Individual Details

Vardy is often seen as Vardry "Echols" McBee. I think he did not have a middle name - it is not given in any historical accounts, only in various databases online. Probably picked up from his mother's maiden name as identification and mistaken for a given name.

It seems doubtful that Vardy, the son, would have been counted in a census in 1790 as head of household since he would have been only 15 years old. No other Vardry McBees have surfaced, but certainly two of them were counted in 1790:
1790 Census. North Carolina, Fayette Co.
Vardray Magby 1 - 4 - 2
South Carolina, Spartanburg
Vardy Magbay: 1 - 3 - ?5 [number off the page]

1800 Census, NC, Rutherford Co.
Vardry McBee: 1m -10, 1m 10-16, 1m 16-26, 1m 26-45. 2f -10, 1f 26-45

1810 Census, NC, Lincoln Co
Vardry McBee: 3m 16-26, 1m 26-45. 2f -10, 1f 16-26

1820 Census, NC, Lincoln Co, East of the South Fork of the Catawba River
Vardry McBee: 3m -10, 1m 10-16, 3m 16-26, 1m 26-45
1f -10, 1f 10-16, 1f 26-45

1830 Census, NC, Lincoln Co
[Capt.] Vardry McBee: 2m 5-10, 1m 10-15, 2m 15-20, 2m 20-30, 1m 50-60
1f 5-10, 1f 10-15, 1f 20-30, 1f 40-50 18 slaves

That a Vardry McBee was Clerk of the Lincoln County Court is proved by his certification and signature on several Revolutionary pension applications filed in Lincoln County in 1832 and 1833.

1840 Census, Greenville Co, SC
Vardery McBee: 1m 15-20, 3m 20-30, 1m 60-70 1f 30-40, 1f 50-60. 24 slaves

1850 Census, Town of Greenville, Greenville Co, SC, Hh 2347
Vardery McBee, age 74, farmer, value of property $60,000, b. SC
Jane, 67, b. NC.
Malinda, age 43, b. NC. Stephen Alexander, age 29, Millwright, b. NC
T. C. Carson, age 40, farmer, b. NC. Martha, age 34, b. NC
their children born in SC: Joseph 13, Vardry 11, Jane 8, Charles 5

Hh 1335
L. M. McBee, age 38, lawyer, [family all marked as born in SC]
Susan, age 34. Vardry 4, Annie, 2, Alexander, 1.
Hh 2285
W. P. McBee, age 30, merchant, b. NC. Harriet, age 27. Frank 4, Vardry 1.

1860 Census, Town of Greenville, Greenville Co, SC Hh 2090
Vardry McBee, age 85, Farmer, Value of Real Estate $185,000. Value of personal property [slaves] $182,350. born SC
Jane, age 77, b. NC. Malinda P. age 50, b. NC.
Elias Alexander, age 68, miller, b. NC [Jane's brother?]
Gabriel Cothran, age 20, apprentice, b. SC
Jacob Cagle, age 28, millwright, b. NC
Jane Carson, age 17, b. SC
Next household was that of son William P.McBee.
Hh2091
Wm P. McBee, age 40, farmer, b. NC. Harriet B. 37, b. SC
Children all born in SC: Frank B. 13, Vardry 11, Malinda P. 6, Emily L. 4
Sue Samuels, age 26, b. SC
Hh 2264
Alex McBee, age 39, manufacturer, b. NC. Henrietta R., age 27, b. SC
Richard 9, Elias 3, and Pinkney 3. [apparently twins]
Hh 2282
Susan B. McBee, age 44, b. SC [Luther's widow]
Vardry 14, Anna 12, Alexander 11, and Luther 6

1860, Greenville Co, Oil Camp Hh 1379
Tench Carson, age 50, farmer, b. NC. Martha A., age 45, b. NC
Joseph 23, b. SC. Jane 17, b. SC [probably counted twice] Charles 15, b. SC


From the online indexes of the South Carolina Archives:
Series Number: S165015 Year: 1817
Item: 00093 ignore: 00
Date: 1817/11/28
Description: MCBEE, VARDRY, PETITION ASKING FOR PERMISSION TO BRING NOT MORE THAN THIRTY SLAVES INTO THE STATE FROM NORTH CAROLINA. (2 PAGES)
Names Indexed: MCBEE, VARDRY/ALSTON, LEMUEL J./EARLE, GEORGE W./
Locations: LINCOLN COUNTY, N.C./NORTH CAROLINA/GREENVILLE DISTRICT

Series Number: S213192 Volume: 0049
Page: 00320 Item: 01
Date: 1831/05/31
Description: MCBEE, VARDRY, PLAT FOR 718 ACRES ON REEDY RIVER, GREENVILLE DISTRICT, SURVEYED BY JOHN WATSON, SHOWING LOTS OWNED BY JAMES GIRLEY AND OTHERS.
Names Indexed: MCBEE, VARDRY/WATSON, JOHN/GIRLEY, JAMES/THOMPSON, WADDY/HARRISON, RICHARD/BALE, JOHN/EATESFIELD, DR./VICKERS, ALEXANDER/EARLE, R./WILLIAMS, THOMAS B./TOWNS, GEORGE F.
Locations: GREENVILLE DISTRICT/REEDY RIVER/BRUSHY CREEK
Series Number: S213192 Volume: 0049
Page: 00335 Item: 10


Date: 1831/07/01
Description: MCBEE, VARDRY, PLAT FOR 2,048 ACRES ON FORK OF BRUSHY CREEK AND LONG BRANCH, GREENVILLE DISTRICT, SURVEYED BY JOHN WATSON, SHOWING PLAT FOR 102 ACRES OWNED BY W. T. ROWLAND.
Names Indexed: MCBEE, VARDRY/WATSON, JOHN/WILLIAMS, THOMAS B./JENNINGS, F. E. E./JACOBS, WILLIAM/WALKER, G./CLEVELAND, JEREMIAH/ALSTON, JOSEPH/WADDELL, E./GORDON, JOHN/ROWLAND, W. T.
Locations: GREENVILLE DISTRICT/BRUSHY CREEK/LONG BRANCH/REEDY RIVER
Type: PLAT/
Series Number: S213192 Volume: 0049
Page: 00333 Item: 10


Date: 1831/07/12
Description: MCBEE, VARDRY, PLAT FOR 2,199 ACRES ON MOUNTAIN CREEK, GREENVILLE DISTRICT, SURVEYED BY JOHN WATSON.
Names Indexed: MCBEE, VARDRY/WATSON, JOHN/EDWARDS, HIRAM/CROFT, EDWARD/GOODLETT, Z./THOMPSON, W./ROBERTS, JAMES/BROOKSHIRE, MANERING/HOOKER, JAMES/THOMPSON, SAMUEL/TAYLER, WILLIAM/OLIVER, JOHN
Locations: GREENVILLE DISTRICT/MOUNTAIN CREEK/ENOREE RIVER/PINEY MOUNTAIN
Type: PLAT/

Series Number: S165015 Year: 1841
Item: 00038 ignore: 00
Date: 1841/11/18
Description: INHABITANTS OF GREENVILLE, PETITION TO RENEW GREENVILLES CHARTER. (4 PAGES)
Names Indexed: GOODLETT, W. M./COLE, H. W./MONTGOMERY, R. M./PERRY, B. F./DYER, G. B./GERARD, F. G./CHOICE, JEFFERSON/TOWNES, G. F./CRITTENDEN, JOHN/MCBEE, V./MCBEE, A./WALKER, TANDY/NICHOL, A./THURSTON, L. S./STOKES, C. R./CLEVELAND, JEREMIAH/DUNAHM, B./BLEAKLEY, A./DAVENPORT, WILLIAM/LONG, J. W.
Locations: GREENVILLE/GREENVILLE DISTRICT
Type: PETITION/
Topics: CITY COUNCIL, GREENVILLE/

Series Number: S165015 Year: ND00
Item: 03168 ignore: 00
Date: 1856 C.
Description: CITIZENS OF GREENVILLE, PETITION TO ESTABLISH AND INCORPORATE A SUMMER MEDICAL SCHOOL IN GREENVILLE. (4 PAGES)
Names Indexed: EDWARDS, P. C./CAMPBELL, W. H./THURSTON, A. LEE/FURMAN, JAMES C./GRADY, JOHN W./JONES, E. P./EASLEY, W. K./ELDRIDGE, JEREMIAH/JOYCE, A. J./MCDANIEL, W. A./GOODLETT, R. H./GOODLETT, S. D./MCBEE, VARDRY/MCBEE, ALEXANDER/DUNCAN, R. B./DUNCAN, P. E./BEATTIE, F. F./DOYLEY, C. W./ISAACS, A./HOOEY, W. H.
Locations: GREENVILLE/
Type: PETITION/
Topics: COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES/MEDICINE, PRACTICE OF


The best documentation I have found for Vardry McBee, son of Vardry & Hannah is online from the following:
Manuscripts Department, University Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/htm/02263.html
Inventory of the McBee Family Papers, 1754-1937
Collection Number 2263
Biographical Note
Vardry McBee (1775-1864) was the son of Captain McBee, a Virginian who settled in what is now upper South Carolina prior to 1770. Captain McBee was constable of Tryon County in 1770 and later fought on the Whig side in the Revolution. He owned valuable lands in the Spartanburg district, including Limestone Springs, but lost them shortly after the Revolution, apparently as the result of poor management.
When his father lost the land, circa 1777, young Vardry McBee left school and went to work in the manufacture of lime. In 1793, he went to Lincolnton, N.C., apprenticed to his brother-in-law Joseph Morris, to learn the saddler's trade. In 1800, he moved to Charleston, S.C., only to return to Lincolnton, then relocate with his family to Kentucky a short time later. He opened a saddle shop in middle Tennessee in 1801, but the following year he returned to Lincolnton to open a store in partnership with John Campbell of Charleston, S.C. He sold his interests in this store in 1805.
In 1812, McBee became clerk of court of Lincoln County, N.C., a post he held until 1833. In 1815, he bought several thousand acres of land in and around the town of Greenville, S.C. In 1817, he built a flour mill there, and, in 1829, he built a second mill. He later added a woolen mill, a cotton mill, and a paper factory. He was an important delegate to the 1833 North Carolina Convention on Internal Improvements. He moved from Lincolnton to Greenville in 1836 in order to be closer to his many business interests there.
McBee became interested in railroads and served as president of the Louisville, Cincinnati, and Charleston project. He subscribed to $50,000 worth of stock of the Greenville and Columbia railroad, saving the company from extinction and becoming the largest individual subscriber of railroad stock in the United States up to that time. He was also interested in agricultural affairs and was active in the promotion of better agricultural practices. Until his death in 1864, he was a wealthy and influential man in upper South Carolina.
Vardry McBee married Jane Alexander, daughter of Colonel Elias Alexander of Rutherford County, N.C., in 1805. The McBees had nine children: Joseph Gallishaw, Malinda Penelope, Silas L., Luther Martin, Hannah E., Martha ("Patsy") Adeline, Vardry Alexander, William Pinkney, and Alexander.
Their son Vardry Alexander McBee (1818-1904) was educated at Pleasant Retreat Academy in Lincolnton and graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1841. He studied law and passed the bar examination, but was never active in the practice of law. He thrice served as clerk of court of Lincoln County and represented the county in the General Assembly in 1861 when he was elected without opposition to fill the unexpired term of his friend John F. Hoke, who had resigned to enter the Confederate Army.
Vardry Alexander McBee was a successful planter. He owned a large plantation several miles from Lincolnton. In addition, he was active in the construction of plank roads and railroads. He was treasurer of the Wilmington, Charlotte, and Rutherford Railroad Company and had a prominent part in the organization of the Chester and Lenoir Railroad. McBee was active in business, civic, and church affairs of Lincolnton and western North Carolina until his death in 1904.
Vardry Alexander McBee married Mary E. Sumner, whose father was then in charge of the male and female academies of Lincolnton. The McBees had nine children: Jane, Sarah, Mary ("Mamie"), Anne, Martha, Sumner, Silas, Vardry, and Thomas.
Their son Vardry McBee (1860?-1938) was educated at the University of the South at Sewannee, Tenn., and attended a theological seminary in New York. He became an Episcopal priest, but apparently retired from the ministry around 1896, possibly because of ill health. McBee was a gifted musician and was at one time the organist at Trinity Church in New York City. He married Anne Joyce Gwyn, the daughter of James and Mary Lenoir Gwyn of "Green Hill," Ronda, Wilkes County, N.C. Anne Gwyn was an artist and apparently made portraits and tapestries for various people around the state.
Additional information about the McBee family and about some of the people whose letters are present in this collection may be found in William E. Sherrill's Annals of Lincoln County, North Carolina (1937) and in Thomas F. Hickerson's Happy Valley (1940).

Birth	1775	Spartanburg District, South Carolina
Marriage	16 Aug 1804	North Carolina - Jane Alexander
Death	23 Jan 1864	Greenville, Greenville County, South Carolina

Spouse	Jane Alexander ( - )
Child	Joseph Gallishaw McBee (1805 - 1806)
Child	Malinda Penelope McBee (1807 - 1891)
Child	Silas Leroy McBee (1809 - 1827)
Child	Luther Martin McBee (1812 - 1854)
Child	Hannah Echols McBee (1813 - 1814)
Child	Martha Adeline McBee (1816 - )
Child	Vardry Alexander McBee (1818 - 1904)
Child	William Pinkney McBee (1820 - 1860)
Child	Stephen Alexander McBee (1822 - 1897)

Father	Vardry McBee (1734 - 1800)
Mother	Hannah Echols (1740 - )
Sibling	Silas McBee (1765 - 1842)