Reeves, Gaston

Summary

Father: William Reeves
Mother: Anne Terrell

Birth: c1814, Ashe County, North Carolina
Birth Source: Census

Death: c1860, probably Greenwood County, Kansas Territory
Death Source: Census, children are orphans in 1860 census.

Spouse1: Elizabeth McCullough, m. 14 Apr 1836, Greene County, Indiana

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Narrative

Children of Gaston Reeves and Elizabeth McCullough:

1. Albert H. Reeves, b. 1837, d. 1862
2. Moses "Mack" Reeves, b. 1838, d. bef 1873
3. William Morgan Reeves, b. c1840, d. before 1878
4. Marion Reeves, b. 1841
5. Jackson Reeves, b. 1844, d. bef 1873
6. Mary A. Reeves, b. 1847, d. bef 1873
7. S. J. Reeves, b. 1850, d. bef 1873
8. Elizabeth Easter Reeves, b. 1852, m. John L. Carter on 17 May 1868
9. Ella M. Reeves, b. 1854, m. Wm. F. Williams
10. Enoch Reeves, b. 1858, d. bef 1873

Gaston Reeves is listed in Carroll County, Arkansas in the 1840 census with 2 males under 5, 1 male 20-29 and 1 female 20-29. In the 1850 census, he and his family are recorded in Independence County, Arkansas and his brother
William, age 38, is living in the household.

Gaston apparently migrated into the Kansas Territory along with his brother Terrill for the history of Wilson County names Ella Reeves, born 1857 the child of Gaston Reeves as the first white child born in the county. Whether there was another child born to Gaston and Elizabeth who died prior to 1860 or this is the Ellen Reeves listed with her siblings in the Greenwood County household of A. Venard, probate court judge, in the 1860 census is unknown. Her correct name is documented as Ella in the probate documents of her siblings but it is unclear which date, 1854 or 1857, is correct.

From the History of Verdigris Township in Historical Atlas of Wilson County Kansas:

• Gaston Reeves and his son Max (sic Mack) took claims in the spring of 1857 and did some breaking that summer, but did not move in until fall.
• Ella Reeves, daughter of Gaston Reeves, born in the fall of 1857, was the first white child born in the county.

Gaston and Elizabeth McCullough Reeves both died before 1860 and the probate records of their children and other family members give no explanation or information about their deaths. All of the children are found living in the household of A. Venard, a probate court judge, in Greenwood County, Kansas in 1860 but there are no probate records for either of the parents. By 1862, their oldest son, Albert H. Reeves, who had held the position of Court Clerk in Greenwood County was also deceased. A written statement by William Morgan Reeves in Albert's estate file dated 17 December 1877 states that the only remaining living children were himself, Marion Reeves, Elizabeth Reeves Carter and (Ella Reeves Williams. Moses "Mack" had died serving in the civil war, but the cause of death of the other four children is unknown.

Morgan was apparently not aware that Marion after also serving in the civil war had died in Barry County, Missouri in 1871 and by 1879 Morgan was also deceased.

TRP member Joe Hubbell, descendant of Gaston Reeves, found a letter written by a Dr. Aaron Venard in whose home the children of Gaston Reeves were recorded in the 1860 census regarding the the condition of the settlers along the Verdigris River. In that letter he was requesting assistance for the community which was being decimated by scurvy. He pleaded for medical supplies and spoke of the need for fruits and vegetables due to the plight of the residents. This letter may have solved the mystery of the cause of all the deaths in this young family.

Sources

Indiana, Compiled Marriages, 1802-1892, online database at Ancestry.com
1840 Census - Carroll County, Arkansas
1850 Census - Independence County, Arkansas
1860 Census - Pleasant Grove, Greenwood, Kansas Territory (HOH A. Venard)
Historical Atlas of Wilson County Kansas pub. 1881
Estate record of A. H. Reeves, Case #486, Greenwood County, Kansas