Levi Garrett Casey (1749 - 1807)

Born 1749 in Old 96 District, now Newberry District, South Carolina

Ancestors

Husband of Elizabeth (Duckett) Casey — married about 1775 in , , South Carolina

Descendants

Died 1 Feb 1807 at about age 58 in Washington, District of Columbia, United States

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Biography

Levi Casey is Notable.

Levi Casey was a South Carolina colonist.

Brigadier General Levi Casey served with 2nd South Carolina Regiment, Continental Army during the American Revolution.

Br. Gen. Levi Casey

LEVI CASEY - A MOST DISTINGUISHED FORGOTTEN MAN

Levi Casey had many names bestowed upon him during his short lifetime. He was an Overmountain Man,^[1] Militia Man, Captain, Colonel, Brigadier General, Congressman, Senator, son, brother, husband, and father; most importantly of all was the title Patriot.

Levi Casey was a son of Abner Casey and Harriet Green. Levi Casey was born in the year 1749 in the state of South Carolina according to records submitted and accepted into the D.A.R. files.^[2] That would seem accurate considering he died in the first day of February 1807 in his 59th year which would put his birth year at 1749, unless he died on his birthday. He was born in what was then the old Ninety-Six District in which he had a hand in dividing into what would become Newberry County.^[3]

In the Revolutionary War, brothers Benjamin Casey, Randolph Casey, Aaron Casey, Christopher Casey, John Casey, Peter Casey and Levi Casey lent service as did their father, Abner Brooks Casey.^[4] Abner gave service and provided aide to the cause. Abner Brooks Casey was awarded a Bounty Land Grant in Kentucky for his effort.

The Casey brothers were in the Second Carolina Regiment under Col. Elijah Clark and fought in the Battle of King's Mountain. Levi Casey became a (started out as a Captain) Lieutenant, then a Colonel of South Carolina Troops, and finally a Brigadier General, commanding the brigade consisting of the Laurens, and Newberry regiments. He commanded a company at the attack on Savannah and distinguished himself at Rocky Mount, King's Mountain, Hanging Rock, Musgrove's Mils, Fishing Creek, Blackstocks, and Cowpens.

After the fall of Charlestown, the British authorities considered South Carolina under British control, and some of the rebels even went to the British camp and sought protection. Levi and others would not entertain taking that action for one second. They were true blue and staunch patriots of the American cause and would willingly take any risk to secure Independence.

Here is an excellent example of why our children need to…

be taught cursive writing in school. Lt Levi Casey issuing orders to troops during the Revolutionary War. This document is the actual handwriting and signature of Lt Levi Casey issuing an order to his soldiers during the Revolutionary War. It is dated 7 Aug 1782. Levi Casey rose in rank from Colonel to Lieutenant to Brigadier General during his tenure in the Revolutionary War. He was one of the renown OverMountain Men as was David Crockett.

Br General Levi Casey served terms as a House of Representative and then had been re-elected Senator but did not get to serve his last elected term because he had a massive heart attack and died Feb 1807. He was first interred at Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington, DC and in circa 1832 he was re-interred in the Congressional Cemetery.

His widow, along with her Duckett nephew came to Alabama before 1820 and settled in Lauderdale County, Alabama in the community of Rawhide. She, some of her children, and other relatives are buried in the Casey Family Cemetery on what used to be her property.

Transcription:

D____

I desire you will draft or other ways order one third of your company to hold themselves in readiness to march by the fifteenth of this instant to the Cherikees you are to provide flower/flour for sixty days provisions for each man and two good beef cattle and as pack horses a[re] not to be had would recommend that each man take horse and that one half carry forward and the other half act as horsemen and change as they can agree or be ordered and any that have not any horses of their own you are to impress in the bounds of your own company you are to collect all the swords you can and put them into the hands of the men.

August [symbols] 7th 1782  :Cap [symbols] Saxon

I am ____and hum [symbols]

(take this to mean your humble servant)

Lt Levi Casey[1]

Official Orders of Lt Levi Casey 7 Aug 1782

Levi Casey was a US Congressman; elected as a Democratic-Republican to the Eighth and Ninth Congresses, he served from 1803 until his death. Casey was a South Carolina native but very little is known of his early life.

During the Revolutionary War he was commissioned a Captain in the Continental Army and fought with distinction at the Siege of Savannah (1779) and at the battles of Rocky Mount (1780), Hanging Rock (1780), and Cowpens (1781).

At the end of the conflict he was a Colonel in command of South Carolina's Little River Regiment, and subsequently became a Brigadier General of the State Militia.

He was a five-term member of the State Senate (1781 and 1782, 1800 to 1802) and served nine terms in the State House of Representatives (1786 to 1788, 1792 to 1795, 1798 to 1799) prior to his election to the US House.

In 1802, he was elected as a Republican to serve in the U. S. House of Representatives within the 8th and 9th Congresses representing the state of South Carolina. There he served the 7th District that included Abbeville, Laurens and Newberry Districts. He served in that capacity from 4 March 1803 until his death 1 February 1807.

He was elected to the 10th Congress before the close of the 9th Congress, but died, likely in the state house, in Washington, D. C., on the first day of February from a massive heart attack.

He was the first elected dignitary in our nation to die while in office (followed closely by another elected official who was buried in the Congressional Cemetery before Levi Casey was disinterred) and was initially buried at the St. Paul's Presbyterian Cemetery [Rock Creek Cemetery] in Georgetown. Being the first experience in our young nation of someone dying while serving in office, there was no official burying ground for dignitaries at the time and that fact created a little bit of a conundrum. Efforts were quickly made to secure and dedicate a spot for just such dignitaries, and thus the Union Cemetery known as the Congressional Cemetery came to fruition.

Due to an act passed by Congress, Levi Casey's body along with two others were removed from their original burial places and reinterred in the Congressional Cemetery in 1832. The article states that Levi Casey was originally buried in the grave yard of the new Presbyterian Church [same as St Paul's aka Rock Creek Cemetery] in Georgetown. ^[5]

Levi Casey was re-elected to a third term but died before taking his seat in the Tenth Congress. Originally buried in a cemetery outside the Washington city limits, he was re-interred with honors at the Union (Congressional) Cemetery on 10 August 1832. ^[6]

It must have been good to have been one of Levi Casey's constituents when he served them, his state, and his country. They were fortunate that a patriot and politician like him would share his and his colleagues' progress and lack thereof for the young nation and its citizens. His wife, Elizabeth from the respected Duckett family of Maryland, had a lot of influence on his service as a political figure. The rule and custom of the Caseys was when he returned home from the "Federal City" he issued and sent out invitations 'to all the people in his district (covered several counties), to assemble at his house on a day named, at which Gen. Casey would have a large barbecue and ample provisions for man and beast, and his friends were required to spend a week as his guests, during which time he would render to them a full account of his acts in Congress; and the balance of the time was spent in feasting and dancing and such other amusements as suited the tastes and inclinations of his guests.^[7]

Levi Casey, the sixth son of Abner Casey from Tyrone County, Ireland, held the rank of Brigadier General and served in Congress from the state of South Carolina died at age 59 in the year 1807 in Washington City (known now as D.C.). Early in the Revolutionary War, he received command of a company with which he gallantly assisted at the siege of Savannah. He was later a distinguished officer at the Battles of Rocky Mount, Hanging Rock, Musgroves, King’s Mountain, Fishdamford, Blackstocks and at Cowpens. At the Battle of Cowpens, Levi performed important services to General Morgan. Levi Casey participated in a campaign into Georgia and Florida.

He first served in Captain Thomas Dugan’s Company under the command of Colonel James Williams. Colonel Williams was killed and replaced by Colonel Joseph Hayes. Levi served as Captain and later Lieutenant Colonel. After Hayes was killed by Tories, Levi Casey was promoted to Colonel and took command of Colonel Haye’s Regiment – then known as the Little River Regiment.

Levi Casey was Justice of the peace, Justice of Quorum, County Court Judge, Commissioner and U.S. Senator (1800 – 1803) from the 96th District, Spartanburg, South Carolina. He also was Tax Collector (1786), served in the State House of Representatives as representative of Little River (1786 – 1788). Levi was representative for Newberry County in the State House (1792-1796).

Another Shoals area citizen had an ancestor who fought under Gen. Levi Casey. A Times Daily newspaper article entitled “The story of a soldier boy in blue” published: Sunday, May 4, 2008, gives an account of young John L. Lindsey whose family later settled on the Tennessee-Alabama state line.

About the time Thomas Gainsborough was creating his famous work, The Blue Boy, in England in 1770, a young boy in Newberry County, South Carolina, could easily have been used as a model for his painting.

John L. Lindsey, born in Frederick County, Virginia, in 1764, persuaded his mother to cut out a coat that matched his father’s regimental colors.

This coat, along with a quilt, stitched together by John L. Lindsey’s daughter-in-law, remained in the Lindsey family until 1934, when they were both placed in the casket of David Lindsey.

Even though this lad was of the young age of 15 or 16, he served as an orderly for his father, Capt. Samuel Lindsey, in the Revolutionary War, especially during the raids of the British soldiers against the American colonists in Newberry County, South Carolina.

This occurred around 1779 and 1780. When his father marched away, under the command of militia Gen. Levi Casey and participated in the famous Battle of Kings’ Mountain, young John L. Lindsey was permitted to go along with his father as an orderly. It was remembered by members of the family he actually participated in the fighting that occurred during his father’s involvement in the King’s Mountain campaign.^[8]

Elizabeth Duckett Casey lost her husband when he was but fifty-nine years of age and very unexpectedly from a heart attack. Unfortunately for her, he died intestate. She received only a child’s portion of the estate. And there were a lot of children. So, when her young nephew on the Duckett side , John Duckett, planned an overland trip to settle in what would become the Cloverdale community of Lauderdale County in Alabama, Elizabeth Duckett Casey and her then minor children also made the trip. Her settling in the Rawhide Community in Lauderdale County, Alabama is how those descended from the Casey side of the family got to be in the state of Alabama. Elizabeth Casey had a married daughter in Newberry, South Carolina who later joined her mother in Lauderdale County, Alabama.

Parents:

Abner Brooks Casey (1700 - 1796)

Harriet Green Casey (1700 - 1786)

Siblings:

Christopher Casey (1755 - 1840)

Randolph Casey

Benjamin Casey

Aaron Casey

John Casey

Peter Casey

Spouse:

Elizabeth Duckett (1759 - 1839)

Children:

John A Casey (1775 - 1862)

Nancy Ann Casey Davis (1785–1860)

Sarah Siner Casey Rhodes (1789 – 1872

Levi Garrett "Old Flynn" Casey (1791 - 1855)

Elizabeth Casey Johnson (1795 - 1872)

Jacob Duckett Casey (1796 - 1853)

Samuel Otterson Casey (1801 - 1866)

Part of Levi Casey's Service Record

Name: Levy Casey

Event Type: Military Service

Event Date: 1782

Event Place: United States

Event Place (Original):

Age:

Military Rank:

Birth Year (Estimated):

Death Date:

Affiliate Publication Number: M246

Affiliate Publication Title: Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783.

Affiliate Film Number: 1

GS Film Number: 000830280

Digital Folder Number: 007196920

Image Number: 00109^[9]

1783: Commissioners Appointed to Divide Districts into Counties

Levi Casey changed the landscape of our country in more ways than one. In the article written in The Edgefield Advertiser, a South Carolina Newspaper, Levi Casey is mentioned. The text that mentions Casey reads as follows:

"It is recorded in Judge O'Neal's Annals of Newberry County that in 1783 an ordinance was passed appointing Commissioners to divide the Districts of Charleston, Georgetown, Beaufort, Cheraw, Camden, Ninety-Six and Orangeburg into counties of convenient size. In Ninety-Six the Commissioners were "Andrew Pickens, Richard Anderson, Thomas Braddon, Levy Casey, Philemon, Waters and Arthur Simkins."^[10]

Rank of Colonel in the Revolutionary War

Name: Livy Casey

Event Type: Military Service

Event Date: 08 Jun 1782

Event Place: South Carolina, United States

Event Place (Original):

Age:

Military Rank: Colo

Birth Year (Estimated):

Death Date:

Affiliate Publication Number: M246

Affiliate Publication Title: Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783.

Affiliate Film Number: 89

GS Film Number: 000830368

Digital Folder Number: 004171622

Image Number: 00326^[11]

1768 South Carolina, Compiled Census and Census Substitutes Index: 1790-1890

Name: Levi Casey

State: South Carolina

County: Newberry (Old 96 District)

Township: No Township Listled

Database: South Carolina Census Index^[12]

1790 Federal Census Record

Levey Casey

United States Census, 1790

Name Levey Casey

Event Type Census

Event Date 1790

Event Place Newberry, South Carolina, United States

Page 53^[13]

1800 Federal Census Record

Name: Levi Casy

Event Type: Census

Event Date: 1800

Event Place: Newberry District, South Carolina, United States

Page: 68

Affiliate Name: The U.S. National Archives and Records ::Administration (NARA)

Affiliate Publication Number: M32

Affiliate Film Number: 50

GS Film Number: 181425

Digital Folder Number: 004955934

Image Number: 00136^[14]

Levi Casey Burial

Name: Levi Casey

Maiden Name:

Event Type: Burial

Event Date: 1807

Event Place: Washington, District of Columbia, District Of ::Columbia, United States of America

Photograph Included: Y

Birth Date:

Death Date: 03 Feb 1807

Affiliate Record Identifier: 6984077

Cemetery: Congressional Cemetery^[15]

"Gen. Levi Casey, Representative in Congress from this State died at the City of Washington, on the 1st inst. The usual mourning and funeral honours were voted him."^[16]

There are researchers who list Brigadier General Levi Casey's death date as 3 February 1807, but his death occurred on Sunday, the first day of February in the year 1807. His obituary was published in The National Intelligencer on Friday, the 6th day of February 1807 and states that Levi Casey died on Sunday. This man must have been larger than life, for he was the first, or one of the first that received the high honor of a state funeral. The text of his obituary follows:

Died, in this city, on Sunday morning at 4 o'clock, 1st instant of a pulindnick disease, Brigadier General Levi Casey, of South Carolina, in the fifty-ninth year of his age.

The fatal illness of this amiable gentleman was but of short duration; his closing moments were passed with that serenity which arises from the reflection of a well-spent life; his last breath was drawn with a calmness, resulting only from true fortitude and virtue.

Early in the revolutionary war, General Casey received the command of a company, with which, he gallantly assisted at the siege of Savannah, in the attempt made by the Americans and French to storm the British works. He was afterwards distinguished as a brave and prudent officer in the battles of Rockey Mount, Hanging rock, Musgoves, King's mountains, Fishdamford, Blackstocks and at the Cowpens, where, he performed very important services to General Morgan. Through the whole war he enjoyed, as a brave and valuable officer, the applause, friendship and confidence of General Sumpter.

During many years after the close of that war, in which his conduct was so important and successful, he represented Newbury district in the state legislature, both in the Senate and House of Representatives, and was, at the time of his death, on the fourth term of service in Congress, a representative from South Carolina.

The friends and family of no man have more cause to lament a loss of this land, than those of General Casey; for in sweetness and equanimity of temper, he was equaled by few; in the tenderness of affection, of domesticities, surpassed by none.

He was from the commencement of the revolution, a uniform patriot; he has left behind him, the surest testimony of public confidence and private worth, the universal love of his neighbors. Painful as the regrets of his family must be, they will derive some consolation from the marked respect which was paid to his funeral by the national legislature. In this too, will the old revolutionary soldier participate; because, he will be in it, the memory of the brave is not forgotten.

The following is the order of procession as it moved from the capitol.

1. Marine Corps

2. Chaplains of Congress

3. Ministers

4. Physicians

5. Corpse

6. Pall bearers, (six Generals)

7. Mourners

8. Speaker preceded by the sergeant of arms, and followed by the Clerk

9. Members of the House of Representatives

10. President of the Senate preceded by the sergeant at arms, and followed by the Secretary

11. Members of the Senate

12. Heads of Departments and officers thereof

13. Citizens.

When the procession arrived at Rock Creek, it was formed on foot, (two and two) the carriages following behind, and proceeded in that manner to the grave.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, the President of the Senate, and the Pall-bearers, with white scarves over the right shoulder and white gloves. The chaplains of Congress and other ministers with white scarves over the right shoulder and round the hat, and white gloves.

The sergeants at arms, clerk of the House, and Secretary of the Senate, with white scarves over the right shoulder only.

The members of the House of Representatives, with black crape on the left arm. ^[17]

Sources

1. ↑ The Overmountain Men, Publisher: Overmountain Press; Second edition (January 1, 1986)
2. ↑ D.A.R. Patriot Index, Volume 1, page 467 as LCol PS SC)
3. ↑ "CASEY, Levi, (ca. 1752 - 1807)." Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
4. ↑ The Manning Times 1884-current (Manning, Clarendon, S.C.) 24 Feb 1904. Citing: Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.
5. ↑ Southern Patriot newspaper (Charleston, South Carolina), published Friday, September 28, 1832 Volume: XXVIII Issue: 4587 Page: 2 Piece: One of Two , (Headline: From the Washington City Chronicle)
6. ↑ Charleston Courtier, periodical published Monday, February 16, 1907
7. ↑ "Casey Family History," compiled by Harold Casey and Robert Casey, dated July 15, 1980
8. ↑ Times Daily, newspaper, “The story of a soldier boy in blue” published: Sunday, May 4, 2008
9. ↑ "United States Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2DG-4DS4 : 21 December 2016), Levy Casey, 1782.
10. ↑ The Edgefield Advertiser, a South Carolina newspaper, year not known, page 2
11. ↑ "United States Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2DG-W77L : 21 December 2016), Livy Casey, 1782.
12. ↑ 1768 South Carolina, Compiled Census and Census Substitutes Index: 1790-1890,
13. ↑ "United States Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2DG-W7SD : 21 December 2016), Livy Casey, 1782.
14. ↑ "United States Census, 1800," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHRC-363 : accessed 14 June 2017), Levi Casy, Newberry District, South Carolina, United States; citing p. 68, NARA microfilm publication M32, (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 50; FHL microfilm 181,425.
15. ↑ "Find A Grave Index," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVV3-3F96 : 13 December 2015), Levi Casey, 1807; Burial, Washington, District of Columbia, District Of Columbia, United States of America, Congressional Cemetery; citing record ID 6984077, Find a Grave, http://www.findagrave.com.
16. ↑ Charleston Courtier, periodical published Monday, February 16, 1907
17. ↑ The National Intelligencer, February 6, 1807.

• Research compiled and tribute written by a fourth great-granddaughter of the patriot Br. Gen. Levi Casey, Carolyn Murray Greer, completed on 15 June 2017

Daughters of the American Revolution, DAR Genealogical Research Databases, database online, (http://www.dar.org/ : accessed June 23, 2017), "Record of Levi Casey", Ancestor # A020390.