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Subject: SUMMARY to article in Bath Co. Bicentennial Book
Date: Sat, 19 Apr 1997 23:34:03 -0400 (EDT)

No. 2 Summary to Bath Co. Bicentennial book ( April 19, 1997)

This article was written on the premise that Robert, Archibald, and William
were brothers. There is little reason to believe otherwise. As mentioned in
the text, William's son, Archibald Jr., named his "Uncle Archibald" an
executor in his will. All three men had sons named Robert, Archibald, and
John, and daughters named Ann. William and Archibald had sons named William,
which Archibald and Robert had daughters named Isabella. William and Robert
had children who maried intothe Thomas Turk family, and both had
grandchildren who lived near each other in Preble Co. Ohio. Also, lands that
each purchased in Augusta County were contiguous.

There is no doubt about the names of their children who lived to maturity.
William and Elizabeth (Clark) had James, named after her father,, Archibald,
William, Alexander, Robert, John, and Ann. Robert and Sarah (Bingham) wer the
parents of Archibald, John, Robert, Isabella, Ann, and Elizabeth. Archibald
was the father of Archibald, William, Andrew, John, Robert, Ann,
Isabella,Jean, Martha, Rebecca, and Mary. Of these, we know that Jean
(McCausland) was the mother of Andrew, John, and Robert.

What is known about their parents? Considering that an Archibald Roaugh was a
member of the Augusta County Militia in 1746(Ref.7), and that a deed written
in 1758 named Archibald Junior as grantee, it is safe to assume that their
father was named Archibald. That another Archibald lived in Augusta County is
further evidenced by statements made by a Revolutionary War verteran, Edward
Mason, who, in 1832, testified for a pension application that at age fifteen
he began paying for his passage from England by being "sold out" and "was
bought by the widow of Archibald Rhea of Augusta County Va. at Stanton Va.
with whom he lived four years; part of which he lived in Augusta Co Va. and
part in Wythe County, Va. (ref.3) If his testimony was correct, and he was
between eighty and ninety years of age as alleged, then Archibald had died by
1767, and perhaps as early as 1757. Wythe County was established in 1789. Its
parent county, Montgomery, was derived from Botetourt in 1776, and Botetourt
separated from its parent, Augusta, in 1769. The widow's move to the part of
Virginia that later became Montgomery and Wythe Counties may explain why the
Robert Reah, Reagh, Reaugh family went there from South Carolina rather than
to their former home farther to the north.

Where were they born, and when did they arrive in the Colonies and in Augusta
County? This author and other researchers are certain that they were of
Scotch-Irish ancestry, and emigrated from Northern Ireland. The date of their
arrival in America is unknown. There was a strong stream of Ulster Scots
throughout the eighteenth century, especially in the years 1717-1718,
1727-1728, 1740-1741, and 1771-1773. The famine of 1740-41 occasioned a ten
year exodus that could have included the Reah/Reagh family. It is firmly
established that the Scotch-Irish of the Valley of Virginia disembarked
mainly at the ports of Philadelphia and Baltimore. Before moving southward,
some lived temporarily in the Cumberland Valley, and in the present
Pennsylvania counties of Chester, Lancaster, York, and Dauphin. See: Dunway,
Wayland F., The Scotch-Irish of Colonial Pennsylvania, (Chapel Hill, NC; the
University of North Carolina Press, 1944). 34, 38.* The brothers, and
ostensibly their father, Archibald, arrived in Augusta County between
September, 1742, and September, 1746. Archibald's name did not appear on the
roster of militia in 1742(Draper Manuscript Collection, IQQ10-17),* but he
was named in a court martial held in September, 1746(Ref.7)

What is known about their ancestors: Most of the published information on
this topic is not supported by documented evidence. Throughout the
literature, statements are found affirming a connection between the Rheas and
the Campbells of Scotland. In 1893, C. Luther Coyner wrote that his
grandmother, Elizabeth (Rhea) Coyner, "descended on her father's side from
Archibald, 3rd Duke of Argyle," and that John Rhea, the congressman from
Tennessee, was a brother. As is pointed out in Ref. 33, very few of his
comments about Elizabeth's background have survived close examination. The
3rd Duke, who was also the 12th Earl of Argyll, held that post from about
1743 until his death in 1761, rather late dates to be an ancestor of brothers
who were born approximately 1725 to 1730.

According to A Memoir Of The Rhea Family by John Rhea, his father, Rev.
Joseph Reha, was the son of Matthew Rhea, whose "ancestor" was of the
"Ancient House of Campbell." He claimed that this ancestor, "having been
engaged in rebellion against despotic powers was obliged to abandon Scotland
and take refuge in Ireland, where and when he changed his name....(to)Creah
or Reah." He was, by some accounts, Matthew Campbell, a cousin of Archibald
Campbell, Ninth Earl of Argyll an a co-particpant in the Monmouth Rebellion.
See Armstrong, Zella, Notable Sothern Families, (Chattanooga: Lookout
Publishing Co., 1922), Vol. II, 253.* John referred to his ancestor, who was
more than likely his great-grandfather, as " The Rebel," a moniker he
frequently attached to his grandfather. Based on this article and on other
published genealogies, it is untenable that the Rheas herin recorded
descended from matthew, the Rebel's son. "Matthew" and "Joseph" are unknown
among early descendants of the three brothers. Some have speculated that the
Rheas of Augusta County may have descended from an Archibald Reagh, alleged
to have been one of two other sons of the Rebel. This writer is not
convinced, and recommends that thorough, documented research be done before
conclusions are drawn. On April 27, 1687, two years after Archibald Campbell,
the Ninth Earl of Argyll, was executed for participating in the Monmouth
Rebellion a "Mathew" Reagh married Jenot Baxter in Londonderry, Templemore,
Derry Cathedral(Genealogy Library, church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day
Saints)*. Was he Matthew Campbell the Rebel, the co-patriot and cousin of the
Ninth Earl of Argyll, and the father of Matthew and Archibald Reagh,/Reah" It
is difficult to imagine that the Rebel was the only person in Ireland to have
the name "Reah" or a close variant. yet, considering family traditons, both
written and oral, a connection between the Rheas and Campbells should not be
dismissed. It should be thoroughly investigated.

Throughout this article, a number of family relationships were presented as
being less than certain. by reviewing references and acquiring additional
information after the article was completed in January, 1991, the author is
now convinced of the following:

1.) That Robert, Archibald, and William were brothers, and the sons of
Archiblad Roaugh/Reah/ Reagh.

2) That Robert married Sarah Bingham, the daughter of John and Sarah
Bingham.

3) That Robert and Sarah had a son,Robert, who became a veteran of two war,
who married Mary Stephens, the daughter of Jehu Stephens, a neighbor, and
that they had a son, Jehu Stephens Rhea, who married Elizabeth Smith and
moved from Tennessee to Preble County, Ohio.

4) That Thomas, the son of James and grandson of William, married his first
cousin, Martha, the daughter of his uncle, Robert; and that Mary/Polly, the
daughter of James and sister to Thomas, also married her first cousin,
Thomas, Martha's brother.

5) That Robert Rhea of Hopkins County, Kentucky, was the son of Robert, and
the grandson of William(Ref. 170, 171).

As expected, there are many unanswered questions. Besides their ancestry,
their place of residence in Ireland, and the time and place of arrival in the
Colonies, the following questions are posed:

1) When, whre, and how did their father, Archibald, die? What was his
widow's, and presumably, their mother's given and maiden names? And what
happened to her after moving to the area that became Wythe Coutny?

2) Who was the "Uncle Archibald Rhea" in whose home near Raleigh his niece,
Elizabeth, the daughter of Robert, was reportedly born? See Ref. 12, 22, 42.

3) What happened to Sarah, Robert's wife? Was she the mother of all of his
chidlren? Charles Luther Coyner (Ref.22) wrote that Elizabeth's daughter,
Sarah Bingham Coyner, was named after her 'grandaunt." This author has
assumed that she was named after Elizabeth's mother. If his statement is
true, Sarah died before 1765, and Robert married her sister.

4) What happened to Robert's son, John? The author knows only that he
administered his father's estate(Ref. 19, 47), and that he died before 1836,
leaving land to his sister, Ann (Rhea) Turk(REf. 48).

5) It is known that Robert's son Archibald died in 1793 (Ref. 198). How did
he die? Was he killed by Indians during the 1793 uprising in Knox County,
Tennessee? And was he the Archibald Rhea after whom two of his sisters named
sons following his death.(Ref. 42)? Ann (Rhea) Turk's son was born July 4,
1794 (from obituary in the Staunton Spectator, Jan. 18, 1844), and Elizabeth
(Rhea) Coyner's son was born in 1797. Charles Luther Coyner (Ref.22) stated
that Elizabeth's son was named after his "grand-uncle Archibald Rhea, at one
time Governor of North Carolina." See comments in Ref. 22.

6) Was William and Robert's brother, Archibald Jr., married more than once?
Was Jean McCausland his second wife? See notes in Ref.3 and 203.

7) Who was the Archibald that married Ann Humphreys? Was he the grandson of
Robert and the son of Archibald as indicated in the text? See Ref. 192. The
other possibility would be the grandson of Archibald, the one who married
Susannah Litteral in 1805(Ref. 203). In Mary Latham Northon's article on the
Rheas published in the "Highlander (REf. 54), she wrote that "Archibald Rhea,
Jr.,(III), married (1) Ann Humphreys, (2) Catherine Sevier." She erroneously
named Archibald III the son of Archibald II who "d. 1774." The Arhcibald who
died in 1774 was the son of William, and left three sons, not one of whom was
named Archibald. for a comment on The Highlander article, see Ref. 54.
Considering also that Archibald and Ann moved to eastern Tennessee whre
Robert's son , Archibald, had lived, it seems more plausable that Ann
Humphrey's husband was Robert's grandson, not Archibald's.

8) Had Robert and Sarah's daughter, Isabella, married a Paxton before
marrying James McCleskey? See notes under Ref. 197.

9) Did Robert, Archibald, and William have a sister or sisters living in
Virginia or elsewhere? Unless wills can be located for Archibald Sr. and /or
his wife, finding an answer may be difficult. Close family members frequently
exchanged property and witnessed deeds and wills, but the relationships were
usually omitted. Archibald had an orphan, John Lynn, "bound out " to him in
1769 (ref.55), and a William Wooldridge, age three, was bound out to William
in 1773(Ref. 57). Might these have been close family members? The author
suspects that ther may have been sisters, but knows of none.

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