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Reeves, Moses (c1734 VA - bef 1797 SC )

Reeves, Moses

Reeves, Moses


Summary

Father: George Reeves
Mother: Ann Doggett

Birth: 1729, Northumberland County, Virginia
Birth: c. 1734, Prince William County, Virginia
Birth Source: Date is estimated from the fact that Moses was not taxed in 1747

Death: Aft. 1773-1774, and possibly c. 1790-1792 Before 27 Feb 1797, Kershaw County, South Carolina
Death Source: Last Known References in King William Co., VA
Death Source: Kershaw Co., SC, Minutes of the County Court, 1791-1799

Spouse1: Jane MNU



Narrative

Prestley Reeves and Jesse Reeves were the Administrators of the 1797 estate of Moses Reeves of Lancaster and Kershaw Counties, SC. On page four of the record there is an accounting of the rents and profits of the plantation on which Moses lived dated 1808. It mentions that between his death and the year 1797 his widow lived on the plantation and therefore no rents were gathered. Rents were gathered from 1798 through 1807. The sum of the rents is added, and a statement at the bottom reads: "Of the above sum there is due each of the ten legatees 1 tenth part - pay $4:80:4" Their identities have not been proven, but the identities of four of Moses's children have been ascertained based upon deed and estate records as being: Stephen Reeves, Jesse Reeves, Prestley Reeves and Jane Reeves.

Children of Moses Reeves and wife Jane:
  1. Stephen Reeves, born c. 1760
  2. Jesse Reeves, b. 1766
  3. probably Jemima Reeves, b. c1769, m. Ephraim Clanton
  4. Prestley Reeves, b. c. 1775
  5. Jane Reeves, b. 1776, probably married Joseph Cunningham
  6. Moses Reeves, b. c. 1787
  7. David Reeves, Undocumented
  8. Heh. (Hezekiah?) Reeves, Undocumented
  9. Unknown
  10. Unknown
Undocumented children listed are based upon close association with Moses Reeves' family, i.e. in probate documents as buyers at estate sale, living in close proximity in early adulthood, etc.

The birthdate of Moses Reeves is approximate. He does not appear on the 1747 Dettingen Parish, Prince William Co., VA, tax list, suggesting that he was not yet 16 years old and thus born after 6 June 1731 (6 June was the cut-off date in determining age for taxation purposes). Moses's brother John Reeves was not taxed, either, suggesting that he, too, was born after 6 June 1731. Since John is mentioned in the deed of gift before Moses Reeves, researchers theorize that John was born about 1732, Moses about 1734, and Asa about 1736.

Moses Reeves was master to apprentice James Forbess, Prince William County, August 25, 1764.¹

He was on Captain Lewis Reno's list of tithables with 1 tithe and 280 acres in Prince William County, 1765.² His name appeared beside Daniel Kincheloe (whose brother Cornelius witnessed his 1773 deed) and near those of his brother, uncle, and father, all in the same district.

On 8-9 March 1770, Moses (+) Reeve, along with Thomas Reeve, Asa (+) Reeve, and Peter Arthur Burn witnessed a transaction between Benjamin and Sarah Reeve of Hampshire Co., VA, and George and Ann Reeve of Prince William County on the one part and Maximillian Haynie of Prince William County of the other part. The land was described as being adjacent John Reeve, down Bull Run, near the said Haynie's Fence, adjacent Charles Wickliff (who was identified as a neighbor of Thomas Reeve in 1775), and adjacent Benjamin Wickliff's heirs. (Prince William Co., VA, Deed Book R, pp. 206-210.)

During the 1760s and 1770s, Moses Reeves kept an account with local merchants based in Dumfries; these accounts help document his residence in the area, indicating that he made purchases or payments in the following years: 1758-1759 (B and BM), 1760 (C and C(M)), 1762-1763 (E), 1763-1764 (F), 1765 (G), 1765-1766 (H(V)), 1767 (I), 1767-1768 (K(V)), 1768-1769 (L), 1771-1772 (O), 1773-1774 (Q).

On 27 November 1773, Moses and Jane Reeve of Prince William County sold for 100 pounds Prince William County property to John Hammett. This property is identified as "all that tract or parcel of land containing 180 acres...taken out of a tract of 941 acres...and part out of another tract of 370 acres...conveyed to Moses Reeve by his Father George Reeve by deed dated 28 October 1751." Neighbors were Charles Morris and Thomas Stone. Moses (M) Reeve and wife Jane (X) Reeve signed the deed, which was witnessed by Cornelius Kincheloe, Asa (X) Reeve, and Jemima (X) Hewett. Jane acknowledged the deed 6 December 1773 in Prince William County. (John Hooe Papers, University of Virginia, MSS 11357.)

Moses Reeves seems to have left Prince William about the time he sold land in 1773; he has not been conclusively identified after that date. It is possible that he was the Moses Reeves who appeared later in the 1770s in Lancaster Co., SC, with John Reeves.

On 17 September 1790, John Hammitt of Prince William County sold to William Carr of Prince William County a tract of 525 acres at a price of 30,000 pounds of tobacco. The deed indicates that 375 acres had been purchased by Hammitt from Harrison Manley and that 150 acres had been purchased by Hammitt from Moses Reaves. John Overall, Simon Luttrell, and Thomas Chapman witnessed the deed. (Prince William Co., VA, Deed Book X, 1787-1791, pp. 511-513.) (The recorded version of this deed seems to have been destroyed.)

The British Mercantile Accounts — attempts by British merchants after the Revolution to collect monies owed them from before the Revolution — show that Moses Reaves of Prince William owed 4 shillings and 9 pence due in 1768 that was never paid. The accounts — gathered about 1803 — indicate that Moses "Died about fifteen years ago, then solvent." These record were from debts due William Cunningham and Company, of Glasgow, Falmouth Store. (Note that this is roughly congruent with the information regarding Moses Reeves of Kershaw, South Carolina, who seems to have died in 1792.)

On 27 November 1777, Manuel Powell of Camden District, South Carolina, conveyed to William Land of the same place 50 acres on Rockey Creek, part of 100 acres granted to Hugh Montgomery and assigned by lease to David Powell, deceased, being adjacent Hugh Montgomery and Moses Reaves. (Chester Co., SC, Deed Book F, pp. 227-228.) Note that subsequent deeds indicate that Land's wife was named Mary and that land died about 1783; the pension records of Daniel Reeves indicate that his wife Eleanor Guthrie Reeves was an orphan who was raised by a neighbor of Daniel's father named Land. Another deed from Manuel Powell of Camden District, South Carolina, dated 8 December 1777, involves a tract Powell was conveying to Isom and Joseph Powell. The land is described as being "on Rocky Creek on both sides of Turkey Branch adjacent Moses Reaves, late property of David Powell, deceased." Witnesses included Hugh and John Montgomery. (Chester Co., SC, Deed Book B, pp. 15-16.)

Jury Lists of South Carolina, 1778-1779, p. 51, by GeLee Corley Hendrix and Morn M. Lindsey, shows "Petit Jurors Between the Broad and Catawba Rivers." The names of John Reaves and Moses Reaves appear in sequential order. The description between the Broad and Catawba Rivers places this area in what became Chester County, as do the names of other individuals shown near John and Moses on the list. The Revolutionary War pension statements of Daniel, Jesse, and William Reeves, quoted at length in the discussion of John Reeves of Lancaster County establish that John and Moses Reeves in August 1780 were living within three miles of the Fishing Creek battlefield, apparently in Chester County. (The 1777 deeds suggest that Moses then lived just south of Fishing Creek, on Rocky Creek.)

In a Chester County, South Carolina, deed, George and Agnes Morris conveyed to Benjamin Morris a tract of 34 acres. This land was described as being part of a grant issued to Hugh Montgomery and "conveyed by him to Moses Reaves and by Reaves to Christopher Morgan and by Morgan and wife Martha to George Morris on 5 February 1788." (Chester Co., SC, Deed Book C, p. 344-346.)

At some point during the 1780s, John Reeves and Moses Reeves moved eastward across the Catawba River into present-day Kershaw and Lancaster Counties. As will be documented below, Moses acquired land on White Oak Creek, a tributary of the Catawba River. John seems to have moved in a slightly northeasterly direction, settling in what is today southern Lancaster County. Although the overlapping county and district jurisdictions and their residences near the intersection of several counties place them at different moments in Chester, Kershaw, Lancaster, and (for John) possibly Chesterfield Counties, from 1775 until the end of their lives, neither brother seems to have lived more than a dozen or so miles from where they initially settled about 1775, in the vicinity of Fishing and Rocky Creeks in Chester County.

Moses Reeves has not been found in the 1790 South Carolina census, although evidence suggests that he was then living on White Oak Creek in present-day Kershaw County. He received a South Carolina land grant in 1790 (Moses Reeves, 239, Vol. 27, Class 02, LG 1790). Reeves's plat for the land was dated 13 March 1790. This land was located on White Oak Creek adjacent tracts owned by John Godwyn, Elizabeth Strawbridge, and Michael McElliorath. On 29 September 1788, however, Reeves was mentioned in Elizabeth Strawbridge's plat for 85 acres on White Oak and Deep Creeks of the Wateree River in Camden District, suggesting that he was already living in the area. (SCDAH Series S213190, Vol. 22, p.374). (As late as 1809, the Kershaw Co., SC, will of John Goodwin mentioned that his land on White Oak Creek was joined by lands granted to John Boykin and Moses Reaves. Kershaw Co., SC, Estate Apt. 28, Pkg. 976. Reeves and Goodwyn were named as neighbors when when Michael Barnet received a plat for 459 acres on Ednew Creek in Camden District in 1791.)

Moses was a juror in Kershaw County on 28 February 1792.

It would seem that Moses Reeves died between 28 February 1792, when he was a juror, and 17 November 1792, when family members sold part of his lands; an 1808 estate document mentions that the estate remained in the possession of Moses's widow and children until 1797 but was rented out after 1797.

Kershaw Co., SC, Deed Book B, p. 248, 17 November 1792, shows that Steven Reeves, Presley Reeves, Jesse Reeves, and Jane Reeves sold to John Burgess, for £30, 80 acres on Whiteoak Creek & Deep Creek, part of 215 acres granted to Moses Reaves on 5 April 1790 and bounded by Elizabeth Strawbridge and vacant land. The deed was signed by Stephen Reaves, Aann [or Aaron] Reaves, Jesse Reaves, Jane Reaves, and Presley Reaves. Thomas Gardner, George W. Gardner, and Joseph Kelly witnessed the deed. It is not presently known whether this was an heirs deed or whether Moses had deeded part of this land to Stephen, Jesse, and Presley.

Moses apparently was living within Kershaw County when he died about 1797. On 7 February 1797, it was ordered that Prestly Reeves and Jesse Reeves "do receive letters of administration on the estate of Moses Reeves, deceased." Daniel Payne and Thomas Collier served as security. On 8 February 1797, it was ordered that Presley and James Jesse Reeves, administrators of Moses Reeves, deceased, sell property of the deceased. (Note that this is the only reference to James Reeves located in Kershaw minutes; the previous reference mentioned Jesse Reeves, suggesting that this reference may have been a transcriptional error. In viewing scans of the original document although degraded the name is still obviously Jesse, not James.)

Several estate documents for Moses Reeves were filed in Kershaw Co., SC, Estate Book 1791-1811, pp. 285-290. These correspond with the county court minutes by showing that Prestley Reeves and Jesse Reeves were granted letters of administration on Moses Reeves's estate in February 1797 with Daniel Payne and Thomas Collier as securities. Reeves's estate inventoried at 50:5:0 on 8 February 1797; Samuel Webb, John Collier, and John Lake inventoried the estate. The estate sale shows that purchasers included Prestly Reeves, Joseph Cunningham, William Jones, Heh. (Hezekiah?) Reeves, Daniel Payne, Ephraim Clanton, James Wren, Thomas Collier, David Reeves, Stephen Reeves, Jesse Reeves, William Gardner, Joseah Perry, Michael Barnett, John Twaddell, and George Garden. A few names were illegible.

Research Notes

There may be a connection between Moses Reeves's family and Asa Reeves, born c. 1773 in SC, who lived near Jesse and Stephen Reeves in Lauderdale Co., AL. This appears to be the Asa who witnessed a deed between Ephraim and Jamima Clanton and Alexander Archer in Kershaw District in 1807.

Some researchers have concluded that this Moses Reeves was identical with Moses Rives, son of Timothy Rives of Brunswick Co., VA. There is substantial evidence to link Moses Reeves of Kershaw with John Reeves and to suggest that the two men came to South Carolina from Prince William Co., VA. The timing of the sale of Moses's land in Virginia corresponds with his appearance in South Carolina, and the name of his wife in 1773 — Jane — corresponds with the Jane Reeves, apparently Moses's wife or widow, who signed the South Carolina deed in 1792. Moreover, there is evidence that Moses Rives was still a resident of Brunswick Co., VA, as late as 24 August 1778, at which time he was noted as away serving in the Continental Army with children living in Brunswick County. Abundant evidence places the Moses who died in Kershaw County living continuously in South Carolina between about 1775 and 1783, for Moses's son Jesse frequently referred to his father's South Carolina residence in his affidavit in support of the Revolutionary pension application of his cousin Daniel Reeves. Jesse's statements that Daniel and his wife stayed at Jesse's father's house just after their marriage, and that Daniel left his wife there when he returned to the service, make this clear.

Interestingly, musters of Major John Harrison's Corps, SC Rangers, dated 4 June 1780 to 24 December 1780 (three separate musters), "near Camden, SC," shows one Moses Reeves. This was a Loyalist unit. There is also a record of a Moses Reeves serving in the 3rd Battalion, Georgia line, in 1778. This might be the same man as Moses Nunez Rivers, who had been a Quarter Master in Georgia's Horse Militia as early as 1759 and a 2nd Lt. in John Milledge's First Troop of Georgia Rangers as late as 1766. Rivers was a Portuguese Jew who was a fur and deerskin trader among the Tuckabatchee Native Americans in Alabama before being sent by James Oglethorpe, founder of the Georgia colony, to Virginia to enlist Rangers for King George's War. Rivers was an interpreter who worked with Native American groups throughout Georgia; he died about 1785. It seems more likely, however, that this was Moses Rives of Brunswick Co., VA. Although the service is for a Georgia unit — indicating pay for 6 months of service prior to June 1779 — the service records indicate that Reeves (whose name was also spelled Rieves) received a furlough in the summer of 1779 to travel to Virginia. This is consistent with records from Brunswick County dated 1778 indicating that Moses Rives was a Continental soldier. The Loyalist Moses Reeves serving in 1780 "near Camden" is more difficult to explain. It seems unlikely that he would have been Moses Reeves brother of John Reeves because Daniel Reeves stayed with his uncle after his wedding and left his wife Elinor to live with him and his family while Daniel completed his Revolutionary service. The war was particularly fierce in this region of South Carolina, however, and many families were divided. So it is not impossible that the Loyalist Moses Reeves could have been a member of this family. There was another South Carolina Loyalist named Henry Reeves, but he lived in Charleston and does not appear to have been connected with the Reeves families in upcountry South Carolina.

Sources

"British Mercantile Claims, 1775-1803," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 23, 1979, p. 271.
Daniel T. Elliott, Fort Argyle: Colonial Fort on the Ogeechee River (2012), for Moses Nunez Rivers.
B. H. Holcomb, Kershaw Co., SC, Minutes of the County Court, 1791-1799 (1986), pp. 7, 85, 102 105.
Kershaw Co., SC, Deed Book B.
Kershaw Co., SC, Estate Book, 1791-1811.
Kershaw Co., SC, Estate Apt 58, Pckt 2040
Kershaw Co., SC, Estate Apt 58, Pckt 2041
1807 Deed - Kershaw Co., South Carolina Deed Book E, p. 382
¹Harold B. Gill, Jr., Apprentices of Virginia, 1623-1800, Ancestry, Salt Lake City (1989), p. 89, citing Dettingen Parish Vestry Book, 1748-1785, p. 47.
²"Tithable Lists, Prince William County, 1765", J. Phillip Bowry, III, Virginia Genealogical Society Quarterly, Vol. 30, No. 2, August 1992, www.ancestry.com.

Sources for Dumfries Merchant Accounts, as per Margaret Binning, Dumfries Stores Ledgers Index, 1758-1776 (2012):
B John Glassford and Company and Successors, Maryland and Virginia, Ledger 1758-1759, Reel 62 Tag # 001. Index abstracted by Ron Cornwell. Original index was missing people whose last name began with B and C.
B(M) “John Glassford and Company of Virginia and Maryland”, 1758-59, abstracted from main entries by Ann H. Mack, published The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 31, No. 2, p. 122-130.
C John Glassford and Company and Successors, Maryland and Virginia, Ledger 1760, Reel 63. Tag # 001.
C(M) “John Glassford and Company of Virginia and Maryland”, 1760, abstracted from main entries by Ann H. Mack, published The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 32, No. 2, p. 135-140. And Vol. 32, No. 3, p. 209-210.
E John Glassford and Company and Successors, Maryland and Virginia, Ledger 1762-1763, Reel 63, Tag # 497. Index on the film could not be located.
F John Glassford and Company and Successors, Maryland and Virginia, Ledger 1763-1764, Reel 64, Tag # 529.
G John Glassford and Company and Successors, Maryland and Virginia, Ledger 1765, Reel 64, Tag 001 & Reel 65, Tag # 253. Last part of the ledger is missing from the microfilm.
H(V) John Glassford and Company and Successors, Maryland and Virginia, Ledger 1765-1767, Reel 66, Tag # 618. Index is missing from this ledger.
I John Glassford and Company and Successors, Maryland and Virginia, Ledger 1767,Reel 66, Tag # 232. First part of the ledger is missing.
K(V) John Glassford and Company and Successors, Maryland and Virginia, Ledger 1767-1768, Reel 66, Tag # 618. Index is missing from this ledger.
L John Glassford and Company and Successors, Maryland and Virginia, Ledger 1768-1769, Reel 67. Part 2 is on the microfilm before part 1 for this year.
M John Glassford and Company and Successors, Maryland and Virginia, Ledger. 1769–1770 Missing from the microfilm.
N John Glassford and Company and Successors, Maryland and Virginia, Ledger. 1770 – 1771 Missing from the microfilm.
O John Glassford and Company and Successors, Maryland and Virginia, Ledger 1771-1772, Reel 67, Tag # 232 & 68, Tag # 620.
Q John Glassford and Company and Successors, Maryland and Virginia, Ledger 1773-1774, Reel 68, Tag # 27.