Thomas Reeves of Springfield

Not the same as Thomas Reeve of Southold
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Excerpt from "Thomas Reeves" by Emma M. Reeves. Book located in the the NJ State Library, Trenton, NJ. Call no. A929.2 R332.2, page 1

Thomas Sr (generation #1 in America) came from Southampton, England in 1638 on the "Bevis" and arrived in Boston. He was an indentured servant to Henry Byley, but became the servant of John Gore and lived in Roxbury, MA until 1644 when he became a freeman. He married Hannah Rowe on Apr 15, 1645 at Roxbury. They moved to Springfield, MA where he was a blacksmith and the town drummer. He died at Springfield on Nov 5, 1650 in his late twenties after fathering three children, two of which survived to adulthood (Thomas, Mary, John). His wife later remarried Richard Excell (or Exile) of Springfield on June 4, 1651, by whom she had four children (Mary, John, Lydia, Abigail). She died in 1660 in Springfield. He was still in the Springfield are in 1681. Mr. Excell presumably then moved to Southampton, LI with his step-son Thomas Jr and died there Feb 24, 1714, after suffering financial problems, according to his will. He also suffered from wounds received in King Phillip's War.

There was another Thomas Reeves in MA who was born earlier and married a Mary Purrier.

Thomas Sr may have had an aunt Mary who immigrated with him and married William Webster, or the story about her is inaccurate in her age at death. Her husband was a the son of Gov. John Webster of Conn. She was accused of being a witch in Hadley 1n 1673 by the county court in Northampton, but was acquitted at her trial in Boston in 1683. She died in 1696, her husband dying in 1688.

Southampton, 1640 — 1776 / Settlement & Colonial Periods

Southampton, rich in history and scenic beauty, is one of ten towns in Suffolk County, New York. Situated on the south shore of eastern Long Island, it was settled in 1640 by a small band of English Puritans who had obtained permission from the Earl of Stirling “to sitt downe upon Long Island …. there to possess improve and enjoy eight miles square of land.” When they arrived by boat from Lynn, Massachusetts, they found fertile soil, fish-filled waters, beautiful vistas, and a generally friendly Native American population that had proceeded them by thousands of years.

The Shinnecock, whose tribe was one of thirteen on Long Island in 1640, shared their survival skills with the Europeans. With their help, settlers weathered the first difficult years and prepared the way for Southampton’s eventual expansion to its present dimensions: 109,530 acres (89,570 of land, 19,960 of water) with a total of 658 miles of waterfront. Within its borders, the town encompasses five incorporated villages–Southampton, Sag Harbor, North Haven, Quogue, and Westhampton Beach–and more than a dozen hamlets, each with its own distinct character.

— Mary Cummings: Southampton, Images of America / Arcadia Publishing.

Thomas REEVES

• Born
• Died
• Buried November 5, 1650

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/112535161/thomas-reeves

Arrived Springfield 1646, resided there 4 years until his death 1650.

Marriage Thomas was married before he came here. He was a drummer. His widow, Hannah Reeves, married Richard EXELL, June 4, 1681.

Children:

• Hannah b. February, 7, 1648
• John b. March 12, 1651 buried May 24, 1652.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Webster_%28alleged_witch%29

Mary Webster née Reeves was born in England. The exact birth year is unknown but it is believed to be around 1624. Accounts of her birthdate ranged from 1617 to 1624. Both her father and her brother were named Thomas Reeves. Her father lived in Springfield, Massachusetts. According to the New England Historical Society, her mother's name was Hannah Rowe Reeves. In 1670, Mary Reeves married William Webster and they settled in the small Puritan town of Hadley, Massachusetts. No records exist of Webster having had any children. He was 53, she was 46.

The Reeves family settled in Roxbury, Massachusetts and later, Thomas moved to Springfield, Massachusetts where he was the town drummer. He died at the age of 39 leaving a wife and three children. During his life he became the servant of one John Gore and in 1644 became a free man at which time he took a wife by the name of Hannah Rowe.

Eventually, the Reeves set up shop in Camden, NJ under the paternal head of Richard Seely Reeves. This following the family migrating from Springfield to Camden via Richard's father,Jarvis Davis Reeves and his wife Sarah Jane Noble; Jarvis's father Abijah Reeves & his wife Sarah Elwell; Abijah's father James Reeves and his wife Rebecca Peck; James father Thomas Reeves and his wife Rachel Foster; Thomas's father Thomas and his wife Rebecca ..??..(Reeves). It is at the corner of 4th and Main in Camden, NJ that I pick up the story for the purposes of this web site; as evidenced by the following photgraph, taken about 1875 by my estimation of things known about some of the people in the picture.

Thomas Reeves came to New England in 1638, on the Bevis, as a servant of Henry Byley.

Thomas Reeves, manservant, was received into the membership of the First Church of Christ [Congregational] of Roxbury in 1642. On 29 May 1644, John Gore, of Roxbury, was granted leave to set free his servant, Thomas Reeves. Hannah Rowe, a maidservant of John Gore, was received into membership in the Roxbury church in 1644.[3] In 1645 Thomas and Hannah married.

QUESTION Was the Thomas Reeves, immigrant in 1638 the same person as the Thomas Reeves of Roxbury in 1642-1645?

James Savage, in First Settlers of New England, written 1860-62, made that connection. Charles Pope, in Pioneers of Massachusetts, written in 1900, followed suit. Contemporary genealogist, such as Robert Anderson, in The Great Migration Directory, do not confirm this identification,[4] neither do they deny it.

Why should this identification be questioned? (1) There is no record of a transfer of Thomas Reeve/s service contract from Byley to Gore, (2) there is no record linking the immigrant of 1638 to the servant of 1644. (3) Byley settled in Salisbury, Massachusetts, not Roxbury.

What supports this identification? (1) The absence of records is not proof that the transfer did not happen. (2) There is no other record of a Thomas Reeves in New England in this period. (3) Both records of Thomas Reeves refer to a person in service of about the same age.

Conclusion: The Thomas Reeves of Roxbury in 1642-45 may be the immigrant of 1638.

These two young servants of John Gore, upon receiving freedom, married, and began to raise a family at Roxbury. After the birth of one child, baptized in 1646, they moved to Springfield, where they had two more children, one of whom died young. Thomas worked as a blacksmith, and held the town office of drummer.[5] In towns that did not yet have church bells, the drummer played his drum through the town announcing public worship, town meetings, and the time of day.

Thomas and Hannah had only five years of marriage together. Thomas was about twenty-seven years old when he died, leaving Hannah with children aged 4 and 1, and another to be born four months later. Hannah remarried within the year, and with second husband Richard Exel she had four additional children. They continued to live in Springfield.

http://maxfieldgenealogy.com/reeves.html#n2

Michael Tepper, Passengers to America (Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1978), p. 49.