Reeves, Thomas

Summary

Father: perhaps Thomas Reeves
Mother: Unknown

Birth: c. 1700, possibly Richmond Co., VA
Birth Source: Estimated

Death: Before 21 May 1729, Northumberland Co., VA
Death Source: Northumberland Co., VA, Order Book, 1719/20-1729, p. 334

Spouse1: Margaret MNU

Narrative

Thomas and Margaret (MNU) Reeves may have been the parents of the following children:

1. (perhaps) George Reeves. The 1747 tax list indicates that George was born between 10 June 1726 and 10 June 1731; if he was Thomas's son, he would have had to have been born between 1726 and 1730.
2. (perhaps) Thomas Reeves. The 1747 tax list indicates that George was born between 10 June 1726 and 10 June 1731; if he was Thomas's son, he would have had to have been born between 1726 and 1730.

This Thomas Reeves died about 1729 in Northumberland County, Virginia. His estate was administered by Margaret and William Scurlock, suggesting that Margaret may have been Reeves's widow and that she married William Scurlock as her second husband.

There are certain evidentiary problems concerning this Thomas. It is unclear whether he is the same individual as Thomas Reeves of Richmond County or a different individual, perhaps a son of that man. Despite appearing in different counties, the men appear in legal records associated with the same individuals and seem to have lived in the same general area, which spanned the boundaries between southern Richmond, southern Northumberland, and northern Lancaster Counties.

At the same time Thomas Reeves apparently ceased to be active in Richmond County, a Thomas Reeves appeared in adjoining Northumberland County, suggesting that he may have moved across the county line into the adjacent area or that a younger individual had come of age. One Thomas "Rives" baptized a daughter Hannah in St. Stephen's Parish, Northumberland County, on 5 December 1714. This could be Thomas Reeves of Richmond County, possibly indicating that he had moved into Northumberland County by this date. A 17 August 1726 Northumberland County court order survives in which Thomas Reeves was sued by William Woodbridge, a wealthy planter, merchant, and factor, for debt. Reeves admitted to the obligation and agreed to pay the debt.

One Thomas Reeves's estate was administered in Northumberland County on 21 May 1729 by William Scurlock and wife Margaret. Since Margaret is listed with William Scurlock, this suggests that Scurlock was Reeves's administrator by virtue of marriage, perhaps to Reeves's widow. The Scurlocks were subsequently found in Richmond County, where William's estate was inventoried on 6 October 1740. Among those who took the inventory was George Dodson, grandson of Thomas Reeves's landlord Charles Dodson. The association of the Dodsons with both Thomas Reeves and William Scurlock suggests a continuity of residence and association between 1700 and 1740, although records of the individuals involved are found in Lancaster, Richmond, and Northumberland Counties.

One Margaret Scurlock married Joseph Morrison in North Farnham Parish, Richmond County, Virginia, on 9 December 1739. This Margaret may have been the widow of William Scurlock (and of Thomas Reeves), but a possible conflict with this scenario is the fact that the North Farnham Parish register shows the Scurlock-Morrison marriage on 9 December 1739 and Richmond County court orders show the inventory of William Scurlock on 9 October 1740. But it is conceivable that probate of Scurlock's estate was delayed for some reason; on the other hand, it may be that Margaret Scurlock who married Joseph Morrison was related to William Scurlock in a different way.

Joseph and Margaret Scurlock Morrison were taxed in Dettingen Parish, Prince William Co., VA, in 1747, with Joseph Sherlock and George Reves as tithables in their household, indicating that they were young men aged 16-21 years (and thus born between 10 June 1726 and 10 June 1731). Their placement here would suggest that George Reves was old than Joseph Scurlock. One possible interpretation of this information is that Margaret (MNU) married first Thomas Reeves, second William Scurlock, and third Joseph Morrison, and that George Reves and Joseph Scurlock may have been sons. She and Morrison were both still alive on 4 December 1762, when they were dismissed from Broad Run Baptist Church in Fauquier Co., VA, to join Birch Creek Baptist Church in Halifax Co., VA. Joshua Scurlock, a proven son of William Scurlock, was dismissed from Broad Run "to Halifax" on 10 June 1763. Joseph and Joshua Scurlock are found in Halifax County during the 1760s. Joseph Morrison has been identified in Halifax County as late as 1778, when he appeared as a neighbor of one George Reeves. (For details of this George Reeves, see Asher and George Reeves of Halifax Co., VA.

Was the Thomas Reeves who died in 1729 the same individual who had appeared earlier in Richmond County and possibly even earlier in Lancaster County? The evidence is suggestive but problematic. Thus far, no documentation has been found to suggest that there were multiple men named Thomas Reeves living in Richmond or Northumberland Counties at the same time. (There is no reference to a Thomas "Sr." or "the elder," for instance.) Moreover, the St. Stephen's Parish register shows that one Thomas Rives, son to Thomas Rives, was born September 16, 1730 — more than a year after the appraisal of Thomas Reeves's estate in Northumberland County. But even this seemingly unequivocal evidence is not straightforward; the surviving register was recopied alphabetically in the eighteenth-century from an older document that no longer survives, and it is possible that transcriptional errors may have occurred.

Research Notes

There were several Reeves families in the Northern Neck of Virginia between 1650 and 1750. One William Reeves died about 1699 in Northumberland County. Thomas Reeves lived in Richmond County, and John Reeves lived in Lancaster County. A Robert Reeves who was a contemporary of this William lived in Northumberland County. Later, George Reeves would also live in Northumberland County. Slightly further afield, the family of Henry Reeves, Sr. lived in Old Rappahannock/Essex County. Across the Rappahannock River in Middlesex County was the large family headed by George Reeves and his four known sons, Thomas, Francis, George, and Charles. DNA analysis establishes, however, that there was no connection between the family of George Reeves and that of Henry Reeves, Sr.. Since descendants of these other Reeves families have not yet been tested, the possibility of kinship between some of them cannot be precluded.

Further research on this individual should focus on whether there were two generations of men named Thomas Reeves in Richmond and Northumberland Counties. It is possible that the older Thomas Reeves, born about 1670, died in the 1720s and that a younger Thomas Reeves came of age within that decade, married, and died in 1729, leaving Margaret as his widow. It would appear that Margaret Scurlock Morrison, who may have also been Thomas Reeves's widow, was still alive in 1763 — suggesting that, if she were the wife of Thomas Reeves who was born about 1670, he was likely many years her senior. Interestingly, Joseph Morrison and his family (including Joseph Sherlock and George Reves) were taxed in 1747 in Dettingen Parish, Prince William County, near George Reeves, husband of Ann Doggett, and his brother John Reeves.

Connections among the Conway and Scurlock families also add to the mystery. George Reeves witnessed Dennis Conway's 1721/2 Nothumberland will, which reveals that Reeves was a renter living in Conway's property. Conway's brother John Conway was one of the three men who appraised the estate of Thomas Reeves for William and Margaret Scurlock in Northumberland County in 1729. William Scurlock, husband of Margaret, was the son of Thomas Scurlock of Richmond Co., VA, and the grandson of Michael Scurlock of Lancaster Co., VA (who was taxed near Thomas Reeves in Lancaster County in the early 1690s). Richmond Co., VA, Deed Book 7, 1714-1720, pp. 286-287, shows that on 2 June 1718 Dennis Conway and John Rose witnessed a deed from Thomas Scurlock of North Farnham Parish, Richmond County, to George Davenport of the same, for land patented by David Bairk in 1670 and bequeathed "by Will to Michael Scurlock deceased Father of the aforesd: Thomas Scurlock, and by Michael Scurlock given to ye sd: Thoams Scurlock in his lifetime...lying on ye East side of a Branch of Moratico running between ye sd Scurlock's Plantation & ye Plantation where late William Stonum lived it being a Neck of Land commonly called by ye name of ye Three Poplar Neck...." This deed connects Dennis Conway with Michael, Thomas, and (by implication, since he was a teenager in his father's household at the time) William Scurlock. It also positions the Scurlock family along Morattico Creek in the district for which Thomas Reeves had been constable.

Sources

Northumberland Co., VA, Court Orders
St. Stephen's Parish Register, Northumberland Co., VA
Inventory of William Scurlock, Richmond Co., VA
1747 Prince William Co., VA, Tax List, Dettingen Parish
Lois Downey had kindly shared her original research in Lancaster and Northumberland County records that has contributed to the development of this profile.