Reeves, Richard

Summary

Father: Thomas Reeves
Mother: Elizabeth Burton

Birth: c1790, Guilford County, North Carolina
Birth Source: Will of Richard Burton, Sr.

Death: Aft. 1819, prob. Jones Co., GA
Death Source: Remarriage

Spouse1: Elizabeth MNU, per Guilford NC deed of Aug 1810
Spouse2: Patsey Reeves ?, 13 Aug 1811, Wilkes County, Georgia
Spouse3: Elizabeth Casada, 31 Aug 1819, Jones County, Georgia

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Narrative

Richard Reeves was living in Wilkes County, GA when on 7 Aug 1810 he deeded to William Wofford 200 acres of land, part of a tract where Richard Borton formerly lived on Haw River in Guilford County. This land was granted to Richard Burton Senr bearing date November 13, 1779.

On 27 May 1814, the U.S., Army, Register of Enlistments during the period of the War of 1812, lists a 25 year old Richard Reaves (sic) born in Guilford County, North Carolina as serving in Capt. George Dabney's Company. The military record lists Richard as being 5 ft 10-1/2 inches tall with sandy hair, blue eyes and a fair complexion.

Around this same time, there is a marriage record for the marriage of Richard Reeves to Patsey Reeves on 13 August 1811 in Wilkes County. Simeon Walker, JP (within whose district Richard was living in 1817) performed the ceremony.

Richard was taxed in Captain Joshua Callaway's District, Wilkes Co., GA, in 1813. He owned no property and paid only the poll tax. Other members of the Guilford Co., NC, Reeves family were shown in the same district. In 1817, he was taxed in Simeon Walker's District, No. 17, again as a poll with no property. He was still living alongside members of the Guilford County family.

On 22 August 1818, Richard Reeves conveyed property to Jesse Brazill (a son-in-law of Jeremiah Reeves. Richard and Jesse were both identified as residents of Wilkes Co., GA, but the land Richard conveyed was located within "the territory of Illinois." Thomas Reaves, Joel Hood (a grandson of Jeremiah Reeves, and Thomas E. Combs witnessed the deed (Wilkes Co., GA, DB EEE, p. 34). Records of the General Land Office show that Richard Reaves on 5 March 1818 purchased 160 acres, Section 23, Township 2 North, Range 9 West (Illinois Public Land Purchase Records, V. 808, p. 372). This may be the same property that he conveyed to Jesse Brazill in August 1818. Whether Reeves or Brazill did or ever intended to settle on the Illinois land is unknown.

Richard disappears from Wilkes County about this time. It would appear that Patsey died before 1819 and that he may be the Richard Reeves who married Elizabeth Casada on 31 Aug 1819 in Jones County, GA. Many Wilkes County families, including several Reeves families, migrated from Wilkes County to Jones County about that time.

Sources

Will of Richard Bourton (sic Burton), Guilford Co, NC Will Book A, Pg 23-24
Tax Records of Wilkes County, Georgia
U.S., Army, Register of Enlistments, 1798-1914, online database at Ancestry.com
Deeds of Wilkes County, Georgia
Marriage Records of Wilkes County, Georgia
Illinois Public Land Purchase Records, V. 808, p. 372