Reeves, Henry Augustus

Summary

Father: Lemuel Wick Reeves
Mother: Hannah Ann Jacobs

Birth: 7 Dec 1832, Sag Harbor, Long Island, New York
Birth Source: Biography

Death: 5 Mar 1916, Greenport, New York
Death Source: Obituary

Spouse1:

Narrative

The Portrait and biographical record of Suffolk county, published in 1896, includes the following record on Henry:

HON. HENRY A. REEVES. There is nothing more interesting to a student of human nature than to trace the career of a man who, endowed with energy and ambition, enters boldly into the struggle of life, and makes for himself a high place in the busy world. Circumstances over which he had no control caused the subject of this sketch, Henry A. Reeves, to take up an altogether different calling from what he intended. His choice of a profession fell upon the law, but circumstances caused him to become engaged in editorial work. Thus what the ranks of one profession lost, the other was the gainer thereby. Born at Sag Harbor, December 7, 1832, his early life was spent in his native village and there his scholastic education began.

From three until he was nine or ten years of age, Henry A. attended a private school, after which he pursued his studies in a select school at Sag Harbor, and in the Academy of Southampton, where he was fitted for college, and then entered the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, at which time he was but fourteen years of age. He remained in that institution three years, then went to Union College, Schenectady, N. Y.,; where he passed the senior year under President Nott, and was graduated in the Class of '52. He then decided to make the practice of law his lifework and for this purpose he began reading Blackstone and the works of other legal authorities. After being admitted to the Bar he decided to open an office in Wisconsin, but the death of his worthy father changed all his plans and instead, in 1858, he bought the "Republican Watchman" of Greenport, L. I., removed thither and has owned and edited this paper ever since.

As a journalist, Mr. Reeves' career has been characterized by strong convictions courageously expressed, by a comprehensive knowledge of public affairs and a clear recognition of public sentiment, by keen sympathy with all forms of progress in the various departments of the world's work, by originality and independence of thought, by an industry and a capacity for work which have never flagged through a long career of editorial labor. Not alone has he attained prominence in this respect, but he is also among the foremost political leaders of Long Island and has ever proved a formidable opponent even when pitted against men of great mental attainments. In 1868 he was nominated for Congress by the Democrats of the First Congressional District, comprising Suffolk, Queens and Richmond Counties, and was elected over Col. Alfred M. Wood by about fourteen hundred majority. Ever since 1873 he has been elected Supervisor in a town that has always had a Republican majority and in each and every case his opponents have been men of undoubted ability and mental discernment. He usually attends the Presbyterian Church. With the exception of two Greek letter societies, in college, he has never joined any secret order.

Mr. Reeves is one of three surviving members (two sons and one daughter) of a family of five children: Henry A., Edward L., Mary C., Charles O., and Walter L., born to Lemuel W. and Hannah Ann (Jacobs) Reeves, who were born in Southampton and Huntington, L. I., in 1799 and 1801 respectively. Lemuel W. Reeves was a cooper by trade and after a useful and well spent life, died at Sag Harbor, at the age of fifty-eight years, after a wedded life of twenty-six years.

At present Mr. Reeves is one of the three members of the New York State Commission in Lunacy, having been appointed as the lay member of that body at its constitution in May, 1889, for a term of two years, and re-appointed in 1891 for a full term of six years. This commission has under its jurisdiction nearly twenty thousand committed insane persons, and controls a disbursement from the state treasury of over $4,000,000.

Henry is continually listed on the census with his mother and siblings in the household. As his obituary states, he never married.

The Plain Dealer, 6 Mar 1916
Veteran Editor Dies.
GREENPORT, N. Y., March 5. - Henry A. Reeves, for more than sixty years editor of the Republican Watchman in this village, died here today, aged 83. He was at one time a member of congress and also served in the state assembly. Mr. Reeves never married.

The Biographical Directory of the United States Congress gives his full name as Henry Augustus Reeves and also states he was buried in the Southampton Cemetery.

Research Notes

Sources

Death:        FamilySearch - New York, State Death Index, 1880-1956

1850 Census:  Southampton, Suffolk County, New York
1860 Census:  Southold, Suffolk County, New York
1870 Census:  Southold, Suffolk County, New York
1880 Census:  Greenport, Suffolk County, New York (Hannah A. Reeve HOH)
1900 Census:  Southold, Suffolk County, New York
1910 Census:  Southold, Suffolk County, New York

Chapman Publishing Company. (1896). Portrait and biographical record of Suffolk county (Long Island) New York, Vol. 2, p934
Obituary, The Plain Dealer, 6 Mar 1916
Biographical Directory of the United States Congress - REEVES, Henry Augustus