime in the fall of 1805. The couple now own two tracts of land totaling 960 acres in the Mississippi territory; specifically in Washington County, Mississippi.  The Bridgett Burke pre-emption of 640 acres and the John Dease pre-emption of 320 acres.

John Dease also commented about his age and birth in this posting. Most on-line trees show his birth to be about 1770. But, John Dease in this sworn statement said "that he was twenty-one years of age on the 3d March, 1803." That would make John Dease birthdate to be 3 March 1782. 

John Dease is my 3rd Great Grand Uncle.

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[1]. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsp&fileName=028/llsp028.db&Page=642

[2]. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsp&fileName=028/llsp028.db&Page=725Bottom of Form

[3] https://www.alamy.com/stock-image-mississippi-territory-map-163230767.html

Deposition of John Dease

Deposition of John Dease

[November 3, 1808]
 
MISSISSIPPI TERRITORY
Washington County
I John Dease do upon Oath say that in the year eighteen hundred I became an inhabitant of Washington County in the Mississippi Territory, that since that period, I have known the lands claimed by the heirs of William Powell deceased and John Johnston Senior by virtue of a Spanish order of Survey issued in the year seventeen hundred and ninety five situated on the east side of Tombigbee River opposite to McIntoshs Bluff to be annually cultivated.
And I do further state that I was one of the committee who had on our possession Treaty made and concluded between the Spanish Government  of West Florida and Chacktaw [Choctaw] Indians, whereby the Chacktaws transferred to the said Spanish government all title to the lands on each side of the Tombigbee Rivers some distance above Fort St. Stephens—(Which said treaty we obtained from Spanish government of West Florida). And I believe that the said treaty was put into the hands of General Wilkinson to be forward to the general government of the U. States.
Sworn to before this 3rd of November 1808—John Johnston Justic of the County Court of Washington County.
[Endorsed] J. Dease’s Testimony
[Enclosure:DS]

In the late 1700, these disputed lands were controlled by the Spanish Government and the Choctaw, Natchez and Chickasaw Indians.  

The Mississippi Territory didn’t exist and the area was known as West Florida. Disagreement and disputes between the United States and the Spanish Government  resulted in an agreement known as the Treaty of Madrid signed in 1795 relinquishing all rights to these disputed lands to the United States.

In 1798, the United States government created what was to be known as the Mississippi Territory.

An excellent map of this newly created territory can be seen here:

   https://www.alamy.com/stock-image-mississippi-territory-map-163230767.html

The lands of John Dease and Bridget Burke (highlighted in yellow) can be seen on this land ownership map.  

We can also see by the above disposition of John Dease that the land was now known as the Mississippi Territory but treaties and agreements to purchase land were still being negotiated between the early settlers and the existing Indian Tribes.

John Dease is my 3rd Great Grand Uncle.

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1. THE TERRITORIAL PAPERS OF THE UNITED STATES, Compiled and edited by Clarence Edwin Carter; VOLUME V, Page 669; The Territory of Mississippi (1798-1817}; US GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON : 1937

2. https://www.alamy.com/stock-image-mississippi-territory-map-163230767.html

3. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/38873:2179

The Board doth Order that a certificate be granted

In the early beginnings of the United States, Congress retained a prominent role in settling claims against the Federal Government. Today’s post is from the “American State Papers” whose 38 volumes contains land claims related to the public land States of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana and Michigan.

Today post is a claim from the Mississippi Territory whereby Bridget Burke is assuming a claim established by her deceased husband, William Burke. Case No. 106 on the docket of the Board, and No. 83 on the books of Register.

Transcription:

Bridget Burke
Page 656
Bridget Burke, administratrix of William Burke, deceased, Case No. 106 on the docket of the Board, and No. 83 on the books of Register.
Claim.--- A donation of six hundred and forty acres, as assignee and legal representative of Thomas Jones under the-------section of act.
The claimant presented her claim, together with a surveyor’s plot of land claimed, in the following words and figures, viz.:
To the Commissioners appointed in pursuance of the act of Congress passed the 3rd day of March, 1803, for receiving and adjusting claims to land south of Tennessee and east of the Pearl river.
Please to take notice, that the following tract of land, situated on the west side of Tombigbee, in the county of Washington, beginning at a sassafras on the river bank, and running north, seventy-three degrees west, one hundred and one chains and twenty links, to a water oak; thence, north, seventeen degrees east, forty chains to a cypress; thence, south, ten degrees east, fifty chains to a pine on Bilbo’s creek; thence, down said creek to the river, and up the various courses of the river to the beginning; and hath such forms and marks, both natural and artificial, as are fully represented in the plot annexed, containing six hundred and forty acres: is claimed by the widow Bridgett Burke, in and by virtue of a deed of conveyance from Thomas Jones to the deceased William Burke; and is now exhibited to the Register of the Land Office established east of Pearl river, to be recorded as directed by said act. To all which she begs leave to refer, as also to a copy of the plot herein filed.
                                                BRIDGET BURKE, her X mark
                          Administratrix of her deceased husband, Wm. Burke. 
March 26, 1804
[Plot omitted]
Surveyed March 22, 1804, by John Dease. Chain bearers, James Dean and James Powell.
Entered in record of claims, vol. 1, page 241, by EDWARD LLOYD WAILES for
                                                                   JOSEPH CHAMBERS, Register
 
The claimant produced letters of administration to her, duly granted and authenticated, bearing date the 16th day of September 1803.
Ephraim Barker and Francis Stringer were presented as witnesses, and being duly sworn and interrogated by thee Board, they deposed, that they were not interested in this claim; that Thomas Jones, the person in whose right the present claimant appears, moved his family on to the land in question in the year 1796; made a crop thereon in 1797, that his family continued to reside there until; the last part of the year 1798, when William Burke, now deceased, purchased the possession and improvements which Jones had made, and removed there with his family, and there continued until the time of his death, which happed in the course of last year; that the said Thomas Jones was the head of a family in the year 1797.
The Board ordered that the case be postponed for consideration.
Page 690
BRIDGET BURKE, administratrix of William Burke, deceased: case commenced in page 656.
James Powel and James Dean, chain carriers for the survey in this case, were sworn before R. Harwell, Esquire, Justice of Peace.
John Dease, surveyor, was presented as a witness, and, being duly sworn, deposed, that he made the survey and plot of the land in question, and believed it to be correct; and that if contained the improvements of the claimant; that he knew of no interfering lines or claims; and that its present shape was in consequences of other claims which bound it on all sides but one.
The Board ordered that the case be postponed for consideration.
Page 717
BRIDGET BURKE, administratrix of William Burke, deceased: case commenced in page 656.
On due consideration, the Board is of opinion that this claim is supported, and that the heirs of the said William Burke, deceased, are entitled to a patent for six hundred and forty acres of land, provided the same shall be contained within the following lines, viz.: Beginning at the northwest corner of James Lowe’s pre-emption, claimed by his representative Seth Dean; thence, with said Lowe’s line, due east, to the northwest corner of John Wallace’s pre-emption, claimed by his representative Seth Dean; and thence, with the said Wallace’s line, due east to the west margin of the Tombigbee river, near the mouth of Bilbo’s creek; thence, up the margin of said river, to the moth of outlet of Rain’s lake; thence, along the margin of said lake, to the lower line of Cornelius Rain’s land; thence with the said Rain’s line, south, seventeen degrees east, to his southeast corner; thence, with his line, due west, to the southeast corner of Ann Lawrence’s land; thence, with said Lawrence’s line to her south-west corner; and thence, to the place of beginning. And the Board doth Order that a certificate be granted to them accordingly.   

An interesting aspect of this case is its surveyor. In this post just past the signature of Bridget Burke in the first paragraph we find this statement:

“Surveyed March 22, 1804, by John Dease. Chain bearers, James Dean and James Powell.”  

Yesterday’s posting was “Marriage Contract: John Dease and Bridgett Burke”. The widow Burke after gaining possession of this land entered into marriage with John Dease sometime shortly after September 1805.

Another interesting aspect of this case is how it was obtained. We will see its source tomorrow in the “Deposition of John Dease.”

John Dease and Bridgett Burk are my 3rd Great Grand Uncle & Aunt. 

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1. American State Papers, House of Representatives, 10th Congress, 2nd Session
Public Lands: Volume 1, Page 656