GEEography

As I understand there is a romantic legend told in the area about Joseph Gee. Joseph is on the 1820 census of Wilcox County as a single male with eighteen slaves but according to the legend he had married the daughter of an Indian chief. Considering the time and place the chief was probably Alexander McGillivray of the Creeks who, as you can tell by his name, was the result of a colorful lineage and the subject of several romantic tales himself as he fought for the British during the Revolution. The story indicates that Joseph took his Indian bride back to North Carolina to meet his family who rejected her completely. He swore never to speak to his family again and went back to Alabama to live among the Indians. There is even speculation that the infamous will was an attempt by Joseph to leave something to his Indian bride who was never heard from again.

The 1850 census lists William F. Gee, attorney, living in Camden just across the Alabama River from Gee's Bend. He was a nephew to Joseph Gee and could have been keeping an eye on the property. It appears the property was jointly owned by several members of the family at this time. At about this time another (possible) family member, John Henry Gee, came to live at Gee's Bend as resident manager and overseer. John Henry's son, Samuel Bolivar Gee, who lived there as a child told of the impressive mansion they lived in. He spoke of playing among the cotton bales stacked on the wharves at Camden, and the excitement at the arrival of a steamboat.

Henry picked his own gravesite 20 years before his death and was the first to be buried in the cemetery which lay among a grove of oaks on a steep hill. The last person to be buried there was probably William V. Gee (a family black sheep) who died in 1927 and lies in an unmarked grave. Upon Henry's death the State Lodge placed a tomb over the grave to honor his memory. When the plantation passed from the possession of the Gee Family the cemetery fell into disrepair. The cemetery remained in this condition for many years until a family group, organized by Annette Gee Ford of Quincy, restored the property. Annette financed the project by arranging a reprint of The Gee Family, by W.J. Fletcher which devotes a full chapter to Henry Gee and his family. Proceeds from the sale of the reprint allowed the family to enclose the graves in a chain link fence; have the broken monuments repaired; and install a monument with a brass plaque that lists the persons buried in the unmarked graves.

The cemetery is located about 4 miles southeast of Quincy off of SR 267. It is on private property that was part of Henry Gee's plantation.

The Gees probably hoped to start a new life in the hills of Claiborne Parish. They eventually established a plantation of almost 3,000 acres and became very well known in the area for their prosperity. Sack, a teacher early in his career, was a man of education and refinement who was elected state representative of Claiborne Parish in 1839. Their enjoyment of the wealth they accumulated was tempered by numerous family tragedies. Their son John L. Gee aged 17 years died only two years after their arrival in Louisiana. Two years later their young son Jones L. Gee died at the age of 7. Dr. Lucas Gee, brother to Sack, died at the age of 42 in 1850. In 1863 Sack P. Gee passed away and a short two years later Sack and Mary Gee's only daughter Mary died at the age of 18 years. Mary Gee died in 1873 after much of their fortune and land was gone. The Gees left no descendants and soon the family cemetery was overgrown and virtually forgotten.

Today the quaint family cemetery has been restored by the Claiborne Parish Historical Association. The graves of the members of Sack Gee's family are brick vaults topped with marble slabs. They are located atop a slight knoll and among them grow two huge old oak trees. Between the vaults of Sack Pennington Gee and daughter Mary is a gap where presumably wife Mary lies. When she died there was no money for an impressive brick vault. Nothing marks her grave but a piece of crude native stone. Nearby, in remebrance of the Sack Gee family, are two small creeks that bear the family name.

The historical cemetery lies 10.7 miles southeast of Homer, Lousiana. To reach the site take highway 146 E. From Homer 7.8 miles past Lake Claiborne to Shaw-Marsalis Road, directly across from the junction of LA 518 N. 1/2 miles past the entrance of Lake Claiborne State Park. Turn right onto Shaw-Marsalis Road and continue 2 miles then turn left onto a small unmarked paved road. Continue on this road .9 miles. The Gee Cemetery is on the left.

Two Gee brothers James and Jesse sons of Neavil Gee of Lunenburg County, Virginia were among those early pioneers who took advantage of the land grants. It appears that Jesse went to Kentucky first, sometime before 1798. His brother James followed sometime before 1804. According to land records Jesse eventually accumulated 500 acres from various grants. James acquired at least 200 acres.

According to a letter written in 1906 by William Sanford Gee to his nephew, Harlan Gee, the Gee family made their way to Kentucky from Virginia by travelling north until they were able to build flatboats and float to Pittsburgh where they ventured onto the Ohio River. Some miles below Pittsburgh they anchored their flatboats to trees and camped several weeks near a sugar orchard where they collected sap and rendered it into molasses thus supplying themselves with enough to last several months. They continued a liesurely float down the Ohio to the mouth of the Cumberland River. Entering the Cumberland they ascended the river to a place named Center Point. This scenario is plausible since historical maps of the time reveal that there were no roads that led from Virginia westward towards the beginning of the Wilderness Road almost two hundred miles westward of the Gee homes in Virginia. To make this overland trip without the benefit of roads would have been very difficult and hazardous in the late eighteenth century. However, at the time there were several good roads that led north from Virginia into Pennsylvania. These included the King's Highway that connected the colonial capitols and the Occaneechi Trail. The existence of these roads made it more practical for the Gees to travel northward to a point where they could enter a river and float to the Ohio at Pittsburgh to begin their journey westward.

Jesse and James eventually established adjoining homesteads directly north of a feature in the Cumberland known as Turkey Neck Bend. There the families flourished for many years to come. In Cumberland County, 1802, Jesse Gee along with one Moses Kirkpatrick signed a bond as constable for Thomas Lincoln. Many references indicate that this Thonmas Gee was the father of Abraham Lincoln however this claim is doubtful.

Many of the children of James and Jesse Gee are buried in the Gee Cemetery located south of the Cumberland River in Turkey Neck Bend. The old cemetery is on private land and is not in good repair but the headstones continue to stand as reminders of the Gee pioneer history.