Clay Reaves (abt. 1857)

Born about 6 Jul 1857 in Hardeman County, Tennessee, United States

Husband of Kesiah (Norment) Reaves — married 21 Dec 1880 in Hardeman, Tennessee, United States

Husband of Elizabeth (Norrington) Reeves — married 28 Dec 1895 in St. Francis, Arkansas, United States

Died [date unknown] in Arkansas, United States [uncertain]

Biography

Clay Reaves is a part of US Black heritage.

Clay Reaves was interviewed in Palestine, Arkansas in about 1937 about his life and his time as an enslaved person.

"I will be eighty years old my next birthday. It will be July 6th. Father was bought from Kentucky. I couldn't tell you about him. He stayed at the Reaves place that year, the year of the surrender, and left. He didn't live with mother ever again."

"I was the baby. I heard mother say some things I remember well. She said she was never sold. She said the Reaves said her children need never worry, they would never be sold. We was Reaves from back yonder. Mother's grandfather was a white man. She was a Reaves and her children are mostly Reaves. She was light. Father was about, might be a little darker than I am."

"When I got up some size I was allowed to go see father. I went over to see him sometimes. After freedom he went to where his brothers lived. They wanted him to change his name from Reaves to Cox and he did. He changed it from James Reaves to James Cox. But I couldn't tell you if at one time they belong to Cox in Kentucky or if they belong to Cox in Tennessee or if they took on a name they liked. I kept my name Reaves. I am a Reaves from start to finish. I was raised by mother and she was a Reaves. Her name was Olive Reaves. Her old mistress' name was Charlotte Reaves, old master was Edmund Reaves. Now the boys I come to know was John, Bob; girls, Mary and Jane. There was older children."

"Mother moved to New Castle, Tennessee from Mr. Reaves' place. We farmed -- three of us. We had been living southeast of Boliver, Tennessee, in Hardeman County."

"I married twice, had one child by each wife. Both wives are dead and my children are dead."

Slave Owners

1. Edmund Reaves

Interview: Clay Reaves was interviewed in Palestine, Arkansas by Miss Irene Robertson as part of the Federal Writer's Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The results are made available by the Library of Congress. ^[1]

Sources

1. ↑ [1] Library of Congress - WPA - Slave Narrative - Clay Reaves - Vol. 2, Arkansas, part 6; pages 17-20 images 21-24 of 376.

• "United States Census, 1870", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MDDS-VVQ : 29 May 2021), O Reaves in entry for Jorden McNeil, 1870.

• "Tennessee, County Marriages, 1790-1950," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QK4B-YK9G : 10 March 2021), Clay Reaves and Kesiah Norment, 21 Dec 1880; citing Hardeman, Tennessee, United States, Marriage, p. , Tennessee State Library and Archives, Nashville and county clerk offices from various counties; FHL microfilm 989,285.

• "Arkansas, County Marriages, 1837-1957," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NM2V-KBZ : 9 March 2021), Clay Reeves, 28 Dec 1896; citing Marriage, St. Francis, Arkansas, United States, county offices, Arkansas; FHL microfilm 1,022,682.

• "United States Census, 1900", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M3XW-7JY : 11 March 2022), Clay Reeves, 1900.

• "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XMG6-R5F : accessed 2 July 2022), Clay Rievea in household of Mattie White, Prairie, St Francis, Arkansas, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 23, sheet 1B, line 55, family 14, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 93; FHL microfilm 2,339,828.

• "United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KQ24-91X : 8 January 2021), Clay Reeves, Prairie Township, St. Francis, Arkansas, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 62-25, sheet 2B, line 52, family 42, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012, roll 171.