Person:Reuben Simms (1)

REUBEN COWARD SIMMS, son of James and Mildred (Durette) Simms of Albemarle County, Virginia, was born 19 May 1793; married Frances GRAVES, daughter of Thomas, Jr. and Mourning (Burris) GRAVES , 11 Nov 1812 (Marriage Bond 22 Oct 1812, Madison Co. VA)

Court records show Reuben C. Simms being granted a Lodging Licence in Madison Co. VA 28 Sept 1820, and an Ordinary Licence, with Sim Banks, 24 May 1821. He leased his dw'house, kitchen and garden adjoining his Tavern lot near Rapid Ann meeting house for two years to Geo C King 1 Jan 1824 (Mad Co Va DB 8-55). Also purchase and sale of real estate: Reuben C. Simms and wf Frances of Fulton Co. Ill conveyed to Wm N Rose of Mad Co Va 20 Oct 1836 100 ac on Banks Mill Road...E side Kirtleys Mt...corner to Simpsons heirs in Robt A Banks' line...to Richard Richards in Simpson's line with John P Boice, Elizabeth M Simms, Ann E. Walker wits (Mad Co DB 13-192) In Jan 1839 Joseph Early & Wm Simms, attys for Reuben C. Simms of Illinois conveyed to Edwin Nicol of Mad Co Va 53 ac on two sides of Mts, etc (14-97).

In the fall of 1835, Reuben and Frances Simms, moved to Illinois by wagon schooner, with their five younger children, and daughter Ann Eliza, who had married Newton Walker in 1834. Mrs. Elizabeth Walker, the mother of Maj. Newton Walker, was also among the party of seven families who made the journey. Others were Job Garnett, Andrew Simms, Albert Weaver, and Tandy and his wife Mary (Roddis) Simms from Orange Co. VA. Thomas Durette Simms, eldest son of Reuben and Frances, moved to Lawrence Co. Alabama.

The Reuben C. Simms family settled in Fulton Co. Illinois. In the History of Fulton Co. Ill, by C,W. Chapman, 1879, pg 776: "R.C. Simms, a farmer and land speculator, laid out an addition to the town of Lewistown, which was a subdivision of the original tract." He served as County Recorder for ten years until his death 22 Mar 1847. Reuben and his wife Frances are buried at Oak Hill Cemetery. Frances Graves Simms died 21 Feb 1871.

[Notes from The Early Pioneers and Pioneer Events of the State of Illinois, p. 101, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, by Harvey Lee Ross

page 19: “I remember very well when Colonel Reuben C. Simms and Major Newton Walker, husband of Ann Simms, passed through Havana, Illinois with their Caravan from Virginia. This was in 1835. They stayed with my father, Ossian Major Ross, overnight, and the next morning we ferried them over the Illinois River. They had the most splendid traveling outfit I had ever seen. Their horses were large and fine. They had several carriages and wagons, and one tremendous four-horse “Prairie Schooner.” The wagon was about twenty feet long and eight feet high, and all heavily ironed off in old Virginia style. The ferryman said that it was the biggest wagon that had ever crossed the river.”

page 64-65: “The prairie two miles east of Lewistown was about three miles long and from one to two miles wide, and it was called “Smith’s Prairie” after Jeremiah Smith, who first settled there on a place that was afterward owned by Col. Reuben Simms. It was one of the most beautiful prairies mortal eyes ever beheld. It was covered with what was called blue-stemmed grass, a most excellent grass for hay. It grew from three to four feet high and afforded hay enough for all the people of Lewistown and the settlers for many miles in all directions. All the people had to do was cut hay and haul it home. At that time hay was cut with a scythe and raked together with a wooden hand-rake and pitchfork.”

“Sm ith’s Prairie was celebrated for the numerous plum and crabapple orchards that grew round its borders. The large red and yellow plums grew there in such abundance that people would come from long distances and haul them away by the wagon-loads, and would preserve them with honey or maple sugar, which made a good substitute for domestic fruit. Fulton County was blessed above other sections of the State in its great abundance of sugar-tree groves, which enable people to make their own sugar.”

From History of Fulton County, Illinois, Charles W. Chapman and Company, 1879: “R. C. Simms, a farmer and land speculator, laid out an addition to the town of Lewistown, which was a subdivision of the original tract.”

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 Ancestry.com. OneWorldTree. (Name: The Generations Network, Inc.; Location: Provo, UT, USA;)
   Database online.

   Record for Reuben Coward Simms

2. ↑ ^2.0 2.1 Ancestry.com. Public Member Trees. (Name: The Generations Network, Inc.; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2006;)
   Database online.

   Record for Frances Graves

3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} Ancestry.com. Public Member Trees. (Name: The Generations Network, Inc.; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2006;)
   Database online.

   Record for Guilford Coward Simms

4. ↑ ^4.0 4.1 Charles Morris and Elizabeth Morris. Morris, Charles Morris and Elizabeth. (Date: 1972;)
   Ross and Woods Family Tree.