Green Rives of Dinwiddie County Virginia

Transcribed from book written by John R. T. Rives

I. WILLIAM BUCHANAN MOORE, SR., married second Louise Nolen. Issue:

I. WILLIAM BUCHANAN MOORE, SR., married third Emma (Morgan) Cunningham, a widow, January 15, 1927. No children. He died Nov. 23, 1933 at Petersburg, Tenn. His widow resides at Petersburg, Tenn.

VI. WILLIS GREEN RIVES, b. at Dinwiddie County, Va., Sept. 21, 1821, d. Dec. 27, 1860 at Petersburg, Tenn. He was listed as one of the founders of Petersburg Lodge, 123, Free and Accepted Masons, Feb. 2, 1846. He affiliated with this Lodge March 21, 1853, and was elected Senior Warden on June 20, 1853; he was in good standing when he died. He was a prominent and well-to-do planter, living near Belleville, Lincoln Count y, Tenn. He was married twice; his first wife was Margaret Hall. There was no issue by this marriage. The second wife was Virginia Fonville, and had one child:

A WILL . . . .

Willis Green Rives made his will which was recorded in the Court House at Fayetteville, Lincoln County, Tennessee, Dec. 26, 1860. Taken from the records in the Court House, Fayetteville, Lincoln County, Tennessee.

WILLIS G. RIVES: I make this my last will and testimony. My debts are to be paid. I give to my wife, Virginia Rives, all of my household and kitchen furniture. The remainder of real estate and personal belongings, to be sold and equally divided between my wife, Virginia and my child, N. S. B. Rives, except a negro boy, Cephus, for my wife and child.

I want the guardian of my child N. S. B. Rives, to see that he has a good education and if the interest on one-half of my estate is not sufficient to complete his education, he can use as much of the principal as necessary for education.

I give and bequeath to Brother Henry H. Rives, and wife, Catherine H. Rives, my entire interest in a negro man named Asbury.

I hereby appoint H. M. Blake and Jeff M. Stone, my executors.

I. Willis G. Rives, declare this to be my last will and testimony. This on 26th day of Dec. in the year of our Lord, 1860.

Signed W. G. Rives Witness:

W. Hugh McTeir
William R. Hanaway

NEIL S. B. RIVES

(1) Neil Smith Brown Rives, b. Sept. 27, 1848 at Petersburg, Tenn., attended the local schools and later moved to Kankakee, Illinois, where he was employed by his uncles, Benjamin Watkins Leigh Rives and William Fonville, in the mercantile business. He later returned to his former home at Belleville, Lin coln County, Tenn., and rose to a position of some emminence in his community, serving a term in t h e Tennessee Legislature, 1893-94. He died in the prime of his man hood and in the midst of a useful life the result of a pistol fight with one Jim Buntley over a line fence. His death occurred May 24, 1896, near Fayetteville, Tenn. He married in 1868 Eliza Jane Dollins, Lincoln County, Tenn., daughter of Joel Mallory and Margaret (Summerford) Dollins of Belleville, Tenn. He joined the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, Nov. 5, 1871 at Petersburg, Tenn. Issue:

(3) NELLIE ELIZA RIVES, b. Jan. 1, 1878, m. April 30, 1899, Hastings Ladd, a farmer of Allisona, Tenn. (Nellie Eliza Ladd is deceased) . Issue: (1) Ross H. Ladd, resides 1111 North Aster A-2, Milwaukee, Wis.

(8) JOEL MALLORY RIVES, b. Sept. 24, 1890, m. Nov. 26, 1919 to Gladys Petty. Died Feb. 13, 1946. He was a successful planter residing at Route 5, Fayetteville, Tenn. He was helpful in furnishing data regarding his father and grandfather. Issue:

(9) ETHEL EDNA RIVES, Jan. 25, 1893, m. William Collier, Sept. 22, 1915. Issue:

FRANCES MARKHAM RIVES, daughter of Green Rives, born about 1823, in Dinwiddie County, Virginia, married Robert Latta Neely, of Sumner County, Tennessee, who enlisted at an advanced age in the Confederate Army, was taken prisoner and died at Camp Chase, Ohio. Frances Rives Neely died in Huntsville, Alabama (unable to get the date of her marriage or death) .

(1) LOUISE NEELY, daughter of Frances M. (Rives) Neely, b married Wyatt Henry Harrison, at Columbia, Tennessee, Issue:

(3) GEORGE MITCHELL NEELY, son of Frances M. Rives and Robert Latta Neely, b. Oct. 28, 1856 in Athens, Alabama. He organized the firm of Neely-Harwell & Company, in Nashville, Tennessee and became a prominent citizen and successful merchant in that city. Exemplifying in his life the public spirit which has so constantly characterized the Rives family of which he was a member. He served for twenty-five years as Trustee of Vanderbilt University. He married on Nov. 9, 1887, Mamie Carnes Robertson, daughter of Dr. John S. and Nannie (Carnes) Robertson, who, after her husband's death in 1922, made a gift to Vanderbilt University of an auditorium to be known as the George Mitchell Neely Memorial Auditorium which was dedicated in 1925 at the Semi-Centenial Celebration of the establishment of the University. Members of the Rives and Neely family were in attendance. Mrs. Neely, at her death, willed everything in his estate to Vanderbilt University, including her home.

Mamie (Robertson) Neely, wife of George Mitchell Neely, was a lineal descendant of James Robertson, founder of Nashville, Tennessee, and his wife Charlotte Rives, of Northampton, North Carolina. Charlotte Rives married January 21, 1768 in Wake County, North Carolina, James Robertson (b. June 24, 1742) in Brunswick County, Virginia.

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