George Reeves

George Reeves apparently left Wake County, North Carolina as soon as he became an adult and along his younger brother, Jeremiah, migrated to Madison County, Kentucky around 1800 for his marriage to Elizabeth Wilkerson is recorded there in January of 1802. Within a few years, George and Jeremiah were joined by their father and older brother William, Jr.

George is listed in Madison County, Kentucky in the 1810 census but by 1820 he had migrated farther westward to Warren County and is recorded there in that census. His wife, Betsy Wilkerson Reeves' parents Wyatt and Mary Britt Wilkerson also moved from Madison to Warren County as well as Betsy's sister Polly with her husband John Thompson and family.

When William Reeves died in 1821, George Reeves was granted letters of administration on the estate of William Reeves, deceased, in November of 1821 in Madison County.

George Reeves only survived his father by six years for his will was probated in Warren County in July 1827. The will of George Reves was written on 20 Oct 1826 and recorded in Will Book D at page 3. In it he names the following children along with his wife, Elizabeth:

1. Walter Alvis Reeves
2. Susan Reeves Heard
3. Curtis F. Reeves
4. Jesse Britt Reeves
5. Peter M. Reeves
6. Mary M. "Polly" Reeves Turner
7. William Harrison Reeves
8. Nancy Reeves May Alderson
9. Sidney Preston Reeves
10. George H. Reeves

Note: A biography of George's son William Harrison Reeves as published in Battle, Perrin & Kniffen's
"Kentucky - A History of the State" states that the family of George Reeves originated in Halifax, Virginia, but there is no record of this family ever having lived in Halifax until 1800 when his brother Peter, followed by brother Charles in 1801, leave Wake County and locate there. In the 1850 census of Halifax, the birthplace of Peter Reves, age 81, is stated as North Carolina. Even after a thorough search of colonial tax records of Halifax no record of this family can be found there. There are, however, 60 years of records of this family living on one particular tract of land south of the Neuse River and east of Ellobey's Creek which was located in Orange County, then Johnston County, and then Wake County, North Carolina as the county designations changed through the years. Land owned by this Reeves' family is now located within five miles of the northern boundary of the city of Durham, North Carolina. The pilings of the bridge crossing the Falls of the Neuse Lake on I-85 to the northeast of the Durham city limits, sit on land once owned by this family. Two other tracts owned by George's father, William Reeves, are located within the city of Durham.