Reeve, Ezra

Summary

Father:
Mother:

Birth: 16 or 27 Jan 1734, Long Island, New York
Birth Source: Headstone, MA Marriages, Memoirs

Death: 28 Apr 1818, Holland, Hampden County, Massachusetts
Death Source: Headstone

Spouse1: Mary Landon, m. 18 Nov 1759, Holland, Hampden County, Massachusetts

Narrative

Children of Ezra Reeve::

1. Benjamin Reeve
2. Mehetable Reeve
3. Joseph Reeve
4. Ezra Reeve, Jr., b. 11 Aug 1760
5. Mary Reeve, b. c1761, d. 3 Nov 1819
6. Peggy Reeve

Ezra's marriage record also gives a birth date for him of 16 Jan 1734 and of 5 Dec 1736 for Mary Landon.

According to Owego: some account of the early settlement of the village in Tioga County, N.Y., Rev. Ezra Reeve was a cousin of Judge Tapping Reeve, a chief justice of Connecticut. Ezra's will appoints executors who lived in Connecticut so it's reasonable to assume he descends from the Connecticut family.

Ezra's will was submitted for probate in May 1818. A number of records and trees seem to confuse Ezra and his son Ezra, but the headstone gives an age of 84 and the marriage record provides an exact birth date.

Hartford Courant, 25 Aug 1818
At Holland (Ms.) the Rev. Ezra Reeve, aged 84, a native of Southold, (L. I.) He was the first minister settled in Holland, where he labored for more than fifty-three years.

Weekly Messenger, 18 Nov 1819
In Holland, 3d inst. Miss Polly Reeve, daughter of Rev. Ezra Reeve, of that place, aged 58 years.

This was published eight years after his death, so Yale may not have been aware of his death.
Boston Traveler, 6 Oct 1826
Yale College. - .... Of the class of 1757 Daniel Humphreys, Rev. Abraham Beach, S. T. D., Rev. Ezra Reeve, and Rev. John Wright.

The following was written into the church records of the Church of Christ at Holland where he pastored:

MEMOIRS OF THE LATE REV. EZRA REEVE.
The Memory of the Just is Blessed.

In condolence for the loss of our late venerable and worthy pastor Rev. Ezra Reeve, we, the church of Christ in Holland feel it a tribute of respect due from us, to have the death and character of so worthy a man and servant of Jesus Christ inserted in the church records, for the purpose of perpetuating his memory to the church and our posterity in future generations.

Mr. Reeve was born on Long Island Jan. 27, 1734. He was graduated at Yale College, New Haven, entered into the marriage state on said Long Island, from whence he removed with his family to Holland, which was then connected with South Brimfield and was installed over the church and people of Holland Sept. 13, 1765. He died April 28, 1818, in the 85th year of his age and 53d year of his ministry over said people.

Rev. Ezra Reeve we believe, was a man of exemplary piety and who lived in the denial of worldly gratifications; who coveted not the wealth, the honors, or applause of the world, but appeared contented with the humble station in which Providence had placed him. He appeared to bear with Christian fortitude and resignation all the evils of life, at the same time he possessed very tender and sympathetic feelings for his friends and fellow mortals both with respect to their temporal and spiritual distresses. Mr. Reeve, though a man of a dignified character, was not raised above any one in his deportment but was easy of access to communicate, of a very social disposition, sometimes facetious, yet never suffered himself to degrade his ministerial character or to bring a stain on the Christian profession.

He was a person very tender of the character of others, and very careful of making animadversions on persons or things. He possessed we believe, a great degree of christian charity which led him to hope all things and believe all things and was eminently a peacemaker. As a preacher he was orthodox in his composition and labored hard to impress the truths he delivered, on the minds of his hearers, and it was his fervent desire that his people might be found walking in the truth, order, and fellowship of the gospel united in the bonds of christian love and that they might have a gospel minister placed over them was a subject he much insisted upon, and endeavored to bring about in his life time, to supply his place.

Mr. Reeve retained his mental faculties surprisingly for a man in his advanced age, which he employed in counselling and comforting his friends and people of his charge. To conclude, he was a tender and affectionate parent, a true and faithful friend and a well-wisher to precious and immortal souls. He sustained, we believe, an unblemished character and kept himself so unspotted from the world that even his enemies were constrained to speak well of him, and to acknowledge he was a christian. Thus lived and died this worthy character we have attempted to describe. May we all endeavor to cherish his virtues and live the life of the righteous, that our last end be like his.

Research Notes

Ezra is thought to be a son of Abner Reeve and his first wife Mary Landon.

Note that the memoirs state he was born 27 Jan 1734 while the marriage record states 16 Jan 1734.

Sources

Birth:       Marriage Record and Memoir
Marriage1:  FamilySearch - Massachusetts Marriages, 1695-1910
Death:       Holland Cemetery, Holland, Hampden County, Massachusetts
                   Obituary, Hartford Courant, 25 Aug 1818

1790 Census:  Hampshire County, Massachusetts (Rev. Ezra Reeves)
1800 Census:  Hampshire County, Massachusetts (Rev. Ezra Reeves)

1817 Will - Ezra Reeve - Hampden County, Massachusetts Probate Files
Weekly Messenger, 18 Nov 1819
Boston Traveler, 6 Oct 1826
Lovering, Martin. (1915). History of the town of Holland, Massachusetts, pp. 214-216