Reaves Family from A History of Marion County

Introduction

The following transcript is from "A History of Marion County, South Carolina. From its Earliest Times to the Present, 1901" compiled and written by W. W. Sellers, Esq of the Marion Bar. It was completed in August 1901 and published in 1902 by The R. L. Ryan Company of Columbia, S.C. after the author's death in March 1902.

There are multiple references to members of the Reaves family of Marion County throughout the publication. The following extract is from pages 206 to 208.

Transcript or Summary

REAVES. - Another family to be here noticed is the Reaves family. The first known of this family was Solomon Reaves, a Baptist preacher. The writer heard him preach when a boy, about 1829, at an association at Porter Swamp Church, in Columbus County, N. C, about five miles from Fair Bluff, N. C.; he was then an old man, white hair and red face; he had a son, named Charles - he may have had other sons, but Charles is the only one that concerns Marion County; he married a Miss Hodge, sister of the late Dr. Samuel Hodge, in the Gapway neighborhood; by her he had two sons, George W. and Robert H. Reaves; he may have had other sons and daughters. His first wife dying, he married Miss Mary Griffin, of North Carolina, near Fair Bluff; no offspring by this second marriage.

Charles Reaves died in 1861 or 1862, leaving his widow and a large estate of lands and negroes ; he died intestate, his property, real and personal, descended under the law to his widow and two sons, one-third each, the widow getting the' old home-stead. Some years after that, the widow married the late Colonel John T. Harrington, who died some years back, and left Mrs. Harrington a widow for the second time; no child or children; she still survives and is still a widow on the old Reaves homestead, now in her eighty-seventh year - somewhat a remarkable woman for her age.

Of the sons, George W. Reaves married four times - not being a very old man at the time of his fourth marriage; he was born in 1811, and died, I think, in 1896 or 1897; his first wife was a Miss Carmichael, of what is now Carmichael Township, a sister of the late Neill C. Carmichael; she lived only about a year, and died childless; he married, a second time, a Miss Brown; by her he had some children, how many is not known. There were one or two sons by this marriage, who were killed or died in the war, and a daughter, who married some one, and soon became a widow; I know nothing more of her. His Brown wife died, I think, in 1846 or 7; he married in a few months, Miss Elizabeth Watson, who has hereinbefore been spoken of; by her he raised two children, James Robert Reaves and Mary E. Reaves, now Mrs. Murphy - heretofore noticed. The Watson wife died, and he married a Miss Rogers, of the Fork, a daughter of the late Captain John Rogers; by her he had and raised four sons, George R. Reaves, John Reaves, William Reaves and Edward Reaves; the latter is a Baptist preacher of high standing, and is pastor of some church in the upper part of the State. These sons of George W. Reaves are all respectable and valued citizens, and are a part of the bone and sinews of the county, married and contributing their full share to the citizenship and general prosperity of the county. The father, George W. Reaves, was a good citizen and a prominent church man, weighed, avoirdupois, three hundred pounds, or more.

His brother, Robert H. Reaves, was for many years a prominent merchant at Marion ; he married a daughter of old Colonel W. H. Grice, who still survives, and lives upon and owns her patrimonial estate in Wahee Township. R. H. Reaves, the last years of his life, retired from mercantile pursuits, and went on his farm in Wahee, where he accidentally fell from his piazza some years ago and broke his neck; he raised a family of four sons and perhaps two daughters; of the sons, two, Henry and Thomas, died young men, unmarried; Augustus and James still survive; the former unmarried, lives with his mother; the latter married, and lives in Sumter County; has a family, and is said to be doing well. Of the daughters. Miss Sallie, the oldest, has never married, and lives with her mother. The younger one, name not remembered, married a Mr. Lide, in Darlington. R. H. Reaves was a good and successful merchant for many years, but in the wind-up of his mercantile affairs, did not seem to have made much, but saved his plantation and negroes; he was a man of equable temperament, and never seemed to be in a hurry ; he represented the district in the Legislature just after the war in 1866 - before Reconstruction commenced or before it got under way.

Commentary

As the author himself notes in his Preface (on page VIII)
"... He is further indebted to many of our citizens for information as to families that he could not otherwise have obtained.

It may be found that he has made mistakes. It will be a wonder if it is not so found. He expects no other. ..."

Source

Reaves Family https://archive.org/stream/cu31924028790414#page/206/mode/2up/search/Reaves
Preface https://archive.org/stream/cu31924028790414#page/n15/mode/2up
Both retrieved July 2017