William Reeve (1792 - 1836)

Born 1792 in Linton, Cambridgeshire, England

Descendants

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Biography

William was born in 1792. He passed away in 1836.

Sources

• The Taits Of Beneree by George Tait 1994

Her father, William Reeve (1792 -- 1836 Linton) was a miller at Linton, Cambs, another small village a few miles from Great Abington, located today on the A 604. He was the son of Thomas and Elizabeth Reeve.

Her mother Elizabeth Chalk (1787 -- 1871) of Linton, Cambs. was descended from Robert Chalk (d. 1807) and Susannah Adcock (b. 1727) of Linton whose son Robert Chalk Junior (1755 -- 1834) of Linton married Elizabeth (Chalk) (d. 1824).

The marriage of John Tofts (II) and Elizabeth Reeve joined two influential families of this area of Cambridgeshire, as happened again when their daughter Elizabeth Tofts married Henry Warren from the Hormead Bury manor.

Our ancestral Reeve family owned two grain mills, one on the border with Essex, the other at Linton. Most of the Reeve family and a large number of employees were engaged in the milling business which, of course, was located in one of the main grain growing areas of England at the time. Both mills are recorded in "A history of Cambridgeshire":

Hildersham Mill: A mill at Hildersham is recorded as far back as 1086. It was rebuilt in 1680 and remained in one family until C. 1800 when it was owned by the Reeve family until 1850.

The mill stands on a cut some way east of Hildersham Village, and straddles the parish boundary with Linton. Originally a water driven mill it was converted to steam in the 1890's and remained in business until 1915. Its buildings, converted in 1925 to a private dwelling comprised in 1973 of a central mill-block spanning the former mill race with a brick home to the east. A windmill for grinding grain was built in 1837 by the Reeves in a field south of the water-driven mill still survives, without its sails, now an antique shop.

Linton Mill: The original water mill south of the Village dates back to 1270 when owned by the Bishop of Ely's manor of Hadstock in Essex. It is recorded as owned by the Reeve family in 1850 and sold by them in 1884. The present buildings date from 1725. The brick and flint millers house was sold for private use in 1962.

After his marriage to Elizabeth Reeve, John Tofts (II) also became a miller in his father-in-laws business as well as continuing as a farmer at Gt Abington. In the 1851 census he was living in the parish of Linton with his wife, 2 children, his mother-in-law Elizabeth Reeve (her husband William Reeve died in 1836) Thomas Reeve, brother-in-law aged 23, a housekeeper, a house maid, 2 nurses and 1 servant. In the same census, his mother Elizabeth Tofts (nee Barton) was recorded at Pampisford as a retired widow (aged 58), with four of her children still living at home. Extensive records are held in our files of the many children of the marriages of Tofts/ Barton, Reeve/Chalk, Chalk/ Adcock, which would be superfluous in these notes.

Families did not generally move far in those days. As seen, all these ancestral families lived in the small circle of villages as mentioned -- Babraham, Little Abington, Great Abington, Pampisford, Hinxton, Hildersham and Linton -- all within a few miles of each other. A daughter was born to John and Elizabeth (nee Reeve) Tofts at Linton, Cambs. on 2nd March 1851, named Elizabeth Tofts (later often known as Elizabeth "Isabella" Tofts). She was baptised at the Linton Parish Church one month later. Elizabeth "Isabella" married Henry Edward Warren of the Manor, Little Hormead Bury on 19th Oct. 1870 at the Parish Church, Farnham, Essex. The continuation of her life story and their migration to Australia was told in the Warren family chapter.