Merchant / Dickens / Reaves / Bates / Berry / Moore / Taylor / Lewis / Warner / Pendleton / Reade, and many more....
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Back in 1974, after I married Kristina Jo Merchant, her mother, Frances Reaves Young, introduced me to genealogy. She is responsible for spawning my interest in this enjoyable hobby. Frances passed away in March of 1999. She left a magnificent legacy of inspiration to her family and many other individuals. I have included a memorial to her on this page.
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Frances' mother, Velma Iretta Dickens Reaves, also a genealogy enthusiast, who passed away in 1998, sent her great-grandchildren a letter at Christmas in 1984 regarding their royal lineage. The letter puts such information in perspective.
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Grandmother Reaves didn't have the opportunity to publish her work other than to her descendants. Much thanks to her many years of research.
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I'll start, on my wife's side, with her parents.
John Joseph Merchant - Obituary
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John J. Merchant, 50, of 3935 W. Northwest Highway, Texas-Oklahoma Express, Inc. district manager, died here Tuesday.
A native of Snyder, Okla, Merchant had lived in Dallas for 10 years and had been in the trucking business in Texas and Oklahoma for 30 years.
Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday in Restland's Memoria l chapel. Burial will be in Restland Memorial Park.
John Joseph Merchant
Memorial to Frances Reaves Young, 1924-1999
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November 26, 1924 - March 16, 1999
Beloved Wife, Daughter, Sister, Mother, Grandmother and Great Grandmother
"A rose is to be given to each person who attends my funeral, to recognize the life and beauty with which God has surrounded us. The Scriptures tell us that there is a time for living and a time for dying. I loved His flowers, especially the roses. I loved my family and my friends, and the life they gave me. I am confident that I will be at home in Heaven with our Father but this is that other time on earth, and as the rose blooms again, fades and dies, and lives to bloom again, I know I will see you all again." Frances
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"(Velma) Frances Reaves was born November 26, 1924, in Los Angeles, California, the oldest of two daughters born to Velma Iretta Dickens and Samuel Francis Reaves. Frances spent most of her younger years on her uncle's cattle ranch near Albuquerque, New Mexico. There she learned to be an expert marksman by shooting prairie dogs to protect cattle and horses from injury. Frances learned her "can do" spirit from these early pioneers of the west.
In 1941, she married John Joseph Merchant. They moved to Oklahoma city in 1944. They were married 22 years. Throughout their 22 years of marriage, Frances worked, a drive she got from her mother, who also worked until her retirement.
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Her creativity was demonstrated by her love of all kinds of needlework. At times she sewed for other people, designed hats under the label "Frances' Hats" for an exclusive dress shop in Kansas City and a hat shop in Oklahoma City. She even demonstrated hat making on a local Oklahoma City television show. She often made matching dresses for her girls. Her creativity was not limited to needlework. She also loved to write. In the late 50's she wrote short articles for women's magazines.
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In 1965 Frances married Arthur L. Young, Jr. They were married 33 years. Together they had 6 children, 19 grandchildren and 7 great grandchildren. For them she leaves a legacy of love and commitment to God, home and family.
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Frances attended the University of Oklahoma and held a Certified Fair Executive Degree from Georgia State University. She was Assistant General Manager of the State Fair of Oklahoma for 17 years prior to her retirement in 1991. She restored the Goodholm House among numerous other building projects including the Women's Building at the Fairgrounds. She was active in many professional organizations connected to her work and was well respected among her peers, as manifest by the many professional awards and responsibilities given to her. A member of the International Association of Fairs & Expositions, she was chairman of the Women's Committee and Competitive Events Committee, originator of Zone Workshops, original host in 1974, and frequent topics moderator at association meetings throughout the country. She was enthusiastic and tenacious about any responsibility given to her.
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An avid genealogist, Frances was a member of many genealogical, patriotic, and historical organizations. She was proud of her heritage and the inheritance of work, duty, and perseverance she would leave to her family as demonstrated by her own ancestors.
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Frances Young was different things to a lot of people. She was hat maker and wedding dress maker to friends and family, creative writer & poet; music lover who made her children clean their rooms listening to classical music; the woman who went through a car wash with her window open; dedicated State Fair employee for 33 years; part of a Women's Bible Study; State Regent, Oklahoma Society Daughters of the American Revolution; friend, and mentor.
The world is a better place because Frances Young lived here. Frances Young was a loving wife and our mother and grandmother."
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(Above eulogy composed by her children, March 19, 1999.)
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Frances Reaves Young
Obituary - Velma Iretta Dickens Reaves, 1906-1998
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Velma Iretta Dickens Reaves - 1906 - 1998
Reaves - Velma Dickens Reaves, died on April 17, 1998 in her home at Cypress village, Jacksonville, Fl. Velma was born July 6, 1906 in Portales, New Mexico, daughter of Edd and Pearl Dickens, New Mexico pioneers.
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Velma was educated in Albuquerque and worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture there before moving to Washington D.C. to work in several Government libraries including the Department of Agriculture, the Justice Department of Agriculture, the Justice Department, Bureau of Management, and was responsible for setting up the Library in the Pentagon when it was built. She was the Chief Librarian at the Department of Agriculture Library when she retired from government service and moved to Jacksonville.
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Velma was a member and past president of the American Libraries Association. Mrs. Reaves was past chapter Regent of the Jacksonville Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution. She was past Regent of the Jacksonville area Magna Carta Dames and Barons. She was a member of the First Families of Virginia, the Colonial Dames of the XVII Century, the Huguenot Society of the Founders of Manakin in Virginia and several Genealogical Societies. She was an avid genealogist and had written a book for beginners in connection with the Southern Genealogical Exchange.
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She is survived by 2 daughters, Virginia Lane and her husband Dr. John G. Lane, and Frances Young and her husband Arthur L. Young, Jr.; 8 grandchildren, Cynthia Lane, Julianne Otto, John Jeffery Lane and Mary Lane Singletary, Dian Merchant Doak, Marcia Seifert, Kristina Carroll and Mark D. Merchant; 10 great-grandchildren and 3 great-great grandchildren.
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Services will be held at 3:00 p.m. Tuesday in the chapel of George H. Hewell and Son Funeral Home, 4140 University Blvd, So. with the Rev Dr. John H. Swann of Palms Presbyterian Church officiating. Burial will be at Arlington Park Cemetery.
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Arlington Artist Tells Ancestry With Her Tapestry
By Shirley Rehberg, Neighbor Staff Writer
Article from Southside Neighbor, Jacksonville, FL, Wednesday, December 12, 1984
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Velma Reaves, a genealogy aficionado, decided to trace her family background and put her findings in a tapestry. Orange Park artist Martha Webb painted the canvas, using a central theme of a Southern belle and a Westerner on horseback. The 4-by-6-foot canvas took several years of work to complete and Mrs. Reaves has only just begun to stitch the piece.
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In her travels, Velma Reaves saw many tapestries filled with small pictures that often seemed to have no connection to the whole. Intrigued with these stitched works of art, the Arlington resident decided that she would have her own tapestry.
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A genealogy aficionado, it was only natural that such a tapestry tell the story of her ancestry, but she quickly found that she had a lot more roots than would fit on a canvas - even a large canvas.
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She took the entire project to Orange Park artist Martha Webb and together they worked out initial drawings for the canvas, but some ideas had to be scrapped along the way. For example, Mrs. Reaves wanted the border of the wall hanging to be of grapevine, which is the symbol of the family unit, with a family crest in each corner of the piece. The grapevine was overpowering and had to be scratched for a more simple border.
"A lot of things like that had to be changed," Mrs. Reaves said.
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The wall hanging - a 4-by-6-foot hand-painted canvas - took several years of work to complete, and Mrs. Reaves has only just begun to stitch the piece.
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She wanted a central them and settled on a Southern belle and a Westerner on horseback as the focal point of the canvas.
"Of course, all of this is symbolic. Actually, the Southern lady represents my mother, who was born and reared and married in Mississippi. The Western man became her husband and sons who were Western cattlemen."
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The couple separates the canvas into East and West. The East side of the canvas traces Mrs. Reaves ancestors all the way back to Great Britain and includes a fortified English home, built on the hillside by a stream of water.
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"Houses such as this were built so they could see approaching enemies from every side and by a stream which was used for transportation."
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Beneath this scene is a cathedral, included because an ancestor was a bishop of London, and below that scene is one depicting the adventurers who sailed to the New World, replete with a log cabin and spinning wheel.
A colonial mansion and the U.S. Capitol complete the Eastern side of the canvas, which opens up as the western migration of her family begins.
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The Western side has windmills, used for watering croplands, grazing cattle and the thick adobe architecture of the Southwest. The open spaces include sandstone cliffs and great mountains as the canvas leads the eye to the West Coast and the Golden Gate bridge where Mrs. Reaves daughters were born.
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An airplane represents the many trips she made between coasts as she traveled to her work in Washington, D.C.
After she retired about 15 years ago, Mrs. Reaves came to Jacksonville and settle into the Jacksonville Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution and immersed herself in genealogy.
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"Genealogy - that starts as a hobby and it grows and grows until it get to be an addiction," she said. "You just can't turn it loose."
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Having traced her ancestry clear to King John of England, who signed the Magna Carta in 1215, Mrs. Reaves says her next project is to get all her notes down on paper in a book, but that will come after she finishes the needlepoint canvas, which she hopes to do in a couple of years "if I work real hard."
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However, as regent of her DAR chapter and regent of the Magna Carta Dames, Mrs. Reaves finds she doesn't have a lot of time to stitch her masterpiece. She tries to do a little on the canvas each night. "Even if I only do one row, it's that much more done," she said.
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And it will be a treasured heirloom once it's completed, although for Mrs. Reaves it has become a work of love.
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"I'm doing it for my own personal pleasure," she said.
Velma Dickens Reaves
Mrs. Reaves with her tapestry.
Below are a couple of attached documents that can be downloaded or viewed on-line. These are linked to the PDF icon. The original documents were sent to Grandmother Reaves descendants, Christmas 1984.
Letter to family from Velma Iretta Dickens Reaves
Royal Descent of the descendants of Colonel George Reade