Reeves, Robert F.

REEVES

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 6/30/2021 at 00:02:28

History of Warren County, Iowa from Its Earliest Settlement to 1908, by Rev. W. C. Martin, Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, Illinois, 1908, p.540

ROBERT F. REEVES
Robert F. Reeves is numbered among the representative citizens of Warren County. He now makes his home in Milo, where he is living retired, but for many years he was actively identified with farming interests. His birth occurred in Hancock County, Indiana, August 30, 1836. His great, great­ grandfather in the paternal line was the founder of the Reeves family in America, coming here with two brothers from England before the Revolution­ary War. The grandfather, James Reeves enlisted as a soldier of the war for Independence. Both he and his wife, Elizabeth, were natives of North Carolina, where they spent their lives, their home being near Raleigh, until 1815, when they removed to Preble County, Ohio, and the following year located in Hancock County, Indiana, where they died.
Their son, Eli Reeves, was born in the Old North state and in early manhood wedded Amelia Curry, a native of Virginia. They went to Indiana at an early day and in 1844 came to Iowa, casting in their lot among the pioneer residents of this state. They first settled near Oskaloosa, where they secured a claim from the government of one hundred and sixty acres of land. There Mr. Reeves developed a wild tract into rich and productive fields, upon which he spent his remaining days. He reached the age of almost ninety years, and his wife, surviving him for about eleven months, passed away at the age of eighty-three. Their sons and daughters were as follows: Elizabeth, who died in infancy; Robert F.; James, a resident of Osceola, Iowa; Azariah, who resided in McCook County, Nebraska; Maria, the wife of A. J. Fansher, who is living near Oskaloosa; Sarah Ann, the wife of John McCormick, whose home is near Oskaloosa, Iowa; William J., who is located near Montezuma, Iowa; Anna, who married Nathan Cox and resides near Oskaloosa.
Robert F. Reeves was educated in the subscription schools and assisted in the work of the home farm until twenty-one years of age, when he started out in life for himself. He first rented a farm near the old home place. The country was very new and one could ride across the prairies for miles without seeing a habitation. The nearest railway was at Ottumwa. There was much wild game including turkeys, prairie chickens and also an occasional deer, while from time to time one might see a strolling band of Indians.
The first home of the family in Iowa was a little log cabin, and though it was in great contrast to the modern farm residences, it was still the dwelling place of free and happy hearts, and the experiences of those early days will never be forgotten by the old pioneers. Mr. Reeves completed his arrange­ments for having a home of his own by his marriage, on the 14th of January 1858, to Sarah Jane Chick, a daughter of John and Elizabeth (Herdzog) Chick, natives of Pennsylvania and Maryland respectively. In 1856 they removed to Mahaska County, Iowa, where they resided until 1875, and then became residents of Clarke County, Iowa, where their remaining days were passed., both reaching an advanced age. In their family were nine children: Henry B., a resident of Little Rock, Arkansas; William F., of the same city; Harriet; Sarah Jane, now Mrs. Reeves; Amy, deceased; Eliza, who was killed by the Indians in New Mexico; John Fred, who accidentally shot himself when hunt­ing; Margaret, the wife of George Clapp, of Osceola; and Ella, the wife of John Reed, who resides in Delta County, Colorado.
Mr. and Mrs. Reeves are parents of eight children: William and Elsia, who died in infancy; Elva, a resident of Milo, who became the wife of Archie Trotter whose death occurred in North Dakota in 1899; Oscar, who died in infancy; Hattie, the wife of F. H. Starr, a farmer and stockman and the cashier of the Citizens Bank of Milo; Elizabeth, the wife of Henry Trotter, a resident of White Oak Township ; Eva R., who married Colonel T. T. Sandy, living near Valley Junction, Iowa; and Aggie, the wife of Henry Sandy, whose home is near Sandyville, this county.
For the past three years Mr. Reeves has lived quietly in Milo but is still the owner of a fine farm of one hundred and ninety acres on section 5 and also owns a farm of one hundred and ninety-eight acres near Cool in Squaw Town­ship. In the work of tilling the soil he has gained a creditable measure of prosperity because he has labored diligently and his efforts have been guided by intelligence and sound judgment. He has always been a strong advocate of temperance in all things and has never tasted liquor in his life. He votes with the democracy, and both he and his wife are members of the Baptist Church, while in the community where they live they are held in the highest esteem.