Reeves, John

Summary

Father:
Mother:

Birth:c1730-1740
Birth Source:

Death: before July 1790, Craven County, North Carolina
Death Source: 1790 Will

Spouse1: Unknown
Spouse2: Courtney Taylor

Narrative

Children of John Reeves and Unknown wife:

1. Elizabeth Reeves, m. Chesher
2. Jean Reeves
3. Mary Reeves, m. John Wilson on 17 Aug 1787 in Craven County

Children of John Reeves and Courtney Taylor:

1. Jesse Tinion Reeves (Justinion), m. Martha Murphy on 20 Aug 1808 in Hancock County, Georgia
2. Francis Reeves
3. Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Reeves, m1. Mary Sweeney on 7 Dec 1819, m2. Jane Potter on 15 Sep 1828, Putnam County, Georgia

Between 1795 and 1800, John Reeves' widow Courtney moved with her family to Baldwin County, Georgia and applied for the land lottery of 1805.

Research Notes

John, son of Ubgate Reeves is named in a St. Mary's County, Maryland deed of 16 Nov 1772 between John Reeves and Justinian Jordan. That deed refers to John Reeves as “of Halifax County in the Colony of North Carolina but now in St. Mary's County in Maryland”. The above mentioned will of James Mills left a bequest to his grandchildren as follows, “That my half of sloop, Mary and Ann, be divided amongst James Eden, Jestn. Jordan and James Mills, Junr.” This may indicate that John Reeves had an easily accessible means of transportation. If so, travel between North Carolina and Maryland by sea may have been commonplace and allowed John to make frequent trips. This deed appears to be one of the last references to John Reeves in the records of St. Mary's or Charles counties.

Maryland Gazette, Annapolis, Maryland, pub. 1786

St. Mary’s county, Chaptico, July 1786.
NOTICE is hereby given to all whom it may concern, that the depositions of Nelson Tippett and Josiah Tippett, of St. Mary’s county, will be taken on Monday the 4th of September next, before Hanson Briscoe, Esqr. At Chaptico, respecting the death of John Reeves, who removed from this state to North Carolina, and who was the son of Upgate Reeves, formerly of this county,
4 w
BENJAMIN B. CHESTER.

There may also be a connection to the John Reeves with a son Thomas who is recorded in the 1755 tax lists of Granville County, North Carolina. That John Reeves was previously misidentified as John Reeves, whose descendants Y-DNA matches his lineage to that of William Reeves who died in Granville County in 1751. He would also have been far too young to have been an adult born circa 1710 with a male child over 16 years of age in 1755.

Recent Y-DNA testing suggests that this John Reeves of Craven County, North Carolina, may be one and the same with
the child of a son, possibly Thomas, of John Reeves son of Ubgate Reeves of Charles County, Maryland or one of his descendants. Although at one time he was speculated as this individual, recent findings that John Reeves died in 1786 based upon a newspaper article in St. Mary's, Maryland disprove that theory. A direct descendant of John Reeves is a 37 of 37 marker match to a direct descendant of Ubgate Reeves of Maryland.

Sources

1755 tax lists of Granville County, North Carolina
1772 St. Mary's County MD deed, Vol 726 p. 460
1790 Will of John Reeves, Craven County NC
Maryland Gazette, Annapolis, Maryland, July 1786