Reeve, George

Summary

Father: John Reeve
Mother: Unknown Joshua (?)

Birth: c1730, Virginia, and certainly before 6 June 1731
Birth Source: Estimate based upon ages of children and 1747 Dettingen Parish Tithables List, Prince William Co., VA

Death: Mar 1778 - Aug 1779, Prince William County, Virginia
Death Source: Will, probated 2 Aug 1779

Spouse1: Jane Riddle Durham¹. She married Edward Jones as her second husband.

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Narrative

Children of George Reeve and Jane:

1. William Reeve
2. Jemima Reeve, m. Nicholas Mooney
3. James Reeve
4. Jonathan Reeve
5. Jesse Reeve, m. Ann Cox.
6. Joshua Reeve
7. Noah Reeve
8. Susanna Reeve, m. John Gill.
9. Jane Reeve, m. Charles Cox.

George was taxed in his father's household in 1747, indicating that he was born between 1726 and 1731.

In the 1760 Prince William rent roll, he was probably the "George Reive of White" taxed with 121 acres. He is likely the "George Reve younger" charged initially with 121 acres (but then amended to 125 acres) on the 1761-1762 rent roll. The 1762 Prince William landholder list shows him with 125 acres, beside which is the notation "son of John." He was shown as George Reeve, with 1 tithable and 125 acres at the time of the 1765 Prince William County tithables list taken by Lewis Reno. At the time of the 1767 Prince William County rent roll, George was taxed with 125 acres. His name appears on one version of the list as "George Reve" and on another as "George Reaves, Jr." Both times his acreage was shown as 125. At the time of the 1773 Prince William rent roll, George was shown as "Reeves, Geo: Junr." with 125 acres 1 year in arrears. He was also charged with 425 acres "(Ld in Fredk)" that was 1 year in arrears. The 1777 Prince William rent roll showed "Reeves, George Junr." with 125 acres that was 3 years in arrears. He was also taxed with the 425 acres in Frederick County, which was shown as being 3 years in arrears, too.

On 30-31 March 1767, George Reeve, John Reeve, James Wyatt, and Fortunatus Legg witnessed a deed from William Durham of Bute Co., NC, to Caleb Smith of Prince William County. Durham was selling 75 acres that he had acquired from William Colclough. (John Gott, Fauquier Co., VA, 1759-1778, p. 72.)

George Reeve(s) acquired a tract of 425 acres known as Tick Hollow on Flint Run in Frederick County, Virginia, in 1769. He still owned the land when he died but had leased it to the Hutchinson family and Isaac Dale. Sons James and Jonathan and widow Jane sold this land to Thomas Martin in 1790.

From Fauquier Families by Alcock:
Reeves, George. D 4-321, 1771 & 5-257, 1773. Buys 420 a. on Kettle Run Tract from execs of Charles Carter, Esq. RP. RR1777 420 a. D 9-3, 1784. Jane + Reeve and William & Netty Reeve to William Settle of PW 100 a. devised by him to Jane during her widowhood and then to William Reeves.

Research Notes

¹ A 1933 letter from a descendant, Mrs. Ethel Pruett, to the Bureau of Pensions in Washington, D.C. in regard to the Revolutionary War Service of William Reeve states that his mother's maiden name was Riddle. However, recent research of the Prince William, Fauquier and other northern neck counties has produced evidence indicating that Jane may have been was the daughter of William Durham and Margaret Colclough.

Merchant Daniel Payne's ledger for his store at Dumfries in Prince William County lists a George Reeves who was the "son-in-law of William Durham". That George Reeves is listed as such in the 1762-1763 and 1763-1764 ledgers. William Durham and his wife Margaret Colclough are recorded as having a daughter Jane, born 20 Oct 1739. The connection to William Durham is also evidenced in the above mentioned deed of 1767 by William Durham of Bute County, North Carolina wherein George Reeve was a witness. Sometime before 1765, William Durham and family had relocated to North Carolina, initially to Granville, then Bute County and are later recorded in Warren County where he died in 1793.

The fact that Jane's son William Reeve named one of his sons "William Durham Reeve" appears to verify this family connection. Another fact that contributes to the belief that Jane's maiden name was Durham is that son Jesse named his first daughter “Jane D.” Reeve. Another son was named "James White Reeve" for the father of Netty (Arnetta) White Reeve, William's wife. Descendants from this line also indicate that the wife of James White was a Riddle, daughter of Noah Riddle, which would account for the naming of another of their sons "Noah Riddle Reeve" and be the source of the erroneous belief that it was George Reeve's wife Jane whose maiden name was Riddle..

Research also contributed by TRP members Dan Knight and Anne McDonald.

Sources

Death:      Will of George Reeve, Prince William County VA Will Book G, p. 51-52

1777 Lease - George Reeve to John Hutchison - Shenandoah County, Virginia Deed Book E, p121
1777 Lease - George Reeve to Isaac Dale - Shenandoah County, Virginia Deed Book E, p123
1790 Deed - James Reeves et al to Thomas Martin - Shenandoah County, Virginia Deed Book I, p32

Fauquier Families by Alcock
Deeds 1796-1799 from Deed abstracts of Prince William County, Virginia abstracted by Ruth & Sam Sparacio, pub. c1989
Colonial Supermarket Daniel Payne's Ledger for His Store at Dumfries in Prince William County, Virginia for the Years 1758-1764 by Charles and Virginia Hamrick, xxi, 2007, 163 pp
Phyllis Winthurst, The Hutchinson Chronicles: some stories of the nine generations of descendants of John and Margaret Hutchison, Prince William and Shenandoah counties, Virginia and Montgomery County, Tennessee (1998).