Another Soldier of the Revolution

On the 20th of September, 1819 in the District of West Tennessee, Samuel Reeves, a resident of Lincoln County, made a declaration regarding his Revolutionary War service. Samuel stated that he was sixty-six years old at that time making his year of birth 1753. He did not indicate where he was born or give any information regarding his parents but did state that he enlisted in May of 1775 in Surry County, North Carolina.

Samuel's statement in support of his pension states that he enlisted for a term of two years and six months in a company commanded by Captain Joseph Philips in the Regiment commanded by Colonel Thomas Polk of the North Carolina line. He recounted being in the battles of Brandywine and Germantown, serving until November of 1777 when he was discharged in New Jersey or Pennsylvania. His statement of 1819 states he was discharged in New Jersey while the 1826 statement gives Pennsylvania as the location.

The pension file also includes statements by both his wife, Susannah Brack Reeves, and her sister, Patsy Brack Worfe, giving details of his marriage to Susannah in Wake County, North Carolina on the 20th of November 1785.

Samuel is listed in the 1790 census of Granville County, North Carolina living in a household adjacent to Samuel Brack who was presumably Susannah's father.

Although Samuel's parents are unknown, he was named as executor of the 1803 will of his sister Elizabeth's husband Benjamin Coates recorded in Iredell County, North Carolina Will Book 1, Page 82. Another sister, Lucretia Reeves, was the wife of George Allen, Jr. and the marriage is said to be recorded in a family bible as detailed in The Allens of the Southern States.

There is no definitive listing of the children of Samuel and Susannah Reeves although a son, Malachi, is named in the Revolutionary War pension statement. A William Reeves also gave a statement for that pension application and is believed to be another son which is consistent with the ages of children in census records but no relationship is stated.

Although proximity is certainly not proof of a family connection, Allen Reeves and Samuel R. Reeves who are also found in Lincoln County at the same time that the Samuel Reeves' family was living there, are believed to be his sons. An Isaac Reeves was also living in the same community at that time but again, there is no proof of a connection. Isaac moved on to Lawrence County, Alabama and died in Itawamba County, Mississippi in August of 1858.

Samuel's son, Malachi Reeves, his wife Sinah Swanner and their family migrated to Carroll County, Arkansas, as did some of the children of Samuel R. Reeves whose wife, Nancy, is listed as a widow in the 1860 Lincoln County, Tennessee census.

The widow's pension of Susannah Brack Reeves gives Samuel's date of death as the 12th of October 1834.

There don't appear to be any participants in the Reeves DNA Project from this lineage which would be a great help in determining from which Reeves' family they descend.


Transcription of the pension statements of Samuel Reeves are available at Southern Campaign Revolutionary War Pension Statements & Rosters.