Reeves, Benjamin

Summary

Father: William Reeves
Mother: Unknown

Birth: c1730, North Carolina
Birth Source: 1751 Will of William Reeves

Death: probably after 1805 in Rowan County, North Carolina
Death Source:

Spouse1: Unknown

Narrative

Almost nothing is currently known of Benjamin Reeves beyond the reference to him in William Reeves will probated in Granville County in 1751.

This may be the Benjamin Reeves recorded in the 1762 and 1766 tax lists of Rowan County NC according to the North Carolina, Compiled Census and Census Substitutes Index, 1790-1890, database at Ancestry.com.

The Benjamin Reeves listed on the 1770 tax lists of Rowan County, NC is very probably this Benjamin since his brother, James and several of his sons are also listed in Rowan County that year. The James Reeves' family was in an area of Rowan County that became Guilford.

A Benjamin Reeves of Rowan County is recorded in the following land transactions but might apply but could also be a completely different, younger Benjamin:

• Benjamin Reeves received a warrant for 100 acres on the mountain fork of Beaverdam Creek, Rowan County, entered February 1, 1790, Grant No. 2250 issued November 26, 1793.
• Benjamin Reaves received a warrant for 100 acres on one of the head branches of Beaverdam Creek, Rowan County, entered January 28, 1794, Grant No. 2592 issued December 2, 1799.
• Benjamin Reaves is on the 1794 tax list of Captain Davis of Bald Mountain District, Rowan County. There is no date on the tax list itself, but an archivist has dated it in pencil as 1794. The land lay largely on Cabin and Lick Creeks.
• Benjamin Reeves was on the 1796 tax list of Capt. Michael Fisher, Bald Mountain (present day Davidson County), area of Rowan. He was recorded with 175 acres, 1 tithe and no slaves.
• Benja Reeves and David Hicks are on the 1800 list of persons who failed to give in their taxable property.
• The last listing found for Benjamin Reeves in the Rowan County Tax Lists is in 1805 where he is listed with the same 175 acres of land and once again with 1 tithe.

!!! Research Notes
There has been no way to document that the Benjamin Reeves who was recorded in Rowan County in the 1762, 1766 and 1770 tax lists is the same Benjamin named in the will of 1751 Will of William Reeves . That Benjamin Reeves has never been positively identified beyond the will.

It is also unknown whether the Benjamin Reeves recorded in Rowan County in the land warrants and tax lists after 1790 are this same individual. There are no records of a Benjamin Reeves between 1770 and 1790 indicating they may be completely different persons.

Sources

Rowan County Tax Lists
North Carolina, Compiled Census and Census Substitutes Index, 1790-1890, database at Ancestry.com.
North Carolina Land Warrants