Reaves, Zebedee or Zebediah

Summary

Father: possibly Asa Reeves (see Research Notes)
Mother: Unknown

Birth: Varies - 1839 in 1900 census, 1845 in military records and 1854 in 1880 census, born in Missouri
Birth Source: Census andd Civil War military records

Death: before 1 Jul 1920, Whitley County, Kentucky
Death Source: U.S., Civil War and Later Wars Index to Remarried Widow Pension Applications, 1848-1934

Spouse1: Margaret S. Mullins, m. 13 Sep 1867 in LaClede County, Missouri
Spouse2: Jane "Ollie" Leach
Spouse3: Lizzie Cox (Nix?), m. 14 Jun 1902 in Campbell County, Tennessee

Narrative

Children of Zebedee Reaves and Jane Leach:

1. Mary E. Reaves, b. 1874
2. William J. Reaves, b. 1876
3. Luellan Reaves, b. 1880
4. John Reaves, b. 1 Mar 1888, d. 3 Mar 1823
5. Clima Reaves, b. 1891

Jane Leach who was called Ollie in most census apparently died sometime before June 14th, 1902 for on that date Zebedee Reaves remarried. The second marriage records the bride's name as Lizzie Nix but later Civil War widow's pension documents state her maiden name as Cox. That remarriage is further supported by U.S., Civil War and Later Wars Index to Remarried Widow Pension Applications, 1848-1934.

Pension records in Whitley KY document that Zebedee Reaves served in the Company L of the 16th Missouri Cavalry which appears to identify him as the Zebediah Reeves who served in the Union army in Missouri. It doesn't prove his connection to the family of Peter Reeves of Searcy, AR but helps to confirm his origins.

After the Civil War, this same Zebediah Reeves who served in a Missouri unit, married a Margaret S. Mullins in LaClede, Missouri on 13 Sep 1867.

Research Notes

There are no records for Zebediah Reeves son of Asa Reeves and grandson of Peter
Reeves after he joined the Confederate forces in Arkansas in 1862 but there are records of a Zebediah Reeves who served in the Union army with a
Missouri company who may be the same individual. It is also significant that the descendant of a Zebedee Reaves of Whitley County KY is a Y-DNA
match to descendants of Peter Reeves and other members of this family. Zebediah Reeves son of Asa Reeves' disappeared from
Arkansas after the Civil War.

The Confederate forces are known to have forcably conscripted many Arkansas residents including some members of this Reeves family so it is possible
that Zebediah could have served in the CSA due to having been conscripted and later was able to free himself and join the Union forces although this
is undocumented and at present merely a theory.

The DNA donor descends from Zebedee Reaves who appears in Whitley County, Kentucky after the Civil War and records there indicate he was born
in Missouri around the same time as Zebediah, son of Asa Reeves. Searcy County, Arkansas is in close proximity to the border of
Arkansas and Missouri so this could possibly be the same individual.

The variation of the Reeves surname used mose frequently in Whitley, KY for Zebedee is Reaves but later generations of the family began to use the more common Reeves surname.

Sources

U.S., Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles, 1861-1865, online database at Ancestry.com
Missouri, Compiled Marriages, 1851-1900
1880 Census - Whitley County, Kentucky
1900 Census - Mountain Ash, Whitley County, Kentucky Tennessee, Marriage
Records, 1780-2002 - 1902 marriage to Lizzie Nix or Cox U.S., Civil War and
Later Wars Index to Remarried Widow Pension Applications, 1848-1934
Kentucky, Death Records, 1852-1965 - Death Record of son John Reaves
Line of Descent information taken from the historical Reeves DNA Project web pages on Rootsweb — 31 Dec 2019