St. Stephen's Parish Register, Northumberland Co., VA, 1661-1810

Introduction

This document was originally published by Beverly Fleet in his Virginia Colonial Abstracts. Fleet's introductory note, in which he describes the records as "both more and less" than the St. Stephen's Parish register, is useful and worth reading. The earliest records actually precede the formation of St. Stephen's Parish and belonged, apparently, to its parent parish or were recopied later into the register after St. Stephen's was formed. More recently than Fleet's work, Gail M. Walczyk has published these documents as Northumberland County, Virginia, Church Records, Births and Deaths. It is worth noting that in each instance the register spells the surname Rives instead of Reeves.

The register contains only nine entries for members of the Reeves family, but they are an important aid for reconstructing Northumberland Reeves families:

Rives, Thos, son to George, October 17 1719.
Rives, Benjamin, son to George, born Jany 24 1721.

Rives, Hannah, daughter to Thomas, born Dec 3 1714.

Rives, Thomas, son to Thomas, born September 16 1730.

Rives, Marthew (Martha), daughter to John, born Oct 8 1720
Rives, Eliza, daughter to John, born March 23 1722.
Rives, Ricd, son to John, born March 18 1724.
Rives, Ann, daughter to John, born June 10 1726.
Rives, Sarah, daughter to John, born March 16 1729.

Note that the first two entries shown above are two children of George Reeves and Ann Doggett. It is not presently clear whether the 1714 and 1730 birth records pertain to children of the same individual; one Thomas died in or before 1729, so it may be that the 1714 record pertains to the elder Thomas Reeves and the 1730 record pertains to a younger man, perhaps his son. It would appear that the five birth records for children of John Reeves all pertain to Robert Reeves's son John Reeves, who is known to have had a son Richard Reeves. Presumably, however, George Reeves's younger brother John was also in the area during these years, although he is believed to have been born about 1713.