William F. Reeves

William F. Reeves

William F. Reeves, son of Jabez, was born on the family homestead in Brown County, Ohio in 1827. Nine children were born into the home of him and his wife, including Marshall T. and Milton O. He farmed in the summer and taught school in the winter. The latter position he held for five years before returning entirely to the farm. In 1850 he married Hannah Gilson, four years his junior. After earlier establishing the Hoosier Boy Cultivator Company, in 1888 William and three sons (Marshall, Milton and Girnie) founded the Reeves Pulley Company in Columbus, Indiana in 1890. He died in Knightstown, Indiana in 1892.
Other Reeves’ family members were waiting in the wings. Alfred Benton, son of Jabez was a man fully alert to the interests of the business and possessing executive ability. Through his sales and marketing skills Reeves implements could be seen throughout the Great Plains. In 1859 he married Louise Redick who died seven years later, leaving Alfred with one child. A second marriage (1867), this one to Pantha Wadlington, brought them three children. In his later years Alfred, a Democrat by persuasion, served on the Columbus City Council, was chief of the Fire Department and, with his family, a member of the Christian Church in the city. He passed away in 1889.