Access to Family Trees on Family Search

For everyone who has longed to be able to access the LDS family trees on Family Search in order to make additions or corrections - it is now possible.  If you haven't already discovered the changes at Family Search, you will be pleased to know that these seriously flawed trees, full of duplications and undocumented connections, can now be accessed.  Many of these family trees were created long before the internet with the records that are now available or DNA testing.

Family Information for William Reaves
of Wayne County, North Carolina

Family Search has entered these family pedigrees into a wiki type database which could eventually be a wonderful source of family information but it is currently a mass of conflicting family connections and duplications.  See the image inserted at left for information retrieved on a search for William Reaves of Wayne County, North Carolina.

William Reaves, born circa 1737, is shown as the child of John Reeves, born circa 1745 who obviously could not be William's father.  This lists John Reeves as marrying in North Carolina but there are countless records from Augusta and Rockingham Counties of Virginia for John Reeves and Margaret Duncanson.   A descendant of this John Reeves has tested and been placed in DNA Group 9.

Recent DNA testing by descendants of William Reaves of Wayne County have placed this family in DNA Group 3 which connects them to William Reeves who died in Granville County in 1751.  Also included among the proposed siblings in this listing are members of the family of Isaac Reeves of Wilkes County, North Carolina (DNA Group 6), William Rives of Prince George County, Virginia (DNA Group 8) and even one individual with the surname Rapp who was born in Germany.

This image is included simply to call attention to the errors in the information at present. In spite of all the errors, this is a tremendous step forward for online genealogy and if those of us who love genealogy all perservere in helping to correct the incorrect data and merge the duplications, it could eventually be a wonderful resource.

One of the exciting features the Family Search software provides is the ability to link a scanned copy of original documents, i.e. wills and probate documents, marriage certificates, etc., to the individual's page.  This excellent feature allows a scanned document from Family Search's collections to be added to the person's page and provide documentation with sources for the data.  Their software will also allow the addition of pictures.

There are countless "legacy issues" recorded in these records where individuals have noted errors and requested corrections in the past.  If you've always wanted to correct the information in the LDS files for your ancestors, now's your chance.

Orange County's Rev. Thomas Reeves

The Reeves family of Orange County, North Carolina is something of a mystery. They are surrounded by other Reeves' lineages in the neighboring counties of Wake, Granville, Guilford and Chatham but the DNA of a descendant of Willis Reeves who was in some way related to Thomas, does not match any of these other Reeves' lines.

Thomas Reeves was the son of Revolutionary soldier John Reeves and Mary Lynch. John Reeves died on March 12th, 1834 according to documents in his pension file. His health was so frail at the time of his pension application that the court officials taking his statement went to his home because he was unable to attend court. Sadly, John's statement includes no biographical information and relates only to details of his military service.

The documents regarding his pension refer to Thomas Reeves as his son and only surviving heir but there is a large amount of circumstantial evidence that Willis Reeves was a member of this family. Whatever the family relationship, Thomas, John and Willis Reeves appear to be of the same family. An 1845 letter from Thomas to his cousin Mary Lynch tells of a trip up the Platt River with cousin John C. Reeves (John Claiborne Reeves, son of Willis).

Thomas Reeves married Martha Davis, daughter of Jonathan Davis, on the 24th of January 1810 in Wake County. According to a biography of his son, Columbus Palestine Reeves, Thomas and Martha were the parents of eleven children but no documentation has yet been located to name all of the children.

Thomas was both a minister and the owner of a large plantation. In the 1840 census of Orange County, he is listed with 18 slaves. Sometime around 1845, Thomas Reeves moved to Ray County, Missouri. Biographical information for Ishmael Reeves born circa 1830 in North Carolina who was a slave in Ray County, Missouri by 1845 indicates that he may have belonged to Thomas Reeves. The Ray County, Missouri Slave Schedule of 1850 lists Thomas as owning 20 slaves.

Obituary published in the Raleigh Register, Raleigh, North Carolina on Friday, 2 Oct. 1846:

DIED - In Missouri, on the 24th of August last, Mrs. Martha Reeves, a native of Wake County, and wife of Elder Thomas Reeves. Also, on the next day, their daughter, Ephrata, aged about 17 years.

On the 1st of January 1850, he married Mrs. Winifred Phillips. Thomas Reeves died in 1855 in Ray County, Missouri. His estate was contested by the widow, Winifred, who remarried to Jacob Darneal on 20 Jun 1855. Winifred Darneal filed suit against the estate for payment of certain specific legacies bequeathed by Thomas Reeves. The suit was eventually argued and determined in the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri.


(1845 letter from Thomas Reeves in Crab Orchard, Missouri to Mary Lynch in Orange County, North Carolina from the Lynch Family Papers in the Historical Collections of UNC.)

A Clue in the Search for Jordan’s Wife

Nine months ago, I wrote this post about the wives (or lack thereof) of Jordan Reeves. Two autosomal DNA tests and hundreds of matches later, I finally have a clue. It’s just a clue, but a clue is much more than I had before the DNA tests.

Previously, I had noted that everywhere I found Jordan Reeves, I found Jacob Chamblee – on deeds, tax lists, jury lists, census records – he seemed to be Jordan’s BFF over a period of 20 years. Despite my persistence, I never found Jacob’s parents or figured out who his siblings were, if any. He and Jordan parted ways in Pendleton, South Carolina about 1795 and the trail went cold. Until now.

Today I found an ancestryDNA match to a descendant of Joshua Burriss and Sarah Chamblee. Sarah and Jacob are both mentioned in passing in this summary of the Chamblee family of North Carolina. In 1800 Joshua Burriss and Sarah Chamblee Burriss are found living two dwellings away from, you guessed it -- Jacob Chamblee in Pendleton, South Carolina. Jordan, of course, had recently departed for Nashville.

This match does not mean that I descend from Sarah, only that I just might have an ancestor in common with her. The quest for Mrs. Jordan Reeves will continue, re-invigorated with this find, and focused on the Chamblee family for now.

Edited to add: I have found a total of 8 Chamblee DNA matches thus far that further support a Chamblee for Jordan's wife.

Family Finder Fun

When FTDNA had a sale at the end of last year, I decided to take the plunge into DNA testing. Since I received my Family Finder results on February 10, I’ve had difficulty tearing myself away from my computer where I slavishly and obsessively chase obscure family relationships.


Getting off to a deceptively easy start, one of the first matches I resolved was in my Reeves line. A descendant of Jordan Reeves Jr was a fifth cousin match. We both had uploaded gedcoms to FTDNA and had good paper trails. The second match was even easier as he was a known cousin of the first Jordan Reeves match.

About six out of my 220 matches have been this straightforward -- the other 214, not so much. But that’s ok. Finding and connecting with cousins is fun, but solving mysteries is even more so; in fact, it's highly addictive.

What a lot of new surnames to research! Who the heck are all those Kirklands, Peacocks, and Flowers, anyway? Why do I have cousins in Norway when only one ancester (ok - known ancestor) has immigrated to the US since the revolution? Who knew that half of Carroll County, Arkansas is related to me?

Perhaps all those unidentified sisters and daughters are making their presence known.

Consanguinity chart from FTDNA.com.

Charlotte Reeves Robertson

Pioneer woman extraordinaire and future heroine of Fort Nashborough, Charlotte Reeves was born in Northampton, North Carolina in 1751 and moved with her family to Johnston (now Wake) County North Carolina by about 1763. There, she married James Robertson in 1768. In 1771, Charlotte and James along with several other families left Wake County for the Watauga Settlements in what is now eastern Tennessee. It is believed that Charlotte’s parents and siblings (including my ancestor Jordan Reeves), some of James Robertson’s siblings, and his uncle Charles Robertson either accompanied Charlotte and James or followed them very quickly.

The Watauga villages where James and Charlotte Robertson settled rested on lands leased from the Cherokee. A truce with the Cherokee was short-lived and land agreements were revoked. Life was difficult and dangerous. By 1779, James Robertson was ready to move west. While James Robertson led some of the men to the Cumberland settlements, where Nashville is now located, John Donelson led the so-called Donelson flotilla to the same location via the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers. The women and children (including Charlotte and four of her children) and some of the men were aboard the flatboats that made the nearly 1000 mile journey in winter. During the perilous voyage Charlotte Reeves distinguished herself by fighting off Indian attackers and working the oars with the men.

Once in the Cumberland settlements, Charlotte, James, and their children lived in Fort Nashborough, which was one of several forts housing settlers for protection from Indian attacks.

Charlotte Robertson is celebrated as the heroine of the Battle of the Bluffs which was fought at Fort Nashborough in 1781. When Indians attacked the fort, she realized that they were positioned between the fort’s men, who were out in the woods, and the fort. She unleashed the hounds, creating great confusion among the Indian attackers. This diversion allowed time for the men to return safely to the fort. One of Charlotte’s sons was killed by Indians during this battle. In all, two of her sons were killed by Indians while another was scalped but recovered.

The city of Charlotte, Tennessee, and Charlotte Pike in Nashville are named for Charlotte Robertson, who lived in Middle Tennessee until her death in 1843 at the age of ninety-two. She is buried in Nashville's City Cemetery.

For more information see TN Encyclopedia and other sources.

Charlotte Reeves was the daughter of George Reeves, born 1716, and his wife Mary Jordan. She is of the Rives line documented in Reliques of the Rives James Rives Childs. Descendants of this line have tested as DNA Group 8 in the Reeves DNA Project.

Busting the Single Immigrant Myth

Did you know that hundreds of individuals with the surname Reeves (or related surname) were immigrants into the American colonies before the Revolution? Yes, in Virginia alone, one researcher documented seventy-eight Reeves who were transported to that colony before 1700, and that list was compiled from a relatively small set of sources.

The Reeves DNA project, with its 108 participants, has already identified at least fourteen genetically distinct lines of Reeves with another twenty-one participants who don’t match any of those fourteen groups.

So you see, the Reeves community form a pretty diverse group.

It is an unfortunate fact that research into the colonial origins of many Reeves families has been stymied by an unfounded assumption that there was but a single immigrant from whom most Southern Reeves descend. Many Reeves researchers, including a few book authors, have claimed descent from Robert Ryves, born 1490 in England, but genetic studies have shown that this is simply not possible. In addition, research has confirmed multiple lines of descent from multiple immigrants.

In future posts, we will identify some of the Reeves lines where more research is needed to identify family origins. In the meantime, don't let the spelling of the name limit your research. In some lines, all possible spellings appear, often in the same generation, and sometimes for the same person.