Michael’s Marriage to RachelAn exhaustive search of early marriage records before 1800 in Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee fails to turn up a groom named Michael Gleaves or any variation of the family surname. We do know that Michael was married to a woman named Rachel at the time of his death in 1811. She is mentioned by name in his will, filed in the Davidson County, Tennessee Will Book. “Rachel GLEAVES”is also listed in a family Bible and her date of death is recorded as September 7, 1835.Nathaniel Cartmell BibleRachel’s maiden is unknown. The only clue we have comes from the exhaustive research of Hilda Hager Barnes. “Her maiden name is unknown, but at one point I have the name of “BEATTY” with a question mark. The source of her last name is unknown at this time.”This author is not aware of any other researcher that has even ventured a guess as to Rachel’s maiden name.Happy hunting!!There is some confusion regarding the dates of birth of some of Michael & Rachel’s children. Mr. Turner lists five children while other sources, including Michael’s will, list at least seven. If the date of birth of the oldest son is correct (Thomas-1789), Rachel would have been born some timebefore 1775. One daughter attributed to this marriage,Elizabeth, married in 1800, which would mean Rachel was born much earlier. There is a possibility that this daughter is from another marriage. There is no proof that Michael took a wife before he married Rachel but enough evidence exists for researchersto suspect that this may be the case. This issue is discussed at length later in this chapter.Mr. Turner suggests Michael married Rachel in 1788. As discussed in the preceding paragraph, this date may be in error. There is at least one report that the marriage occurred near Roanoke, Virginia prior to 1780. Other, undocumented sources report that Michael married Rachel in North Carolina prior to moving to Fort Mansker. There are records placing Michael in Tennessee in 1787, which would suggest one of three things: 1.) Michael married Rachel before this date and she accompanied him to Tennessee;2) he returned to North Carolina and brought her back; or 3) her family also came to Tennessee prior to the marriage.
http://s3.serverdata.com/www.gleavesfamily.com/files/descendants_of_matthew_glaves/2009_Chapter_4_Michael_Gleaves_Family_pages_81-114.pdf
