ROBERT REAVES, a farmer and stock raiser, of the Twenty-third District of Bedford County, was born November 14, 1833, and is the son of Isom and Rachel (Morgan) Reaves. The father was a native of North Carolina and when a young man immigrated to Bedford County, Tenn., and settled in the Twenty-third District. He was a farmer and stock raiser, and was successful in all his undertakings. He was worth considerable property at the time of his death, which occurred January 1, 1871. He was the father of five children: Benjamin, John, Robert, Frances M. and Jane. Isom Reaves was twice married, his first wife being a Miss Chaney Coggens; three children were born to them, all dead but one, named William.
Our subject was reared on the farm and received a limited education in the common schools. In 1855 Miss Martha Morgan became his wife and this union resulted in the birth of five children: Bettie F., Mary J., Robert A., Dulcenia and Emmet. Mary J. died in 1869 and Robert A. died the same year. When the war broke out our subject acted as escort to Gen. Forrest. He was under Capt. Little and participated in all the battles in which his command was engaged. He owns a fine track of land and is one of the leading citizens of the county.
Transcribed by Kathryn Hopkins
Goodspeed Publishing Co. History of Tennessee from the Earliest Time to the Present: Together with an Historical and a Biographical Sketch of Maury, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson, Bedford & Marshall Counties, Besides a Valuable Fund of Notes, Reminescences [Sic], Observations, Etc., Etc. Easley, S.C.: Southern Historical Press, 1988.