Reeves, Rev. Willis

Summary

Father: probably possibly John Reeves of Orange County, NC
Mother: possibly Mary Walton

Birth: 07 May 1778, Orange County, North Carolina
Birth Source:

Death: 25 July 1848, Somerville, Fayette Co., Tennessee
Death Source:

Spouse1: Mary Clayton, m. 19 Dec 1805, Brunswick County, Virginia
Spouse2: Thisbe Jones, m. 10 Jan 1822, Wake County, North Carolina

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Narrative

Children of Willis Reeves and Mary Clayton:

1. James O'Kelly Reeves, b. 1806 NC d. before 1870 TN
2. Willis Pendleton Reeves, b. 1816 NC d. 1816 NC.
3. Sarah Lewis Reeves, b. 1808, d. 7 Mar 1827
4. Martha Eliza Reeves, b. 1810 NC, d. 1855 TN
5. John Claiborne Reeves, b. 1812 Orange Co, NC d. TN
6. George Washington Reeves, b. 1814 NC, d. date unknown.
7. unnamed male b. 07 March 1817 NC, d. 07 March 1817 NC

Children of Willis Reeves and Thisbe Jones Higbe:

1. Mary Andes Reeves, b. 1822 NC
2. Calvin Jones Reeves, b. 1824 NC
3. Atlas Jones Reeves, b. 1827 NC, d. 1900 TN
4. S M Reeves, b. c1828
5. Willis Gales Reeves, b. 1829 NC, d. 1881 TN
6. Benjamin Franklin Reeves, b. 1831 NC, d. 1866 TN.
7. Thomas Jefferson Wesley Reeves, b. 1834 TN, d. after 1860

Wife Mary was born 1779 in Brunswick County, Virginia and died 1817 in Orange County, NC.

Wife Thisbe was born 1790 in Berkshire County, Massachusetts and died in Tennessee.

Weekly Raleigh Register, 18 Jan 1822
MARRIED,
At the seat of Gen. Calvin Jones, in the Wake Forest, on the 10th inst. the Rev. Willis Reeves, of Orange county, to Mrs. Thisbie Higbie, sister to the General.

According to the Weekly Raleigh Register, Willis Reeves of Orange County was given Administration of the estate of William Bennett Hill, late of Raleigh, in 1826.

In 1829, the town of Somerville in Fayette County deeded three lots in the town to " Willis Reaves of the County of Orange and State of North Carolina." Willis was buried in Somerville City Cemetery, Somerville, Fayette Co., Tennessee.

P. J. Kernodle
Lives of Christian Ministers (1909)
REV. WILLIS REEVES entered the ministry after the separation from the Methodists. He labored in the North Carolina and Virginia Conference in the early days of the church. "Among the Christians in the South," says Rev. W. B. Wellons, D.D., "the only man that ever avowed himself a Unitarian in sentiment was cut off from the church; I refer to Rev. Willis Reeves of North Carolina." [77]
http://www.mun.ca/rels/restmov/texts/pkernodle/lcm/LCM00.HTM

Willis wrote a letter dated 31 March 1823, to his brother in law Calvin Jones and a transcription of that letter can be found at this link:
http://files.usgwarchives.net/nc/orange/history/letters/willisre133gms.txt

Willis wrote another letter dated 20 Mar 1832 to Calvin Jones at this link:
http://files.usgwarchives.net/nc/orange/history/letters/willisre134gms.txt

Sources

Marriage2: Weekly Raleigh Register, 18 Jan 1822, gleaning
Census:    1810 Census - Hillsboro, Orange County, North Carolina, age 32
                   1830 Census - North District, Orange County, North Carolina. age 52
                   1840 Census - Somerville, Fayette County, Tennessee, age 62
History:    Lives of Christian Ministers (1909), p77
                   Letter to Calvin Jones, 31 Mar 1823
                   Letter to Calvin Jones, 20 Mar 1832
                   1829 Deed - Town of Somerville to Willis Reaves - Fayette County, Tennessee Deed Book B, p81
                   Weekly Raleigh Register, 8 Dec 1826