Reece Family
Alfred REECE was born about 1830 in Greene County, Tennessee. He was one of the eleven children of John REECE Sr. (5/4/1783 - 3/6/1861) and Mary OTTINGER (2/7/1788 - 1/31/1885), who lived on a Nolichucky River farm at the Cocke/Greene countyline.
Alfred married Elizabeth PHIPPS, one of the eight children of Ira (1805 NC) and Nancy (1806, NC) PHIPPS, on December 4, 1856 in Greene County, Tennessee. Elizabeth was born on July 31, 1838 in Greene County, Tennessee. In the spring of 1857, they bought a small farm in Del Rio.
Alfred & Elizabeth (Phipps) REECE of Big Creek (Del Rio), Tennessee
Alfred and Elizabeth had two daughters: Mary Caroline REECE (7/27/1860 - 5/31/1949), who married George Washington WOODY (5/1/1864 - 8/9/1943), and Sydney Emaline REECE (7/30/1862 - 7/10/1937), who married Nicholas Brown FOX (9/8/1855 - 11/28/1924).
Alfred along with three of his brothers died during the Civil War. The most famous of his brothers was Peter REECE, who was hanged openly by the Confederacy at Parrottsville, Cocke County, Tennessee. (See The Hanging of Peter Reece by Duay O'Neil, Cocke County Banner, June 22, 1977 for the story.)
Alfred enlisted, as a private, in the 4th Tennessee Cavalry Volunteers, US Army. After two years of battle, he was captured by Confederate forces . In captivity, he became ill with fever, possibly from malaria (which was very common), and died on May 26, 1865 at the Sedgewick Military Hospital in Greenville, Louisiana. He was buried at Chalmette National Cemetery, square 37, grave 92, in Chalmette, Louisiana.
Elizabeth continued to live close to her family in the Del Rio area, until her death on July 10, 1928. She is buried in the FOX Cemetery, next to her daughters and their husbands.
Special thanks to Paul Metcalf for the above photographs of Alfred and Elizabeth.
