Isaiah Pless - Residences & Death Site
I would like to summarize several facts and offer an hypothesis about the whereabouts of ISAIAH PLESS during the last decades of his life, which may also suggest the cause of his death and the general whereabouts of his grave.
Isaiah was in Haywood County, NC in the 1850 census (dwelling # 562) along with Isaac Pless (dwelling # 564) and Elijah Pless (dwelling # 565). He subsequently moved with his family into northern Georgia and is listed, serially, in three separate counties over the next 4 decades: Gilmer County in the 1860 census, Fannin County (HH 427) in 1870, and Murray County (HH 109) in 1880. He applied for a pension (based upon his service in the North Carolina Indian removal) while he was in Gilmer County, in December 27, 1892, stating that he had lived in Gilmer County since his discharge in 1838. Isaiah’s sister, Priscilla Pless, was (almost certainly) married to Harrison/Posey Hice, my gg grandfather (Isaiah’s wife was Talitha Hice, Harrison/Posey’s sister). The Hice and Pless families were closely associated during the latter part of the 1800’s, as was attested to by an interview with my grandfather, Charles Brownlow Hice, as well as by the close geographic connections of Isaiah’s children with the Hice family in the Cherrylog, Gilmer County, GA area.
My branch of Hices at that time lived in what is now Fannin County, Georgia, on Fightingtown Creek; they received their mail at the Chestnut Gap post office (now defunct).This area was, prior to 1854 (the creation of Fannin) a part of Gilmer County. This area is a very short distance from the northeast corner of Murray County, Georgia. It is also almost adjacent to the present-day line of Gilmer. From copies of correspondence of Isaiah’s daughter Ethel Loe Bertha Pless Smith, I know that both Isaiah and Talitha died about 1893. A deadly epidemic (called “typhoid fever” by some) swept the area of Fightingtown Creek during the latter part 1893, claiming the lives of seven of the children of my great grandparents, George Henry Hice and Theresa Jane, his wife.
My general hypothesis is this: Isaiah Pless probably lived in the same general area on Fightingtown Creek, close to Chestnut Gap, Georgia, for the last 4 decades of his life. His enumeration in the Gilmer and Fannin county census records, and subsequently in the Murray County records is probably a reflection of the fact that his residence was extremely close to the confluence of those 3 counties.
Were Isaiah and Talitha Hice his wife victims of the 1893 “fever”? I have no evidence that this is the case other than the coincidence of both Isaiah’s and Talitha’s death with the same year as the fever-related-deaths of seven Hices whose family was closely associated with the family of Isaiah. The Hice children were buried at Hipp’s Chapel in Fannin County, and, after the fever of 1893, their family relocated further south into the Cherrylog area of Gilmer County. Isaiah’s sons Jacob Posey Pless and Harrison Filetus Pless also moved into the Cherrylog area at some time near the end of the 1800’s. My speculation is that Isaiah and Talitha are probably buried in the vicinity of Fightingtown Creek and Chestnut Gap, although they do not appear on any lists of the Hipps Chapel graves.
I apologize for the length of this post and for its speculative nature, but I post in the hope that this information and the questions raised herein may someday be helpful to future inquirers.
More Replies:
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Re: Isaiah Pless - Residences & Death Site
6/18/01
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Re: Isaiah Pless - Residences & Death Site
Dorothy Payne 6/18/01
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Re: Isaiah Pless - Move from NC
DEAN BROOME 6/18/01
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Re: Isaiah Pless - Move from NC
Dorothy Payne 6/19/01
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Re: Isaiah Pless - Move from NC
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Re: Isaiah Pless - Move from NC