My Jackson Purchase Families
The Jackson Purchase is bounded by the Mississippi River to the west, the Ohio River to the north and the Tennessee River on the east. This area was not opened for settlement until after 1818 when Andrew Jackson and Isaac Shelby purchased the area from the Chickasaw indian tribe. The eight westernmost counties of Kentucky comprise this area often referred to simply as the Purchase.
My grandfather, William Hubbard Reeves, was born in Ballard County, Kentucky on December 21, 1882 and was a descendent of the Reeves, Wingo, Pryor, Beadles, Clapp and Hall families.
Most of these families came to the Jackson Purchase area around 1830 soon after it was opened for settlement. The Wingo, Pryor, Beadles and Clapp families settled in Graves County while the Reeves and Halls were in neighboring Ballard and McCracken counties.
My first trip to Kentucky's Jackson Purchase was around the age of 4 or 5 years old with my parents and grandparents and I can still remember thinking that it was the most beautiful, GREEN place I had ever seen. Sixty years later, I still think that it's lush, green and beautiful.
The information contained in this site has been collected during forty years of research by my mother, her sisters and myself. It is the product of trips to Kentucky searching for neglected cemeteries, browsing in courthouses and libraries in addition to interviews with elderly relatives still living at that time. My mother's generation is gone now so it is up to my cousins and I to continue the family tradition and keep adding to our knowledge of our Jackson Purchase ancestors.