I've told a number of people through the years, that I use the mornings as research time, no matter where I call home. I sit with coffee, and I read, and write, and search for things old and unknown. Discoveries. Documents, photos. I've been called a detective of sorts. Yesterday, as I was wondering if I had been sitting too long in this apartment (I'm living in Chiang Mai Thailand right now), I came across a stash of old wills and probate papers. It always happens like this, right when I'm about to pull the plug, something comes my way. It was a kind of estate accounting from 1862. Some business, er, executors, er whatever whoever it was at the time, was trying to value an estate. And that's when I saw the short list of "negros," right above "1 Bed & Furniture," "1 Bureau," and "1 Falling leaf Table." Now I have to say, it's nothing new to see a list like this, the dichotomy of valuing human life with that
Francis West marries Margery Reeves in early 1639 in Duxbury. She is said to be from England, the Isle of Wright specifically. But there's no proof. Early writings about her say she may have come over as a servant of some family, as an unattached woman in the Colony would be unheard of. Additionally, in one writing, Carlton Prince West goes on to say, "no Reeves family, including the possible variants of Reaves and Rives, has been found in the area of southeastern Massachusetts." So she cannot be placed. But I'm confused. It's clear there is another Reaves family (different spelling) living very close by to our Francis and Margery. Not only that, but this other Reaves family has a daughter named Mary Margaret Reaves that marries James Skiffe in 1637 in Sandwich, Plymouth Colony. Though I guess this is suspect too, as Sandwich doesn't appear to be settled until 1639. But what's a few years in early American history? So this James Skiffe (1610-1