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As the family story goes, my ancestry in America was initiated by one Thomas Reeves, came to the new land on the Bevis, crossing the Atlantic from SouthHampton, Englandin 1638. It seems Thomas was in servitude to one Henry Byley of Salesbury. Whether he was at time of sailing is unknown, as the excerpt from the ship's transcribed manifest below indicates, the Byleys were headed to Salisbury while Thomas was destined for Roxbury. |
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The Bevis |
| May, 1638 The Bevis of (South) Hampton departed Southampton |
| for New England"by vertue of the Lord Treasurers warrant of the |
| second of May" |
| . |
| . |
| DESTINATION: Salisbury |
| Byley (or Biley), Henry . 26 tanner, of Salisbury, county Wiltshire |
| Byley (or Biley), Mary . . 22 (sister of Henry Byley) |
| Byley, John . . . . . . . 20 (servant, not listed in "Planters") |
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| DESTINATION: Roxbury |
| Reeves, Thomas . . . . . . -- (Byley servant) |
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The Reeves family settled in Roxbury, Massachusetts and later, Thomas moved to Springfield, Massachusetts where he was the town drummer. He died at the age of 39 leaving a wife and three children. During his life he became the servant of one John Gore and in 1644 became a free man at which time he took a wife by the name of Hannah Rowe. |
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Eventually, the Reeves set up shop in Camden, NJ under the paternal head of Richard Seely Reeves. This following the family migrating from Springfield to Camden via Richard's father,Jarvis Davis Reeves and his wife Sarah Jane Noble; Jarvis's father Abijah Reeves & his wife Sarah Elwell; Abijah's father James Reeves and his wife Rebecca Peck; James father Thomas Reeves and his wife Rachel Foster; Thomas's father Thomas and his wife Rebecca ..??..(Reeves). It is at the corner of 4th and Main in Camden, NJ that I pick up the story for the purposes of this web site; as evidenced by the following photgraph, taken about 1875 by my estimation of things known about some of the people in the picture. |
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