Reeves, Anna Maria (aka Roberts, Anna M)(nee Boeree)

Summary

Father:
Mother:

Birth: c1800, Rotterdam, Holland
Birth Source: Census

Death: c1876
Death Source: FreeBMD

Spouse1: William Thomas Pugh REEVES

Narrative

Census returns suggest Anna Maria Boeree was born around 1800 in Rotterdam, Holland. Her early life has not been researched.

By 1820 Anna was in a relationship with William Thomas Pugh Reeves. They initially lived in Holland, then France before coming to Devon, England in around 1824.

Anna Maria BOEREE married William REEVES on 22 August 1831 (more than a decade after the start of their relationship) at Alphington in Devon.
The known children of William Reeves and Anna Maria (nee BOEREE) are

William James Reeves, born c1820, Rotterdam, Holland
Anna Maria Reeves, born 1821, Utrecht, Holland
Henry Charles Reeves, born 1823, Douai. France
Emily Caroline Reeves, born 1825, Exeter, Devon and married William PAVEY
Anna Maria Reeves, born 1827, Exeter, Devon and married Alfred PAVEY
Eliza Harriet Reeves, bron 1831, Exeter, Devon and married Thomas SNELL

FamilySearch has transcript entries indicating the five surviving children were baptised in August 1831 at the same Parish Church in Alphington where their parents married. The FS entry for son William's baptism indicates it was the day after his parent's marriage https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JWXG-6XX. See Research Note 3 below.

Neither Anna nor her husband William has yet been identified on the 1841 census.

Various online sources suggest Anna's husband William died in 1842. At his marriage in 1845, son Henry indicated his father was dead and Anna herself is described as a widow on the 1851 and subsequent census returns.

At the time of the 1851 census, on 30 March, Anna is head of household at 300 Albany Road in Camberwell, Surrey. She is enumerated as Anna M ROBERTS (sic). See Research Note 2 below. Anna is 51 years old, a widow and her occupation is shown as being a Fundholder. She was born in Holland and is a British Subject. Living with Anna is her daughter Eliza ROBERTS (sic) who is 20 years old and was born in Devonshire.

A decade later and the 1861 census records Anna Maria in the household of her son-in-law William PAVEY and her daughter Emily C Pavey (nee Reeves). She is mistakenly described as her son-in-law's mother rather than his mother-in-law and her surname is recorded (by virtue of ditto marks) as PAVEY. She is now 61 years of age, a widow and claims birth in Rotterdam, Holland. She is an Annuitant.

On the 1871 census, Anna again appears in the household of her son-in-law William and daughter Emily. On this occasion, she his correctly described as William's mother-in-law and she is recorded with the name Anna Maria ROBERTS. Her age, place of birth and occupation are consistent with 1861 census details.

Anna has not been identified on the 1881 census. It is most likely that hers is the death noted in the GRO Index to Deaths as Anna Maria REEVES during the first quarter of 1876 in the Lambeth Registration District, aged 76.

Research Notes

(1) Anna's husband William was one of the third generation of his family to be associated with the Reeves company which produced artist materials, although perhaps only briefly so.

(2) Roberts Surname

It is not presently known when this branch of the Reeves family started to use the surname ROBERTS or why.

When Anna and William Thomas Pugh REEVES married and baptised their five surviving children in August 1831 in Alphington, Devon they used the surname REEVES.

The earliest documented use of the ROBERTS surname is on the 1841 census by their son William James Reeves who was at that time living in Southwark, Surrey. He is the only family member so far identified on the 1841 census and William continues to use the surname Roberts on each census through to 1881.
In 1844 when son William married, in 1845 when son Henry married, in 1847 when daughter Emily married and in 1849 when daughter Anna married all used the surname REEVES. The births of both Emily and Anna's children shows their mother's maiden name as Reeves.
On the 1851 census Anna and her daughter Eliza use the surname Roberts, as does son William and his wife.
However, in 1853 when youngest daughter Eliza married, she used the surname ROBERTS and the birth of their daughter also use Roberts as the mother's maiden name.
On the 1861 census, as noted above, Anna's relationship is incorrectly recorded, as is her surname.
On the 1871 census she is again enumerated using the surname Roberts, but her death six years later is registered using the surname REEVES.

Why they used the surname Roberts is not known. Remembering the publicity around Anna's husband divorce from his first wife, did they choose to distance themselves from the Reeves family name, perhaps when they returned to London? Or were they encouraged to? Anna was variously described as a Fundholder or Annuitant, which begs the question as to where the money came from to purchase such an annuity for her? Her son William is variously described as Colour Manufacturer, Water Color Maker, Color maker and Colour Manufacturer. Was he working for the Reeves family firm and his identity was being concealed from co-workers or was he in competition with them and had assumed a discrete identity?

(3) See Research Note 3 on the page for Anna's husband William

Sources

Birth:
Baptism:
Marriage: FamilySearch https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NKYS-6BC
Death:      GRO INdex 1876, March quarter, Lambeth Registration District

1841 Census:
1851 Census: HO107, Piece 1582, Folio ??? reverse, Page 22, Schedule 89
1861 Census: RG9, Piece 0358, Folio 64 face, Page 25, Schedule 100 - HoH son-in-law William Pavey
1871 Census: RG10, Piece 0672, Folio 113 face, Page 7, Schedule 43 - HoH son-in-law William Pavey

The Reeves Project