Reuben Searcy Family

By Henry B. Brackin Jr.
VHRL43A@prodigy.com

Excerpt from The Brackin Family in the Southeastern United States
Reprinted with permission

Henry Co., Tenn. Court Minutes 1825 - 1828, page 34, dated Dec. 16, 1825 court. This is a settlement of 5000 acres of land amoung the heirs of Bartlett SEARCY, Asa SEARCY and Reuben SEARCY. The heirs of Reuben SEARCY were named to wit: Susanna SEARCY, deceased who married James GREER, Penelope SEARCY who married William BRACKIN, Jane SEARCY who married William C. ROGERS, Harriett SEARCY who married John B. HOWARD, Asa SEARCY deceased whose sole daughter (Elizabeth) married Joshua SMITH, Bennett SEARCY deceased whose sole daughter (Martio SEARCY) married Charles P. MCLEAN, Reuben SEARCY, Jesse SEARCY, Richard SEARCY, James SEARCY, William SEARCY, Polly SEARCY, Elizabeth SEARCY, Henrietta SEARCY, Robert SEARCY, Thomas SEARCY, and John SEARCY.

The following is a most valuable bit of material of the SEARCY family. It was found by Mrs. Mary Hamilton Brackin Philips and comes from a little paper entitled "The GREERS" by James M. GREER, dated May 1885. Mr. GREER was a grandson of Susannah SEARCY GREER, sister of Penelope Searcy Brackin GREER. He states "My grandmother on my father's side was named Susannah SEARCY. She seems to have been a woman of excellent temper, good education, healthy physique and possessed a superior social attainment to her husband. Several of her brothers were men of distinction. Two of them were in Congress, and one was a U. S. District Judge. Her father was for nearly forty years, Clerk of the Circuit Court of ____ County."

"I copy now as to her family from my Uncle David's memoranda book, heretofore referred to. (Uncle David S. GREER lived for many years near Memphis, Tennessee and died in 1881.)

"My Grandfather on my Mother's side lived to be quite an old man. I remember him well. He died in Sumner County, Tennessee about the year 1815. His second wife, Elizabeth JETT also lived to be a good old age. She died in Henry Co., Tennessee, in Spring Creek, at her daughter's Mrs. Jane RODGERS. She died about the year 1827. I copy the following from a medical book, which once belonged to my grandfather, which book I found in Sumner County, in the hands of my friend and relative, E. J. BROCK, in the year 1838.

Reuben SEARCY, born 11th O. S. June 22 New Style 1729
Susan HENDERSON, born April 23, 1742, married April 23, 1760 and she departed this life December 5, 1778
First issue, a daughter born Jan. 16, 1761, lived about 12 hours

  1. 2nd Asa SEARCY, born January 6, 1762
  2. 3rd Henrietta SEARCY born Oct. 6, 1763.
  3. 4th Bennett SEARCY, born July 7, 1765
  4. 5th Thomas SEARCY, born Jan. 28, 1767
  5. 6th Robert SEARCY, born Nov. 10, 1768
  6. 7th John SEARCY, born Nov. 8, 1770
  7. 8th Elizabeth SEARCY, born Dec. 6, 1772
  8. 9th Polly SEARCY, born Dec. 21, 1774
  9. 10th William SEARCY, born March 12, 1777 (about midnight) 2nd wife, Elizabeth JETT, born Aug. 1757
  10. 1st Susannah SEARCY, born Oct. 29, 1780
  11. 2nd Reuben SEARCY, born Sept 22, 1782
  12. 3rd Jesse SEARCY, born Aug. 1, 1784
  13. 4th Penelope SEARCY, born Sept. 8, 1786
  14. 5th Jane SEARCY, born Dec. 6, 1788
  15. 6th James SEARCY, born May 5, 1792
  16. 7th Richard SEARCY, born Sept. 1, 1794
  17. 8th Harriett SEARCY, born Dec. 6, 1796

Wednesday morning, May 5, 1774, the greatest frost ever known at that season of the year signed R. S.

My grandfather wrote a straight hand, round small number thus ( )
Robert SEARCY died in Nashville, Tennessee and buried there
Polly RICHARDSON died in Montgomery Co., Tenn. in 1823 or 4 and buried there
Reuben SEARCY died 15th of February 1865 at his residence in Sumner Co., Tenn. and was buried at the burying place of the family
Jesse SEARCY died near Huntsville, Ala
Penelope GREER died in Monroe County, Miss. and buried there
Jane RODGERS died in Henry County, Tenn, and buried at Coledonia
Richard SEARCY died in Batesville, Ark. and is buried in the town.
Harriett HOWARD died 10th of November near Coledonia, Henry County, Tennessee

Reference is made to the Madison Co., Ala. Court Records, May 17, 1849, page 92, a lawsuit over a division of the estate of Jesse SEARCY in which all of his collateral heirs are named: Anna H., wife of ____ HOPKINS, David S. GREER, Deana wife of William KEMP, Robert GREER, Sarah wife of John MCGOWAN, James GREER, Susan wife of Wm. N. WOOLRIDGE---all children of Susan GREER a deceased sister of said Jesse SEARCY; Susan DAVIS a widow and Susan HOPTON wife of Abner HOPTON, both granddaughters of said Susan GREER deceased; Reuben SEARCY a brother of said Jesse SEARCY; Elvis BRACKEN, Eliza wife of Boles BRACKEN, Elvira widow of John TURNER dec'd and James BRACKEN--all children of Penelope BRACKEN, a deceased sister of Jesse SEARCY; Jesse SEARCY, William B. SEARCY, Elizabeth J. wife of Franklin M. DESHA, James R. SEARCY (a minor) and Robert E. SEARCY (a minor)---all children of James SEARCY, a deceased brother of Jesse SEARCY; Jane wife of William C. ROGERS and Harriett HOWARD, a widow, both sisters of said Jesse SEARCY. All the aforementioned heirs are now residents of the State.

Reuben SEARCY was sheriff of Granville Co., N.C. before the Revolution according to Ray Worth in "Colonial Granville and Its People." He and Stephen JETT witnessed a will in Granville Co. in 1771 and Stephen JETT witnessed a deed of sale of Reuben SEARCY in 1789 in Madison Co., Ky.



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