The Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia borders Maryland and Virginia. The first European settlers started arriving about 1730.
also spelled Reecee , Rees, Reese
The Society of Friends (Quakers) began in England in the 1650s, when they broke away from the Puritans. Pennsylvania was founded by William Penn, as a safe place for Friends to live and practice their faith.
Thomas Reece/Rees was born about 1705.
Thomas married Margaret Bowen in Chester County, Pennsylvania about 1731. Margaret was the daughter of Henry Bowen and Jane Carter.
HenryReece/Rees (1732, married Martha Thomas and Ann Neill),
Thomas Reece/Rees (1734, married Hannah Reece/Rees daughter of Morris Reece/Rees), William Reece/Rees (1736, married Charity Dillon, daughter of Daniel Dillon),
David Reece/Rees (1738, married Elizabeth Babb),
Robert Reece/Rees (1742, married Sidney Lewis and Rachel Brackney),
John Reece/Rees (1744, married Nancy Carter and Sarah Huston),
Solomon Reece/Rees (1744, married Ann),
Jane Reece/Rees (1746, married Jacob Moon),
Margaret Reece/Rees (1748, married Thomas Reece/Rees son of Morris Reece/Rees),
Mary (Polly) Reece/Rees (1750, married John Brabson).
In 1743 the family moved to Opecquon Creek in Frederick County, Virginia.
Thomas Reece/Rees died in 1783.
Opequon Creek is tributary of the Potomac River. It joins the Potomac northeast of Martinsburg and its source is at the foot of Great North Mountain. It is part of the boundary between Frederick and Clarke counties in Virginia and between Berkeley and Jefferson counties in West Virginia.
from Virginia Northern Neck Land Grants, 1742-1775, Vol. 2, Gertrude E. Gray, pg. 119.
Thomas Rees of Frederick county,
430 acres in said County
on Mill Creek of Opeckon [Opequon].
Surv. William Baylis.
Adj. Thomas Rees, James Crumly, William Dillon, Jonah Ridgeway from Ridgway, Hobson, Henry Bowing.
4 June 1760.
