The following is an excerpt from book The Maxeys of Virginia, by Edythe Maxey Clark; Gateway Press, 1980:

“The earliest record of Jesse Maxey, a son of Walter and Mary (--?--) Maxey, was a rather curious statement found in a Cumberland County, Virginia, court record of 24 July 1769: “The attachment obtained by Nathaniel Maxey against the estate of Jesse Maxey who is said to be so absconded that common process cannot be served upon him for 3 pounds 10 shillings said to be due from the said Jesse to the said Nathaniel by his attorney…” It was about that time that Jesse was supposed to have been in New River, Botetourt County, Virginia -- now located in Pulaski County near the Montgomery county border. (In fact his name was on a list of tithables for the lower district of New River, Botetourt County, 1771.)

Jesse served in the American Revolution as a private in the Lincoln Militia under Captain Samuel Kirkham guarding the salt works from 22 September through 21 October 1782. For his service -- there may have been more than the month indicated -- he received 640 acres in 1783 located on the east fork of Station Camp Creek in what was to become Davidson County, Tennessee. This apparently was the state of North Carolina grant #13 for this land allotted to him as one of the chain carriers for laying out tracts for the officers and soldiers of the Continental Line in 1787.

Jesse was reportedly an old Indian fighter and most certainly was the first Maxey to move out of the state of Virginia. It is hard to determine exactly when he settled permanently in Tennessee, and it is possible that for some years he was shuttling between the two states. His name appears on a list of taxpayers in Washington County, Tennessee, in 1778; and his son Edward’s obituary reported that Edward was born in that county in 1773. However, in the 1850 census his youngest son John gave his birth state as Virginia. Jesse’s name was also found as an inhabitant of Nashboro, Tennessee, in 1780, and he was one of the signers of the Cumberland Compact on 1 May 1780. This group was made up of a party of settlers who had arrived in Tennessee on 24 April of that year at the site of what later became Nashville. He is mentioned in the tax books of Sumner County, Tennessee, from 1787 through 1790 with 100 acres. Then his name appeared on tax lists of Logan County, Kentucky, in 1792, 1794, 1795, and 1797. On 23 July 1796 Jesse entered 200 acres in Logan County on the west side of Drakes Creek.

According to an early history and stories about him by his descendants (perhaps taken from the same source), it appears that Jesse had a lifelong hatred of the Indians, and it may have contributed to the misery of his last years. He left the fort one morning in 1788 to search for his horse that had strayed. He was attacked by Indians, shot in the back, stabbed in the throat and left for dead. Later he was found by his friends and brought back to the stockade. He lived another 20 years but received his nourishment through an opening in his throat, as the scar tissue which formed over his esophagus prevented him from swallowing properly. He was said to have been a tall, light complexioned man weighing at least 200 pounds, but later became very bent and thin as the result of his disability. He died about 1808 and was buried in a now unmarked grave at Douglas Cemetery, three miles north of Gallatin, Tennessee*.”




*In 2012, Noland Maxie (a spelling variation of Maxey) of Texas arranged with the Tennessee SAR Chapter to place a new grave marker on Jessie Maxey’s grave site in Sumner County Tennessee. Noland Maxey is a descendant of Jessie Maxey.