Reeves, Tobias

Summary

Father:
Mother:

Birth: c1788, North Carolina
Birth Source: 1850 Census

Death: Oct 1876, New Douglas, Illinois
Death Source: History of Madison County, Illinois

Spouse1: Nancy, m. 9 Feb 1811

Narrative

Children of Tobias Reeves and Nancy:

1. Thomas Reeves, b. 5 Apr 1818, d. 14 Aug 1835
2. Wiley G. Reeves, b. 1822 d. 20 May 1863
3. Wesley Reeves, b. 3 Feb 1828
4. Nancy E. Reeves, b. 17 Mar 1833, d. 29 Aug 1838
5. Mary E. Reeves, d. 11 Sep 1838
6. Tobias Reeves, b. 20 Mar 1839

Tobias bought land in 1823 in Bedford County, Tennessee from Joshua Ham. He was listed there on the 1830 census, then sold land that same year to John Donaway. He was living in Madison County, Illinois by 1840.

Tobias Reeves was listed next to Isham Reeves in the 1830 Census in Bedford County.

On 11 July, 1830, Nancy Reaves, wife of Tobias Reaves, gave a statement recorded in the Deed Book that she "has entered and published disgraceful reports against the good name &c of Jane S. Arnold wife of Alsey Arnold...that she, Jane S. Arnold, had been guilty of adultry with Lewis Newsom, Jr...This testimonial bears witness that Nancy Reaves had had no reason, truth or foundation for charging Jane S Arnold with adultry or any obscene disgraceful conduct with Lewis Newsom or with any other person and that I, Nancy Reaves did knowingly and wickedly to gratify revenge &c toward Jane S. Arnold, utter and publish the allegation charged by me against Jane S. Arnold, knowing the same to be false."

From History of Madison County, Illinois:
Tobias Reaves, a native of North Carolina, came here in 1828, and bought a small improvement started by a man named Ringo, in the southwest quarter of section 36. Reaves lived here many years. He died at his son's, Wesley Reaves, in New Douglas, October, 1876. His wife preceded him several years. They raise a family of nineteen children, five now living. Wesley is the only one of the family residing in the county. At the residence of Tobias Reaves the Methodists held their early meetings.

Cemeteries and Tombstone Inscriptions of Madison County, Illinois vol. 1 covers the Reaves cemetery where Nancy and many of the children are buried. It states from information that a descendant provided that they were married in North Carolina went to Bedford County, Tennessee by 1823 and moved to Madison County, Illinois in the summer of 1830. Their marriage date is listed from Nancy's headstone.

Sources

1823 Deed - Joshua Ham to Tobias Reaves - Bedford Co., Tennessee Deed Book Q, pp. 144-145
1830 Deed - Tobias Reaves to John Donaway - Bedford Co., Tennessee Deed Book BB, p108
1830 Statement - Nancy Reaves - Bedford Co., Tennessee Deed Book BB, p109
1830 Census - Bedford County, Tennessee
1840 Census - Madison County, Illinois
1850 Census - Madison County, Illinois
1860 Census - Madison County, Illinois
1870 Census - Madison County, Illinois
1882, History of Madison County, Illinois: With Biographical Sketches of Many Prominent Men and Pioneers, pp. 524-525
Headstone of Wife Nancy, Reaves Cemetery, Olive Township, Madison Co., Illinois