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Reeves, Joshua (c1829 OH - 1890 CA)

Reeves_Joshua_3429

Reeves, Joshua

Summary

Father:
Mother:

Birth: c1829, Ohio
Birth Source: Grave Marker & Census

Death: April 7, 1890
Death Source: Grave Marker

Spouse1: Margaret Percell

Narrative

It has been suggested that Joshua's middle name may start with the letter M, but, at the present time, there is no contemporary evidence for this. See Research Note 1 below.

Joshua REEVES and Margaret PERCELL were married on April 21, 1857

The known children of Joshua Reeves and Margaret (nee PERCELL) are
  1. Joseph Reeves, born c1858
  2. Mary Elizabeth Reeves, born c1870
  3. Margaret Reeves, born c1873
  4. Joshua John Reeves, born c1874
  5. George Emmett Reeves, born c1877
His obituary notes he was survived by three sons and one daughter, who are not named.

Joshua has yet to be identified on the 1860 census. His wife Margaret Reeves (age 20, born Iowa) and son Jos(eph) Reeves (age 2, born California) appear in Township Number 10 of Placer County, California served by Virginier (sic perhaps modern Virginiatown) Post Office. They are members of the household of Pat PURCELL (age 61, born Ireland) and Mary A Purcell (age 47, born Massachusetts).

In July 1861 Joshua was granted land in Lincoln, California.

On the 1870 census, Joshua along with his wife Margaret appears in the Township Number 10 of Placer County. California now served by Lincoln Post Office (household 181). He is 40 years old (so born c1830), a Farmer and claims birth in Ohio. In addition to their son Joseph Reeves (age 12 and born in California) is John Percell (age 14 and also born in California).

At the time of the 1880 census, Joshua Reeves and his wife Margret (sic) are again to be found in Township Ten of Placer County (dwelling 85). Joshua is now 52 years of age (consistent with a birth around 1828) and he again claims he was born in Ohio. He also believes that both his parents were born in Ohio. In addition to Joshua & Margaret, the household also includes their sons Joseph (age 21), Joshua (5) and George (3) with all three sons born in California, but neither daughter is included.

Joshua Reeves is buried in Lincoln Cemetery, Placer Co., California. The grave marker indicates he died on April 7, 1890. See Research Note 2 below. The marker says he was aged 61 Years, 3 months and 7 days at the time of his death, indicative of him having been born around Wednesday 31 December 1828. However, his obituary notes he was 61 years and 3 days old, suggesting he was born around 04 April 1829.

Research Notes

(1)     It has been suggested that Joshua may be the same person as J M Reeves, but, at the present time, there is no contemporary evidence for this.

In September 1986 Hubert E Reeves wrote the first part of a report entitled "Native Sons Honor Eulalie", some five typed pages. Eulalie, a noted poetess, is identified as Mary Eulalie Shannon.
"..in an article in the Placer Herald, an Auburn newspaper, on March 18, 1854. It noted that Mary Fee and John Shannon were married in New Richmond, Ohio, on January 31, 1854"
(Part 1, Page 2)

"Mary Fee Shannon died in childbirth in Auburn in December, 1854. She was buried in Auburn's first cemetery and later her body was moved to the Odd Fellows Cemetery."
(Part 1, Page 4)
The second part of the report is entitled "Identifying J. M. Reeves Eulalie's Benefactor" and is dated December 1986.
"Eulalie was buried in the Old Auburn Cemetery. ... Near the turn of the century (1893) the remains of those interned and the grave markers were removed to the Odd Fellows Cemetery off Nevada Street, Auburn. ... Eulalie's remains and headstone was placed in the Northeast corner of the cemetery,... "
"Eventually the headstone marked 'Eulalie, Erected by J. M. Reeves' leaned and fell to the ground."
(Part 2, Page 1)
The author recounts how he
"enlisted the help of the staff at the Placer County Museum. In the archives a book was found that recorded the warrants issued by Placer County between June, 1851, and November, 1862. The entrees (sic) were hand written by the County Auditor's staff. By carefully examining these pages, the 108th entry revealed that a J. Reeves was paid $12.50 for Jury Duty in the District Court. The trial was dated August 12, 1857 through August 15, 1857. No other Reeves was listed."
(Part 2, page 2).
In the intervening 35 years, we are fortunate to have much easier access to far more material. For example, the 1860 census shows at least one other R*v*(s) family in Placer County, that of Bartlett Reeves (dwelling 1575).

At the time of Eulalie's death, the California Gold Rush was still at its peak and there were tens of thousands of incomers, both prospectors and those providing support services. As Hubert E Reeves notes
"Mary enjoyed talking to the young miners, as they were an inspiration for her poems. In the course of her short stay at the Junction House, hundreds of mining adventurers stopped to speak to her, and she often read her poetry to them. Mary became their object of pride and love. To these lonely men she was known as the Auburn Poetess."
(Part 1, Page 3)
This being so, the possibility that the individual who provided her grave marker was one of these "mining adventures" should not be discounted.

Stone is an unforgiving medium and if a mason makes a mistake, it is rarely erasable/correctable. We see many grave stones which contain errors, some will be incorrect information given to the mason, others will be mistakes made by the mason. So the possibility that the "M" in the benefactor's name was an unscripted addition should not be discounted. It is also possible that Joshua and his wife Margaret were the joint benefactors and the mason omitted a plus, ampersand or a comma between their initials, hence the J M Reeves we see today.

(2)     With respect to Joshua's date of death, note that (as of February 2021) both Find A Grave and the FamilySearch entry citing the F-A-G entry incorrectly note the date of death as 17 April 1890. It seems the letter "l" at the end of the word April has also been included as a part of the day number, hence 17.

Sources

Birth:       
Baptism:  
Marriage:
Death:      per Grave Marker
Obituary: Pacer Herald (Rocklin, CA) April 1890 from NewsPapers,com
Grave Marker: Find A Grave https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/84781568/joshua-reeves
                 
1840 Census:
1850 Census:
1860 Census: FamilySearch https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MDK4-8B3 - wife Margaret
1870 Census: FamilySearch https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MN62-84M
1880 Census: FamilySearch https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M6PS-YQL

1861 Land Grant: source tba
1890 Estate Admin; Pacer Herald (Rocklin, CA) May 1890 from NewsPapers.com
Probate. Estate of Joshua Reeves - Mrs N. U. Reeves appointed administratrix with bonds of $16,000. E.B. Heryford, R. N. Fuller and James Maloney appointed appraisers.