Rives, Timothy

Summary

Father: Timothy Rives
Mother: Hester Turner

Birth: 1748 Prince George VA Brunswich County, Virginia
Birth Source: Reliques of the Rives

Death: 1821, Richland District, South Carolina
Death Source: Richland District SC Will Book G, p. 180-182

Spouse1: Priscilla Turner, m. 29 Dec 1772, Brunswick County, Virginia

Narrative

Children of Timothy Rives and Priscilla Turner:

1. John Turner Rives, b. c1773
2. Mary Rives, b. c1778, married Sterling C. Williamson
3. Charlotte Rives, b. c1781, m. Nathan Center
4. Martha Rives, b. c1784, m. James Taylor Wade
5. Thomas Rives, b. 20 May 1786
6. James Rives, b. 29 August 1788
7. Sterling Williamson Rives, b. c1802

From Reliques of the Rives:
Timothy was born in Brunswick county, Virginia, about 1748. He appears first in the chronicles of the times (the Brunswick county records) on November 29, 1771, with the grant to him of a negro man, Jeffrey, by Timothy Rives, Sen., of Meherrin Parish, Brunswick co. Va., "for and in consideration of the natural love and affection which I have and bear unto my son Timothy Rives." On July 24, 1772, upon the payment of £160 he was deeded by Timothy Rives, Sen., four negroes. Among the marriage bonds of Brunswick there is one dated December 20, 1772, of Timothy Rives and Priscilla Turner, daughter of James Turner, Robert Rives being entered as surety.

Shortly after this marriage, Timothy Rives, removed like his brothers to Richland county, Camden District, S. C, where he became an extensive landowner and a prominent citizen of Columbia. The land grants of South Carolina show the taking up by him of 18 and 150 acres on May 1, 1786, of 640 acres on June 5, 1786, of 16 acres on July 3, 1786, of 820 acres on March 5, 1787, of 106 acres on March 7, 1787, and of 848 acres on March 7, 1814, all in Camden District.

In 1781 and 1782 he saw service as a Lieutenant of militia in the Revolutionary War for which he was paid on August 30, 1785, an amount of £22:10 for sixty days duty (Salley, Stub Entries, p. 295). He was deputy commissary in 1782, a justice of the court as early as 1785, and was proprietor of the Rives' Tavern, an old landmark in Columbia, S. C. "The earliest picture of the State House (of S. C.) is an old print showing the building as it appeared from Rives's Tavern. This Rives was Timothy Rives who in 1805 was still running the tavern, which must have stood somewhere near the Hampton monument on the State House grounds; in that year he acted for several months as steward for the newly opened South Carolina College (following thus in the footsteps of his ancestor six generations removed, Timothy Ryves, Gent., steward of the University of Oxford in 1612), 'dieting' the students at his tavern. This tavern he rented from Col. Thomas Taylor. For some years prior to 1800, as early as 1785, he was a justice of the quorum, so being one of the county judges. His name appears with others in the orders of the court. He acquired considerable property above Columbia, not far above the Columbia Clay Works, and the writer has been informed that the old Rives house is still standing back from Broad river. * * * William Douglass lives at the old sandhill or summer home of the Rives's, not far from the Old Camp Meeting ground, now Mt. Pleasant Church. A short distance from this side of Mr. Douglass is the avenue of oaks that once led from the house known as the Rives Place."¹

According to the Federal census of 1790, Timothy Rives owned in that year 24 slaves. Before his death on June 8, 1821, he had increased his holdings to no fewer than 50 slaves. His wife, Priscilla (Turner) Rives predeceased him and died on March 26, 1817.

Mr. Rives left a will which was dated February 5, 1820, and which was probated in Richland county, S. C.

Timothy Reeves, Junr. and Robert Rives are listed as jurors between the Broad and Catawba Rivers in South Carolina 1778-1779.

Source

Marriage: Virginia Marriages, 1785-1940 (FamilySearch)
Census:    1790 Census - Richland County, South Carolina
                   1810 Census - Richland County, South Carolina
                   1820 Census - Richland County, South Carolina
History:  Childs, James Rives. Reliques of the Rives, p137
                   ¹From an article entitled "Old Richland Families," published in The State, Columbia, S. C, Dec. 5, 1926.
                   Will of Timothy Rives, Richland District SC WB G, p. 180-182
                   SC Archives, S108092, R0125, F00347, RIVES, TIMOTHY, ACCOUNT AUDITED (FILE NO. 6463) OF CLAIMS GROWING OUT OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
                   Hendrix, GeLee Corley, etc. Jury Lists of South Carolina, 1778-1779