Revolutionary War Soldier
Robert Rives built the original house at Oak Ridge in 1802.
Complete birth and death dates from Wm. Winston Cochrane IV (#47602204)
RELIQUES OF THE RIVES
Robert Rives, born March 11, 1764, in Sussex county, Virginia, "joined the army in 1781, and served as a private at Yorktown" ; after the war he entered the store of Col. Richard Baker at South Quay. The late Hon. Sterling Claiborne, of Amherst, used to say that this was done against his mother's wishes, but her old friend and legal adviser, Col. Augustine Claiborne, told her to let him alone, as he felt sure he was amply able, not only to make his own way in the world, but to achieve fortune and fame also.
"In the course of a few years he entered the store of Blow & Barksdale at Charlotte Court House. Here he is said to have worked very faithfully and energetically, laying the foundation of his commercial education.
"In the autumn of 1789, Mr. Alexander Donald (the friend of Jefferson), of the firm of Donald & Burton, London, England, spent some time at 'Union Hill.' He was very favorably impressed with the tobacco grown in this section for shipping purposes, and induced Col. William Cabell, Sr., to arrange to have all the good tobacco that came to Warminster warehouse bought up for him. Mr. Rives married Col. Cabell's daughter [Margaret Jordan Cabell on January 25], 1790. Prior to May 27 following, Col. Cabell turned this valuable agency over to him, and wrote a letter of recommendation to which Mr. Donald replied from Richmond on June 18 : 'I think as you do of Mr. Rives, and as you have promised your friendly assistance to him, I cannot doubt of his conduct answering my expectations.'
The house of Donald & Burton was one of the largest commission houses in London.
"Mr. Rives had commenced business on his own account at Warminster before his marriage. After accepting this agency, he located stores, from time to time, as the opportunity presented itself, all over this shipping tobacco section, wherever there was a public warehouse for the inspection of tobacco. At Warminster, at New Market (now Norwood station), at Diuguidsville (now Bent Creek, near Bolton station), at Lynchburg, at Milton in Albemarle, at Ca Ira in Cumberland, etc. Prior to 1794, these stores were conducted on his individual account ; but after this the business increased so rapidly and was so scattered that partners were taken in from time to time [amongst them his brother, Henry Rives]. The object was to 'kill two birds with one stone': to buy the tobacco and pay for it in merchandise as far as possible, to obtain the English commission on the tobacco purchased, and a profit on the goods sold.
"The warehouse at New Market belonged to Col. William Cabell, the elder. In 1794, Mr. Rives bought 720 hogsheads of the tobacco sold there, and, on September 27, he paid Col. Cabell £54 for the warehouse charges thereon. In the same year, Mr. Rives bought as much more tobacco at each of five other warehouses, and his purchases increased from year to year, until his partners and himself virtually controlled the tobacco trade of all this section.
"He transacted a great deal of business with Mr. James Brown, of Richmond, from 1790, both being agents in Virginia for the house of Donald & Burton, London, and they afterwards became partners, under the style Brown & Rives, in one of the foremost commission houses of the State.
"Mr. Burton, of the London firm, died about 1807, which made necessary a full adjustment of all accounts in the Rives branch in America, and the settlement was satisfactory to all parties.
"The firm was doing an especially large business about 1809-1812, owning or employing many ships in trade with the West Indies, England, Scotland and Spain. The members in Virginia were Thomas Higginbotham, James Brown, and Robert Rives.
On February 14, 1812, the General Assembly of Virginia incorporated 'The Nelson and Albemarle Union Factory, for the laudable purpose of manufacturing wool and cotton.' Mr. Rives was much interested in this enterprise. In May following, himself and others bought of Col. William Cabell, Jr., the present Variety Mills estate, on which Col. Cabell had already a corn-mill, a tannery, and a shoemaker's shop, and to which the company soon added a large flour-mill, a saw-mill, a store, and the 'Union Factory for wool and cotton.' In the course of time Mr. Rives bought up the shares of the others and became the owner of the whole plant.
"During the Peninsular war (about 1813 I think), James Brown made a large shipment of flour on his own account to Cadiz, Spain, which was lost, and caused his failure. In settling the business of Brown & Rives, a great lawsuit arose between the two parties. Mr. Chapman Johnson and his son, William C. Rives (then a young man), attended to the suit for Mr. Rives, and gained it after great alarm, the amount involved being over $100,000, a large sum in those days.
"After this suit, and after the death of his wife, he gradually retired from active commercial affairs, and began to devote himself more and more to his farms ; but during life he retained an interest in (furnished funds to partners in) the country stores at Bent Creek, Variety Mills, and possibly elsewhere, and in the commission business in Richmond, of Rives, Clarke & Co., to the retirement of Mr. Clarke, then Rives & Ferguson to the death of Mr. Ferguson in 1833, and then Rives & Harris to the death of Mr. Rives in 1845.
"Mr. Rives was a communicant of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and in 1833 or 1834 he built a brick church for that denomination on land given by him just west of Oak Ridge. It was long called Rives' Church, and it should have been preserved as a memorial to him. It is now called 'Trinity Church.'
" 'He was a small man about 5 feet 9 inches tall, well set ; very neat in dress ; very inquisitive and talkative ; very polite ; very hospitable ; very much respected by all who knew him ; and very much beloved by the slaves, of whom he owned a large number.'
"In the division of his father's estate after the death of his mother early in the [nineteenth] century, he received a good many slaves, and their advent in this region was an event in colored society. In many respects the low-country negroes differed from those of the mountains, and these were long designated in the county as 'Sussex negroes' ; indeed, the grandson of one of them living near me is even now known as 'Sussex George.'
"Mr. Rives owned a large estate in Albemarle, of which I know but little. He also owned between 10,000 and 15,000 acres of land in Nelson, all of which, I believe, has passed out of the hands of his descendants, and of these I [i. e., Alexander Brown] am the only one now living in the county which was for so long his home.
"He was one of the first justives, and was for many years the presiding magistrate of the county. Although remarkably well versed in political information, and an ardent politician, he never yet allowed himself to be a candidate for a political office, and the magistracy was almost the only public office held by him. Many thought, however, that he would have been as successful in the political arena as he was a merchant and farmer. Many of the old people told me that they thought he would have been more successful in politics even than his son William. This was the opinion of his contemporaries."
(. . .)
Mr. Robert Rives' wife, Margaret Jordan Cabell, was a daughter of Col. William Cabell, Sen., by his wife, Margaret (whom he married in 1756), daughter of Col. Samuel Jordan by his first wife, Ruth Merideth. Col. Cabell, who was born March 13, 1730, was for several years a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses and commander of the Albemarle county militia. He was a member of the Committee of Public Safety in Albemarle in 1774 ; a member of the Conventions of 1775 and 1776 ; a State Senator throughout the Revolution ; and, as a member of the State Convention of 1778, voted against ratification of the Federal Constitution. He died at his residence at Union Hill in Nelson county on March 23, 1798, where he owned an estate of some 30,000 acres. Col. Cabell was a son of Dr. William Cabell, born March 20, 1700 (son of William Cabell, the emigrant, a native of Warminster in Wiltshire, England, by his marriage on Nov. 15, 1697, to Rachel Hooper), who is said to have been a surgeon in the British Navy, and who settled about 1724 in Goochland county, Virginia, where he married Elizabeth Burks.
Issue of Robert and Margaret Jordan (Cabell) Rives :
i. Landon Cabell, b. Oct. 24, 1790.
ii. Margaret Jordan, b. Jan. 9, 1792, at "Union Hill." She "became the stay of her father's declining years," and d. unmarried, Jan. 17, 1862.
iii. William Cabell, b. May 4, 1793.
iv. Lucy Shands, b. Nov. 18, 1794.
v. Paulina Cabell, b. Mch. 11, 1796.
vi. Robert, b. May 17, 1798.
vii. Henry, b. Oct. 29, 1799, at Warminster ; attended William and Mary College, 1816 ; and became a successful lawyer. During the years 1826-1833, he was Captain of a cavalry company attached to the 28th Regt. Va. Militia, which included his brothers, Landon Cabell and Robert Rives. He died at Oak Ridge on Sept. 16, 1833, unmarried.
viii. James B., b. Feb. 5, 1801 ; d. July 25, 1816.
ix. George, b. Apr. 24, 1802.
x. Elizabeth, b. Dec. 20, 1803 ; d. Sept. 15, 1804.
xi. Alexander, b. June 17, 1806.
Childs, James Rives. Reliques of the Rives (Ryves). J. P. Bell Company, Inc., 1929.
Robert Rives built the original house at Oak Ridge in 1802.
Complete birth and death dates from Wm. Winston Cochrane IV (#47602204)
RELIQUES OF THE RIVES
Robert Rives, born March 11, 1764, in Sussex county, Virginia, "joined the army in 1781, and served as a private at Yorktown" ; after the war he entered the store of Col. Richard Baker at South Quay. The late Hon. Sterling Claiborne, of Amherst, used to say that this was done against his mother's wishes, but her old friend and legal adviser, Col. Augustine Claiborne, told her to let him alone, as he felt sure he was amply able, not only to make his own way in the world, but to achieve fortune and fame also.
"In the course of a few years he entered the store of Blow & Barksdale at Charlotte Court House. Here he is said to have worked very faithfully and energetically, laying the foundation of his commercial education.
"In the autumn of 1789, Mr. Alexander Donald (the friend of Jefferson), of the firm of Donald & Burton, London, England, spent some time at 'Union Hill.' He was very favorably impressed with the tobacco grown in this section for shipping purposes, and induced Col. William Cabell, Sr., to arrange to have all the good tobacco that came to Warminster warehouse bought up for him. Mr. Rives married Col. Cabell's daughter [Margaret Jordan Cabell on January 25], 1790. Prior to May 27 following, Col. Cabell turned this valuable agency over to him, and wrote a letter of recommendation to which Mr. Donald replied from Richmond on June 18 : 'I think as you do of Mr. Rives, and as you have promised your friendly assistance to him, I cannot doubt of his conduct answering my expectations.'
The house of Donald & Burton was one of the largest commission houses in London.
"Mr. Rives had commenced business on his own account at Warminster before his marriage. After accepting this agency, he located stores, from time to time, as the opportunity presented itself, all over this shipping tobacco section, wherever there was a public warehouse for the inspection of tobacco. At Warminster, at New Market (now Norwood station), at Diuguidsville (now Bent Creek, near Bolton station), at Lynchburg, at Milton in Albemarle, at Ca Ira in Cumberland, etc. Prior to 1794, these stores were conducted on his individual account ; but after this the business increased so rapidly and was so scattered that partners were taken in from time to time [amongst them his brother, Henry Rives]. The object was to 'kill two birds with one stone': to buy the tobacco and pay for it in merchandise as far as possible, to obtain the English commission on the tobacco purchased, and a profit on the goods sold.
"The warehouse at New Market belonged to Col. William Cabell, the elder. In 1794, Mr. Rives bought 720 hogsheads of the tobacco sold there, and, on September 27, he paid Col. Cabell £54 for the warehouse charges thereon. In the same year, Mr. Rives bought as much more tobacco at each of five other warehouses, and his purchases increased from year to year, until his partners and himself virtually controlled the tobacco trade of all this section.
"He transacted a great deal of business with Mr. James Brown, of Richmond, from 1790, both being agents in Virginia for the house of Donald & Burton, London, and they afterwards became partners, under the style Brown & Rives, in one of the foremost commission houses of the State.
"Mr. Burton, of the London firm, died about 1807, which made necessary a full adjustment of all accounts in the Rives branch in America, and the settlement was satisfactory to all parties.
"The firm was doing an especially large business about 1809-1812, owning or employing many ships in trade with the West Indies, England, Scotland and Spain. The members in Virginia were Thomas Higginbotham, James Brown, and Robert Rives.
On February 14, 1812, the General Assembly of Virginia incorporated 'The Nelson and Albemarle Union Factory, for the laudable purpose of manufacturing wool and cotton.' Mr. Rives was much interested in this enterprise. In May following, himself and others bought of Col. William Cabell, Jr., the present Variety Mills estate, on which Col. Cabell had already a corn-mill, a tannery, and a shoemaker's shop, and to which the company soon added a large flour-mill, a saw-mill, a store, and the 'Union Factory for wool and cotton.' In the course of time Mr. Rives bought up the shares of the others and became the owner of the whole plant.
"During the Peninsular war (about 1813 I think), James Brown made a large shipment of flour on his own account to Cadiz, Spain, which was lost, and caused his failure. In settling the business of Brown & Rives, a great lawsuit arose between the two parties. Mr. Chapman Johnson and his son, William C. Rives (then a young man), attended to the suit for Mr. Rives, and gained it after great alarm, the amount involved being over $100,000, a large sum in those days.
"After this suit, and after the death of his wife, he gradually retired from active commercial affairs, and began to devote himself more and more to his farms ; but during life he retained an interest in (furnished funds to partners in) the country stores at Bent Creek, Variety Mills, and possibly elsewhere, and in the commission business in Richmond, of Rives, Clarke & Co., to the retirement of Mr. Clarke, then Rives & Ferguson to the death of Mr. Ferguson in 1833, and then Rives & Harris to the death of Mr. Rives in 1845.
"Mr. Rives was a communicant of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and in 1833 or 1834 he built a brick church for that denomination on land given by him just west of Oak Ridge. It was long called Rives' Church, and it should have been preserved as a memorial to him. It is now called 'Trinity Church.'
" 'He was a small man about 5 feet 9 inches tall, well set ; very neat in dress ; very inquisitive and talkative ; very polite ; very hospitable ; very much respected by all who knew him ; and very much beloved by the slaves, of whom he owned a large number.'
"In the division of his father's estate after the death of his mother early in the [nineteenth] century, he received a good many slaves, and their advent in this region was an event in colored society. In many respects the low-country negroes differed from those of the mountains, and these were long designated in the county as 'Sussex negroes' ; indeed, the grandson of one of them living near me is even now known as 'Sussex George.'
"Mr. Rives owned a large estate in Albemarle, of which I know but little. He also owned between 10,000 and 15,000 acres of land in Nelson, all of which, I believe, has passed out of the hands of his descendants, and of these I [i. e., Alexander Brown] am the only one now living in the county which was for so long his home.
"He was one of the first justives, and was for many years the presiding magistrate of the county. Although remarkably well versed in political information, and an ardent politician, he never yet allowed himself to be a candidate for a political office, and the magistracy was almost the only public office held by him. Many thought, however, that he would have been as successful in the political arena as he was a merchant and farmer. Many of the old people told me that they thought he would have been more successful in politics even than his son William. This was the opinion of his contemporaries."
(. . .)
Mr. Robert Rives' wife, Margaret Jordan Cabell, was a daughter of Col. William Cabell, Sen., by his wife, Margaret (whom he married in 1756), daughter of Col. Samuel Jordan by his first wife, Ruth Merideth. Col. Cabell, who was born March 13, 1730, was for several years a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses and commander of the Albemarle county militia. He was a member of the Committee of Public Safety in Albemarle in 1774 ; a member of the Conventions of 1775 and 1776 ; a State Senator throughout the Revolution ; and, as a member of the State Convention of 1778, voted against ratification of the Federal Constitution. He died at his residence at Union Hill in Nelson county on March 23, 1798, where he owned an estate of some 30,000 acres. Col. Cabell was a son of Dr. William Cabell, born March 20, 1700 (son of William Cabell, the emigrant, a native of Warminster in Wiltshire, England, by his marriage on Nov. 15, 1697, to Rachel Hooper), who is said to have been a surgeon in the British Navy, and who settled about 1724 in Goochland county, Virginia, where he married Elizabeth Burks.
Issue of Robert and Margaret Jordan (Cabell) Rives :
i. Landon Cabell, b. Oct. 24, 1790.
ii. Margaret Jordan, b. Jan. 9, 1792, at "Union Hill." She "became the stay of her father's declining years," and d. unmarried, Jan. 17, 1862.
iii. William Cabell, b. May 4, 1793.
iv. Lucy Shands, b. Nov. 18, 1794.
v. Paulina Cabell, b. Mch. 11, 1796.
vi. Robert, b. May 17, 1798.
vii. Henry, b. Oct. 29, 1799, at Warminster ; attended William and Mary College, 1816 ; and became a successful lawyer. During the years 1826-1833, he was Captain of a cavalry company attached to the 28th Regt. Va. Militia, which included his brothers, Landon Cabell and Robert Rives. He died at Oak Ridge on Sept. 16, 1833, unmarried.
viii. James B., b. Feb. 5, 1801 ; d. July 25, 1816.
ix. George, b. Apr. 24, 1802.
x. Elizabeth, b. Dec. 20, 1803 ; d. Sept. 15, 1804.
xi. Alexander, b. June 17, 1806.
Childs, James Rives. Reliques of the Rives (Ryves). J. P. Bell Company, Inc., 1929.
Revolutionary War Soldier
Robert Rives built the original house at Oak Ridge in 1802.
Complete birth and death dates from Wm. Winston Cochrane IV (#47602204)
RELIQUES OF THE RIVES
Robert Rives, born March 11, 1764, in Sussex county, Virginia, "joined the army in 1781, and served as a private at Yorktown" ; after the war he entered the store of Col. Richard Baker at South Quay. The late Hon. Sterling Claiborne, of Amherst, used to say that this was done against his mother's wishes, but her old friend and legal adviser, Col. Augustine Claiborne, told her to let him alone, as he felt sure he was amply able, not only to make his own way in the world, but to achieve fortune and fame also.
"In the course of a few years he entered the store of Blow & Barksdale at Charlotte Court House. Here he is said to have worked very faithfully and energetically, laying the foundation of his commercial education.
"In the autumn of 1789, Mr. Alexander Donald (the friend of Jefferson), of the firm of Donald & Burton, London, England, spent some time at 'Union Hill.' He was very favorably impressed with the tobacco grown in this section for shipping purposes, and induced Col. William Cabell, Sr., to arrange to have all the good tobacco that came to Warminster warehouse bought up for him. Mr. Rives married Col. Cabell's daughter [Margaret Jordan Cabell on January 25], 1790. Prior to May 27 following, Col. Cabell turned this valuable agency over to him, and wrote a letter of recommendation to which Mr. Donald replied from Richmond on June 18 : 'I think as you do of Mr. Rives, and as you have promised your friendly assistance to him, I cannot doubt of his conduct answering my expectations.'
The house of Donald & Burton was one of the largest commission houses in London.
"Mr. Rives had commenced business on his own account at Warminster before his marriage. After accepting this agency, he located stores, from time to time, as the opportunity presented itself, all over this shipping tobacco section, wherever there was a public warehouse for the inspection of tobacco. At Warminster, at New Market (now Norwood station), at Diuguidsville (now Bent Creek, near Bolton station), at Lynchburg, at Milton in Albemarle, at Ca Ira in Cumberland, etc. Prior to 1794, these stores were conducted on his individual account ; but after this the business increased so rapidly and was so scattered that partners were taken in from time to time [amongst them his brother, Henry Rives]. The object was to 'kill two birds with one stone': to buy the tobacco and pay for it in merchandise as far as possible, to obtain the English commission on the tobacco purchased, and a profit on the goods sold.
"The warehouse at New Market belonged to Col. William Cabell, the elder. In 1794, Mr. Rives bought 720 hogsheads of the tobacco sold there, and, on September 27, he paid Col. Cabell £54 for the warehouse charges thereon. In the same year, Mr. Rives bought as much more tobacco at each of five other warehouses, and his purchases increased from year to year, until his partners and himself virtually controlled the tobacco trade of all this section.
"He transacted a great deal of business with Mr. James Brown, of Richmond, from 1790, both being agents in Virginia for the house of Donald & Burton, London, and they afterwards became partners, under the style Brown & Rives, in one of the foremost commission houses of the State.
"Mr. Burton, of the London firm, died about 1807, which made necessary a full adjustment of all accounts in the Rives branch in America, and the settlement was satisfactory to all parties.
"The firm was doing an especially large business about 1809-1812, owning or employing many ships in trade with the West Indies, England, Scotland and Spain. The members in Virginia were Thomas Higginbotham, James Brown, and Robert Rives.
On February 14, 1812, the General Assembly of Virginia incorporated 'The Nelson and Albemarle Union Factory, for the laudable purpose of manufacturing wool and cotton.' Mr. Rives was much interested in this enterprise. In May following, himself and others bought of Col. William Cabell, Jr., the present Variety Mills estate, on which Col. Cabell had already a corn-mill, a tannery, and a shoemaker's shop, and to which the company soon added a large flour-mill, a saw-mill, a store, and the 'Union Factory for wool and cotton.' In the course of time Mr. Rives bought up the shares of the others and became the owner of the whole plant.
"During the Peninsular war (about 1813 I think), James Brown made a large shipment of flour on his own account to Cadiz, Spain, which was lost, and caused his failure. In settling the business of Brown & Rives, a great lawsuit arose between the two parties. Mr. Chapman Johnson and his son, William C. Rives (then a young man), attended to the suit for Mr. Rives, and gained it after great alarm, the amount involved being over $100,000, a large sum in those days.
"After this suit, and after the death of his wife, he gradually retired from active commercial affairs, and began to devote himself more and more to his farms ; but during life he retained an interest in (furnished funds to partners in) the country stores at Bent Creek, Variety Mills, and possibly elsewhere, and in the commission business in Richmond, of Rives, Clarke & Co., to the retirement of Mr. Clarke, then Rives & Ferguson to the death of Mr. Ferguson in 1833, and then Rives & Harris to the death of Mr. Rives in 1845.
"Mr. Rives was a communicant of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and in 1833 or 1834 he built a brick church for that denomination on land given by him just west of Oak Ridge. It was long called Rives' Church, and it should have been preserved as a memorial to him. It is now called 'Trinity Church.'
" 'He was a small man about 5 feet 9 inches tall, well set ; very neat in dress ; very inquisitive and talkative ; very polite ; very hospitable ; very much respected by all who knew him ; and very much beloved by the slaves, of whom he owned a large number.'
"In the division of his father's estate after the death of his mother early in the [nineteenth] century, he received a good many slaves, and their advent in this region was an event in colored society. In many respects the low-country negroes differed from those of the mountains, and these were long designated in the county as 'Sussex negroes' ; indeed, the grandson of one of them living near me is even now known as 'Sussex George.'
"Mr. Rives owned a large estate in Albemarle, of which I know but little. He also owned between 10,000 and 15,000 acres of land in Nelson, all of which, I believe, has passed out of the hands of his descendants, and of these I [i. e., Alexander Brown] am the only one now living in the county which was for so long his home.
"He was one of the first justives, and was for many years the presiding magistrate of the county. Although remarkably well versed in political information, and an ardent politician, he never yet allowed himself to be a candidate for a political office, and the magistracy was almost the only public office held by him. Many thought, however, that he would have been as successful in the political arena as he was a merchant and farmer. Many of the old people told me that they thought he would have been more successful in politics even than his son William. This was the opinion of his contemporaries."
(. . .)
Mr. Robert Rives' wife, Margaret Jordan Cabell, was a daughter of Col. William Cabell, Sen., by his wife, Margaret (whom he married in 1756), daughter of Col. Samuel Jordan by his first wife, Ruth Merideth. Col. Cabell, who was born March 13, 1730, was for several years a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses and commander of the Albemarle county militia. He was a member of the Committee of Public Safety in Albemarle in 1774 ; a member of the Conventions of 1775 and 1776 ; a State Senator throughout the Revolution ; and, as a member of the State Convention of 1778, voted against ratification of the Federal Constitution. He died at his residence at Union Hill in Nelson county on March 23, 1798, where he owned an estate of some 30,000 acres. Col. Cabell was a son of Dr. William Cabell, born March 20, 1700 (son of William Cabell, the emigrant, a native of Warminster in Wiltshire, England, by his marriage on Nov. 15, 1697, to Rachel Hooper), who is said to have been a surgeon in the British Navy, and who settled about 1724 in Goochland county, Virginia, where he married Elizabeth Burks.
Issue of Robert and Margaret Jordan (Cabell) Rives :
i. Landon Cabell, b. Oct. 24, 1790.
ii. Margaret Jordan, b. Jan. 9, 1792, at "Union Hill." She "became the stay of her father's declining years," and d. unmarried, Jan. 17, 1862.
iii. William Cabell, b. May 4, 1793.
iv. Lucy Shands, b. Nov. 18, 1794.
v. Paulina Cabell, b. Mch. 11, 1796.
vi. Robert, b. May 17, 1798.
vii. Henry, b. Oct. 29, 1799, at Warminster ; attended William and Mary College, 1816 ; and became a successful lawyer. During the years 1826-1833, he was Captain of a cavalry company attached to the 28th Regt. Va. Militia, which included his brothers, Landon Cabell and Robert Rives. He died at Oak Ridge on Sept. 16, 1833, unmarried.
viii. James B., b. Feb. 5, 1801 ; d. July 25, 1816.
ix. George, b. Apr. 24, 1802.
x. Elizabeth, b. Dec. 20, 1803 ; d. Sept. 15, 1804.
xi. Alexander, b. June 17, 1806.
Childs, James Rives. Reliques of the Rives (Ryves). J. P. Bell Company, Inc., 1929.
Robert Rives built the original house at Oak Ridge in 1802.
Complete birth and death dates from Wm. Winston Cochrane IV (#47602204)
RELIQUES OF THE RIVES
Robert Rives, born March 11, 1764, in Sussex county, Virginia, "joined the army in 1781, and served as a private at Yorktown" ; after the war he entered the store of Col. Richard Baker at South Quay. The late Hon. Sterling Claiborne, of Amherst, used to say that this was done against his mother's wishes, but her old friend and legal adviser, Col. Augustine Claiborne, told her to let him alone, as he felt sure he was amply able, not only to make his own way in the world, but to achieve fortune and fame also.
"In the course of a few years he entered the store of Blow & Barksdale at Charlotte Court House. Here he is said to have worked very faithfully and energetically, laying the foundation of his commercial education.
"In the autumn of 1789, Mr. Alexander Donald (the friend of Jefferson), of the firm of Donald & Burton, London, England, spent some time at 'Union Hill.' He was very favorably impressed with the tobacco grown in this section for shipping purposes, and induced Col. William Cabell, Sr., to arrange to have all the good tobacco that came to Warminster warehouse bought up for him. Mr. Rives married Col. Cabell's daughter [Margaret Jordan Cabell on January 25], 1790. Prior to May 27 following, Col. Cabell turned this valuable agency over to him, and wrote a letter of recommendation to which Mr. Donald replied from Richmond on June 18 : 'I think as you do of Mr. Rives, and as you have promised your friendly assistance to him, I cannot doubt of his conduct answering my expectations.'
The house of Donald & Burton was one of the largest commission houses in London.
"Mr. Rives had commenced business on his own account at Warminster before his marriage. After accepting this agency, he located stores, from time to time, as the opportunity presented itself, all over this shipping tobacco section, wherever there was a public warehouse for the inspection of tobacco. At Warminster, at New Market (now Norwood station), at Diuguidsville (now Bent Creek, near Bolton station), at Lynchburg, at Milton in Albemarle, at Ca Ira in Cumberland, etc. Prior to 1794, these stores were conducted on his individual account ; but after this the business increased so rapidly and was so scattered that partners were taken in from time to time [amongst them his brother, Henry Rives]. The object was to 'kill two birds with one stone': to buy the tobacco and pay for it in merchandise as far as possible, to obtain the English commission on the tobacco purchased, and a profit on the goods sold.
"The warehouse at New Market belonged to Col. William Cabell, the elder. In 1794, Mr. Rives bought 720 hogsheads of the tobacco sold there, and, on September 27, he paid Col. Cabell £54 for the warehouse charges thereon. In the same year, Mr. Rives bought as much more tobacco at each of five other warehouses, and his purchases increased from year to year, until his partners and himself virtually controlled the tobacco trade of all this section.
"He transacted a great deal of business with Mr. James Brown, of Richmond, from 1790, both being agents in Virginia for the house of Donald & Burton, London, and they afterwards became partners, under the style Brown & Rives, in one of the foremost commission houses of the State.
"Mr. Burton, of the London firm, died about 1807, which made necessary a full adjustment of all accounts in the Rives branch in America, and the settlement was satisfactory to all parties.
"The firm was doing an especially large business about 1809-1812, owning or employing many ships in trade with the West Indies, England, Scotland and Spain. The members in Virginia were Thomas Higginbotham, James Brown, and Robert Rives.
On February 14, 1812, the General Assembly of Virginia incorporated 'The Nelson and Albemarle Union Factory, for the laudable purpose of manufacturing wool and cotton.' Mr. Rives was much interested in this enterprise. In May following, himself and others bought of Col. William Cabell, Jr., the present Variety Mills estate, on which Col. Cabell had already a corn-mill, a tannery, and a shoemaker's shop, and to which the company soon added a large flour-mill, a saw-mill, a store, and the 'Union Factory for wool and cotton.' In the course of time Mr. Rives bought up the shares of the others and became the owner of the whole plant.
"During the Peninsular war (about 1813 I think), James Brown made a large shipment of flour on his own account to Cadiz, Spain, which was lost, and caused his failure. In settling the business of Brown & Rives, a great lawsuit arose between the two parties. Mr. Chapman Johnson and his son, William C. Rives (then a young man), attended to the suit for Mr. Rives, and gained it after great alarm, the amount involved being over $100,000, a large sum in those days.
"After this suit, and after the death of his wife, he gradually retired from active commercial affairs, and began to devote himself more and more to his farms ; but during life he retained an interest in (furnished funds to partners in) the country stores at Bent Creek, Variety Mills, and possibly elsewhere, and in the commission business in Richmond, of Rives, Clarke & Co., to the retirement of Mr. Clarke, then Rives & Ferguson to the death of Mr. Ferguson in 1833, and then Rives & Harris to the death of Mr. Rives in 1845.
"Mr. Rives was a communicant of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and in 1833 or 1834 he built a brick church for that denomination on land given by him just west of Oak Ridge. It was long called Rives' Church, and it should have been preserved as a memorial to him. It is now called 'Trinity Church.'
" 'He was a small man about 5 feet 9 inches tall, well set ; very neat in dress ; very inquisitive and talkative ; very polite ; very hospitable ; very much respected by all who knew him ; and very much beloved by the slaves, of whom he owned a large number.'
"In the division of his father's estate after the death of his mother early in the [nineteenth] century, he received a good many slaves, and their advent in this region was an event in colored society. In many respects the low-country negroes differed from those of the mountains, and these were long designated in the county as 'Sussex negroes' ; indeed, the grandson of one of them living near me is even now known as 'Sussex George.'
"Mr. Rives owned a large estate in Albemarle, of which I know but little. He also owned between 10,000 and 15,000 acres of land in Nelson, all of which, I believe, has passed out of the hands of his descendants, and of these I [i. e., Alexander Brown] am the only one now living in the county which was for so long his home.
"He was one of the first justives, and was for many years the presiding magistrate of the county. Although remarkably well versed in political information, and an ardent politician, he never yet allowed himself to be a candidate for a political office, and the magistracy was almost the only public office held by him. Many thought, however, that he would have been as successful in the political arena as he was a merchant and farmer. Many of the old people told me that they thought he would have been more successful in politics even than his son William. This was the opinion of his contemporaries."
(. . .)
Mr. Robert Rives' wife, Margaret Jordan Cabell, was a daughter of Col. William Cabell, Sen., by his wife, Margaret (whom he married in 1756), daughter of Col. Samuel Jordan by his first wife, Ruth Merideth. Col. Cabell, who was born March 13, 1730, was for several years a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses and commander of the Albemarle county militia. He was a member of the Committee of Public Safety in Albemarle in 1774 ; a member of the Conventions of 1775 and 1776 ; a State Senator throughout the Revolution ; and, as a member of the State Convention of 1778, voted against ratification of the Federal Constitution. He died at his residence at Union Hill in Nelson county on March 23, 1798, where he owned an estate of some 30,000 acres. Col. Cabell was a son of Dr. William Cabell, born March 20, 1700 (son of William Cabell, the emigrant, a native of Warminster in Wiltshire, England, by his marriage on Nov. 15, 1697, to Rachel Hooper), who is said to have been a surgeon in the British Navy, and who settled about 1724 in Goochland county, Virginia, where he married Elizabeth Burks.
Issue of Robert and Margaret Jordan (Cabell) Rives :
i. Landon Cabell, b. Oct. 24, 1790.
ii. Margaret Jordan, b. Jan. 9, 1792, at "Union Hill." She "became the stay of her father's declining years," and d. unmarried, Jan. 17, 1862.
iii. William Cabell, b. May 4, 1793.
iv. Lucy Shands, b. Nov. 18, 1794.
v. Paulina Cabell, b. Mch. 11, 1796.
vi. Robert, b. May 17, 1798.
vii. Henry, b. Oct. 29, 1799, at Warminster ; attended William and Mary College, 1816 ; and became a successful lawyer. During the years 1826-1833, he was Captain of a cavalry company attached to the 28th Regt. Va. Militia, which included his brothers, Landon Cabell and Robert Rives. He died at Oak Ridge on Sept. 16, 1833, unmarried.
viii. James B., b. Feb. 5, 1801 ; d. July 25, 1816.
ix. George, b. Apr. 24, 1802.
x. Elizabeth, b. Dec. 20, 1803 ; d. Sept. 15, 1804.
xi. Alexander, b. June 17, 1806.
Childs, James Rives. Reliques of the Rives (Ryves). J. P. Bell Company, Inc., 1929.
Gravesite Details
Table tombstone has no legible inscription. His name and dates are on the small D.A.R. marker.
Family Members
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