Reeves, Malachi

Summary

Father: Malachi Reeves
Mother: Nancy Blakey

Birth: 26 Sep 1843, Bibb County, Alabama
Birth Source: Bibb County Orphans Court Records and The Handbook of Texas Online

Death: 4 Dec 1929, Frankston, Henderson County, Texas
Death Source: TSHA Handbook of Texas Online

Spouse1: Jane Elizabeth Powers, m. 23 Sep 1875
Spouse2: Nancy Joanna Beall, m. 4 Jan 1877

Narrative

Child of Malachi Reeves and Jane Elizabeth Powers:

1. Ida A. Reeves, b. 1876

Children of Malachi Reeves and Nancy Joanna Beall:

1. Jessie E. Reeves, b. 1878
2. Sofrania Reeves, b. 1880
3. Emma A, Reeves, b. 1882
4. William C. Reeves, b. 1884
5. Charlotte V. Reeves, b. 1888
6. Mato Lillie B. Reeves, b. 1893
7. Noble F. B. Reeves, b. 1896
8. Lela I. Reeves, b. 1898
9. Carroll A Reeves, b. 1902
10. Mary J. Reeves, b. 1905

From The TSHA Handbook of Texas Online:
Malachiah Reeves, soldier, farmer, and Baptist minister, was born on September 26, 1843, in Bibb County, Alabama, the son of Rev. Malachiah and Nancy Bethel (Blakey) Reeves. His father died before he was born, and his mother married William Wood when Reeves was three. The family moved to Texas in late 1849 or early 1850 by way of old Sabinetown; they first settled on a farm near Chireno, Nacogdoches County. In 1860 Reeves was living in Houston County and attended his first school; he attended a subscription school in the spring of 1861 and in July of that year joined a "good bunch of fire-eating boys" for three years' service in the Confederate Army. In Richmond, Virginia, he was part of Louis Trezevant Wigfall's battalion. He was a member of Company I, First Texas Regiment, of Hood's Texas Brigade when he was captured at Mechanicsville, Virginia, in 1862. His memoirs contain vivid details of his war experiences.

After the war he farmed near Pennington, Texas, and became a member of the Missionary Baptist Church there in 1866. He married Jane Elizabeth Powers on September 23, 1875, and they had one daughter before Mrs. Reeves died in August 1876. On January 4, 1877, Reeves married Nancy Joanna Beall, and they lived in the Rock Hill community; they had eleven children. In 1883 the family moved to the Hopewell Church community, east of Athens; later it was known as Leagueville. Through the years Reeves and his wife studied with the country schoolteachers who boarded in their home. He was ordained a Baptist minister in 1888 and subsequently served in rural churches in Henderson and Anderson counties. He was postmaster in Leagueville from August 1906 until the post office closed early in 1907. In 1924 Reeves wrote his memoirs. He died on December 4, 1929, in Frankston and was buried in Leagueville Cemetery.

Research Notes

Sources

1850 Census:  Nacogdoches County, Texas
1880 Census:  Henderson County, Texas
1900 Census:  Justice Precinct 4, Henderson County, Texas
1910 Census:  Justice Precinct 4, Henderson County, Texas
1920 Census:  Justice Precinct 1, Henderson County, Texas
Estate Records of Bibb County, Alabama
Bibb County, Alabama Orphans Court Minutes, Vol. C, p267
U.S., Civil War Soldiers, 1861-1865 online database at Ancestry.com
The TSHA Handbook of Texas Online