Thomas Reeves

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.