Rives, John

Summary

Father: Benjamin Rives
Mother: Mary

Birth: 1 Sep 1775, Brunswick County, Virginia
Birth Source: Headstone

Death: 4 May 1839
Death Source: Headstone

Spouse1: Mary

Narrative

Children of John Rives and Mary:

1. Martha Randall Rives, b. 20 July 1807, m. Peter White
2. Mathilda Robinson Susan Rives, b. 28 July 1809, m. Cephas Jackson Kee
3. Robinson Rives, b. 28 Sep 1813, d. 13 Sep 1832
4. John Ervin Rives, b. 2 Oct 1815, d. 21 Jan 1828
5. Cadwalader Rives, b. 30 Sep 1825

From Reliques of the Rives:
John was born in Brunswick county, Virginia, in 1775, and died in Chester county, South Carolina, in 1839, where he is buried with his wife on the farm on which he resided in Landsford Township. An inscription over his grave recites only his name and the years of his birth and death.¹ John Rives left his mark in his community ; for, though there are no Rives within the length or breadth of Chester county today, the memory of his sterling character abides. He gave "more than one hundred years ago" four acres of land to Harmony Baptist Church in that county. In the census for 1810 he is represented as owning three slaves, and as the head of a family which included four daughters. By 1820 his slave holdings had increased to twelve, while his family had been augmented by two sons. There are frequent references to him in the land transfers recorded in Chester county. On November 20, 1804, he purchased from "Alexander Rosborough physician" one negro man named Luke for $500, to which Benjamin Rives, his father, and Alonzo Ferguson were witnesses. In 1807 he purchased for $150 from Ezekiah Ingram "all that plantation or tract of land containing 75 acres * * * on the waters of the Catawba river which land formerly belonged to John McCrory," the witnesses thereto being David Ford and John McCreary. In 1819 he bought for $300 from Robert Rives (his brother) and "Sarah H. Reives, wife of Robert Reives and Henry N. Carter" 125 acres on the waters of Fishing Creek of the Catawba river. On January 8, 1822, he was the purchaser of 200 acres on the waters of Smith's Branch of Fish ing Creek for $2,000 from Josias Locke ; on December 16, 1825, of 160 acres on Fishing Creek for $400 from Cyrus Gill of Green county, Alabama, and Thomas Peter Gill of Chester county, South Carolina; on February 16, 1826, of 68 acres on Fishing Creek for $171 from David W. Upton; and on January 31, 1827, of 75 acres on Fishing Creek for $150 from Thomas Hines. His will dated in 1838 was probated in 1839. His wife Mary, who survived him and who "died 1855 aged 73 years 10 months 3 days," made her will March 14, 1850, which was probated in Chester county, May 28, 1855, dividing her estate equally "among my heirs, that is to say, Mathilda R. S. Kee, Lucy C. Culp, Cadd Rives, and the heirs of Martha R. White * * * also I want the profits of my interest in the Railroad divided in the same manner." Reference is also made in the will to "that portion of property which I did not receive by the Executors of John Rives by my husband."

Robinson and John Ervin Rives are buried in the family graveyard in Chester County. Dates from the cemetery transcription.

Sources

Headstone - Rives Family Burying Ground, Chester County, South Carolina (Dates from Tombstone records of Chester County, South Carolina and Vicinity Volume 1 by L. Crowder, p115)
Childs, James Rives. Reliques of the Rives, p293
¹The inscription gives his date of death as 1859 but this is obviously an error. A correspondent writes: "1 find dates on tombstones very often incorrect. 1 know several in our home graveyard, buried in my day (I knew the parties) with mistakes of from one to seven years. The mistakes are made by the maker and. as there is some trouble to change, the parties accept the work as it is and let it go and they ought not to do it. The dates I sent you are on John Rives' and his wife's tombstone. 1 knew at the time that the one on his was wrong but forgot to mention it. In writing the history of our Harmony Baptist Church 1 found that John Rives died several years before his wife but 1 couldn't determine the date." (Mr. F. A. Nunnery).
1838 Will - John Rieves - Chester County, South Carolina Will Book P, p108
1850 Will - Mary Rives - Chester County, South Carolina Will Book 1840-1865, p128
1804 Deed - John Rives to Alexander Rosborough - Chester County, SC Deed Book M, p179
1800 Census - Chester County, South Carolina
1810 Census - Chester County, South Carolina
1820 Census - Chester County, South Carolina
1830 Census - Chester County, South Carolina