James Reeves (1870)

Born 1870 in Ouachita County, Arkansas, United States

Ancestors

Husband of Susie (Henson) Reeves — married 31 Oct 1908 in Hot Spring, Arkansas, United States

Descendants

Biography

James Reeves is a part of US Black heritage.

James Reeves was interviewed in Little Rock, Arkansas in about 1937 about his life and his time as an enslaved person.

"I was born in 1870 down in Ouachita County about fourteen miles south of Camden going on toward El Dorado. They didn't have no railroad then. I was a young man when they put the branch through. You see, I was born five years after slavery, but I remember my mother, my grandmother, and my great-grandmother. They taken me and talked to me freely and I know every thing they knew."

Great Grandmother on Mother's Side "My great-grandmother belonged to the Goodmans. Her master was named Bob Goodman. She lived to get one hundred thirteen years old. From the children of the old master, I got the information concerning her age. I looked it up after emancipation. One of old master's sons was named Frank Goodman, and another was named Norphleet Goodman, and there was another whose name I don't recall. My grandmother, great-grandmother was named Frankie Goodman. I wasn't here in slavery time, but I knew her after emancipation."

Grandmother on Mother's Side "My grandmother was named Hannah Goodman. These were different Goodmans but they were kin to these other. There was a large family of them. I don't know the correct age of my grandmother but she was up in the eighties when she died."

Mother "My mother was born a Goodman, but she married Reeves, my father. The record of their marriage I ain't got. Back there, they didn't keep up like you and I do, and we don't keep up like these younger folks do. Near as I could get it, she lived to be about seventy-one years old."

Father "My father was named Adam Reeves. His master was named Rick Reeves. My father was born in Union County about ten miles from El Dorado. You might say north of El Dorado because he lived south of Camden. He lived there all his life. I have known him to move out of Ouachita County into Union, and from Union back to Ouachita."

Grandfather on Mother's side "My grandfather on my mother's side was Henry Goodman. His mistress was a woman by the name of Lucy Goodman. She was the same woman who owned my mother. There was a big family of them Goodmans. His age -- he lived to be about eighty years old. He died in Hot Springs County."

Grandmother on Father's side "My grandmother on my father's side was named Hetty. Her master was named Sam Abbott. She lived right close to seventy-four or seventy-five years. She been gone quite a while now. She used to live with Papa."

Interview: James Reeves was interviewed in Little Rock, Arkansas by Samuel S. Taylor 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 - James Reeves - Vol. 2, Arkansas, part 6; pages 24-32 images 28-37 of 376.

• "United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MNWJ-7S6 : 13 January 2022), Adam Reeves, Washington Township, Ouachita, Arkansas, United States; citing enumeration district , sheet , NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), FHL microfilm .

• "Arkansas Marriages, 1837-1944", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FQL1-JXT : 11 January 2020), James Reeves, 1908.

• "United States Census, 1920", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MDFC-R59 : 31 January 2021), James Reaves, 1920.

• "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XMG4-VSM : accessed 3 July 2022), James Reaves, Little Rock, Pulaski, Arkansas, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 7, sheet 30B, line 80, family 723, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 91; FHL microfilm 2,339,826.

• "United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KQKB-YPH : 8 January 2021), James Reeves, Little Rock, Pulaski, Arkansas, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 60-18, sheet 2B, line 46, family 77, 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 166.

Research Notes

Could be him, needs to be examined. "Arkansas Death Index, 1914-1950," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VJRR-DX8 : 27 November 2014), James Tho Reaves, 07 Aug 1943; derived from "Arkansas, Death Index, 1914-1950," database and images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : 2005); a multigenerational derivative citing Division of Vital Records, Arkansas Department of Health, Arkansas Death Index, 1914-1950 (Arkansas: Arkansas Genealogical Society).