Rawlins L. Reaves, a Florida Pioneer

Rev. Rawlins L Reaves, a traveling Methodist Minister

Like many other pioneering  families in Florida, the Reaves family migrated south from the Carolinas.  Prior to the Revolutionary War the Reaves clan owned and operated Reaves Ferry in Horry County, South Carolina.  Mark Reaves and Spicy Ann Smith Reaves are both buried in the Reaves Family Cemetery in Horry County, South Carolina.  They had eleven (11) children.

Rawlins Lowndes Reaves was the youngest child of Mark Reaves and Spicy Ann Smith Reaves.  Rawlins married Delilah Ann Gilbert, in Thomasville Georgia after attending ministerial school in January of 1834.   They remained in Thomas, Georgia until 1843-44, when they moved their family to the town of Monticello, located in Jefferson County,  FL.  For over thirty-five years Rawlins preached the word of God, traveling throughout southern Georgia and parts of North and Central Florida.

Rawlins Lowndes Reaves and Delilah Ann Gilbert Reaves had eleven (11) children.

James Alexander Reaves – Born in Georgia in 1834.  James served in Company H, 3^rd Florida Infantry Regiment, CSA, and died January 12, 1863 at Foard Hospital from wounds sustained in Chattanooga, TN.

Daniel Asbury Reaves – Born in Georgia in 1836, he married Lucretia (Creasy) Ann Sledge in 1858.   On April 25, 1862 he joined Company H, 3^rd Florida Infantry Regiment, CSA, and was wounded at Chickamauga on September 20 1863. Daniel served in the war until April 15, 1865.  He died October 30, 1902, Worthington Springs, Union County, Florida.

Elizabeth “Bessy” Herd Reaves  – Born in Georgia in 1839 she married G W Jeffcoat and moved to St. Lucie County, Florida where she died in 1921.

Samuel Johnson Reaves – Born in Georgia in 1841, he served in Company H, 3^rd Florida Infantry Regiment, CSA, until his death May 9, 1862, Gainesville Florida.

Richard Gilbert Reaves – Born 1844 in Monticello, Jefferson County, Florida.   He married Jane E. (Jenny) Taff, and died July 1, 1912, Bradford County, Florida.

Mark Bryan Reaves – Born 1846 in Monticello, Jefferson County, Florida,  he married Catherine F. Reams in 1870. He Died June 1, 1924, in Winter Garden, Orange County, Florida.

Joshua Thomas Reaves – Born 1848, Monticello, Jefferson County, Fl.  and died January 6, 1930, Kissimmee, Osceola County, Florida.

Solomon Reaves – Born 1850 in Monticello, Jefferson County, Florida.  Married Alice A. Speer in 1874.  His date and place of death is unknown at this time.

Spicy A. Reaves – Born 1852 in Monticello, Jefferson County, Florida.  She married E. Lewis Daniel Overstreet in 1872.  She died December 13 1910, Kissimmee, Osceola County, Florida.

Martha Matilda Reaves – Born in Monticello, Jefferson County, Florida in 1854.  She married William Pinkney Reams in 1874 and she died in 1910.

Rawlins Lowndes Reaves, Jr. – Born 1857, Monticello, Jefferson County, Florida   He married Emma Leticia Martin in 1879 and he died March 5, 1941, in Winter Garden, Orange County, Florida.

After the civil war, Rawlins Lowndes Reaves Sr. relocated his now mostly adult family from Monticello, Florida, in Jefferson County, some 220 miles south through unsettled territory to establish Reaves settlement located just west of Winter Garden, Florida in 1867.

After Delilah’s death in 1876, Rawlins Sr. married Augusta Ann Stanly in 1878.  They had two additional children.

John Lattimore Reaves – Born 1879, Winter Garden, FL

Rosabelle Reaves – Born 1882, Winter Garden, FL

Rawlins Lowndes Reaves died February 1, 1901, in Winter Garden, Florida, where many of his descendants still live today.  However, Reaves settlement is now known as Beulah and Reaves road remains a major road in the community.  Rawlins Lowndes Reaves was my gr. gr. gr. great-grandfather.