Reeves, Elisha

Summary

Father: probably John Reeves
Mother: Unknown

Birth: c1730-1740
Birth: c. 1760
Birth Source: Adult in 1790 census of Lancaster, SC

Death: before 1800, probably Lancaster County, South Carolina
Death Source: Elisha is found only in the 1790 census

Spouse1: Unknown

Narrative

Possible children of Elisha Reeves and his unknown wife:

1. James Reeves, born c. 1785-1788.
2. John Reeves, born c. 1790.

The main identification of Elisha Reeves to date is the listing in the 1790 census of Lancaster County, South Carolina where he is listed several doors down from Daniel Blackman, John Blackman Sr., and John Blackmon Jr. The household is described as 1 Male under 16, 1 Male over 16 and 1 Female. It was initially theorized that this Elisha was an older man and a contemporary of John Reeves based on the 1790 census. It now appears more likely that John Reeves and Moses Reeves were contemporaries and brothers, and that Elisha Reeves was a younger man, probably one of their sons. The 1790 census can be interpreted to show that Elisha had a young son — born, perhaps, about 1788 — and was himself a young man heading a new household, born, say, 1768.

Elisha is also briefly mentioned in a Kershaw County Common Pleas court case from 1791 entitled John Voyles vs Bennett Heifel which describes some land on "the head pring (sic) of Flat Creek at the Rocky River Rode and joining the land of Daniel Blackman and Elisha Revs on the south side." This matches what would be expected from the 1790 census.

Since Jesse Reeves's affidavit in support of his cousin Daniel Reeves's revolutionary war pension application mentions that Jesse's father and Daniel's father were brothers living in close proximity to one another in an area of South Carolina north of Camden during the war, it was originally thought, based on the 1790 census, that these brothers must have been John Reeves and Elisha Reeves. Subsequent research has revealed that the individuals living in the area during the Revolution were John Reeves and Moses Reeves, and Moses's 1797 estate records show Jesse Reeves as his estate's administrator. No record prior to the 1790 census has been found for Elisha Reeves.

Elisha has not been identified after 1790, either. It may be that he died young in Lancaster County.

Sources

1790 Census:  Lancaster County, South Carolina

FamilySearch - Kershaw County, South Carolina Pleadings and Judgments Book 1793-1794, p253