ID: I01610
Name: George Reeves
Sex: M
Birth: in possibly London, England
Note:
Born in London, England. Owned pottery or china factory, came to Virginia which later became part of
Tennessee.

Family started at South Hampton and London England???Media Research Bureau, 110 Street,
Washington DC.
There is a report that he served in the militia in "Lord Dunsmore's War".


One George Reaves was born in Eastern North Carolina about 1704 and left descendants in Western North Carolina. In 1897 one George W. Reaves write "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, bringing his wife with him".
[The George W. Reaves mentioned probably would be this George Reeves.]
He continues with the statement that his father was a cousin of the Edward Reeves of Bladen County, NC. 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 on 8/20/1829 and shows that he was born1724 and died in Bladen County, NC on 8/3/1829, being 105 years of age.



Taylor County, KY, Deed Book 1, page 327, I, Sally Reeves of Taylor County, do hereby Emancipate and set free my Negros named Doctor and Lockey his wife. 13th May 1850. Sally Reeves

Taylor County, KY, Deed Book 1, page 492, Indenture made 29 July 1851 between Sarah Reeves of
Taylor County and John Reeves of same Sarah has this day for and in consideration of the natural
love and affection she has for the said John Reeves and for $1.00, the tract of land on which Sarah
now lives containing 116 acres and on the waters of middle fork of Pitman Creek, also all household
items, stock, etc, and that she may have the privilage of retaining use of them for the rest of
her natural life.


From: Smithb13@aol.com
Date: Mon, 5 Jul 1999 13:06:43 EDT

The original spelling of this family name seems to have been RYVES. It is an ancient family in England descending from ROBERT REVE or RYVES of Landford, County Dorset, England, born 1490 and died Feb.11,1551 and was buried in the old church at Blandford Forum, which was destroyed by fire in 1731.
The name GEORGE was a favorite name in the English family, on down to several by name of GEORGE REEVES,REAVES,REVES, and RIVES in the early records of Vinginia.

One special note of interest:
All of the above records on this fmily were taken from the old family bible of Solomon Reaves, son of Joel Reaves. The bible is now owned by Mrs. Irene Autry of Hampstead, NC. Anyone know of this Mrs Autry?

Irene Autry is or could 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.

================================
Concerning the origin of the REEVE name, very good descriptions of a reeve can be found in Eric Overton's book "A Guide to the Medieval Manor", Local History Publications 1994 and Terrick Fitzhugh's "Dictionary of Genealogy", Alphabooks

In medieval times much of England was organized under the manorial system, usually consisting of a village and a parish church held by a Lord of the Manor. The villeins and serfs of the manor lived in the village with a small plot of land at the rear. The manor lands comprising arable fields, meadows, commons, wastelands and woodlands, were utilised on a communal basis by the villeins for their own needs. They also supplied labour to the Lord's lands. Amongst the people working for the Lord was the bailiff and the reeve.
The bailiff superintended the running of the whole manor, including the agricultural plans and set the tasks to be performed.
The reeve was always chosen from amongst the serfs. In spite of his lowly origins and status, the reeve was of great importance to the efficient running of the manors and had a position of considerable importance and responsibility. Unlike the bailiff, who was imposed on the peasants from outside, the reeve was himself a peasant. He had known every field of the manor since his boyhood and was acquainted with the habits of every serf who lived in his village. A bailiff's salary was £6 [six pounds] per annum, while a reeve got only 9s [nine shillings] per annum. The word sheriff comes from the 'shire reeve'

While researching 16 and 17 century records in Surrey for my REEVE family I noticed the *S* creeping onto the end of the name (ie. REEVES) but each time it appeared via three routes:
1. from the plural - all the REEVEs
2. from the possessive - eg. REEVE's farm
3. from the curlicue many scribes added to the end of the name REEVE which was transcribed as an *S*

The vowels were written variously as *e*, *ee*, *ie*, more rarely *y*, but most commonly as *ee*
Many other names today which end in *S* evolved in the same way.
--- Judith Hervey <judith@qldnet.com.au>