Reeves, Jesse

Summary

Father: George Reeves
Mother: Jane Burton

Birth: c1766
Birth Source: George Reeves, Sr. Probate, Census

Death: 1833, Ashe County, North Carolina
Death Source: Ashe County Probate Records, Will of Jesse Reeves

Spouse1: Elizabeth Obedience Terrill
Spouse2: Mary Bowers

Narrative

Children of Jesse Reeves and Elizabeth Obedience Terrell:

1. Nancy Reeves b. 1790-1794 (Undocumented), m. Terrell Bledsoe
2. William Reeves. b. before 1800
3. George Reeves, b. c1795, m. Elizabeth Doughton
4. Hannah Reeves, b. 1796, m. John M. Burton
5. Jane Reeves b. 1790 - 1800, d. after 1843, m. Robert Baker
6. Elizabeth Reeves b. 30 Aug 1798, m. William Cox
7. John Reeves b. 1 Oct 1809, d. 24 Jan 1883, m. Cynthia Baker
8. Eli Reeves b. 1813, d. c1890

Children of Jesse Reeves and Mary Bower:

1. Charity Reeves b. 1818, d. 1880, m. Jesse A. Reeves (son of John Reeves and Phoebe Osborne)
2. Jesse Bower Reeves b. 1819, d. 1863
3. Alexander Reeves b. 1821, d. c1880, m. Lydia Osborne
4. Sally Reeves b. 4 Oct 1825, d. 5 Apr 1909
5. Mary Reeves b. 29 Jun 1829, d. 8 Jan 1913
6. Charles Gordon Reeves b. 25 Apr 1832, d. 19 Oct 1898

Jesse Reves is listed on the Wilkes County NC tax list of 1795 with 400 acres and 2 polls. His brother William is also listed with 500 acres and 1 poll.

Not all of the children of Jesse Reeves were named in his 1833 will. Census records confirm several older children who may have left the area by the time Jesse wrote his will in 1833 and are also named in the chancery case filed by his son George Reeves to obtain legacies left by their grandfather Timothy Terrell:

1800 Census - Morgan District, Ashe County, North Carolina
2 Males under 10 years of age, 1 male 26-44
4 females under 10, 1 female 26-44

1810 Census - Ashe County, North Carolina
3 males under 10, 1 male 10-15, 2 males 16-25, 1 male 26-44
1 females under 10, 2 females 10-15, 1 female 16-25, 1 female 26-44

1820 Census 1 Ashe County, North Carolina
2 males under 10, 1 male 10-15, 1 male 16-18, 2 males 16-25, 1 male over 45
1 female 10-15, 1 female 26-44

1830 Census - Ashe County, North Carolina
1 male 5-9, 1 male 10-14, 2 males 15-19, 1 male 20-29, 1 male 60-69
2 females under 5, 1 female 5-9, 1 female 10-14, 1 female 40-49

Jesse Reeves, was a Lieutenant, 1st Company, 2nd Battalion, Grayson Militia, March 25, 1794

In 1799, Jesse received warrants for 300 acres and 100 acres in Ashe County, both grants were issued in 1801. He received a warrant for land in the Peach Bottom Mountains, for which Grant No. 684 was issued 24 Nov 1807.

Martin Gambill was elected and entered into bond of two thousand pounds for his faithful performance of the duties of sheriff in addition to another bond of the same sum for the collection and payment of the public taxes with John Cox and Jesse Reeves as securities in both bonds in Ashe County on 12 May 1806. Recorded in the Ashe County, North Carolina Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions, May 1806. When Martin Gambill was reelected in 1807, Jesse was again a security on his bond.

Jesse was appointed overseer of the road in room of Samuel Perry by the Ashe County Court on 5 Feb 1810.

The Ashe County taxpayers of 1815 include Jesse Reeves, his brother William and a widow Reeves - Jane Osborne Reeves widow of George Reeves, Jr. who was killed in 1811.

The Court Minutes show an order by the court that Jesse Reeves, Comr. (commissioner?) be allowed 24/- for holding an inquest over the body of Susanah Hathom of Ashe County on 8 Feb 1810. By 1813 Jesse was the county coroner as evidenced by a summons recorded in the Ashe County Civil Action Court Papers.

Jesse received another warrant for 150 acres on Baker's Ridge in Ashe County which was entered on 5 Jul 1816. Grant No. 998 was issued for this tract on 30 Nov 1819.

Jesse Reaves (sic) received three warrants for 100 acres each on the waters of Peak Creek - Grant No. 1350 issued December 24, 1827, Grant No. 1580 issued December 9, 1830 and Grant No. 1581 issued December 9, 1830.

Research Notes

There is some confusion in various online pedigrees as to which children were born to each of the wives of Jesse Reves. John, born 1809, was the child of Obedience Terrell and is documented as such in a Power of Attorney by John Reeves to Enoch Reves dated 22 Apr 1833. In that document he refers to a suit pending in the superior Court of Chancery for Wythe District of Virginia and gives Enoch the authority “to present for me and the rest of the heirs of Biddy Reves for which deceased I am the Administrator.”

The records of the above referenced chancery case in Wythe District of Virginia could have shed light on the identity of the unidentified children of Jesse Reeves and Obedience (Biddy) Terrell which were listed in early census records of 1800 and 1810. The 1800 census lists one extra male child and one extra female child in the household of Jesse Reeves. Records of that suit have currently not been found. Records of that suit have now been located, and it does appear to name all of Jesse Reeves' heirs and identifies Nancy as the child of Jesse and Obedience "Biddie" Terrell Reves.

There was some doubt as to whether the child Nancy listed above even existed. The only mention of a Nancy Reeves on a gravestone in the Jesse Reeves' Family Cemetery has been speculated as a wife of Jesse Reeves for which there was also no documentation. The fact that no child Nancy is named in Jesse Reeves Will, further creates doubt regarding her parentage; however, she is likely one of the four female children listed in the 1800 census in Jesse's household. Nancy was undoubtedly a member of this Reeves (Reves) family because of the abundance of inferential evidence that connects her to that family. Nancy and Terrell Bledsoe named children for both Jesse Reeves and Obedience "Biddy" Terrell. There are also numerous court cases in Ashe County records where Terrell Bledsoe is named along with other members of this Reeves' family in the proceedings. UPDATE: A chancery case filed in Wythe District, Virginia by the heirs of Biddy Reves against James Cox lists Nancy and her husband Terrell Bledsoe among the heirs of Biddy Reves which serves to prove her family connection to both Jesse Reeves and Obedience "Biddy" Terrell Reves. A document in that chancery case file names the heirs of Jesse and Obedience "Biddy" Reeves as follows: George Reeves, William, Hanner, Nancy, and Betsy as legatees.

That document may also prove that the unknown son of Jesse, born before 1800, was a previously unknown son William. My initial thought when the receipt mentioned "William, Hanner" along with Jesse's heirs was that it could have referred to Jesse's brother William and possibly his wife Anna with her name misspelled; however, the additional document in the Grayson County Court Orders V2 which identifies Hannah as the wife of John M. Burton, disproves any such theory.

The Nancy Reeves, believed to have been Jesse Reeves daughter, married Terrell Bledsoe, son of Lewis Bledsoe of Wake County NC who lived in close proximity to William Reeves. Based upon Lewis Bledsoe's RW pension file, he was closely associated with members of the William Reeves family in Wake County such as William's son-in-law Bartlett Allen with whom he served in the Revolution.

In addition to documenting that Nancy Reeves who married Terrell Bledsoe was the child of Jesse Reeves and Obedience "Biddy" Terrell, the court case "George Reeves and Terrell Heirs vs Cox" has also established that Hannah Reeves who married John M. Burton was the child of Jesse and Obedience Reeves. A court document relative to this case (Vol 2 at page 596 Grayson VA Court Orders) names Hannah, wife of John M. Burton, as one of the heirs of Jesse Reves who were legatees of an inheritance from her grandfather Timothy Terrell.

In the Wythe County VA Chancery Case "George Reeves ETC vs James Cox ETC" (LVA Chancery Index 1833-007), Bartholomew Austin's statement in that case includes information regarding the dates of the marriages of Timothy Terrell's daughters to the sons of George Reeves, Sr. He stated that William Reeves married Anne Terrell in 1791, the same year her brother William Terrell married. He also stated that Obedience Terrell married Jesse Reeves in 1792.

Sources

Antebellum Grayson County, Virginia Militia, New River Notes
NC Archives Manuscript and Archive Reference System (MARS)
Minutes of the Ashe County, North Carolina Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions, New River Notes
1795 Tax - Wilkes County, North Carolina (400 acres)
1800 Census - Ashe County, North Carolina
1810 Census - Ashe County, North Carolina
1820 Census - Ashe County, North Carolina
1830 Census - Ashe County, North Carolina
1833 Will of Jesse Reeves
1833 POA from John Reves to Enoch Reves
Grayson County VA Chancery Court Case, Reeves et al vs. Cox or John Cox vs James Cox, #1838-008
Grayson County VA Court Orders Vol 2, page 596, online scanned original copies at Family Search
Wythe County VA Chancery Case "George Reeves ETC vs James Cox ETC" (LVA Chancery Index 1833-007)