A Very Young Mother

Early and mid-nineteenth century Wayne County, Tennessee was awash in my paternal ancestors and also in a number of Reeves, with several different Reeves lines being represented. I first became intrigued with a C J Reeves whose property in Wayne County bounded the property of two sets of my paternal great-great-grandparents. Knowing my maternal Reeves heritage, I had to wonder if C J Reeves was a maternal relative who had somehow crossed paths with my father’s family. That turned out not to be the case (at least not so far), but Calvin’s origins are still a mystery.

On 7 Oct 1878, Calvin J Reaves was appointed administrator of the estate of his father Osburn Reaves in Wayne County. The earliest known record of Osburn Reaves and his wife Esther Osteen is their marriage record in 1812 in Williamson County, Tennessee . In 1820 they were still in Williamson County, but made their way to Wayne County Tennessee by 1830 where they remained. (Note the use of both Reeves and Reaves for the surname spelling of this family. Eventually the "Reaves" spelling prevailed.)

Census records consistently identify Osburn’s birth date as 1791 and birth location as South Carolina. Also from census records, his wife Esther was born about 1792 in North Carolina.

Why then do so many online trees claim that Osburn Reaves is the son of John Reeves (b 1785) and Phoebe Osborne (b 1785), both of whom lived out their lives in Grayson County, Virginia? Even more amazing is Phoebe’s age at the presumed birth – six years old! As far as I can tell, the only “evidence” for this leap is Osburn’s given name. John and Phoebe had a much younger son (b 1809) named Osborne.

Thus far, no one has come up with credible parents for Osburn Reeves, but more progress might be made if people would question the veracity of information copied from the family trees of others.


The picture is of some of Calvin Reeves children, from the Wayne County TNgenweb website, submitted by Scott Adams.

John Reeves, Revolutionary War Soldier

When John Reeves of Madison County, Missouri gave a pension statement (#R8684) in 1833 concerning his revolutionary war service, he stated that he was born in Frederick County, Virginia in 1760. Around 1765 when John was 5 years old his father moved the family to the area of Guilford County, North Carolina.

No record has been found to identify John Reeves’ father. Whether his Frederick County, Virginia origins point to a connection to the family of Henry Reeves is unknown, but Henry Reeves, Jr.’s grandson Thomas Reeves, Jr. was recorded living in Frederick County in the middle of the 18th century.

His pension statement also relates that he joined the revolutionary forces in Burke County, North Carolina. He volunteered in the company of a Captain Thomas Price and at the time lived near the state line separating North and South Carolina. He recalled that Captain Price's company was in the battle of King's Mountain, but he was not, having been sent down the Broad River to deliver a message to another company in preparation for the battle.

After the battle of King’s Mountain, he was stationed for about 12 months at several forts in the area of the state line between North and South Carolina which were built and manned to protect the inhabitants from the Indians and Tories. Following that service, he joined a volunteer company of militia raised by Captain John Miller of Rutherford County, North Carolina, which marched against the Cherokee Indians in Tennessee.

John's pension statement records that he married Rachel Barnes in South Carolina on the 1st of May 1796. They lived in South Carolina for a few years after their marriage before moving west to Madison County, Missouri around 1803.

Although they may have had others, the known children of John and Rachel Barnes Reeves were Hiram born 1799, John born 1804, Isaac born 1811, Mary, Levina and Caswell born 1815. Other than Hiram who was born in South Carolina, census records record the other children as having been born after the family’s move to Missouri.

John’s wife, Rachel, gave testimony in her request for a widow’s pension that John died on the 30th of April 1834 in Madison County, Missouri.

Interestingly, the family of Thornberry Reeves of Green County, Kentucky also settled in Madison County, Missouri sometime after 1830. Thornberry was the son of another John Reeves who died in Green County, Kentucky in 1854. This Reeves’ family is represented in the Reeves DNA Project and placed in Group 9 matching another participant who descends from Henry Reeves of Old Rappahannock, Virginia. As with so many Reeves' family lines, participation in the DNA Project by descendants of John Reeves of Madison County, Missouri could be of great help in establishing earlier family connections.


John Reeves Revolutionary War Pension Statement is available at Southern Campaign.

In Pursuit of Castles and Crests

What is it about the concept of our ancestors having been titled nobility with castles and crests that appeals to us so much that it overrides our intellect? Modern Y-chromosome DNA testing is revolutionizing genealogy by confirming and/or contradicting previously held theories of relationships and lineages. Yet amazingly, countless online GEDCOMs and family trees are still filled with the incorrect assumptions of years past before DNA tests were performed on descendants from these family lines. A review of the first 5 pages of Google results searching for Robert Ryves of Dorset produced 10 sites that appear to be truly descended from Robert Ryves through the Rives family which is documented by DNA with 29 more sites purporting to be descendants through lineages which have proven to be of another Reeves lineage. Online Reeves' family lineages abound with such pedigrees which have been proven, over and over, to be incorrect.

Reportedly a coat of arms was conferred upon Robert Ryves, courtier of King Henry VIII, in the first few years of the 16th century. The ancestral home of that Ryves family was Damory Court in Blandford, Dorset of the United Kingdom.

Eleven years into the 21st century, do we not all understand the absoluteness of DNA - that Y-chromosome DNA is inherited by male descendants unchanged except for occasional random mutations which occur over many generations? Surely there can be no question that with fourteen different groups or lineages identified by the Reeves DNA Project plus countless other Reeves individuals whose DNA does not fall into any of those groups, that only ONE of those lineages can descend from the Reeves or Ryves family of Dorset. It is categorically impossible for the descendants of a Reeves/Rives/Ryves male who lived in the 16th century to include multiple different DNA haplogroups and combinations of markers.



If we do all understand the scientific conclusions of DNA testing, then the obvious question looms - why do all the copious and completely different Reeves' family lineages continue to list Robert Ryves of Dorset on their pedigrees and websites? Are they uninformed, unintelligent or just otherwise misguided? Maybe not. The continuation of the practice of multiple Reeves' families linking to Robert Ryves as their ancestor appears to be simply that the desire to be descended from royalty supersedes intelligence, scientific fact, historical documentation and everything else.

The majority of the immigrants to the new world were certainly not wealthy or titled. They came for a myriad of reasons - religious freedom, as indentured servants seeking a chance to prosper in this new world or simply out of a desire for adventure. Prisoners of the British government were transported to the colonies as punishment for their political differences such as Scottish prisoners after their loss at the battle of Culloden.

Ironically, three hundred years after the first successful English settlement at Jamestown was established, most of the great estates and much of the English aristocracy, who were land rich but cash poor and whose income dwindled every year were seeking wealthy American brides. In the early part of the 20th century, the fabulously rich daughters of American billionaires such as Consuelo Vanderbilt traveled to England looking for a title and married into the cash strapped aristocracy. In 1895 alone, nine American heiresses married members of the English aristocracy, and by the end of the century a quarter of the House of Lords had a transatlantic connection.

American genealogy would benefit greatly if the descendants of the early colonists could begin to embrace the bravery and spirit of their less than royal ancestors. It took great courage to make the dangerous journey and endure the generally perilous living conditions of colonial America which should be admired and celebrated. The fact that they survived and prospered may have far more merit than a crest or a castle.

Who was Eli Reeves?

Eli Reeves origins are unknown as well as the date of his arrival in Johnston County, North Carolina, but by 1778 he was recorded there in the following deeds:

Deed from William Pitman to Eli Reves, 50 acres on south side of the Neuse River, April 25 1778. A second deed, dated the same day, conveyed 60 acres to Eli Reves on the Neuse River, beginning at the Neuse to Watery Branch down to the mouth of the River.

Eli Reves sold 40 acres on the south side of the Neuse River, to James Lockhart on February 22, 1779, beginning at the mouth of the first small branch.

Eli Reves, planter, sold 50 acres on the Neuse River, part of 2 tracts, to James Lockhart, January 10, 1780. The land began at the mouth of Wartery Branch on the Neuse, up the Branch and then due east to Deep Branch. Eli Reaves signed by a mark.

(Source: ''Weynette Parks Haun, Johnston County, North Carolina, Abstracts: Deed Books H-1, I-1, K, L-1, 1771-1782, vol. 13, Durham, NC'')

Early in 1781, Eli died in Montgomery County, North Carolina at the home of a Capt. Chiles. On the 25th of February 1781, Capt. Chiles gave a statement regarding Eli's death and his final wishes regarding his estate which was recorded in Johnston County as a nuncupative will in May of 1781. Capt. Chiles' statement includes no explanation of Eli's presence in Montgomery County, but considering the date, it's possible that Eli was serving in a militia unit during the Revolution.

Nuncupative Will of Eli Reeves
Original in NC Archives, Raleigh

A search of the extant Johnston County records has produced no guardian records for the children Eli mentioned in his spoken will. The only information regarding his wife is the given name Elizabeth which was recorded in the Johnston County Court Orders when she presented the will for probate in May of 1781.

Reverse Side of Will

Since there were no other Reeves' families living in Johnston County at the time of Eli's death, it is very probable that the Elizabeth Reeves who married Samuel Baldwin on 13 Jan 1783 was his widow. It is also likely that the following Reeves children recorded in marriage records of Johnston County were his children - Molley Reeves who married William Rainwater on 16 Nov 1787; Betsy Reeves who married William Roberts, Jr. on 12 Oct 1793; and Levi Reeves who married Elizabeth "Betsy" Norris nee Britt on 23 Aug 1802.

A large portion of the records of Johnston County were destroyed in a fire at the Lenoir County Courthouse along with the records of Dobbs County, making it doubtful that any of these assertions could ever be proven but hopefully someday a few more tidbits of information will be found to fill in some of the missing details of Eli Reeves' life and the lives of his children.

(Photos of original statement of Capt. Chiles recorded as Eli Reeves' will in North Carolina Archives in Raleigh.)

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.)