Bennett Reeves of Wilkes County, Georgia

It wasn’t my intention to write another post about the Maryland Reeves family but in the course of researching Reeves in Georgia, I have recently found several interesting items in regard to Bennett Reeves who left Charles County, Maryland after 1790 and relocated to Wilkes County, Georgia. On 2 Nov 1791, Joshua Hill and his wife Amey sold 300 acres on the waters of Newford creek in Wilkes County to Bennett Reeves. One of the testators to that deed was John Dyson, Bennett's cousin who was also from Charles County, Maryland.

Previously, Thomas Reeves who married Bethany Stinson in Wilkes County, Georgia in 1808 was believed to have been the son of Thomas Reeves the son of Malachi and Fortune Reeves of Guilford County, North Carolina, but the statements by three of his children who lived until the 1880 census contradict that theory. This supposition appears to have been based upon proximity due to the fact that other members of the family of Malachi Reeves had relocated to Wilkes County.

In the 1880 census, Hickerson Reeves, Thomas Reeves and Caroline Reeves Yeager, children of Thomas Reeves and Bethany Stinson, as well as Bennett F. Reeves and John D. Reeves, Jr., sons of John D. Reeves, each gave information that their father was born in Maryland. This confirms that they were grandchildren of Bennett Reeves, son of Thomas Reeves and Mary Murphy of Charles County, Maryland and identifies both Thomas Reeves and John D. Reeves as his sons. Bennett Reeves also had at least two daughters according to the census of 1820, but neither has been identified.

Additionally an 1816 deed for 33-3/4 acres in Guilford County on Mairs Fork of the Haw River from Thomas Reeves to Leven Covey describes Thomas Reeves as "of the State of North Carolina & County of Guilford". This indicates that as late as 1816, Thomas Reeves was still living in Guilford County on Mairs Fork of Haw River. This was undoubtably the same land willed to him by his grandfather Richard Burton in his 1799 will.

Following Bennett Reeves death sometime after 1820, both of his sons left the Wilkes County area. John D. Reeves is next found in the western portion of Georgia in Meriwether County where his descendants eventually migrated further southwest into Stewart County. Thomas and Bethany Stinson Reeves along with their children were found in Morgan County, Alabama after leaving Wilkes County.

Again, this is another instance of the “perils of proximity”. In the course of Reeves research, we repeatedly find two or even three different Reeves families and lineages living in the same county so it should never been assumed that all the families in a particular county are related.


(Gravestone photos by Barbara Parks of the Herring Cemetery in Morgan County, Alabama and Christine Thacker of Red Hill Christian Church Cemetery in Stewart County, Georgia for Find a Grave.)

A Reeves' Fiction - Fortune Rhodes

The myth that William Reeves, the son of James Reeves of Guilford County, North Carolina, married a "Fortune Rhodes" seems to have begun with Reliques of the Rives (Ryves) by James Rives Childs and published in 1929. In Reliques Part II Appendix A on Page 704, William Reeves, ID 4212, is listed as marrying Fortune, daughter of John Rhodes.

When the Reeves Review II by Mrs. Emma Barrett Reeves was published in 1982, the folly escalated and William Reeves, the son of James, was listed with Fortune Rhodes as his first wife and a Milly whose maiden name was unlisted as a second wife. This William Reeves was supposedly the same person of that name who died in Madison County, Kentucky in 1821. The William Reeves of Madison County, Kentucky was, in fact, from a completely different family and DNA lineage.

The Reeves Review also included another William Reeves in the Reeves family of Guilford County, North Carolina and listed him as a son of James Reeves' son Malachi and his wife Fortune whose maiden name was incorrectly stated as "Burton". This second William Reeves, son of Malachi, with wife Hannah was said to have died in Wilkes County, Georgia in 1816 where there is a will for a William Reeves with wife Hannah recorded.

Since the family of James Reeves was not part of the same Rives family from which James Rives Childs descends, it is unlikely that the research included in Reliques for this family is his own. It is far more likely that this information was submitted to him for inclusion in his publication which may also have been the case with the Reeves Review II.

Regardless of the source of Fortune Rhodes' inclusion in these books, research of the available primary source documents of this family reveal the absurdity of this Reeves' family lore.

The truth of Fortune Rhodes -

Fortune, the wife of Malachi Reeves, was incorrectly identified as the daughter of Richard Burton of Guilford County based upon legacies left to three Reeves' grandchildren in his will. Those were, in fact, the children of Malachi and Fortune Reeves' son Thomas Reeves. When Thomas Reeves died, his widow Elizabeth Reeves was granted the administration of his estate in Guilford County, February Court 1795. On 26 Apr 1796, his widow Elizabeth Reeves married Elias Simons in Guilford County. Elizabeth Simons was named by Richard Burton as his daughter in his 1799 will and the Reeves grandchildren, Richard, Thomas and Martha Reeves, are the children of Elizabeth Burton and Thomas Reeves. Richard Burton DID NOT name a daughter, Fortune, in his will. He named Elizabeth Simons, Mary Mileham and Dorcas Bourton (Burton).

The wife of James Reeves' son William was Hannah as evidenced by a deed dated 1 Apr 1784 recorded in Guilford County, NC Deed Bk 3, Pages 95-96 which named his wife as Hannah. In another deed dated 22 Nov 1791, William and his mother Millicent sold 320 acres to Samuel Mileham. The deed noted that this was the plantation conveyed by James Reeves' Will unto his Son & wife "the said William Reeves & Milley Reeves". Hannah Reeves, wife of William, signed the deed as well. James Reeves' will had stipulated that “I will and bequeath to my son William Reeves the Plantation and Land I now live on to be his whole and sole property at the death of my beloved Wife Melissent and not before”. The terms of the will prevented William from selling the plantation without his mother's consent since it was her property as long as she lived. That deed is also signed by William's wife Hannah presumably relinguishing her dower rights. William's mother Milly's inclusion in this deed is probably the source of the confusion regarding William having had an additional wife named Milly.

James Reeves' son William was incorrectly identified in the Reeves Review as the son of Fortune and Malachi Reeves. Based upon research of the probate, deeds and other records of Guilford County, there is no record that William Reeves, ID 212.iv in the Reeves Review, with wife Hannah Smith, listed as a child of Malachiah and Fortune Reeves existed. Among all the deeds by Fortune Reeves conveying property to their sons after Malachi's death, there are NO deeds to a son, William. This William also supposedly died in Wilkes County, Georgia in 1816. The William Reeves who died in Wilkes County, Georgia in 1816 is undoubtably William Reeves, the son of James Reeves who was the only William Reeves living in Guilford County circa 1780 to 1800 with a wife Hannah. The only reference to an unidentified William Reeves was in the will of John Rhodes which then must be William, the son of James Reeves. The will lists no bequest to the wife of William Reeves and daughter of John Rhodes but neither is there a bequest to his son John Rhodes, Jr., yet both William Reeves and John Rhodes, Jr. (with their relationships stated) are named in the will as Executors.

After Malachi Reeves' death in 1784, his widow, Fortune Reeves, married John Rhodes, father-in-law of William Reeves the son of James, in 1788. Fortune is named as the wife of John Rhodes in his 1791 will which also states that Malychia (sic Malachi) Reeves was her former husband.

And thus began the incredible fiction of Fortune Rhodes which should serve as a cautionary tale in the use of abstracted documents rather than a full transcription when publishing - in print or on the world wide web.

The Misty Origins of Sidney James Reeves

There are various theories regarding James Reeves with wife Elizabeth Wells who appeared in Buncombe County, North Carolina by around 1810 and are recorded there in the 1820 census.

He has been purported to be the son of Samuel Reeves of Rowan County, North Carolina. However, research of that Reeves’ family indicates that Samuel’s son James appears to be at least 10 to 15 years younger. He married Deborah Winright in Rowan County in 1800 and in the 1810 census all of their 4 children are listed as having been born after 1800 which would be consistent with their marriage date of 1800. In 1810 when James Reeves, the son of Samuel of Rowan County, is listed in the census there, Sidney James Reeves is already recorded in the deed records of Buncombe County.

Another theory seems to be an amalgamation of Isaac Reeves of Wilkes County, North Carolina or Isaac Reeves the son of William Reeves who died in Granville in 1751 and Samuel Reeves of Rowan. This composite is listed in various websites as “Isaac Samuel Reeves”. There is no evidence to support that there was such a person. There are even copies of the Rowan County will of Samuel Reeves online which have had the name “Isaac” added. This is unsubstantiated by any historical record. In neither the deed nor probate records of Rowan County, is Samuel Reeves referred to as Isaac Samuel Reeves.

A thorough search of the tax, deed and probate records of Rowan County produced no record of an Isaac Reeves in that county. Isaac, the son of William Reeves of Granville, is recorded living in Caswell County from around 1771 when he signed the petition to divide Orange County to a certain line in Granville County and a certain line in Guilford County. This is apparently the same person named as Isaac Reeves of Randolph County, North Carolina in a deed dated 3 Oct 1781 and recorded in Caswell County Deed Book A, at Page 31. That deed conveyed a 150 acre tract of land to Martha Wisdom of Caswell County which appears to be the same 150 acres Isaac Reeves purchased from Peter Bankston on 1 Jan 1779. The Isaac Reeves theory seems to be based upon incorrect information on Page 19 of the Reeves Review II.

Oddly, no one seems to have considered the most reasonable choice of family origin - the Reeves family who were living in Guilford County at the time of Sidney James Reeves’ marriage to Elizabeth Wells. James Reeves named a grandson James as a legatee in his 1781 Guilford County will. A 1788 Rockingham County deed by the heirs of Malachi Reeves to Nathaniel Tatum names James, Thomas and Jesse Reeves as those heirs. Undoubtably this son of Malachi Reeves is the same Sidney James Reeves who married Elizabeth Wells on 11 Jan 1785 in Guilford County, North Carolina.

The fact that James Reeves and Elizabeth Wells were married in Guilford County as well as naming one son Malachi lends further credence to the belief that he was of the family of Malachi Reeves of Guilford County.

A descendant of James Reeves' son Jesse Jefferson Reeves is a participant in the Reeves DNA Project and has been placed in DNA Group 3 confirming that James Reeves was descended from the family of William Reeves who died in Granville County in 1751.



UPDATE:
Newly discovered information on the origins of Samuel Reeves of Rowan County, North Carolina are discussed in the following later posts: The Maryland Connection and an Update on Samuel Reeves of Rowan County.


(Photo by James Archer for Find A Grave.)