Conflation of Thomas Reeve and James Reeve

Question

Joseph Murray wrote on Reeves-7232:

Not sure if this has been explored much here... 

Wesley Baker has made a thorough case for there being a Thomas Reeve and James Reeve - likely brothers - who have been conflated in most past genealogical histories. Baker's work is based on documents uncovered later and unknown to most previous historians, and which are the subject of his works cited below. According to these works, James Reeve is the husband of Mary Purrier, while Thomas Reeve is married to a completely different "Mary" (surname unknown), thus exists two separate lines of descendancy. Here on WikiTree they are also conflated as one. 

• Baker, Wesley Logan. Study of the Reeve family of Southold, Long Island, N.Y. : and Southold descendants of the Southampton, L.I. Reeves family and genealogy of said families up to 1800.(Douglaston, NY, unknown, 1970) 
• Baker, Wesley Logan, with Arthur Channing Downs, Jr.  Study of the 1658 and 1686 Depositions of Thomas Osman and Early History of Hashamomuck in the Town of Southold, Long Island, N.Y. (Publ. unknown, 1969)

Comments

Oh yeah, there is also a third person in the mix, a completely separate Thomas Reeves (vs Reeve) also well documented in Southold at the time, and likely also conflated with the other two here...

Answer 1

A James Reeve Was on the first list of planters in New Haven along with several others who woul become Southold settlers.  These names may look familiar to 1600s Southold researchers:

• http://dunhamwilcox.net/ct/new_haven6.htm
• First List:
  
  Robert Akerley.
  John Booth.
  Richard Brown.
  John Budd.
  Henry Case.
  Thomas Cooper.
  John Corey.
  Caleb Curtis.
  Thomas Dimon.
  John Elton.
  Ralph Goldsmith.
  Simon Grover.
  James Haines.
  Peter Hallock.
  Samuel King.
  Thomas Mapes.
  Peter Paine.
  James Reeve.
  Richard Skidmore.
  John Swazey.
  Robert Smyth.
  John Tucker.
  William Wells.
  Rev. John Youngs

Comments

Thanks Anne, this looks promising.

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You’re welcome.  

For research on this family you might consider using Long Island Source Records by Hoff.  (Capt.. James Reeve died March 14, 1732 age 59..  Wm Reeve died Apr 1697.  There were  5 Reeve households on the 1686 Southold  census:

Ann Reeve  I male 2 females

John Reeves   3 males 3 Females

Joseph Reeve  4 M 1 F

James Reeve   5 M  4 F

William Reeve  2 M   4 F.        15 Reeve Males total in 1686! Southold

The index has maybe 200 entries for Reev, Reeve, and Reeves,   Southold Town Records may help a lot, too.