William Harrison Reeves

William Harrison Reeves was born on June 22, 1840, in Solon, Cuyahoga County, Ohio.

William came to Michigan from Ohio with his parents in 1847, the family settling in Windsor Township, Eaton County. With the exception of time spent in the army, William lived the remainder of his life in Eaton County.

By late April of 1861 William was reported to be a member of the Lansing company called the “Williams’ Rifles,” whose members would serve as the nucleus of Company G on May 10, 1861. In fact, he stood 6’0” with blue eyes, light hair and a light complexion and was a 21-year-old farmer probably living in Eaton County when he enlisted in Company G on May 10, 1861. He was detached from the company and serving as a teamster by early May of 1862, and reported as a hospital nurse and teamster in July of 1862, an orderly in the (probably Regimental) Quartermaster department in August, a teamster from September through November, and a Brigade teamster from December of 1862 through September of 1863.

William was sick in the hospital from October of 1863 through February of 1864, and discharged on March 3, 1864, at Mt. Pleasant hospital in Washington, DC, for “loss of efficient use of left leg caused by injury to hip joint which . . . resulted from his horse falling on him while doing service as a teamster on September 20, 1863.”

William listed East Windsor, Eaton County as his mailing address on his discharge paper, and indeed he returned to Michigan where he engaged in farming for many years.

He married New York native Amelia Scofield (b. 1844) on December 16, 1864, and they had at least two children: Rosa (b. 1866) and George (b. 1869).

In about 1877 they settled in Eaton Rapids, and by 1880 William (listed as “Harrison”) was working as a drayman and living with his wife and children in Eaton Rapids. William was living in Eaton Rapids, Eaton County in 1883 when he was drawing and $8.00 per month an injury to the left hip (pension no. 28,279, dated May of 1864). Indeed, he probably lived out the remainder of his life in Eaton Rapids and was residing in the Third Ward in 1894. He became a Baptist in about 1892.

William died of heart failure at his home in Eaton Rapids’ Third Ward, on Thursday evening, June 13, 1901. The funeral was held at his home on Saturday, and was conducted by the Rev. L. D. Pettit. He was presumably buried in Eaton Rapids.

In August his widow was still living in Michigan when she applied for and received a pension (no. 526718).