The Rives (Ryves) of Damory Court

Blandford Forum

In 1929, James Rives Childs of Lynchburg, Virginia published Reliques of the Rives (Ryves): being historical and genealogical notes of the ancient family Ryves of County Dorset. This book has been a mainstay for Reeves researchers; however, only a small portion of today’s Reeves’ families descend from this lineage. This Reeves (Rives) family is represented in Group 8 of the Reeves DNA Project which currently has twenty-five members with matching Y-DNA verifying their kinship.

Gravestone Inscription of
Robert Ryves

The Dorset family of Ryves descends from one Robert Ryves of Blandford County, Dorset, England who is the first of the name in England of whom there is record. He was born about 1490 and died 11 February 1551. Although the old church of Blandford Forum was destroyed by fire in 1731, an officer in the King’s Army in 1644 made notes describing the tomb of Robert Ryves. His grandson, Sir John Ryves, born 1536, in a petition stated that King Henry VIII had granted the premises of the manor of Milton County, Dorset to Robert Ryves in 1546.

Many family history books written and published long before the current level of access to historical documents contain abundant misinformation because they relied heavily on proximity as a source of family connections. Childs spend a great amount of time researching Reliques and the book appears to be factual except for a few errors that seem based upon data submitted by Reeves descendants, not the work of Childs himself.

At the time in 1929 when Reliques of the Rives (Ryves) was first published, Childs believed that the immigrant ancestor of this family was William Ryves who was a titheable in Surry County, Virginia in 1684 and 1695. After much further scrutiny and mounting inferential evidence in support of the theory, in 1957, James Rives Childs wrote an amendment to the book which was published in the Virginia Magazine of History and Biography.

During the years after the first publiation, Childs felt that based upon his subsequent research along with additions and corrections shared by others that the immigrant was more likely Timothy Ryves, born 1625, the son of Timothy and Mary Ryves of Oxford. Timothy Rieve or Rives' estate was recorded in the Charles City County Order Book for 1687-1695. He was the father of George, Robert, John, and Timothy Rives, of Virginia.

Recently a Reeves colleague who descends from this family shared a link to this book that contains many interesting tidbits that may be of interest to other members of DNA Group 8 and others of the Rives or Reeves family descending from this lineage.

A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain By Bernard Burke · pub. 1900

Surprises thru DNA

Recently several descendants of Hardy Reaves of Duplin County, North Carolina have completed Y-DNA tests. It had always been supposed that Hardy was in some way related to the family of William Reaves who died in Wayne County in 1793 since they were in close proximity and both lineages used the spelling "Reaves". Although William named no son Hardy in his 1790 will, there was always the chance that Hardy could have been a brother or nephew.

When the results of the first descendant to test were posted at Family Tree DNA, they came as a complete shock. Rather than matching DNA Group 3 members where the descendants of William Reaves of Wayne County are found, they matched DNA Group 8. Group 8 is comprised of descendants of Timothy Rives an early resident of Virginia. That family is covered in the book ''Reliques of the Rives'' by James Rives Childs in which the author traces Timothy's lineage back to Robert Ryves of Randleston and Damory Court in Blandford Forum, England.

The earliest residents of this area of North Carolina appear to have been recorded in Dobbs County which was formed in 1758 from Johnston County. In 1779 the western part of Dobbs County became Wayne County. In 1791 Dobbs County was divided by the North Carolina legislature into Glasgow County which was later renamed Greene County and Lenoir County, after which Dobbs County ceased to exist. Sadly, the records of these counties were destroyed by fire on 15 October 1873 after having been moved to the Lenoir County Courthouse. This loss of records has adversely impacted research of the Reaves families of both Wayne and Duplin Counties. The only Dobbs County records that survived the fire were an original grantee deed index and some early tax records.

Thanks to those extant records we do know that there were several Reeves/Reaves living in Dobbs County by sometime between April 1757 and April 1758 when a William Reaves and a Thomas Reaves were recorded in that index. In the index of April 1765 to April 1769 a Drury Reaves and Timothy Reaves are recorded. Timothy Reaves is currently unidentified but Drury may have been from the DNA Group 8 family since the name Drury is used repeatedly in that lineage. Drury Reeves/Reaves migrated further south to Darlington, South Carolina where he died intestate in 1792.

Duplin County was formed in 1750 from New Hanover County and is located just to the south of Wayne County and adjacent to Dobbs County on it's southwestern side. Hardy Reaves is first recorded in Duplin County on the 17th of October, 1770 when a summons was issued by the sheriff of Duplin County to value a horse which was the property of Hardy Reaves. The document states this was in the course of a sute (sic suit) by Stephen Herring. The horse was valued at twenty pounds and the reverse side of the summons has been signed with Hardy Reaves mark on that same date. The document was the only thing found in what was recorded as an estate file for Hardy Reaves.
It is unclear exactly which Hardy Reaves this document pertains to and there appear to be two different individuals by that name in early Duplin County. In the 1790 census, there are two Hardy Reaves recorded in Duplin County. One Hardy Reaves is listed with a household consisting of 4 Males over 16, 4 Males under 16 and 5 Females on page 44 of the census listing of James Kenan. Another Hardy Reeves is listed on page 40 of that same census listing with a household containing 2 Males over 16, 3 Males under 16 and 5 females. Since the total persons in the households differ, presumably there were two Hardy Reaves living in fairly close proximity in Duplin County but this could also be the result of errors by census enumerators. One of these Hardy Reaves is undoubtedly the parent of the next generation Hardy Reaves born 1785.

Hardy Reaves who is the documented ancestor of the individuals who have tested matching DNA Group 8 was born circa 1785 and died before January 1862 in Duplin County where probate records record the identities of his nine (9) children. Hopefully current research of this family will eventually be able to establish a connection to the Rives family of the southside of Virginia and document that relationship.

Update on the Reeves of Wayne County Tennessee

DNA testing is helping to unravel yet another Reeves mystery. Over a year ago, I wrote a post titled Yet Another George Reeves.  At the end of the post, I opined that DNA testing might help identify this mystery George of  Wayne County.

I’ve long been interested in the numerous Reeves families of Wayne County, Tennessee. Most of my paternal ancestors came from Wayne County, Tennessee, but my Reeves line is maternal. I was very curious – were my mother’s relatives living next door to my father’s ancestors 100 years or more before my parents met in Arkansas? And there were so many Reeves there -- surely they couldn’t possibly all be the same line. Most of them came out of nowhere and moved on elsewhere, but a combination of paper trails and DNA testing is starting to bring them into a sharper focus.

One such Reeves is George W Reeves who sold land on Hardin’s Creek in Wayne County, Tennessee in 1833 as "George Reeves of Hickman County, Kentucky." I found him in the 1830 Wayne County census and then in 1840 in Hickman County, Kentucky and in 1850 in Ballard County, Kentucky.  I was able to identify his first wife as Nancy Elizabeth McClure as well as their children and his second wife as Mary Polly Boone.

Then the trail went cold until my Reeves cousin Laverne got her results from the Family Finder test.  Laverne’s test confirmed, as she always knew, that she is part of the Reeves Group 8 DNA family.  But among her matches was a real gem of a find:  two descendants of "George W Reeves of Hickman Kentucky.”

Having identified his line, I knew a little better where to look for more traces of him.  I found his wife’s family, the McClures, living in Humphreys County Tennessee near several Reeves dwellings including that of Jordan Reeves . Further supporting the family relationship, these McClures migrated to Wayne County with George and Nancy and then on to Kentucky. And finally, an 1820 census record of a George Reeves in Perry County TN that had long stumped Group 8 Reeves researchers fits the family structure of our now less mysterious George W Reeves.

We still don’t know who George W Reeves’ father was, but he could very well be one of the Reeves men who migrated to Humphreys and Hickman County Tennessee between 1808 and 1816/17, sons and grandsons of George Reeves and Mary Jordan. 

Updated to add: I now also have a DNA match to a descendent of George W Reeves and Nancy McClure.

Reeves DNA Group 8 Update

My goodness, a lot of time has passed since I published these two posts:

Reeves DNA Group 8 Part 1

Reeves DNA Group 8 Part 2

Since then, two more Reeves men have completed the YDNA test and have been added to the Reeves DNA Project in Group 8.This is the Reeves line documented in James Rives Childs' book Reliques of the Rives. 

Also since those posts, three Group 8 research collaborators (Carolyn, Sharland, and Gerald) have completed the FtDNA Family Finder test. I (Carolyn) have completed the ancestryDNA autosomal test as well. All of us have identified  Reeves cousins through these tests, and a few mysteries have been solved. Our findings include:

• Two of us have DNA matches with a descendant of Elizabeth Reeves David. We suspected she was of our line, and now we’re certain even though we still don’t know which Reeves was her father.

• One match to a descendant of Drewry Reeves, born 1803 in South Carolina and died after 1880 in Wayne County, Tennessee. We know that his parents were John and Mary Reeves, both born in South Carolina, but we do not know how John connects to our line. Before the test, we could only speculate that this family was of our line; now we have evidence that they are.

• One match to a descendant of Drury Reeves, born about 1781, son of Jordan Reeves. Although we have an excellent paper trail for Drury, we don't have any of his descendants in the Reeves YDNA project. But now we have DNA confirmation that he is of our line.

• Several more matches to descendants of Jordan Reeves Jr – mostly mine since I descend from him.

• One match to a descendant of Harmon Bishop, brother of our ancestress, Hannah Bishop Rives, wife of Thomas Rives.

And many more. . .

Since all three of us descend from George Reeves and Mary Jordan, we are now collaborating in an effort to identify Mary Jordan’s mother through a combination of DNA matches and old-fashioned sleuthing.

So dear readers, I highly recommend autosomal testing. It will add a new dimension and direction to your research and help confirm work that you have already done. And, if you can’t find a male relative with the Reeves surname to do the YDNA test, you can still find Reeves cousins and confirm your line.

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.

Busting Myths about William Steel Reeves

Page from James Robertson bible

William Steel Reeves was born in Pendleton District, South Carolina on 9 March 1794, the son of George Reeves Jr and Mary Polly Steele (surname unproven). His birthdate is recorded in the James Robertson bible.

William Steel Reeves married Nancy Totty in Hickman County Tennessee in 1816. He moved to Crawford County, Arkansas before 1836 and stayed for several years before moving to Grayson County, Texas before 1850.

William Steel Reeves died on 7 June 1872 and is buried in the Georgetown Cemetery in Pottsboro, Grayson County, Texas.

It is in a book called "The History of Grayson County, Texas" where at least two myths about William seem to have gotten their start.

In this book, William's descendant Geraldine Coe wrote the section on the history of the William Steel Reeves family which begins thusly:

My great great grandfather was born March 9, 1794 in Pendleton District South Carolina. His ancestors came from Ireland to S.C. in 1792. He was orphaned at age 3 and his uncle raised him in Nashville, Tennessee.  

In this short excerpt, two myths appear:

Myth #1 -  the family "came from Ireland to S. C. in 1792." They did not. See William Steel Reeves' lineage in the ancestry tree: Reliques of the Rives -- Group 8 DNA.

Myth #2 -- "he was orphaned at age 3 and his uncle raised him in Nashville, Tennessee." This is not true either. His mother died when he was very young, but his father George Reeves Jr remarried quickly to Mary O'Barr while still living in Pendleton, South Carolina." The family later moved to middle Tennessee where William is found in the 1820 census of Hickman County.

Sadly this book is found in libraries all over the country and continues to serve to perpetuate these myths. It never seems to work to put too much faith in genealogy books as so many rely on family lore and unfounded conjecture rather than research and documentary evidence. You must still verify, verify, and verify again.

Elizabeth Reeves David – Who Does She Belong to?

Precious few granddaughters of George Reeves (born 1716) and his wife Mary Jordan (born c 1726) have ever been identified. As with all families, the women are much harder to identify and trace as there is so much less documentary evidence to chase. So often we must rely on circumstantial evidence to identify our foremothers and that is the case for Elizabeth Reeves. What little evidence I can find suggests that Elizabeth Reeves, born about 1783 possibly in South Carolina, is one of the elusive granddaughters of George and Mary Jordan Reeves.

Here’s why:

Marriage records in Davidson County, Tennessee seem to tie Elizabeth to this family:

On December 1, 1800, James David and Elizabeth Reeves were married; Jonathan F Robertson, son of James Robertson and Charlotte Reeves Robertson (daughter of George and Mary) was bondsman.

 On January 15, 1816, George Reeves and Rhoda Newsom were married. James David and William Reaves were bondsmen.

The George Reeves and William Reeves in the second record are themselves elusive and unattached to parents though it is very likely (through considerable circumstantial evidence) that they are also grandsons of George Reeves and Mary Jordan. Likely fathers for them include Jordan Reeves, Timothy Reeves, or less likely, Burrell Reeves, but no documentary evidence has yet been found to connect them to their parents. They may be brothers or perhaps first cousins, and it seems quite possible that Elizabeth Reeves is their sister or cousin, given that her husband was bondsman for the marriage of one of them..

 According to census records of her children, Elizabeth Reeves, wife of James David, was born in South Carolina. Though I have not found Elizabeth herself named in any census, her birth year is estimated to be in the early to mid-1780s, around the time that George and Mary Reeves, along with sons William, Jordan, and younger children in the household moved from the Watauga settlements in what is now far eastern Tennessee to South Carolina.

Naming patterns for Elizabeth’s presumed children are consistent with Reeves and Robertson names, for example: sons named George, William, Timothy, and Felix Robertson. The last-named son is probably named for Felix Robertson, son of James and Charlotte Reeves Robertson.

More research is needed on Elizabeth and these other Reeves to determine who her parents were, . Many online trees claim that Elizabeth is the daughter of William Reeves (born 1755) and this is possible, but no one has presented any supporting evidence. Jordan Reeves is the only other son of George and Mary old enough to be Elizabeth's father, and he does have unidentified daughters.

Elizabeth Reeves David died in 1860 at the home of her son Seth David in East Baton Rouge, LA.

Reliques of the Rives tree on ancestry.com

Sharland, Carolyn, and Gerald, Reeves DNA Group 8 cousins and collaborators have launched a new tree on ancestry.com. The Reliques of the Rives Group 8 DNA tree contains the lines of all Reeves males who have tested as members of Group 8 in the Reeves DNA project.

There are two ways you can approach the tree:

1. You can start at the top with Robert Ryves, the earliest documented ancestor of this line, and click a son. Each Ryves/Rives/Reeves who is in the direct line of one of the Group 8 Reeves will have this picture of the Ryves crest attached to his profile.


As you navigate through the tree, clicking on sons with that picture will lead you to someone who has tested as Reeves DNA Group 8 through his YDNA.

2. Another approach is to start with the pedigree of someone at the bottom of the tree. Here is an example using the line of K M Reaves. In the pedigree, you will see the Reeves crest displayed for each male in his direct line.

Although there are currently eight members of Group 8 DNA, only seven lines are included in this tree as the line of the eighth person remains unknown. We have included wives and siblings whenever they are available.

We have added citations and comments to many people in the tree and will add more as time permits. We have also used the inferred DNA feature available on ancestry.com to display the Haplogroup, E1b1b1a1, on each Reeves male profile page.

Reeves Literacy in Independence County Arkansas

Literacy of my ancestors is a topic that always interests me, when I can make a determination. Many of my Arkansas farmer and hillbilly ancestors could not read or write. However, it appears that most members of my Reeves ancestral line had at least basic literacy skills.

My fourth great-grandfather, Jordan Reeves, Jr, c 1773 - c 1845, was probably literate. I presume this based on unclaimed mail addressed to him in Nashville TN in 1805 and 1806 -- he had moved to Wilson County by 1805. Twenty years later, Jordan Reeves Jr settled in Independence County Arkansas, living southeast of Batesville, near Newark. He is listed in the Arkansas Gazette as having unclaimed mail at the Batesville post office several times between 31 Dec 1825 and 31 March 1827. This does not prove absolutely that Jordan was literate, but it raises the possibility. It is also possible that his wife Mary Magness was literate, rather than Jordan, and read the letters for him.

The 1850 census contains a column that should be checked if the person being enumerated is “over 20 years of age and unable to read or write.” This column is unchecked for Elias Morgan Reeves who could evidently do both, but it is checked for his wife Terissa Gilbreath Reeves. They are my third great-grandparents.

My great-great-grandfather, David Robertson Reeves, was orphaned at the age of four and is found in the 1870 Independence County, Arkansas federal census living with his sister Cynthia Reeves Drennon with an occupation of “works on farm.” He was thirteen years old. On the 1870 census there are two columns labeled “unable to read” and “unable to write.” Both are checked for young David, and indeed, for everyone in the household. By 1880, David has apparently learned to read and write because the same two columns are unchecked for both David and his wife, Mary Caroline McDoniel Reeves. David’s sister Cynthia and her husband both died in 1871, leaving him alone again at age fourteen. It is not known who he lived with until his 1878 marriage, but apparently he was given educational opportunity at last.

By 1900, the census provides three columns: “can read,” “can write,” and “can speak English.” For both Teressa Jane Reeves Henderson and her husband John C Henderson (my great-grandparents), all questions are answered “yes.” Subsequent generations all achieved literacy.

By defining literacy as the ability to read and write, I'm setting the bar pretty low. It is doubtful that any of these "literate" ancestors achieved anything close to the equivalent of a high school education. Adult literacy has never been great in rural Arkansas, and continues to be an issue to this day.

Maritime Records

Maritime records are a relatively unexplored source of information about Reeves/Rives who emigrated from England to the Virginia colony.

In his book The Ryves-Rives-Reaves Families of Europe and America, W Patrick Reaves includes the following tantalizing, but flawed, references to shipping records:

The Ryves, as indicated by English shipping records in the Virginia colonies, were associated with the following ships:

• "The Griffin"
• "Providence" (owned by Charles Ryves)

• "Sarah" (the name of Timothy's wife. This ship was inherited by Charles Ryves in 1689 according to VA Maritime archives record 5R 10081, reel 960, public records office class C24//1128, Chancery records dated 1689, lawsuit involving "The Sarah", Names of Persons involved were: Charles Ryves, George Ryves, Merchant of Virginia and Francis Parsons, Master) [NOTE: Sarah? We know that Timothy's widow was Mary from records in Charles City County Virginia, but Sarah may have been a previous wife]

• "The Exchange" (owned by Brune Ryves Jr of London and Portsmouth)

• "Charles" (owned and captained by Charles Ryves, a grandson of George Ryves of Woodstock, 1685-6, record SR12622, p 22, Va Maritime archives)

• "The Blandford"

"The Providence", owned by Charles Ryves of Woodstock, was operating in Virginia in port about three times a year from 1629 and into the 1700s.

Investigation of the above claims has uncovered several fallacies in assumptions made about these records.

The Brune Ryves Jr mentioned above was indeed the great-great-grandson of Robert Ryves of Dorset, but we don't yet know whether or not he actually owned the "Exchange".

However, the George Reeves and Charles Reeves involved with the ship "Sarah" are not of the DNA Group 8 (Robert Ryves) line as Patrick Reaves believed. They are two of the four sons of this George Reeves as documented on the Reeves Project Wiki. See:

George Reeves of Middlesex VA
Charles Reeves of Middlesex VA

Documentation for Charles Reeves also indicates that he was co-owner of the "Providence" referred to above and not Charles Ryves of Woodstock.

The claims about the ships "The Griffin", "The Exchange", "The Charles", and "The Blandford" still need to be pursued.

The invalid assumptions drawn from the records about George and Charles Reeves accentuates the importance of retaining the spelling of names as found in records. None of the records found for these two men and their brothers Thomas and Francis appear to have used the spelling "Ryves."

We should also be very careful about trusting claims made in genealogy books when primary sources are not provided or when they are transcribed inaccurately or incompletely.

Thanks to Beverly for her meticulous research on George, Charles, Thomas, and Francis Reeves of Middlesex, Virginia.

Reeves DNA Group 8 Part 2

See Reeves DNA Group 8 Part 1 post before reading the continuation of the story.

In the following narrative, the names of living DNA participants have been modified to use their initials only.

Group 8 researchers first unraveled the pedigrees of members E B Reeves, J M Reeves, and J F Reeves by learning they descend from George Reeves Sr. b 1716 in Virginia. After years of research, the team documented E B's line back to George Rives b. 1660. E B descends from John Reeves b 1787 SC, son of George Reeves Jr. b 1767 VA, son of George Reeves Sr. b 1716 VA, son of Thomas Rives b 1690, son of George Rives b 1660. Next, Group 8 tackled the lines of J F Reeves, a descendant of Jonathan Reeves b 1788 SC, and J M Reeves , a descendant of James Reeves b 1780 NC. Citing DNA results and additional documentary evidence, researchers concluded that James Reeves and Jonathan Reeves were likely sons of Jordan Reeves b 1747 NC, also son of George Reeves Sr. b 1716 VA, son of Thomas Rives b 1690 VA , son of George Rives b 1660 VA, son of Timothy Rives b 1625 Oxford, England.

Group 8 researchers then turned their attention to C R Rives. His pedigree is found in Herschel Edwin Rives' The Rives and Allied Families of Greene Territory, Illinois: An Account of Rev. James Rives and his Descendants of Greene County, Illinois, 1982. C R is also a descendant of Timothy's son George Rives b 1660 through his son Col. William Rives. As referenced by Reliques: George Rives b 1660, page 77; Col. William Rives, b 1683 VA, page 7; William Rives b 1712 VA, page 153; Thomas Henry Rives b 1735, page 154; William McGuffy Rives b 1767 VA, page 157. The Rives and Allied Families continues the line from William McGuffy Rives as follows: Rev. James Rives b 1807 NC, John Hood Rives b 1826 NC, Andrew J. Rives b 1849 IL, Edwin M. Rives b 1880 IL , Carman M. Rives b 1905 IL, C R Rives.

Group 8 learned that member J D Reeves descends from Timothy's son Timothy Rives b 1670 with most of his line being documented in Reliques. J D's line: Timothy Rives b 1670, page 425; William Rives b 1706, page 652; John Rives b 1736 VA, page 661; Edmund Harris Rives b 1783, page 674; John Harding Rives b 1809 TN, page 678; Capt. Thomas McCrory Rives b 1836 page 679; Guy Kenneth Rives b 1882, page 680; Thomas Hunter Reeves, b 1908, page 680; Larry Dean Reeves, and J D Reeves.

The newest member of Group 8 is K M Reaves. His pedigree is found in The Ryves-Rives-Reaves Families of Europe and America, 1999 by W. Patrick Reaves. W. Patrick is a first cousin of K M's father. They descend from Timothy's son John Rives b. 1667 VA. As referenced by Reliques, K M's line is as follows: John Rives b 1667 VA, page 411; Richard Rives b 1690 VA , page 412; William Rives b 1715 VA, page 415; William b 1748 NC, page 416; William's descendants, page 418. The Ryves-Rives-Reaves Families includes additional documentary evidence for the material in Reliques and continues the line from William b 1748 as follows: Edmond Reaves b 1776 NC, William Emery Reaves b 1798 NC, William McGuire Reaves b 1828 GA, William Patrick Reaves b 1857 AL, William Monroe Reaves b 1882 AL, William Leo Reaves b 1909 AL, K M Reaves.

Group 8 is trying to contact member G A Reeves to learn of his pedigree. Because he is a genetic match to members of Group 8, we know he is a descendant of either George, John or Timothy Rives, sons of Timothy b 1625.

Group 8 seeks participants in the Reeves DNA project

Group 8 is fortunate in that our members are connected genetically and genealogically. Our individual paper trails converge at Timothy, and our genetic relationship and our genealogies confirm and support J. Rives Childs' genealogy of the Rives. We are seeking more participants for the DNA project among Timothy's descendants. If you know a descendant of his sons George, John and Timothy, we hope you will urge him to join.

As described in Reliques, these participants will descend from the following:

George's sons 1) Col. William Rives b 1683, and his sons Benjamin, Timothy, William Foster , George and Robert , 2) Thomas Rives b 1690 and his sons Thomas, George, Joseph, Benjamin and William, and 3) Joseph Reeves b 1698 and his sons Daniel, Reuben, Joseph, Burwell, Frederick, and Isham ;

John's son Richard b 1690 and his sons William, John, Peter, and Richard;

Timothy's sons 1) George b 1698 and his sons John, George, Christopher, and Timothy, 2) Timothy b 1704 and his sons William and Timothy, and 3) William b 1706 and his sons William, John, and Timothy.

Reliques of the Rives is available online on ancestry.com. Sometimes copies can be purchased on eBay or Amazon.com.

The Reeves DNA Project results page is here.

Group 8 lines are also documented on the DNA Group 8 page on The Reeves Project Wiki.

Reeves DNA Group 8 Part I

Reeves DNA Group 8 researchers Gerald, Carolyn, and Sharland have concluded that all participants in Reeves DNA Group 8 descend from Robert Ryves of Dorset b 1490. This conclusion is based on DNA test results and research findings.

In determining the pedigrees of our members, Group 8 researchers found we share as our common ancestor the father of George Rives b 1660, John Rives b 1667 and Timothy Rives b 1670 in Virginia. We now believe that their father was Timothy Rives b 1625, son of Timothy Rives b 1588, of the family documented by James Rives Childs in the well-known Rives genealogy book, Reliques of the Rives.

In Reliques of the Rives, J. Rives Childs originally, and we believe erroneously, speculated that their father was William Rives b 1636 Oxford, England, the alleged emigrant ancestor documented as #1, page 73 of 'Part II The Virginia Family of Rives'.

Childs changed his thinking about William's identity 28 years after Reliques was published. In 1957, he published "Amendments to Reliques of the Rives" in “The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography.” In the opening paragraphs, he states "The basis for the birth of William to Timothy Ryves and his wife of Oxford (pp.74-75) was the slightest..." Childs then cites evidence in the Charles City County Order Book for 1687-1695 that points to Timothy Rives b 1625 Oxford, England as the emigrant ancestor:

"I suggest now the likelihood that this Timothy "Rieve" or Rives was the emigrant ancestor and that he was identical with 206, Timothy Ryves, born 1625, son of Timothy and Mary Ryves of Oxford (p.51), and that he was the father of George, Robert, John and Timothy Rives of Virginia."

Given the evidence, we accept Childs' conclusion that Timothy b 1625 was the emigrant ancestor and the father of George, John, Robert, and Timothy. Timothy Rives b 1625 was the son of Timothy b 1588, #204, page 49 of Reliques, a son of Richard #3, a son of John #2, a son of Robert Ryves #1.

Timothy's son Robert died without male issue. However, Group 8 participants are descendants of the other three sons of Timothy b 1625. Six of our nine members descend from the oldest son, George Rives #2, two members descend from son John Rives #4, and one member descends from son Timothy Rives #5, page 77. The lines of Group 8 can be found at these links to Carolyn's trees at ancestry.com and rootsweb.com:

Timothy Rives in Rootsweb tree

Timothy Rives in Ancestry tree

The Reeves DNA Project Test Results page is here.

More information will be provided in Part II of this post.