William Reeves

Not the same as William Reeves, of Granville County

William is not in any way related to the family of Timothy Rives

William Reeves (Not Cabel) was a mixed-race Indian trader originally from Albemarle County, Carolina Colony (Not Virginia). He married two Native American women, likely also mixed. He may have been related to the William Reed family, though nothing is conclusive. His descendants live on in the white, black, and Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation communities. Families like the Reeves family are known as Mestee, Mustee, or Melungeon; visibly and culturally white people of tri-racial ancestry.

William's sons and second wife, Margaret, below. His wife was essentially stripped from his will, as she likely had a bastard son by George Anderson. Margaret was living with George and her child, Elizabeth Reeves. Elizabeth's daughter, Sarah Cozart, would marry into the mixed-race Cozart and Pettiford families.

REEVES FAMILY (Malachi and James are William's sons by his first wife, an Afro-Indigenous woman)

1. Malachi Reeves, born say 1720, received a patent for 400 acres on both sides of Tabbs Creek in Granville County on 25 March 1749 [DB C-1:1]. He was a "Black" taxable in the 1752 Granville County tax list of Jonathan White [CR 044.701.19]. On 9 May 1753 he purchased 522 acres on the north side of Fishing Creek from William Reeves for £60 and sold this land to James Reeves for £60 about a year later on 29 August 1754 [DB B:243, 402]. He was a white tithable with his sons William and Jonathan, John Allin, and a slave in Samuel Benton's list for Fishing Creek in 1762 [CR 44.701.19]. On 21 July 1769 Isaac Cursi (Kersey) Mitchell was bound apprentice to him in Granville [CR 044.101.2-7]. His children were

i. William, born say 1744, a white tithable in 1762.

ii. Jonathan, born say 1746, a white tithable in 1762.

2. James1 Reeves, born say 1725, was a "black" taxable with his son James Reeves and "negro" Mary Anderson in the 1758 Granville County list of Nathaniel Harris. He purchased 522 acres on the north side of Fishing Creek from (his brother?) Malachi Reeves on 29 August 1754. He and Malachi were witnesses to the 30 March 1758 Granville County deed from Jacob Perry to Joseph Bass [DB B:402; E:50]. His children were

i. James2, born say 1746, a black taxable in 1758, perhaps the James Revus who was head of a Wayne County household of 4 "other free" in 1810 [NC:836].

ii. ?John, head of a Greene County household of 1 "free colored" and 5 slaves in 1820 [NC:256].

3. Margaret Reeves, born say 1735, was living at George Anderson's in Granville County on 7 June 1754 when Eliza Reeves, "supposed to be the child of Margaret Reeves," was bound to William Howlet until she was eighteen years of age [Owen, Granville County Notes, vol. I]. Her child was

4 i. Elizabeth, born say 1752.

4. Elizabeth Reeves, born say 1752, was living in Granville County on 16 January 1771 when her child Patience was bound apprentice to Valentine White [CR 44.101.2; Owen, Granville County Notes, vol. IV]. Her children were

i. Patience, born about 1765, a base born "Mulatto" bound to Valentine White in Granville County on 16 January 1771, no parent named on indenture [CR 44.101.2-7]. She married Augustine Anderson, 19 December 1796 Granville County bond.

ii. ?Smyeth/ Smithey, head of a Cumberland County household of 3 "free colored" females in 1820 [NC:153] and 5 in 1830.

Other Reeves family members were

i. Chloe, born March 1764, a "Mullatto" child living in Loudoun County on 13 June 1768 when the court ordered the churchwardens of Cameron Parish to bind her to Nathaniel Grigsby [Orders 1767-70, 78].

ii. Nancy Reves, a "Mulatto" ordered bound out by the churchwardens of St. Ann's Parish, Essex County, on 18 August 1783 [Orders 1782-3, 401].

iii. Page, "F. Negro" head of a Fauquier County household of 8 "other free" in 1810 [VA:340].

(Possible connection, not confirmed)

1. William1 Reed, born about 1673, was a mixed-race child born to a white servant woman in the Charles City County, Virginia household of Robert Jones. Jones bequeathed him a cow and a gun and his freedom from his indenture at the age of twenty-one years. Jones' executors refused to comply with his wishes, so William sued them in Charles City County court. On 3 September 1694 the court ruled in William's favor [Orders 1687-95, 522]. He was a taxable in James Ellis' household in the lower precinct of Southwarke Parish in Surry County from 1699 to 1703: called "Wm Read a Malatta" in 1699 [Magazine of Virginia Genealogy, vol.24, 2:77, 84; 3:68, 73; DW 5:289]. In May 1708 he began a suit against William Edwards in Surry County court for which he was awarded 1,285 pounds of tobacco on 21 September 1715 [Haun, Surry Court Records, VI:102; VII:89]. He may have been identical to the William Read who was living with his wife Mary Read in Brunswick County in 1729 when they sold 100 acres on the north side of the Nottoway River and both sides of Sappony Creek [Surry DW&c 8:22]. They may have been the parents of 2 i. Elizabeth, born say 1713.