Rives, Richard

Summary

Father: Richard Rives
Mother: Dorothy

Birth: c1725, Virginia
Birth Source:

Death:
Death Source:

Spouse1: Mary

Narrative

From Reliques of the Rives:
Richard Rives Jr., a resident of Surry and, later, Sussex co. Va., and finally of Pitt co. N. C., where he was of sufficient influence and importance to be made a member of the Committee of Public Safety of that county when Americans were organizing themselves on the eve of the American Revolution for the furtherance of the rebellion. As previously mentioned, Richard Rives, Sen., his father, deeded him on Feb. 16, 1759, a tract of 185 acres on the southside of the Nottoway river in Sussex county which he, in turn, conveyed on Jan. 21, 1762, to Thomas Cureton, of Prince George co. Va. In the latter deed he is described as “Richard Rives Junr of the Province of North Carolina,” Mary his wife joining with him in the conveyance. It was evidently he and his brother who, as Richard and William Rives, patented on Feb. 14, 1761, for £3:1o, some 704 acres in Brunswick co. Va., “between Briggs and Stith * * * on Sturgeon Run * * * on Stegall’s line.” Before leaving for Pitt co. N. C., he had been the godparent in Sussex of Lewis, born 1752, son of Henry and Anne Meachum.
With his brother, Peter Rives, Richard Rives appears amongst the several members of the Committee of Public Safety of Pitt co. N. C., at the sessions held on June 23, July 1, July 17, and Aug. 23, 1775 (N. C. Colonial Records) these being the last notices which are to be had of him. Though a resident of Albemarle Parish, Sussex co., Va., until about 1762, no names of the children of Richard Rives, Jr., are recorded in the Register of that Parish. It appears probable, accordingly, that he d. s. p.

Richard Rives is recorded as a taxpayer in Pitt County, North Carolina in 1761.

Research Notes

Around the same time that Richard disappears from records in North Carolina and Virgina, a soldier in the 12th Virginia Regiment by the name of Richard Reeves died in a hospital in Burlington County, New Jersey. While it's certainly possible that this Richard Reeves is somehow connected to the family of Walter Reeve of Burlington County, his service in Captain Waggener's Company in the 12th Virginia Regiment indicates he was likely from Virginia. Many of the men in that Company were from Augusta County, Virginia. Since Richard Rives seemed to have moved about both NC and VA, it may be these two were the same individual.

Sources

Childs, James Rives. Reliques of the Rives, p414
North Carolina, Compiled Census and Census Substitutes Index, 1790-1890 online at Ancestry.com
1759 Deed - Richard Reives Sr. to Richard Reives Jr. - Sussex County, Virginia Deed Book A, p360
1762 Deed - Richard and Mary Rives Jr. to Thomas Cureton - Sussex County, Virginia Deed Book B, p272