Reaves Family Papers Inventory (#4764)

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Manuscripts Department, Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Collection Information
block Descriptive Summary Including Abstract
block Administrative Information
block Online Catalog Terms
block Biographical Note
block Collection Overview
block Organization of Collection
plus Series Descriptions
Contact Information:
Manuscripts Department
CB#3926, Wilson Library
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC 27514-8890
Phone: 919/962-1345
Fax: 919/962-3594
Email: mss@email.unc.edu
URL: http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/
Processed by:
Meg Phillips
Date Completed:
November 1996
Encoded by:
Linda Sellars
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Descriptive Summary Including Abstract

Title
Reaves Family Papers 1834-1942, 1996
Creator
Reaves family.
Extent
About 500 items (1.0 linear feet)
Repository
Southern Historical Collection
Abstract
The Reaves family were prosperous planters and businessmen originally from Wayne County, N.C., who lived from around 1837 in Hardeman County, Tenn. Edmund Reaves moved to Tennessee with many of his neighbors from North Carolina. He had a plantation with land valued at $29,000 and 42 slaves in 1860, and he ran a small store in Middleton, Tenn. His son, John Rufus Reaves, also ran a store; founded and edited a newspaper, The Hardeman Free Press, served in several civic offices including the Tennessee State Senate; worked for the Cumberland Telephone and Telegraph of Bolivar, Tenn.; and was a member of fraternal organizations including the Freemasons and the Ku Klux Klan. John Rufus Reaves's three children were Ina Emma Campbell Reaves Stroupe, Stella-Dora (Teddie) Reaves Kearney, and Edmund Hugh Reaves. Edmund H. Reaves worked in telephone offices for most of his life, finally settling in Rocky Mount, N.C., where he was the district manager for the Carolina Telephone office. Edmund H. Reaves married Emily Mae Moore and had one daughter, Margaret Elizabeth Reaves McGregor Coleman. This collection documents the careers and faces of members of the Reaves family of Middleton and Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn., from 1834 to 1942. The papers include the will of John Reaves (d.1835), several Civil War and Reconstruction-era papers of Edmund Reaves documenting his claims against the U.S. Army in the war and claiming that he had never supported the Confederacy, and many financial papers, some correspondence, legal materials, Masonic documents and other papers of John Rufus Reaves. There are clippings taken from John R. Reaves's paper, The Hardeman Free Press of Bolivar, Tenn., and a copy of C. W. Tyler's The K.K.K., a book passed down from John R. to Edmund H. Reaves. The collection also includes sixty pictures of virtually every member of the Reaves family, including Edmund H. Reaves's siblings, Stella-Dora (Teddie) Reaves Kearney and Ina Emma Campbell Reaves Stroupe, his wife, Emily Mae Moore, and his daughter, Margaret Elizabeth Reaves McGregor Coleman, some of their friends, and the John Rufus Reaves House. Many of the images are cased ambrotypes and daguerrotypes, but tintypes and albumen prints are also represented among the nineteenth-century prints. There are a number of twentieth-century photographs as well, mainly of Edmund H. Reaves and of a John Rufus Reaves family reunion held in 1930.
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Administrative Information

Access
No restrictions.
Usage Restrictions
Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Provenance
Received from John Collins Sykes III of Tuscaloosa, Ala., in July 1995 (Acc. 95092) and March 1996 (Acc. 96020).
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Online Catalog Terms

Coleman, Margaret Elizabeth Reaves McGregor, 1909-1995.
Freemasons--Tennessee--History--19th century.
Kearney, Stella-Dora Reaves, 1877-1955.
Reaves, John Rufus, 1850-1933.
Reaves, Edmund, 1810-1876.
Reaves, Edmund Hugh, 1878-1950.
Reaves, Emily Mae Moore, 1883-1971.
Stroupe, Ina Emma Campbell Reaves, 1871-1937.
Reaves family.
Hardeman County (Tenn.)--History.
Middleton (Tenn.)--History.
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Claims.
Wayne County (N.C.)--History.
Ku Klux Klan (1866-1869).
Reconstruction--Tennessee.
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Biographical Note

Edmund Reaves (1810-1876) was born in Wayne County, N.C., in 1810. In 1835, he served as executor of the will of his father, John Reaves. Around 1837 Edmund Reaves moved, with several relatives and Wayne County neighbors, to Hardeman County, Tenn. In 1838 he married Charlotte Pope McKinne, also originally from Wayne County. Edmund Reaves became a successful planter, owning $29,000 in land and 42 slaves, according to the 1860 census. He also ran a store in Middleton, Tenn. Edmund and Charlotte Reaves had six children, of whom only one, John Rufus Reaves (1850-1933) survived past the age of twenty. William H. Reaves (1842-1862) and Edmund David Reaves (1844-1861) died in the Civil War; Mary Jane (Mollie) Reaves (1848-1868) died in childbirth.

John Rufus Reaves worked in his father's store in Middleton, then ran a store of his own in Bolivar, Tenn. He served as postmaster of Middleton and justice of the peace. He was also a small farmer, the founder and editor of The Hardeman Free Press and he served one term in the Tennessee state senate starting in 1899. Finally, he served as local manager for the Cumberland Telephone and Telegraph Company in Bolivar. John R. Reaves was a member of the Ku Klux Klan, the Methodist Church, the Masons and other fraternal organizations. He was married three times, to Mary L. (Mollie) Campbell, Sue Margaret Falls, and Sarah Alexander Matthews, and had three surviving children. His children were Ina Emma Campbell Reaves Stroupe (1871-1937) from his first marriage and Stella-Dora (Teddie) Reaves Kearney (1877-1955) and Edmund Hugh Reaves (1878-1950) from his second.

Edmund Hugh Reaves began his career working in his father's newspaper office, then in the Cumberland Telephone and Telegraph Company. He worked as a manager in several telephone offices, finally settling in Rocky Mount, N.C. where he was the district manager of the Carolina Telephone office. He and his family lived in Rocky Mount from 1922 until his death in 1950. Edmund H. Reaves married Emily Mae Moore (1883-1971) and had one daughter, Margaret Elizabeth Reaves (1909-1995).

(This note condensed from the biographical sketch written by John Collins Sykes, III in 1996 based on his research in Reaves family papers, the North Carolina State Archives, and in Hardeman County, Tenn. See Sykes's sketch in folder 12 of this collection.)

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Collection Overview

The Reaves family papers contain a wide variety of material collected by members of the Reaves family beginning in 1834 and continuing until around 1900. There are newspapers, clippings, and many photographs from the twentieth century, but the majority of the written material in the collection dates from the 1870s, 1880s, and 1890s, and documents the financial, legal, and business dealings of John Rufus Reaves (1850-1933).

The pictures in the collection provide at least one image of almost everyone in the Reaves family tree, including Edmund and Charlotte Pope McKinne Reaves and all five of their children who survived infancy. John Rufus Reaves, his three wives and three children are all represented, and their spouses and children. Most of the nineteenth century pictures are ambrotypes in cases of wood and leather or molded thermoplastic "union cases." There are also six tintypes, two daguerreotypes in a shared case, and a few albumen prints. There are a number of twentieth-century photographs, mainly of Edmund Hugh Reaves and of the whole family taken at a reunion of John R. Reaves and his descendants held in 1930.

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Organization of Collection

1. Papers
2. Pictures
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Series Descriptions

1. Papers, 1834-1942, 1996.

About 500 items, including four volumes.
Arrangement: by type of material.
Papers containing a wide variety of materials, ranging in type and date from the will of John Reaves written in 1834 to newspapers and clippings from the 1940s. The majority of this series, however, was produced by John Rufus Reaves in the course of his career as a merchant, postmaster, newspaper editor, Mason, and landowner. The letters in the collection are mainly addressed to John R. Reaves; it includes many bills sent in letter form. Legal materials include John Reaves's will and the record of the sale of his property after his death, many documents concerning the sale of land, and two land maps showing Edmund Reaves's holdings in Arkansas. There are documents related to elections in Hardeman County, Tenn., and the bankruptcy of William Reaves.
The collection includes many financial papers, the majority of which are bills, receipts, tax records, promissory notes, and bills which John R. Reaves's store sent to others. The miscellaneous material includes documents intended to help Edmund Reaves retrieve property taken by the Union Army during the Civil War, documents intended to certify that John R. Reaves had never been a Confederate sympathizer after the Civil War, druggists' prescriptions, a couple of Masonic documents, and other papers.
There are three notebooks and one published book in the collection. Two of the notebooks were put out as promotions by businesses, B. Lowenstein & Bros. and Brown's Iron Bitters, and were used between 1889 and 1893 for the first and between 1891 and 1892 for the second for notes, lists, and calculations. The third notebook is leather bound with "Edmund Reaves 1855 - 1856" written on the cover; it contains records of the slaves belonging to various members of the McKinne family and headings such as "hire and rent for 1854." It was kept from 1854 through 1864. Only the first seven leaves were used; the rest of the book is blank except for an inscription by the book's previous owner at the end. The published book is The K.K.K. by C. W. Tyler (New York: North River Publishing House, 1903). "J.R. Reaves" is written on the first page, and "Given to me 7-4-32 by my father who was at that time one of three living members of the original KKK in Hardeman C. Tenn. E. H. Reaves" is written above it.
The remaining items in this series are newspapers or parts of newspapers and the genealogical research on the Reaves family done by John Collins Sykes III in 1996. The newspapers are one part of The Commercial Appeal of Memphis, Tenn., from 20 September 1921 containing a long story called "Ku Klux Klan of Olden Days Saved Southern Civilization. " There are four copies of The Bolivar Bulletin of Bolivar, Tenn., from 1901, 1902, 1940, and 1941. There is also one copy of the paper edited by John R. Reaves, The Hardeman Free Press of Bolivar, Tenn., from 1908. There are also a few newspaper clippings, mainly obituaries. The biographical and genealogical information provided by John Collins Sykes III includes photocopies of the birth, death, and marriage pages of the Reaves family Bible, detailed biographical information on many Reaves family members, and two family trees.
   Folder 1
Letters, 1879-1889
   Folder 2
Letters, 1891-1894 and undated
   Folder 3
Legal papers, 1834-1898 and undated
   Folder 4-6
Financial papers
   Folder 7
Miscellaneous
   Folder 8
Newspapers and clippings
   Folder 9
Volumes 1 and 2 - notebooks
   Folder 10
Volume 3 - notebook
   Folder 11
Volume 4 - The K.K.K. by C. W. Tyler
   Folder 12
Reaves family genealogy compiled 1996 by John Collins Sykes III

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2. Pictures, ca. 1850-ca. 1940.

60 items.
Arrangement: by subject of picture, roughly chronological.
Sixty images of members of the Reaves family, a few of their friends, the John Rufus Reaves house, and one unidentified woman. The images are arranged by the subject of the picture roughly in generation order, with parents first (and any of their family members who do not fall under them in the tree), then their children and their children's spouses, then the children's children, etc. Pictures of more than one family member are at the end. Identification of pictures comes from the pictures themselves and from the genealogical material and picture list compiled by John Collins Sykes, III; see folder 12 to consult this material. The pictures consist of one lacquer case containing two daguerreotypes, seventeen ambrotypes, all in cases of either wood and leather or molded thermoplastic material, six tintypes, and thirty-six photographs. The photographs consist of mainly 20th-century prints and a few 19th-century albumen prints.
SF-P-4764/1: Ambrotype of Edmund Reaves (1810-1876). Negative on file.
SF-P-4764/2-3: Tintypes of Edmund Reaves (1810-1876). Negatives on file.
SF-P-4764/4-5: Ambrotypes of Charlotte Pope McKinne Reaves (1812-1889). Negatives on file.
SF-P-4764/6: Tintype of Charlotte Pope McKinne Reaves (1812-1889). Negative on file.
SF-P-4764/7: Daguerreotypes of Edmund Reaves (1810-1876) and Charlotte Pope McKinne Reaves (1812-1889) housed in one case. Negatives on file.
SF-P-4764/8: Ambrotype of Charlotte Pope McKinne (1788-1861).Negative on file.
SF-P-4764/9: Ambrotype of John Rufus Reaves (1850-1933) as a child. Negative on file.
P-4764/10-11: Photographs of John Rufus Reaves (1850-1933).
P-4764/12: Photograph of John Rufus Reaves (1850-1933) taken in 1930.
P-4764/13: Photograph of John Rufus Reaves (1850-1933) with the Royal Arch Masons of Saulsbury, Tenn.
SF-P-4764/14-15: Ambrotypes of Edmund David Reaves (1844-1861). Negatives on file.
SF-P-4764/16-18: Ambrotypes of William H. Reaves (1842-1862). Negatives on file.
SF-P-4764/19: Ambrotype of Mary (Mollie) Jane Reaves (1848-1868) as a child. Negative on file.
SF-P-4764/20-21: Ambrotypes of Mary (Mollie) Jane Reaves (1848-1868). Negatives on file.
SF-P-4764/22: Ambrotype of Robert A. Reaves (1853-1870). Negative on file.
SF-P-4764/23: Ambrotype of Sue Margaret Falls Reaves (1855-1915) as a child. Negative on file.
P-4764/24-25: Photographs of Sue Margaret Falls Reaves (1855-1915). Negatives on file.
P-4764/26: Photograph of Sue Margaret Falls Reaves (1855-1915), Betty Guy Swift and Dora Guy Joyner. Negative on file.
SF-P-4764/27: Ambrotype of Hugh Henry Falls (1814-1864). Negative on file.
P-4764/28: Photograph of Sarah (Sallie) Jane Scott Falls Chaffin (ca.1833-ca.1872). Negative on file.
SF-P-4764/29: Tintype of Mary (Mollie) L. Campbell Reaves (1853-1876).
SF-P-4764/30: Tintype of Ina Emma Campbell Reaves Stroupe (1871-1937) as a baby.
P-4764/31-32: Photographs of Stella Dora (Teddie) Reaves Kearney (1877-1955).
P-4764/33: Photograph of William Robert Kearney (1874-1941) as a baby.
SF-P-4764/34: Tintype of William Robert Kearney (1874-1941) as a child.
P-4764/35: Photograph of William Robert Kearney (1874-1941).
P-4764/36: Photograph of Edmund Hugh Reaves (1878-1950) as a child. Negative on file.
P-4764/37-45: Photographs of Edmund Hugh Reaves (1878-1950).
P-4764/46-49: Photographs of Edmund Hugh Reaves (1878-1950) in groups.
P-4764/50-51: Photographs of Emily Mae Moore Reaves (1883-1971).
P-4764/52: Photograph of "Reunion of John R. Reaves family and Descendants, June 27,1930"
P-4764/53: Photograph of John R. Reaves and the Stroupe family, 1930.
P-4764/54: Photograph of John R. Reaves, John Reaves Stroupe, and John Reaves Stroupe, Jr., 1930.
P-4764/55: Photograph of John R. Reaves and Edmund Hugh Reaves, 1930.
P-4764/56: Photograph of John R. Reaves and Sarah Alexander Matthews Reaves (1875-1944), 1930.
P-4764/57: Photograph of John R. Reaves and Margaret Elizabeth Reaves (1909-1995) as a child on a horse. Negative on file.
P-4764/58: Photograph of General Rufus Polk Neely (1808-1901).
P-4764/59: John Rufus Reaves house at 404 W. Jackson St., Bolivar, Tenn. Negative on file.
SF-P-4764/60: Ambrotype of an unidentified young woman.

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