Reeves, Benjamin

Summary

Father: William Rives/Rivers/Reeves
Mother: Jane Ridder

Birth: before 10 July 1814
Birth Source: Baptism

Death: c1887
Death Source: FreeBMD

Spouse1: Jane Smith

Narrative

NB As noted elsewhere, Benjamin's father William seems to have a particularly fluid surname which is variously recorded as Rives, Rivers and Reeves.

Benjamin was baptised on 10 July 1814 at the Parish Church of St Mary, South Stoneham in Hampshire when his family names was recorded as RIVERS. However all subsequent references to Benjamin use the surname REEVES.

Benjamin married Jane SMITH on 31 July 1845 at the Parish Church of St James, West End in Hampshire.

Known children of Benjamin Reeves and Jane (nee Smith) are...

1. John Reeves, born c1846
2. Fanny Reeves, born c1849
3. Alice Reeves, born March 1851
4. Emma Reeves, born c1856
5. Richard Reeves, born c1859
6. Charles Reeves, born c1886

At the time of the 1841 census Benjamin appears in the household of Jane Reeves who, based on relative ages, is presumed to be his mother. Richard Reeves and his family are adjacent.

By the time of the 1851 census, Benjamin with his wife Jane (nee Smith) are living at West End and with their three eldest children; the youngest Alice is just 5 days old. Additionally there is a Jane Smith working as a servant, who shares the same birth place, a small village in Devon, as Jane Reeves (nee Smith), raising the prospect that they might be related. Benjamin gives his age as 36 and claims birth in South Stoneham. He is working as a Gardener.

A decade later and the 1861 census notes Benjamin as 47 years old and working as an Agricultural Labourer. He and Jane have three children, Alice, Emma & Richard living with them on Moorhill Road in West End.

On the 1871 census, Benjamin and Jane now have only their three youngest children at home, Emma, Richard and Charles. They are living at Moorgreen, within the Allington tythling of South Stoneham. Benjamin is still working as an Agricultural Labourer and he is 56 years old

At the time of the 1881 census, Benjamin is now described as a General Labourer, aged 66. He and Jane still have their sons Richard and Charles living with them and two grand daughters, Elizabeth (believed to be John's daughter) and Ellen (believed to be Emma's daughter). Their neighbours are again Richard Reeves and his wife Elizabeth (also nee Smith and also from the same small Devon village).

On the 1891 census, wife Jane appears as a widow. It is probable Benjamin's is the death registered in the March quarter of 1887 in South Stoneham Registration District, age 72.

Sources

Birth:        https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/NBJR-45N
Marriage: https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/N6N6-7JG
Death:     FreeBMD 1q 1887 South Stoneham Reg. Dist.

1841 Census: HO107, Piece 0882, Book 8, Folio 3 reverse, Page 3
1851 Census: HO107, HO107, Piece 1670, Folio 255 face, Page 18 and Folio 255 reverse, Page 19
1861 Census: RG9, Piece 0681, Folio 90 reverse, Page 22
1871 Census: RG10, Piece 1197, Folio 82 reverse, Page 28 and Folio 83 face, Page 29
1881 Census: RG11, Piece 1218, Folio 101 reverse, Page 42
1891 Census: RG12, Piece 0924, Folio 87 face, Page 15