Yet Another George Reeves

I have no fewer than twenty-eight George Reeves’ and thirteen George Rives' in my ancestry tree, and most of them are related to me. However, other Reeves lines had their Georges too. You can imagine how difficult it is to sort them out, especially when multiple Georges from multiple Reeves lines are found living in the same location at the same time. I had hoped that there would be no more George discoveries. Alas, there were.

While researching ancestors in Wayne County, Tennessee, I ran across yet another George Reeves. He was grantor in an 1833 deed conveying land on Hardin’s Creek in Wayne County to James F Carr of Wayne County. The deed refers to him as “George Reeves of Hickman County, Kentucky.” He was present in Wayne County in the 1830 Federal Census with a wife, four sons, and three daughters, and next appears in the 1840 Federal census in Hickman County, Kentucky with five sons, five daughters, and no wife. He was in Ballard County, Kentucky in 1850 and died there in 1857. This George Reeves married Nancy Elizabeth McClure in 1817, probably in Tennessee; Nancy had died by 1840.

According to the 1850 census, George was born in Kentucky in 1793. Some researchers, for reasons unknown to me, believe he was born in South Carolina. Although I have no information about his origins, it is possible that he is connected to the Thomas Reeves who was a significant landowner in Wayne County before 1820; James Reeves, who settled on Green River in Wayne County by 1816; or John Reeves, a first preacher at the Primitive Baptist Church which was founded in 1820.

It seems likely that George, Thomas, James, and John are somehow connected, but I have found nothing to connect them at this time other than proximity which is a poor indicator of kinship.

DNA testing of descendants of this George Reeves would greatly help in determining his origins.