Jennie D. (Corbett) Cleek (bef. 1783 - abt. 1815)

Born before 1783 in Virginia, United States

Ancestors

Wife of Peter Cleek — married 1799 in Virginia, United States

Descendants

Died about 1815 after about age 32 in Jackson Co, West Virginia, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Gregory Morris [send private message]

Biography

Please see the biography of husband Peter Cleek for more details of Jennie's life. Peter Cleek

Bio in progress Nov. 2018

Research

Note of Caution: Some have the marriage of Jennie Corbett and Peter Cleek as Jackson County, WV. This is highly unlikely since Jackson County did not exist as a County until 1831. At the time of their marriage they were most likely in what was then Mason County, Va., IF they were married in western Virginia at all. All indications are that they were married in Bath County in 1799, long before they came to western Virginia, and that Bath is where most or all of their children were born.

A number of Corbitts came to the new world in the first 200 years: pinpointing the arrival of Jennie's first ancestor will take a lot of time and patience. We know that our Jennie (sometimes Jenny) married Peter Cleek in 1799, and from that marriage we have a "permission slip" from her dad (he writes "my daughter Jennie") for the marriage. Of course she was not yet of the age of self-consent, meaning that she was probably 16 - 20 years old, and most girls from a good family waited until at least 17 and usually 19 or 20.

We know that Jennie's father was Samuel Corbett, and probably Samuel Corbett, Sr., son of William Corbit. These three, along with Peter Cleek and Lewis Acree (who was to marry Jennie's daughter Mary Virginia Cleek) all lived in and around one-another in Bath Co., Virginia, during the period. Both Peter Cleek and William Corbit purchased land on Jackson River at the base of Wilson Mountain at about the same time, for example.

We know that the Cleeks, Acrees, and Corbetts signed for each other on documents, bought and sold land to and with each other, and that, of course, Jennie Corbett married Peter Cleek and their daughter married Lewis Acree.

Other details are less clear. A good case can be made that old William was twice married, first to an Unknown woman, the mother of Samuel Sr., and second to a Martha Hicklin, also of Bath. This latter union seems to have produced Sarah and Jane Corbett - both, along with much older brother Samuel, Sr., are mentioned in their father's will. The girls are very young; no age given, except that they have to wait 15 years to receive their inheritance, and William demands that Samuel provide them with at least one year of schooling before they reach the age of 16. It would take a scholar knowledgeable about the customs of the day to figure out how old these girls might have been, but if the age of maturity was, say, 21, then they were probably no older than 5 or 6 years, putting their births circa 1810 -1815. They should appear in following records in the house of Samuel, Sr., at least for a while, but I have not fleshed this out yet.

It's possible, of course, that there is a lot of overlap between various Jennies, Williams, Acrees, Corbits, Cleeks and other names in Bath at the time - always a genealogical worry - but in this case the evidence is fairly strong that we have it right.

Of concern is a certain, lightly sourced "Samuel K. Corbit" who some have as the son of William, and that William was in fact born much later, and that Martha Hickman was his first and only wife. This is not only improbable, it's IMPOSSIBLE. Given the marriage date of Jennie alone, and supposing that they were all married at 15 (very young) and gave birth immediately after marriage, there's still no way this could be true: William could NOT have been born circa 1776 as some maintain. It's just not humanly possible.

It's more likely that Samuel, Sr. had a son Samuel, Jr. and if this Samuel Kay is in this direct family line that he's he could possibly be this son. The info on Samuel Kay is very light to date. More work on this Sammy K. needs to be done.

RETHINK: No, Sammy K. could be a brother to the two girls. That's possible, I suppose. His middle name is quite the Romance name (Sir Kay, of the round table) and there is a Hicklin cousin named "Carlisle," also a Romantic name. Instinct: rule nothing out at this point.

Since I don't want to repeat the trail of Cleek/Corbit/Acree et. al. of Bath more than once, I think I should do it here at Jennie's profile and then link all the others to it. She deserves it, as her grave location is still in question, and Peter was buried with his second wife Elizabeth McGuffin, leaving poor Jennie to lie alone somewhere, probably unmarked and forgotten.

(A glance of Samuel Corbett/Corbit/Corbitt/Corbite profiles suggests that some day soon there might be a lot of merging and connecting going on. GSM) Same with the Hickmans....

Sources

• Wikipedia; Jackson and Mason Counties, WV. Genealogical papers of G. S. Morris

• Please see Sourcing notes for husband Peter Cleek