Essex County's Henry Reeves Family

Back in November of 2011 in the early days of this blog, I wrote a post titled Who really are the descendants of Henry Reeves? In that post, I addressed the issue of misinformation regarding the lineage of George Reeves of Grayson County, Virginia who had been believed to be descended from Henry Reeves. A George Reeves, son of Thomas Reeves (Sr.) of Spotsylvania County who was a grandson of Henry Reeves, was named as a legatee in the will of Thomas' brother George Reeves who died in 1754 and the internet was full of the theory that George Reeves who settled in Grayson County's New River area in 1767 was that individual. Y-DNA tests of individuals in the Reeves DNA Project established that participants who were documented as descending from Henry Reeves were found in DNA Group 9 of the project while three descendants of George Reeves of Grayson County were in DNA Group 6 (now Group 6A) matching descendants of William Reeves of North Carolina's Neuse Basin.

With the recent addition of images of scanned historical documents to Family Search's online catalog, it is now possible to do indepth research without traveling to a courthouse in Virginia. Over the last six months I have spent an afternoon each week at my local Family History Center browsing the deed, will, court and tax records of Essex County in an attempt to find all of the extant information regarding Henry Reeves heirs. Amazingly, there is an abundance of early records for Essex County that are available.

The family of Henry Reeves becomes more and more complete as the records are searched with numerous tidbits of information found to solve what have previously been mysteries. The surname and family of Sarah, the wife of Thomas Reeves, Jr. of Spotsylvania County can be found on an Essex Deed. Sarah was found to be Sarah Attwood, daughter of Ann Reeves and Francis Attwood, who was a cousin to Thomas. The 1766 deed states that the land being sold was devised to Sarah by her mother Ann Reeves Attwood who inherited it from her deceased brother John Reeves.

Essex County Court Minutes of 1708 provided proof that Elizabeth Reeves, the daughter of Henry Reeves, Sr. was the wife of Thomas Sthreshly. Although Sthreshly descendants had believed that to be the case, most Reeves' researchers had never included that marriage in their family records. A court record from April of 1708 concerns a case where Thomas Sthreshly and his wife Elizabeth had brought suit against the administrators of the estate of James Reeves seeking to have the court order a division of the estate with the legatees. The court minutes clearly state that the petitioner Elizabeth was a sister of the said James Reeves deceased.

1729 Essex County Courthouse

Currently most of the male descendants with the Reeves' surname have been found, with a few exceptions. Henry, the son of Henry Reeves III, son of Henry Reeves, Jr., and his wife Jochebed has never been located after he reached maturity. Two of the other male children of Henry and Jochebed died as infants, which simply means that they did not live to adulthood, but their son Henry, born after 1727, apparently left Essex County as a young adult and has not been located elsewhere. Jackson Reeves, born circa 1690, was named in the 1717 will of Joseph Reeves, Sr. but there is no further record of him in Essex County. Likewise, George Reeves son of Thomas Reeves, Sr., apparently left the area and has not been identified. This is the same George who had previously been believed to be the George Reeves of Grayson County, but DNA has now established that is not possible.

There is still much research to be done in Essex County, particularly as it pertains to the daughters of Henry Reeves, Sr. Their spouses have all been identified but not their children. I'll be heading back to the Family History Center later this week to see what else I can find. In the meantime, The Reeves Project has created this listing of the descendants of Henry Reeves, Sr. of Essex County which links to each individual's page in the wiki.

(Photo from the website of Essex County Museum & Historical Society at Tappahannock)

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Other posts in this blog about the Henry Reeves family of Essex County
Who really are the descendants of Henry Reeves?
Thomas Reeves of Woodford County, Kentucky
The Gatewood Girls
Just Supposin' and Just Supposin' Again

Thomas Reeves of Woodford County, Kentucky

The family of Henry Reeves who settled in Old Rappahannock County, Virginia by 1666 when he was granted 600 acres on Tignor's Creek has been the subject of much interest and speculation. Thankfully the early records of Essex County, Virginia are extant for the most part. Some of the earliest record books are fragmented, but there is still a wealth of information there regarding this family.

North Central Kentucky in 1827

As Henry Reeves' descendants, beginning with his grandchildren, began to leave Essex County for other parts of Virginia and beyond, much less is known of the family. His grandson George left a Spotsylvania County will in 1754 naming as legatees the children of his brother Thomas Reeves, Sr. in addition to his siblings and other family members. That will has been an extremely beneficial document insofar as identifying many members of the family of Henry Reeves, Jr.

After leaving Spotsylvania, the sons of Thomas Reeves, Sr. were recorded in Augusta and Rockingham counties in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. Another son, unlisted in George Reeves' will, is Brewer who is named as a brother to Thomas, Jr. in Augusta County court documents. Other than in the will of George Reeves, there is no mention of Thomas, Sr.'s son George and it may be that he and Brewer are the same individual. This George was previously believed to be George Reeves of Grayson County, Virginia but DNA has proven that to be incorrect.

John Reeves remained in Augusta County but his brothers Brewer and Thomas, Jr. migrated to Kentucky. Their brother Henry died in Spotsylvania County in 1760 and his estate was recorded at the same time as that of their father Thomas Reeves, Sr. Brewer Reeves is documented as one of the earliest residents of Christian County, Kentucky where he was one of the first justices of the court. Until recently there was very little record of Thomas Reeves, Jr. once he disappeared from the records of Augusta and Rockingham counties but a posting to an online forum provided a clue to Thomas, Jr.'s presence in Woodford County, Kentucky.

1792 Survey for Thomas Reeves in Woodford County

It wasn't until the Woodford County records were discovered that the children of Thomas Reeves, Jr. were identified. His wife Sarah was named in numerous Spotsylvania County deeds and court records of Augusta County, but their children were a mystery. The appraisal of the Estate of Thomas Reeves is recorded in February 1799 in Woodford County Will Book B on pages 83-86. On the 4th of June in 1803, the heirs of Thomas Reeves executed a deed to James Reeves of Henry County, Kentucky for all lands belonging to Thomas Reeves in the state of Virginia and all lots in the town of Versailles in Woodford County which were taken off the land of Thomas Reeves when the town was being laid off. This deed was for compensation to James for his services in transacting and closing the business relative to the estate of Thomas Reeves decd.

Reeves Heirs to James Reeves

Those heirs of Thomas Reeves named in addition to James, were his widow Sarah, David Willson who had married daughter Milley, Elizabeth Reeves, John Samonie who married Delilah Reeves, George Cotter husband of Mary Reeves, Joseph Reeves and son Thomas Reeves.

Over the following ten years there are numerous deeds by these heirs disposing of the property they had inherited from Thomas and by around 1810 most of the family members, Joseph, Thomas and their brother-in-law David Wilson, were recorded in neighboring Gallatin County.

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Newly discovered identity of Sarah, the wife of Thomas Reeves, Jr.