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Saturday, September 10, 2022

Reeves or Greer?

George G. Greer
 to Joshua Cox
A few years ago one of our new members at The Reeves Project shared that she believed her ancestor George Greer was somehow associated with the Reeves family. 

George is named in an 1828 deed in Grayson County, Virginia as both George G. "Greer" and George G. "Rieves" in the same document.  The deed styled "George G. Greer to Joshua Cox" had conveyed the 140 tract on Fox Creek that he had purchased from Aquilla Greer the prior year. [[DB5:p377]

Recently I saw a Reeves' name I didn't recognize in the Grayson County tax lists of 1818 and 1819.  The Reeves in that area are part of my extended family so I'm quite knowledgeable about the families and knew there were no "George" Reeves living in that area of the right age to be this person.  The name on both lists was also followed by "son of S Toliver".

S. Toliver was Susanna, a married daughter of George Reeves, Sr. of Grayson County.  Susanna obviously had a son born before her marriage to William Toliver who was previously unknown.  Although there is no birth record naming George Greer as Susanna's son George Reeves, there is much inferential documentation to support that belief.  Sometime after 1820, he began to use Greer as a surname.  The Greer family in Grayson County is recorded owning property along Fox Creek which is the same community where the family of George Reeves, Sr. was located.

1834 Grayson VA Tax List
As George Greer he is listed on the Grayson County tax lists until 1834 which coincides with his departure from Virginia and arrival in Indiana.  George settled in Lawrence County, Indiana and is listed there in the 1840 census.  

It is noteworthy that Susanna Toliver's sons Allen, Andrew and James Madison Toliver also migrated to Indiana around this time.  Allen Toliver also settled in Lawrence County.

It appears that the early tax lists of Grayson County with the notations "George Reeves son of S Toliver" may have finally solved the mystery of George Greer.

1819 Tax List of
Grayson County, Virginia


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