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 REVELEY, RIEVLEY, REAVLEY FAMILY

CUMBERLAND

The first actual documentation we have is the notice of Thomas' and Elizabeth's marriage: "Marriages Ano Dos, 1732.Thomas Reveley, Gentleman & Elizabeth Nicholson, Spinster, both of the Parish of Arlecdon (by my License) July the 3rd."  They were married by licence rather than published banns, and the marriage took place outside their home parish of Arlecdon. This suggests their marriage was disapproved of by one of the guardians or parents.  In 1717, Elizabeth Nicholson's grandmother Jane wrote her will, leaving the family farm, Dykenook, to young Elizabeth, with a guardian. Elizabeth's father was dead, and her grandmother was obviously not fond of Elizabeth's mother. Jane died in 1722.  Elizabeth must have been under age, and eloped with Thomas in 1732.   They made their home in Dykenook, Frizington, several miles from Arlecdon.

There is evidence of eleven children - John, Jane, James, Mary, George, Elizabeth, William, Sarah, Nancy, Francis, and Samuel.  Reveley, Revely, Bievely, Ravely, appeared in the parish records, and Raveling in the newspaper, interchangeably. The births of the first two children, John and Jane, were recorded at Arlecdon.

By 1753, the Reveleys lived at Catgill Hall, near  the iron foundry at Low Mill, in St. John Beckermet Parish.  Francis' birth was recorded in 1753 in St. John Beckermet.

Grandson Thomas also wrote in 1855 that the Reveleys were in the iron trade at Low Mill near Egremont, Cumberland.  Thomas and his son John were forge men, and worked for  Charles Wood, setting up the forges at Wood's iron mines. In 1753, a company of five gentlemen merchants took a 26 year lease from the Earl of Egremont. Peter How and William Hicks were tobacco merchants, seeking to diversify into iron making. They, together with Gabriel Griffiths, another Whitehaven merchant, had partnered Charles Wood in building a forge at Whitehaven in 1750, and needed a supply of ore. How, Hicks, and Griffiths were joined in the lease by Joseph Bowes, and by William Brownrigg. Brownrigg was an eminent surgeon and was nationally known for his work on colliery gases in the Whitehaven pits, but little is known of Bowes.

In 1755 the company had John Reveley, Thomas' son and an experienced forge man, set up Dalston Forge at Buckabank, near Dalston.

The company stopped mining ore at Whitehaven during 1759, possibly due to their having had to pay the Lord compensation of £200 for their overestimation of the "royalty ton" and thus not paying enough per ton of ore raised. They paid the royalty rent only, until they quit in 1766, having given six months notice in September 1765. The company had been badly affected in 1763 owing to the bankruptcy of How, who had borrowed heavily, from friends like the Lowther family, to keep the operation going. It was a slump in the tobacco trade that eventually broke up the partnership.

America offered opportunity, and the Reveleys emigrated in 1765.  When Thomas decided to emigrate to America, his seven brothers tried to dissuade him.   However, their claims that America would be inundated by the seas and storms did not keep him from taking his wife and six of his children, and setting sail for the colonies. John and Barbara with their children Thomas and Joseph,  George and his wife and their children George and John, William, Sarah, Nancy, Francis, and perhaps Samuel, made the voyage.

WOODEND

The Reveleys arrived in Virginia and settled near the town of Falmouth in Stafford County, across the Rappahannock River from Fredericksburg, in Spotsylvania County. The family homestead was called "Woodend".  The 144-1/4 acre plantation was originally owned by Enoch Ennis, then James Threlkeld, then Edward Moor, who sold it to William Reveley.  Woodend was bounded by the west fork of Gravelly Run, down to the old  Banks Road,  the present Sanford Road, and the present Greenbank Road. The burying ground near the house, comprising less than one quarter of an acre, was left in perpetuity to the Reveleys. It has not been located, but the whole area was destroyed during the Mud March of the Civil War.

William also owned Penfield and Newport in Spotsylvania County. He died in 1788, and bequeathed his two small children, Thomas and Elizabeth, the Woodend and Penfield properties. William's widow Ann chose Penfield for Thomas and sold Woodend to Elizabeth Hudson, with the understanding that Elizabeth Reveley would receive the title when she came of full age.  To secure the property, Ann mortgaged Newport.  In 1803, Elizabeth Hudson conveyed Woodend in Stafford County, Penfield in Spotsylvania County, and slaves to Ferguson and Gordon as security on a loan. The loan was paid off, and the security was returned to Elizabeth and her son-in-law, Charles Croughton. By 1807, Elizabeth Reveley had come of age and married Montague Duerson. She and her aunt Elizabeth Hudson sold Woodend to George Banks, who agreed to pay Elizabeth Hudson  forty dollars a year for life, and lease her the house and some adjoining land.  This was not recorded until 1810. Elizabeth Hudson died in 1814.

HUNTER'S FORGE

Thomas was a "forge man" and, with his son John, became one of the managers of Hunter's Iron Works at the falls of the Rappahannock River in Stafford County, Virginia.  The  forge was one of the largest industrial complexes in the New World.  Originally owned by Augustine Washington, the forge ran full tilt during the Revolution under the management of James Hunter in order to furnish the American army and navy with such articles as pots, pans, camp kettles, anchors, and bayonets.

About 1785, as Thomas was fording the Rappahannock River, his horse stumbled and fell. Thomas was drowned.  It is remarkable that a man in his later years leaves his homeland, crosses an ocean, starts a new life in a faraway country, survives the Revolutionary War, and comes to an end at the age of 85 by crossing a river on horseback and drowning accidentally!

THE FAMILY

Information regarding Thomas' wife and children varies; little is known of some, a great deal of others, and conflicting information on several.

[2] JOHN REVELEY is the most documented of all of the children. He was born in 1732, and baptized at St. Michaels in Arlecdon. His married a woman named Barbara in Crosthwaite, Keswick, Cumberland. They lived in Keswick, and then the Forge at Buckabank, where John was involved in a new Iron Forge.  In America, John and his partner, John Ballentine, ran the Westham Forge on Phelps Creek, Virginia. At the end of Chapter 2, see verbatim accounts from various Virginia papers that follow their endeavors, from enthusiastic beginnings to sad demise. Included are letters to various Virginia governors, advertisements in colonial Virginia newspapers, and Virginia Executive papers. The forge at Westham, near Richmond, as well as John's home was burned by the troops of British General Benedict Arnold during the Revolutionary War. The loss of the Forge, his home, and most of his papers and possessions preyed deeply upon John. He never recovered from the loss. The death of his partner, Ballentine, the problems with the Furnace, and ensuing legal difficulties drove him to drink and periodic losses of his senses.  John and Barbara had four children: Joseph, Thomas, Mary, and George. John and his family will be discussed in Chapter 2.
 .....[3] JOSEPH REVELEY was born in 1764 in Crosthwaite.
 .....[3] THOMAS REVELEY is unresearched.
 .....[3] GEORGE REVELEY was born in 1776 in Virginia.
 .....[3] MARY REVELEY was born in Virginia.