Reeves, John Clay

Summary

Father: Elisha Reeves
Mother: Rebecca Mitchell

Birth: May 1842, Pike County, Georgia
Birth Source: Confederate Pension Application

Death: 1911, Polk County, Georgia
Death Source: Tombstone, Reeves Family Cemetery

Spouse: Catherine Johnson

Narrative

John Clay Reeves was born in May of 1842 in Pike Co., GA, a son of Elisha Reeves and Rebecca Mitchell who had married there in 1831. Clay, as he was known, was enumerated with his family in the 1850 Pike Co., GA, Census but not in the 1861 census. He enlisted in the Confederate Army in April 1861 at Americus, Sumter Co., GA, serving in Co. K, 9th Georgia Regiment. He was present through the Siege of Petersburg and was with Lee's men when he surrendered at Appomattox Court House in Appomattox, Virginia, in April 1865.

John Clay Reeves married Catherine Johnson in Pike Co., GA, on 4 November 1864, while home on leave from the Confederate service. Seven years John Clay's senior, Catherine — born in Georgia in 1835 — had previously lived in nearby Upson and Troup Counties before moving to Pike County with her family in the 1850s.

John Clay and Catherine "Katie" Johnson Reeves worked in both agriculture and textiles, as evidenced by census and pension records. The 1880 Fulton County, Georgia, census showed that the family were textile workers in Atlanta, and they later worked in textile mills in LaGrange, Troup Co., GA, and Rock Mills, Randolph Co., AL. When John Clay Reeves applied for his Confederate Pension in Troup County, Georgia, in early 1900, he indicated that he was a weaver in a cotton mill. By the time of the census enumeration for that year, however, he was living on a farm nearly one-hundred miles north of LaGrange, in Rockmart, Polk Co., GA. Confederate Pension rolls for Troup Co., GA, indicate that Clay and Katie lived there from 1902 to 1905 before moving permanently to Polk Co., GA. Katie died there in 1910, and Clay died the following year. Both are buried in the Anderson-Reeves family cemetery in Rockmart, Polk Co., GA, along with two of Clay's siblings and four of Clay and Katie's five children.

Children of John Clay Reeves and Catherine Johnson:

1. Rhoda Ann Reeves, b. 16 Feb 1866, Pike Co., Georgia
2. Mary Talulah Reeves ("Molly"), b. 1868, Georgia
3. Joseph E. Reeves ("Joe"), b. 1870, Georgia
4. Louisa Barbara Reeves ("Ludie"), b. 8 Aug 1875, Georgia
5. Laura Reeves, b. 26 Nov 1877, Georgia

Research Notes

Please also see talk_Reeves_John_Clay_78910

Sources

Census:      1850 Census - Pike Co., Georgia
                   1870 Census - Pulaski Co., Georgia
                   1880 Census - Fulton Co., Georgia
                   1900 Census - Polk Co., Georgia
                   1910 Census - Polk Co., Georgia
History:     Georgia Confederate Pension Application (1900)
                   Indigent Soldiers Pension Roll, Troup Co., GA