Reeves, Reuben A.

Summary

Father: Ottaway Curry Reeves
Mother: Mary Ann Mansfield

Birth: 9 Aug 1821, Todd County, Kentucky
Birth Source: TSHA Handbook of Texas Online

Death: 30 Jan 1908, Dallas, Texas, Burial in Greenwood Cemetery
Death Source: TSHA Handbook of Texas Online

Spouse1: Sarah Mills, m. 29 Jan 1846 in Todd County, Kentucky

Narrative

Children of Reuben A. Reeves and Sarah Mills:

1. Mary T. Reeves, b. 1848, d. 7 Dec 1931, m. Jeff Word
2. Ottway C. Reeves, b. 5 Sep 1851, d. 25 Jul 1917 in Hunt County, Texas
3. Charles M. Reeves, b. 1852
4. William O. Reeves, b. 1854
5. Frank Reeves, b. 1858
6. R. H. (Bertram?) Reeves, b. 1862
7. Benjamin Reeves, b. 1864

Reuben A. Reeves, associate justice of the Texas Supreme Court, was born on August 9, 1821, in Todd County, Kentucky. In 1846 he married Sarah Mills in Kentucky and moved with her to Palestine, Anderson County, Texas, where he practiced law. In 1850 his brother-in-law, Roger Quarles Mills, moved into his household. At this time the Reeves family had five slaves and real property valued at $2,350. In 1857 Reeves was elected district judge in Palestine. While living in that city, he was instrumental in forming the Palestine school system. By 1860 Judge and Mrs. Reeves had six children. His real property was valued at $10,000, and his personal property, which included thirteen slaves, was valued at $18,000.

Reeves recruited, organized, and became captain of Company E, Terrell's Texas Cavalry (the Thirty-fourth Texas) on April 11, 1863. In August 1864 he was elected associate justice of the Texas Supreme Court in the place of James H. Bell, whose term had expired. Reeves resigned from the Confederate Army on September 28, 1864, to take the position. He served from November 1, 1864, until the end of the Civil War. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1866. On June 25, 1866, he was elected district court judge of District Nine. He was removed from office on November 30, 1867, as an "obstruction to Reconstruction" and was reappointed associate justice of the Supreme Court of Texas by Governor Richard Coke on January 30, 1874.

He served in that capacity until the court was reorganized on April 18, 1876. Reeves returned to Palestine to practice law. In 1880 three of the Reeves children were living at home; one of his sons, William, later was elected district judge. Reeves was appointed in the mid-1880s by President Grover Cleveland to the Supreme Court of New Mexico Territory and served until 1889. On the election of President Benjamin Harrison, Reeves moved to Dallas and retired from politics. He was a life-long Democrat, a Mason, and a member of the Dallas Bar Association. He died in Dallas at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Jeff Word, on January 30, 1908, and was buried in Greenwood Cemetery, Dallas.
Source: TSHA Handbook of Texas Online at http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fre23

Research Notes

Post at Reeves, Reaves and More Rives blog regarding Reuben A. Reeves provides research as well as a gravestone photo. See Reuben A. Reeves of Todd County, Kentucky.

Sources

1850 Census - Anderson County, Texas
1860 Census - Palestine, Anderson County, Texas
1870 Census - Jefferson, Marion County, Texas
1880 Census - Palestine, AndersonCounty, Texas
1900 Census - Dallas Ward 9, Dallas, Texas
TSHA Handbook of Texas Online