Just Supposin' Again

Since I wrote the post Just Supposin' several months ago, I found a little more documentation that serves to support my theory that the George Reeves who died in Wake County in 1778 could have been the missing member by that name of the family of Henry Reeves of Essex County, Virginia. In that post I shared my recent thoughts that he could be the link that connects John Reeves of Taylor County, Kentucky whose descendants are Y-DNA matches to known descendants of Henry Reeves through John Reeves of Augusta County, Virginia. John was a son of Thomas Reeves, Sr. initially of Essex County who died in Spotsylvania County in 1760. Thomas was a son of Henry Reeves, Jr. and grandson of Henry Reeves in addition to being the father of the missing George Reeves detailed in this post.

I became aware of this George Reeves in Wake County when I happened upon a 1778 court order apprenticing his children Mary and John to residents in the county. Based upon proximity, the surname Reeves and the fact that the individuals his children were apprenticed to, Woodson Daniel and Reuben Allen, were both close associates of my ancestor William Reeves, I wrongly assumed he must have belonged to that family.

September 1778 Court
[213]-75
Ordered that Mary Reeves orphan of George Reeves deced. be bound unto Reuben Allen unto She come to age at this time being Eight Years of Age.
Ordered that John Reeves orphan of George Reeves deced. be bound an Apprentice unto Woodson Daniel untill he come to the Age of twenty one Years being about this time the Age of three Years.

Although at the time it did seem strange that these children would have been apprenticed to neighbors rather than cared for by family members and that no tidbits of information linking John and Mary Reeves, orphans of this George, to the family of William Reeves of Wake County had ever been found. It also became increasingly more apparent that it was George Reeves of Grayson County, due to both genetic and documentary evidence in Orange and Johnston counties who was a member of the William Reeves' family, not the George Reeves who died in 1778.

Excerpt from Markam Map of Early Orange County Grants

The primary impediment to my suppositions that this George Reeves could be the missing son of Thomas Reeves, Sr. from Spotsylvania County, Virginia was the fact that there seemed to be no reason for his sudden appearance in north central North Carolina. However, remembering that his first cousin Elizabeth Gatewood had married Peter Copeland who was believed to have been born in North Carolina, I felt that could have been a factor in George Reeves' appearance there after his father's death since Elizabeth and Peter were said to have moved back to North Carolina a few years after their marriage. After writing the first post and sharing this theory, I decided to do more research in the area of Wake County.

In the course of that new effort to research this theory, I happened to notice that Peter Copeland was listed as one of the early property owners in Orange County, North Carolina. This area of the upper Neuse River basin had initially been part of Craven County, then Orange County from around 1752 until the early 1760's when it became part of Johnston County and then back to Wake County at its inception in 1771. See excerpt of the Markham Map of eastern Orange County above with Peter Copland's land along the Eno River noted. This is the immediate area where William Reeves settled in 1746 and both of the individuals with whom George Reeves' orphans were apprenticed were located. Reuben Allen's tract is located a little to the south of Peter Copeland's tract while Woodson Daniel's property was on the north side of the Neuse River which is not included in this map but was also in close proximity.

Peter Copeland had been living in Henry County, Virginia for several years when he sold this property in 1779 based upon an Orange County deed of 25 March 1779 which is one of three deeds by Peter Copeland recorded in Deed Book B, pages 65-70.

Orange County NC, Deed Book B, pg. 70

As valuable as this information is, it still does not constitute proof that the George Reeves who died in Wake County in 1778 was the son of Thomas Reeves, Sr. of Essex and Spotsylvania counties in Virginia but it does add to the inferential data that suggests this connection. Surely with continued research, further tidbits can be found to add to the accumulation of additional evidence.

The Gatewood Girls

Patience Reeves was a daughter of Henry Reeves, Jr. of Essex County, Virginia and is named as a legatee in his 1728 will. By the time Henry wrote his will, Patience was married to Richard Gatewood for Henry mentions a debt of £14 owed him by his son-in-law Richard Gatewood in that will. Richard and Patience Reeves Gatewood had four daughters as documented in the probate records of Essex County - Elizabeth, Sarah, Patience and Ann.

By November of 1745 both Richard and Patience Gatewood were deceased. Their daughter Ann Gatewood was also deceased and her portion of their estates was divided among the three surviving daughters.

Elizabeth and Sarah appear to have not reached age 21 by the time Patience Reeves Gatewood died for both were appointed guardians to oversee their estates. No guardian was appointed for daughter Patience who was either age 21 by this time or possibly married.

Over the course of the next decade as the daughters of Patience Reeves Gatewood married, they and their families all left the Essex County area and by 1767 sons-in-laws Peter Copeland, husband of Elizabeth Gatewood, and Waters Dunn, husband of Sarah Gatewood, are listed on the tithables list of Pittsylvania County. Joseph Farguson who married Patience Gatewood also settled in Pittsylvania County where he is recorded as a juror in June Court 1767 [Court Records Book 1 p55] and having taken the Oath for Constable in Pittsylvania County at the same court in 1767.

When the 1753 will of Patience's brother George Reeves was written, her daughter Elizabeth was named as Elizabeth Copeland, one of the legatees, and her husband Peter Copeland was appointed as one of the executors of the will. Elizabeth and Peter Copeland reportedly lived for a time in Caroline County, Virginia after their marriage, then moved to North Carolina for a brief time where Peter is listed on the 1767 tax lists of Cumberland County. That same year, they returned to Virginia where by July Peter Copeland was listed as a tithable in Pittsylvania County. Peter was one of the first Justices of the Peace for Pittsylvania County and lived in that portion of the county which later became Henry. Peter and Elizabeth Copeland are recorded repeatedly in the deed records of Henry County over the subsequent years with the last mention of Elizabeth Copeland in 1780. In a deed dated the 20th of April, 1780 Elizabeth is mentioned as being unable to travel to and from the court to sign a dower release. The deed records statements by witnesses that Elizabeth did relinquish her right of dower to the one thousand acre tract being conveyed by Peter Copeland in that deed. Elizabeth and Peter Copeland both appear to have been deceased by 1790 when Charles Copland of Richmond City, Virginia as executor of Peter Copland was settling his estate.

Patience Gatewood was also a legatee in her uncle George Reeves 1753 Spotsylvania County will. In that will she is named as Patience Gatewood and it is believed that she was first married to an unknown Gatewood who was the father of daughter Ann Frazier Gatewood. A 1779 agreement recorded in Henry County documents that Patience Gatewood Farguson was the mother of Ann Frazier Gatewood. There is currently no documentation as to whether any children were born to Joseph Farguson and Patience Gatewood which indicates that much more research is needed of the records of Pittsylvania and Henry counties in Virginia.

The marriage of Sarah Gatewood to Waters Dunn apparently did not take place prior to the death of her mother, Patience, for she is named Gatewood in Patience's will; however, the marriage must have taken place shortly thereafter since their oldest child was born around 1746. Waters Dunn was also associated with the family by the time Patience's will was being probated for he gave a security bond for the guardian appointed to represent Elizabeth Gatewood. Within the next decade Sarah and Waters Dunn moved their family to Pittsylvania county along with her sisters Elizabeth and Patience and their families. Each of these families were located in the area of Pittsylvania County that became Henry County after it's formation. Waters Dunn, Waters Dunn, Jr. William Dunn and Richard Dunn are each listed on the 1778 tax lists of Henry County. Sarah Gatewood Dunn appears to have died around 1785 for Waters Dunn remarried to Ann Farguson in 1786. Waters Dunn along with all of their children migrated to Georgia after Sarah's death. Waters Dunn, Sr. died in Columbia County, Georgia in 1803 and the children of Sarah and Waters Dunn are documented in his will.

Just Supposin'

Lately I've been working on background stories for some of the different DNA Groups in The Reeves Project. DNA Group 9 is made up up five individuals, three of whom are descendants of Henry Reeves of Essex County, Virginia with documented paper trails while the two other participants descend from John Reeves of Taylor County, Kentucky who was born circa 1770 in North Carolina. John Reeves doesn't appear to have any link to Essex County or Henry Reeves, Sr., but his descendants' Y-DNA says he does!

Over the course of the last six months I've spent time weekly at my local Family History Center searching Virginia records to find more information in the extant records of Essex and Spotsylvania counties in Virginia to fill in all the gaps in the family of Henry Reeves. I've found that some of Henry's descendants did migrate to Kentucky, but not to Taylor County nor did any of them appear to have made a detour through North Carolina on their way west.

After a thorough search of all the available records in Essex County, it is clear that there are only a very few male descendants with the Reeves' surname who could be the ancestor of John Reeves of North Carolina and Taylor, Kentucky. By 1800 there were no male Reeves' individuals left in either Essex or Spotsylvania so we have to widen the search.

Jackson Reeves born around 1690-1700 was a son of Joseph Reeves, son of Henry Reeves, Sr. He has never been located after he left Essex County. He left no trail and there are no records of a Jackson Reeves of that generation who could be the son of Joseph Reeves of Essex. He was also probably too old to be the father of a child born circa 1770 although it would not have been impossible. The next possibility is Henry Reeves, son of the third Henry Reeves and probably born before 1740. When his father died in 1745 he didn't require a guardian so he may have been an adult by that time. He may have died young or simply migrated elsewhere, but he has currently not been located. Finally, Thomas Reeves, grandson of Thomas Reeves, Sr., born in 1753, was serving an apprenticeship in Spotsylvania County that began in 1768 and was only about 15 years old at the time. He was obviously not married or living in North Carolina by 1770.

That leaves only one Reeves' male outstanding from the Essex Reeves' family and he brings us full circle back to George, the son of Thomas Reeves, Sr. who was named as a legatee in the will of his uncle George Reeves in 1754. For many years Reeves' family researchers believed that this George Reeves was the individual of that name who arrived in the New River area along the border of Grayson County, Virginia and Ashe County, North Carolina in 1767, until the theory was proven incorrect by Y-DNA. Three descendants of George Reeves of Grayson, Virginia have matching Y-DNA to descendants of William Reeves of Wake County, North Carolina in addition to an abundance of documentation of their connections in the Neuse River basin before George Reeves migrated to the New River area. These descendants of George Reeves and William Reeves of Wake County are participants in DNA Group 6A of the Reeves DNA Project. Two other descendants of George Reeves of Grayson County do not match these six individuals, but neither do they match DNA Group 9 where the documented descendants of Henry Reeves are located.

Oddly, I recently realized that there is one more George Reeves who is a possibility as the father of John Reeves of Taylor County, Kentucky. When I initially became aware of this George Reeves, based upon proximity and the fact that the individuals his children were apprenticed to, Woodson Daniel and Reuben Allen, were both close associates of William Reeves, I assumed he was a member of that family of Wake County.

September 1778 Court
[213]-75
Ordered that Mary Reeves orphan of George Reeves deced. be bound unto Reuben Allen unto She come to age at this time being Eight Years of Age.
Ordered that John Reeves orphan of George Reeves deced. be bound an Apprentice unto Woodson Daniel untill he come to the Age of twenty one Years being about this time the Age of three Years.

The only other information to be found in this area of the Neuse basin is from the records of the 1778 Granville County Militia. A George Reaves served in Captain James Langston's Company No. 7. He was described as 29 years old (born circa 1749), 6 feet high, thick made; of a ruddy complexion & dark hair; a Planter.

Although at the time it did seem strange that these children would have been apprenticed to neighbors rather than cared for by family members and that no tidbits of information linking John and Mary Reeves, orphans of this George, to the family of William Reeves of Wake County had ever been found. It also became increasingly more apparent that it was George Reeves of Grayson County, due to both genetic and documentary evidence in Orange and Johnston counties who was a member of the William Reeves' family, not the George Reeves who died in 1778.

Once the theory that this individual could possibly have been George Reeves, son of Thomas Reeves, Sr. of Essex and Spotsylvania counties began to develop, the one major obstacle to this line of thinking was why. I was plagued by the question of what would prompt George Reeves to leave the Rappahannock area and migrate to North Carolina when his siblings had all settled in the Shenandoah Valley's Augusta and Rockingham counties until I recalled that his Gatewood cousins had settled in Pittsylvania County, Virginia along the border just north of this area of North Carolina. Peter and Elizabeth Gatewood Copeland are said to have even settled in North Carolina for a brief time and Peter is listed on the 1767 tax lists of Cumberland County. This was apparently the same year they returned to Virginia where they are found in Pittsylvania County by 1767 and Peter Copeland is documented as one of the first justices of the county. Elizabeth's sisters Sarah Gatewood Dunn and Patience Gatewood Farguson with their families also settled in Pittsylvania County around this time. Elizabeth Copeland, like George, was also named as a legatee in the 1754 will of their uncle George Reeves. These Gatewood daughters were first cousins to George and have helped to resolve doubts as to whether George might have found his way to this locale.

Obviously, this theory still needs much more research before John Reeves of Taylor County, Kentucky could be declared a child of George Reeves, son of Thomas Reeves, Sr. of Essex and Spotsylvania counties in Virginia. For now, it's just something to ponder while we dig deeper into the historical records to solve this puzzle.

The most current listing of the descendants of Henry Reeves of Essex County, Virginia can be found at The Reeves Project.

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See recent post Just Supposin' Again with some newly discovered information regarding this theory.