My Genealogy Hound

W. W. REEVES, proprietor of the “Reeves Patent Stone” manufactory, Braddock, is a native of New Jersey, born in 1818. Henry Reeves, the original pioneer of the family of this name in the eastern states, and a native of England, came to this country in 1754, settled in New Jersey, to escape religious persecution; he was a Quaker, and Isaiah Reeves, father of W. W., born in New Jersey, was enrolled in the continental army at the age of sixteen, about the time Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown. Our subject was educated at the public schools of Burlington county, N. J., and at the age of seventeen learned the plastering trade in Philadelphia, which he has followed for fifty years as a contractor, etc. In 1862 he came to Braddock, where he has since introduced the manufacture of the “Reeves Patent Stone,” a durable composition used extensively for fine building purposes. In 1843 Mr. Reeves married Elizabeth, daughter of Isaac Young, a brick-contractor of Philadelphia, and a son of a revolutionary soldier, Capt. Young, who served under Washington, and eight children were born to them, three of whom are now living: Amanda (Mrs. McFarland), William Wallace and Howard C. The family are members of the Methodist Church; Mr. Reeves is a republican. In 1861 he invented a rifled cannon and an explosive shell, which were tested at Fort Monroe, and proved to be a success and adopted as a government piece of ordnance. He claims it to be the first rifled cannon made in this country or any other.