Reuben A. Reeves of Todd County, Kentucky

Reuben A. Reeves was the son of Ottway Curry Reeves and Mary Ann Mansfield, the grandson of Brewer Reeves who was one of the earliest settlers of Christian County, Kentucky. The act creating Christian County was passed in 1796 and specified "that the Justices to be named in the commission of the peace for said county" should meet at the house of Brewer Reeves and organize for business. Brewer, his wife Martha and their family had immigrated to Kentucky from Augusta County, Virginia.

In January of 1846, Ruben married Sarah Mills in Todd County and soon afterward left Kentucky for Texas which had just been admitted to the United States. Anderson County was a popular destination for the stream of immigrants flowing into Texas from various U.S. states. By 1848, Reuben had established a law practice in Palestine, the county seat of Anderson County. He and his young family are found there in the 1850 U.S. census and by 1857, Reuben had been elected a district judge in Palestine.

After the civil war began, he enlisted on the 11th of April 1863 in Terrell's Regiment of Texas Cavalry of the CSA and became captain of Company E. A year later when the term of James H. Bell, associate justice of the Texas Supreme Court expired, Ruben Reeves ran for and was elected to that office in August of 1864. The resignation of his commission from the CSA was written on the 19th of September 1864 in Tyler, Texas.

Reuben Reeves served as associate justice of the Texas Supreme Court until the war's end and participated in the Constitutional Convention of 1866. He was then elected district court judge for the Ninth Judicial District but on November 30, 1867 when Texas came under federal military control, he was among the officials removed from office as "impediments to Reconstruction". When Governor Richard Coke was elected, Reuben Reeves was reappointed associate justice of the Supreme Court of Texas on January 30, 1874 and served until April 18, 1876 when he returned to Palestine to practice law. At one time his son William also held the office of district judge in Anderson County.

President Grover Cleveland appointed Reuben Reeves to the Supreme Court of New Mexico Territory in the 1880's, and he served in that office until 1889. He died in Dallas at the home of his daughter on January 30, 1908, and was buried in Greenwood Cemetery.

Read more about Reuben A. Reeves at The TSHA Handbook of Texas Online

The Reeves of Christian County, Kentucky: Part 1

The history of Christian County as published in The County of Christian, Kentucky - Historical & Biographical edited by William H. Perrin in 1884 lists Brewer Reeves as one of the earliest settlers to that county. In fact, the act creating Christian County which was passed in 1796 and took effect on the 1st of March 1797 provided “that the Justices to be named in the commission of the peace for said county” should meet at the house of Brewer Reeves and organize for business. Three weeks after the act became effective, they met, Brewer Reeves, Jacob Barnett, Moses Shelby, Hugh Knox and Jonathan Logan constituting the court and began to transact the business of the new county.

Brewer Reeves is believed to have been the son (correction - brother, see update below) of Thomas Reeves, Jr. of Augusta and Rockingham counties of Virginia where Brewer is found in the court, tax, and deed records prior to his arrival in Kentucky in the mid 1790's. Brewer died within a few years of migrating to Kentucky and his estate was entered for probate in Christian County in November of 1799. Mrs. Martha Reeves and their children remained there and Brewer's descendants continued to be actively involved in Christian County affairs where their son Benjamin, after serving in the War of 1812, became a state senator in 1812, 1814 and 1817.

Another Brewer Reeves immigrated from Augusta County, Virginia before 1830. This second Brewer was the son of the elder Brewer Reeves' nephew William. William's older brother John had also migrated to Christian County where he had married Lucretia Dunkerson in 1819.

In 1820, Todd County was formed from Christian and Logan Counties, thereafter the descendants of this Reeves family could be found in both counties.

Benjamin H. Reeves had moved to the Territory of Missouri in 1818 after his terms in the state senate. In 1821 he was elected a Delegate from the Missouri county of Howard to assist in framing a Constitution for that State, and was, a few years thereafter, elected Lieutenant-Governor of Missouri. In 1826 he was appointed by the Government of the United States a Commissioner to survey and mark out a road from Missouri to the Spanish provinces in a direction to Santa Fe. Returning from Missouri in 1836, he settled in the recently created Todd County.

The descendants of this family continued to be politically active. Brewer Reeves' son Willis Long Reeves was for many years clerk of the Todd County Court and a grandson Crittenden Reeves, son of Benjamin, was elected to the Kentucky Legislature. Brewer's grandson Reuben A. Reeves, the son of Ottway Curry Reeves, married and moved to Palestine, Anderson County, Texas where he practiced law and in August 1864 was elected associate justice of the Texas Supreme Court. Another grandson, Willis Long Reeves, Jr. was a judge of the Todd County Court of Appeals at the turn of the 20th century.

In Part 2 of this series I'll present the limited information available on what may be another Reeves family, or possibly two more Reeves families. The family of James Reeves seems to have migrated into Kentucky from South Carolina while there is no definite known origin of William Reeves with wife Susan Hunter.


Update: Rather than being the son of Thomas Reeves, Jr., it appears that Brewer Reeves was his brother based upon several suits in the Augusta County, Virginia Chancery records. In the suit Sevier vs. Thomas Reeves concerning 304 acres in Augusta County purchased in 1769, Brewer Reeves is named as the brother of Thomas Reeves. In another 1770 Augusta County Chancery action, Herndon vs. Thomas Reeves, a statement by Brewer Reeves mentions living in Thomas Reeves' home so it may be possible that Brewer was much younger. Thomas Reeves, Jr. with wife Sarah, formerly of Spotsylvania County, was the son of Thomas Reeves, Sr. who died in Spotsylvania County in 1760. Thomas Reeves, Sr. was the son of Henry Reeves, Jr. of Essex County. George Reeves named his nephew Thomas Reeves, Jr. as well as nephews George, Henry and John Reeves, all sons of Thomas Reeves, Sr. in his 1754 will, but did not mention Brewer.