Tarrant County, TXGenWeb

The Reeves & Brewer Families

 


The Reeves Family in Tarrant Co., Texas
by Tex D. Carter

 

George Franklin Reeves

born 1831 in Grayson Co., VA the eldest son of Osborn Reeves (b.1809 VA) and Rebecca Osborn.

 

[For larger pictures, click on the images.]

 

Elizabeth Caroline Brewer

born 1836, Grayson Co. VA the daughter of James Brewer (1801 - 1888) and Mary Polly Hale (1804 - 1878).

George and Elizabeth were married 1 Feb 1866 at Rome, Floyd Co., GA. Sometime within the next year, they moved to Tarrant Co., Texas as the census of 1870 shows their first child born there by that time. They first settled in the Birdville area. Later they moved to a farm about four miles north of Handley. Many of their descendants are buried in Birdville Cemetery. George engaged in various business ventures including part owner of a mill and farming. They also helped to establish Ishams Chapel Church where George and Elizabeth were charter members. His parents stayed in Georgia a few more years, but moved to Tarrant Co. before their death. Osborn, Rebecca, George and Elizabeth are all buried at the Old Handley Cemetery. The Tarrant County Junior College, N.E. Campus History Room has many pictures and artifacts relating to the settlement of this area. The Reeves family is well represented in this collection.

The 1880 Tarrant County Census has George with the following children: John A. (b. 23 Feb 1867 Tarrant Co.) 13, William O. 11, George Preston 9, Mary R. 7, Martha C. 5, and Dock F. 3. A daughter Essee was born in 1881. George died in 1886 but Elizabeth was in the 1890-91 Tarrant Co. Census of Farmers and Planters listed as Mrs. E.C. Reeves with 746 acres. Her parents and siblings also came west and most of them settled in the Eastland, Brown and Stephens Counties. Several children of George lived on the Tarrant Co. Farm.

My grandfather, Dock Franklin Reeves, ran a dairy farm on approximately 200 acres of the land. The picture at the top of this page is of his farm. Dock married May Austin from Sparta, Tennessee. They had four children: Willie Mae, Jimmie Weldon, Francis Lee, and Mary Lou.

Mary Lou married Joe Newton and they ran the dairy until about 1950. Sons Jimmy and Francis (Abe) kept stock on the farm, but had their own farms nearby.

Jimmy and Abe were very active in rodeo riding and roping. When Abe was young, he had a team of mules and he cut the roads for Rose Hill Cemetery in Handley. In later years, he was very active in buying and selling cattle both in Minnesota and occasionally even in Venezuela.
 


The James Brewer Family
by Tex D. Carter

James Brewer, (18 August 1801 - 11 December 1888) the son of Lewis Brewer and Agatha Holland, married 22 June 1822, Grayson Co., VA, Marry "Polly" Hale, the daughter of Dudley Hale and Mary Burroughs. They moved to Floyd Co., Georgia before 1860 and on to Texas and Tarrant Co and finally to May out in Eastland County where they both died and are buried in Pleasant Valley Cemetery.
 

Their children are:
1. Elizabeth Caroline Brewer, b. 1836, Virginia md G. F. Reeves
2. Martin V. Brewer moved to and was living in Tarrant Co. in the 1870 census, died in 1937 and is buried in May, Texas
3. Olive Brewer
4. Martha Brewer
5. Fielder Brewer died in Brown Co., Texas 5-12-1918
6. Lucinda Brewer
7. Preston Brewer who lived near his sister Elizabeth and when he died in 1902 was buried in the Old Handley Cemetery.
 


This page was last modified 4 April 2002.

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