Reeves' Research of Mrs. Helen Trent Hobbs

Map with Indiana Counties
 Greene and Lawrence

Some years ago, I happened upon a posting to the Reeves Forum at Genealogy.com which referred to biographical statements made by George Washington Reeves of Ashe County, North Carolina. George was the son of John Reeves and Phoebe Osborne of Grayson County, Virginia and grandson of George Reeves of that county.  The message contained the following:

From: Smithb13@aol.com
Subject: MORE FROM MRS. HOBBS
Date: Thu, 8 Jul 1999 04:23:47

ONE GEORGE REAVES WAS BORN IN EASTERN NORTH CAROLINA ABOUT 1704 AND LEFT DESCENDENTS IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA.IN 1897 ONE GEORGE W. REAVES WROTE "MY GRANDFATHER WAS GEORGE REAVES...PRINCIPALLY REARED IN EASTERN NORTH CAROLINA...CAME FROM THE NEUSE RIVER, NORTH CAROLINA,TO NEW RIVER, GRAYSON COUNTY,VA. ABOUT 1725 (sic), BRINGING HIS WIFE WITH HIM.  HE CONTINUES WITH THE STATEMENT THAT HIS FATHER WAS A COUSIN OF THE EDWARD REEVES OF BLADEN COUNTY, N.C.  EDWARD REEVES OF BLADEN COUNTY WAS A SON OF WILLIAM REAVIS (SO SPELLED IN HIS WILL) OF NORTHAMPTON COUNTY,NORTH CAROLINA. HIS OBITUARY,EDWARD REAVES OF BLADEN COUNTY WAS PUBLISHED IN THE RALEIGH REGISTER 8/20/1829 AND AHOWS (sic avows?) THAT HE WAS BORN 1724 AND DIED IN BLADEN COUNTY, N.C. 8/3/1829, BEING 105 YEARS OF AGE...

THAT'S ALL FOR NOW EXCEPT THAT I HAVE FIGURED OUT WHO IRENE AUTRY IS OR MUST BE,THE DAUGHTER OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN REAVES AND DORA RACKLEY MARRIED 4/15/1890.

THERE IS AN IRENA REAVES BORN 8/14/1902. SHE COULD BE THE HOLDER OF THE REAVES BIBLE.

The statement that Edward Reeves of Bladen County was named as a son of William Reavis in his will is completely incorrect since the two were approximately the same age and William named no son Edward in his 1784 will. Although there are numerous errors especially the parentage of Edward Reeves of Bladen and most of the dates mentioned, it still has merit and contains many true statements. I have been intrigued by the post primarily because the Y-Chomosome DNA of descendants of George Reeves of Grayson VA is a genetic match to that of the descendants of my ancestor William Reeves of the Neuse River basin.  At the time I happened upon this post, I had previously never found statements eluding to George Reeves' origins in eastern North Carolina. This theory is supported by deed and court records of Orange and Johnston counties of North Carolina which have numerous references to George Reeves and Richard Burton who is believed to have been George's father-in-law. Previously it was believed that George Reeves had come from Chesterfield County, Virginia based upon Dr. A. B. Cox's book Foot Prints on the Sands of Time: A History of Southwestern Virginia and Northwestern North Carolina published in 1900. I have personally been unable to locate any historical record that would place this Reeves' family in Chesterfield County prior to their arrival in the New River area.

Attempts to locate the individual who had submitted this post to the Reeves Genforum list were unsuccessful. Emails to their address as well as to the list administrator were fruitless. I did eventually find that Mrs. Hobbs was Helen Trent Hobbs of Indianapolis, Indiana, the wife of Henry W. Hobbs. Since Mrs. Hobbs included the Grayson County VA and Ashe County NC Reeves in her research, I assume that she had a family connection to them through descendants of George Reeves of Grayson's son William who migrated to Indiana after leaving North Carolina. Most of William's older daughters married and settled in Lawrence and Greene counties in Indiana raising their families there.

Mrs. Hobbs reportedly submitted all of her genealogical research to the Indiana State Library which was said to include a family bible for one of the families included in her research. Most of the individuals who posted to the Reeves Genforum and were searching for Mrs. Hobbs research were unsuccessful in locating it at that library. Hopefully at some point in the future, her research that pertains to the Reeves' family will be located and shared.

December 2017 UPDATE:
After years of searching for the source of Mrs. Hobbs information regarding the statements made by George W. Reeves regarding his grandfather's origins, I recently discovered the source of this information on the Ancestry tree of a distant Reeves' cousin.

Apparently LeRoy Reeves, a descendant of Edward Reeves of Bladen County, North Carolina published a volume titled Ancestral Sketches - Ancestry of William P. and Peter M. Reeves in 1951 which contained information from a letter written by George W. Reeves. New blog post to follow before the end of 2017.

The Wayfarer - William Reeves of Ashe County

William, the son of George Reeves of Grayson County, Virginia, and most of his children left Ashe County, North Carolina shortly after 1820. Based upon estimates of his age from census, he would have been around 55 years old at the time. He was a justice of the Ashe County court and appears to have been prominent in the community, but for whatever reason, he left North Carolina and ventured to the new state of Indiana. By 1822, William was listed on the Lawrence County, Indiana poll tax list. Once William left North Carolina and began to migrate westward, he seems never to have stopped moving.

1829 Indiana Land Grant
to William Reves

In the years preceding William's departure from the New River area of Virginia & North Carolina, his father had died in 1811 as well as his brother George Reeves, Jr. George Reeves, Jr. was killed by his brother-in-law William Tolliver, husband of sister Susanna Reeves. The trial was held in Wilkes County and there are various theories but the actual cause of the incident still remains unknown. Beginning around 1813, there was another court case, Landreth vs. Reves, which continued over a lengthy period with documents in the court records as late as 1822 in regard to it. There are numerous documents in the Ashe County Civil Action Court files regarding this case although there is no clear explanation of the events that precipitated the court case. From various documents, John Landreth states that he had been accused of perjury by William Reves although there is no exact explanation of the nature of the accusation. It would appear from these documents that the entire extended Reeves' family, even William's wife Anne Terrell Reeves, became involved in a fracas which resulted in the issuance of a summons. Oddly, members of both the Tolliver and Landreth families also migrated to the same area of Indiana in the 1820's.

1816 Bond by William Reves and
Allen Burton for John and Ann Reves

Whether the unpleasantness of the death of his father, the murder of his brother or the Landreth court case played a role in William Reeves' decision to leave Ashe County is unknown, but following these events, the family began the first of their migrations. They settled in the area of Greene & Lawrence Counties where they remained until sometime before 1840 when they are found in the census of Carroll County, Arkansas.

From: History of Greene County, Indiana, pub. 1870 by J. Ward, Worthington, Indiana - As taken from the official records, and compiled from authentic recollections by pioneer settlers. Chapter XV - Beech Creek Township: Among other pioneers whose name deserves a place in the history of the township, may be mentioned...William and Noah Reeves...Pg 47 - William Reeves and his boys first settled the farm now owned by Edward Walker.

Between Indiana and Arkansas, the Reeves' family must have spent some time in Missouri probably in the area of Washington County. William's son Albert married there in 1837. Lenoir (Noah) Reeves was also living in Missouri briefly for several of his children were born there before he ventured briefly to Arkansas, Iowa and Nebraska then eventually to Oregon, dying there in 1888. Both Albert and Timothy settled in the area of Iron and Butler Counties in Missouri.

Missouri Reeves Emmons
daughter of Timothy Reeves

By the Census of 1840 for Carroll County, Arkansas, William along with his sons John, Terrel and Gaston Reeves are listed. The 1840 tax list for Carroll County lists Lenoir, William, Terrel and John Reeves. They, along with Gaston, are also listed in the 1841 tax lists for Carroll County. Located near the headwaters of the Buffalo River in Van Buren Township in Carroll County there is a Reeves' Creek which is said to have been named for this Reeves' family.

The 1841 tax list appears to be the last historical record of William Reeves. Several family trees list a date of death of 1854 in Missouri but no documentation can be found in support of that theory. It is likely that William, and his wife Anne as well, died in Carroll County between 1840 and 1850 when most of his sons are found in the census of Independence County, Arkansas.

Descendants of William Reeves' brothers Jesse and John have participated in the Reeves DNA Project and been placed in Group 6. A descendant of George Reeves, Jr.'s son Enoch, also a participant in the Reeves DNA Project, has been placed in Group 14 with a descendant of George Reeves whose paternity is currently unknown but may be the son of Jesse. Whether these are NPEs (non paternity events) is unknown and more extensive research is needed to resolve this mystery. Hopefully at some future time, descendants of William Reeves will participate in DNA studies, either Y Chromosome DNA or the new autosomal DNA projects that are now available and help to clarify this lineage.

Other posts in this blog pertaining to the family of George Reeves of Grayson County, Virginia:

George Reeves of Grayson County, Virginia
Who really are the descendants of Henry Reeves?
Col. Timothy Reeves, CSA
The Reeves' Gang
Episode 2 - More of the Reeves Gang
Pewter John Reeves Stamper

Middle Tennessee: 18th Century Melting Pot

The stories of Tennessee’s earliest white settlers are well known such as the attacks by native Americans on the first stations or forts built in the Cumberland settlements. After the revolution, North Carolina soldiers were given bounty land grants along the Cumberland River in Tennessee while grants to soldiers of the Virginia line were just to the north in Logan County, Kentucky. Ramsey’s Annals of Tennessee written in 1853 chronicles the struggle to settle the early Cumberland settlements. James Robertson and his wife Charlotte Reeves are famously a part of that history. Charlotte is credited with saving Fort Nashborough by turning the hounds loose in order to distract the attacking Indians and allow the men time to return to the fort from the fields where they were working.

In the course of researching several Reeves’ families who migrated into Tennessee in the early part of the 19th century, I was surprised to find such a large influx of diverse families who were recorded there by the 1830 census.

The only Reeves’ individuals listed in the census of the Cumberland Settlements 1770 to 1790 (taken from various source documents found in the records of Sumner and Davidson counties) are Charlotte Reeves Robertson and a William Reeves who is presumably Charlotte’s brother. This William Reeves is listed as arriving with the Donelson flotilla and may have accompanied Charlotte as she and other wives made the perilous trip west in flatboats on the Cumberland River. If this was William Reeves the brother of Charlotte, he did not remain long for within a short time, he is again recorded in the Watauga settlement of North Carolina. It was approximately 20 years before Charlotte's brother William made a permanent move to Tennessee. Charlotte's nephew Jordan Reeves, Jr. is also recorded in Davidson County prior to 1800 and in tax lists of Wilson County between 1800 and 1810.


A Moses Reeves, listed as having been born in Virginia in 1768, married Sarah Gibson in Greene County on 5 Nov 1796 and is recorded on the tax lists in Blount County in 1800 and Greene County in 1805. Moses and his family remained in Greene County where he is listed as deceased on the 1850 Federal Census and Mortality Schedule. A William Reeves is also included on the 1805 Greene County tax lists. Two individuals descending from Moses and from William Reeves have participated in the Reeves DNA Project but their DNA does not match any of the other 14 groups currently identified. By the 1810 census, John Reeves and Hooker Reeves, both aged 26-44, are recorded in Wilson County. They were both also named as early settlers to Wilson County in Goodspeed’s history of that area.

The 1820 census records the surge of Reeves’ families who had migrated into middle Tennessee.

James, Jonathan, Reuben and William Reeves are listed in Hickman County. The DNA of descendants of several of these individuals confirm that they also descend from the Rives family of Surry County, Virginia from which Charlotte Reeves Robertson descends and have been placed in DNA Group 8.

In Perry County, just west of Hickman, George and John Reeves are found in the 1820 census living next door to each other. There also appears to be another John Reeves of the same approximate age living in Perry County in 1820.

Jeremiah Turner Reeves is recorded in the 1820 census of Wilson County. He was the son of George Reeves who had migrated to Tennessee from Patrick County, Virginia. George Reeves died in Wilson County in 1816 leaving a will naming Jeremiah and his sister Susannah. Other children of George Reeves have been identified from the marriage records of Patrick County.

In Franklin County, Avery Reeves a descendant of William Reeves of Granville, North Carolina, is found as early as the 1812 tax lists along with an Abner Reeves. Avery's lineage has been established by DNA of a descendant who is a participant in the Reeves DNA Project and placed in Group 3. Maulden Reeves, son of Burgess Reeves of Pendleton County, South Carolina, is found there in deed records by 1818 and recorded in the 1820 census in addition to an unidentified Edward Reeves. Maulden also descends from William Reeves of Granville NC.

William Reeves who was living in Smith County by 1820 gave a deposition for the revolutionary war pension application of his brother, Daniel Reeves of Davidson County. William’s son John is also listed in the 1820 census of Smith County. According to Daniel’s revolutionary war pension statement their father was a John Reeves of South Carolina, probably living in Lancaster County. This family appears to be descended from the Reeves family of Prince William County, Virginia although more participants are needed in the Reeves DNA Project to definitely confirm the lineage.

The flood gates had opened by 1830 and within the next few years the Reeves living in Tennessee are too numerous to mention here. In addition to the families already mentioned, they included descendants of Isaac Reeves, Sr. of Wilkes County, North Carolina living in Wayne County, Willis Reeves and his children of Orange County, North Carolina were in Fayette County, and descendants of Edward Reeves of Bladen County, North Carolina are recorded in Washington County along with countless other Reeves' families throughout Tennessee.