The Jackson Purchase region of Kentucky is comprised of the eight westernmost counties - Ballard, Calloway, Carlisle, Fulton, Graves, Hickman, Marshall and McCracken. It is bordered on the west by the Mississippi River, on the north by the Ohio River, on the east by the Tennessee River and the state of Tennessee to the south. By Kentuckians it is generally referred to simply as "the Purchase".

Andrew Jackson and Isaac Shelby purchased the land lying west of the Tennessee River from the Chickasaw tribe and opened the area for settlement around 1820. Within the next few years, my grandfather's ancestors came there from Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee - the Beadles, Clapps, Pryors and Wingos settled in Graves County with the Reeves and Halls in neighboring Ballard County.

Reeves

The earliest proven ancestor of the Reeves families who settled in the Ballard County area was William Reeves, born circa 1720, who received a grant from Henry McCulloch for 400 acres south of the Neuse River and east of Ellerbe's Creek that is in present day Durham, North Carolina. In that deed he is described as a planter of Johnston County. The presence of the elder William Reeves in this area is noted in Durham County - A History of Durham County, North Carolina by Jean Bradley Anderson, on page 19, "Among the first to take up land in present Durham County were William Reeves, who received 400 acres where Ellerbee Creek runs into Neuse River (1746)".

On 10 October 1763 the land between the Neuse and Ellerbe Creek was conveyed by deed from William Reeves, Sr. to William Reeves, Jr. This land south of the Neuse and east of Ellerbe's Creek remained in this particular Reeves' family for 52 years, from 1746 until it was conveyed by the second William Reeves to Nathaniel Jones, Sr. on October 16, 1798. (Recorded in Wake County Deed Book Q at Page 415.)

William Reeves, Jr. appears countless times in the minutes of the Wake County Court from the county's inception in 1771 through 1803. He is recognized as a Revolutionary War Patriot for his civil service as tax assessor during the revolution by the DAR. From the 1770's, he serves on juries, is overseer of the road from Munns Store to the county line, is assessor and tax gatherer in Captain Woodson Daniel's district and from 1787 to 1803 is a Magistrate Justice of the Wake County Court. Prior to the formation of Wake County, he is listed along with his father in Orange County Court Minutes and various deeds. In August of 1760, as William Reaves, Jr. he registered his cattle brand in Orange County.

There is no indication of a reason for his migration to Kentucky at the approximate age of 65. His wife Anne had died sometime before 1800 and several of his sons began to leave Wake County for Halifax, Virginia and Madison, Kentucky. His last appearance in the minutes of the Wake County Court was in 1803. Around 1805, he and son William, Jr. with his young family followed the youngest sons to Kentucky where they are recorded in the 1810 census.

William Reeves died sometime before November of 1821 when letters of administration on his estate were granted to his son, George Reeves, and John Hawkins. All of his surviving children in addition to the heirs of deceased daughter Sarah Reeves Geer, sold their portions of his land to the youngest son, Jeremiah. That deed is recorded in Madison County, Kentucky Deed Book Q, pgs 7, 8 & 9.

All of the earliest Reeves families of Ballard County are descendants of George Reeves, son of William Reeves, who left Madison County moving further westward to Warren County. George died at the young age of about 47 in 1827 and his wife Elizabeth Wilkerson Reeves only survived him for about 10 years. Several of their children remained in the Warren County area, but sons Curtis, Jesse Britt, William Harrison and Sidney Preston Reeves all migrated to the Jackson Purchase settling primarily in Ballard County. Within a few years they were also joined by a nephew, George C. Reeves, the son of Peter M. Reeves who had remained in Warren County.

For more detailed and extensive information for this Reeves family, visit the site -

William Reeves, Wake County NC to Madison County KY



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