Reeves, Catherine Maud Isabelle

Summary

Father: Reeves, Tillman Hampton
Father: Unknown
Mother: Montgomery, Martha Caroline

Birth: 21 Jan 1888, Corsicana, Navarro Co., TX
Birth Source: Death Certificate, censuses

Death: 2 Jun 1965, Tonkawa, Kay Co., OK
Death Source: Death Certificate

Spouse1: William Archibald Smith

Narrative

Catherine Maud Isabelle ("Belle") Reeves's father was always thought to be Tillman H. Reeves, but in November 2014 a descendant of her sister, Ellen Reeves Moore Smith, notified Belle's great-grandson, Barton Lewis, that approximately fifteen years earlier, another cousin, Peggy Clack Williams, discovered papers at the Comanche County, Texas courthouse proving that Tillman H. Reeves died in October 1884, over three years before Belle's birth. The papers are in packet 119, probate records. They include the filing of letters of administration for the estate in March 1885.

This explains why Martha Caroline Montgomery Reeves left Comanche County, Texas, and family and friends, shortly before the birth of her final child, Belle, for Navarro County, 3 counties to the east, presumably to escape the stigma of bearing her child out of wedlock. Despite the fact that Martha Caroline's 3 eldest children were 16, 14 and 12 at Belle's birth, they apparently never divulged her father's name and as far as is known, that information has gone with them to their graves. It is hoped that DNA testing of Belle's surviving grandchildren may solve the mystery.

Sources

Death:      Oklahoma State Department of Health, Death Certificate No. 010254.
Census:    1900 U.S. census, Ellis, Texas, population schedule, Italy, enumeration district (ED) 0034, sheet 14B, dwelling 225, family 226; digital images, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 23 Nov 2014); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T623, roll 1630
                   1910 U.S. census, Justice Precinct 3, Coleman Co., TX; Roll: T624_1539; Pg: 4A; Enum. Dist.: 135; Image: 429.
                   1920 U.S. census, Justice Precinct 3, Coleman Co., TX; Roll: T625_1788; Page: 1B; Enum. Dist.: 51; Image: 132.
                   1930 U.S. census, Kay, Oklahoma, population schedule, Tonkawa, enumeration district (ED) 0049, sheet 2A, p. 220 (stamped), dwelling 43, family 44; digital images, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 3 Dec 2013); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T626, roll 1909.
                   1940 U.S. census, Kay, Oklahoma, population schedule, Tonkawa, enumeration district (ED) 36-49, sheet 6A, p. 578 (stamped), household 109; digital images, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 3 Dec 2014); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T627, roll T627_3301.
History:   Letters of administration of the estate of Tillman H. Reeves, probate records, box 119, Comanche County, Texas courthouse.