Alexander Rives

Biography

Alexander Rives was born on June 17, 1806 in Amherst, Virginia, USA. His parents were Robert Rives, Sr., and Margaret Jordan Rives (Cabell).

Alexander married Isabella Bachem Rives (Windown). Together they had the following 10 known children:

1. Eliza Wyndown deVere (Rives);
2. Margaret Cabell Rives;
3. Lucy Brown Schele De Vere (Rives);
4. Isabella Rives;
5. Alexander Rives, Jr;
6. Robert Rives;
7. 1LT Charles Meriwether Rives;
8. Emma E Rives;
9. Adela Bertha Skinker (Rives);
10. Francis W Rives.

Alexander married Sarah Kearsley "Sallie" Rives (Watson) on May 29, 1862. No children of this union per The Cabells and Their Kin: A Memorial Volume of History, Biography, and Genealogy Alexander Brown January 1, 1895 Houghton, Mifflin & Company https://archive.org/stream/cabellstheirkinm00brow/cabellstheirkinm0...

1. i. Eliza Wydown 5 Rives, b. January 31, 1830 ; m., July 25, 1849, Prof. M. Scheie De Vere (his first wife) ; d. July 20, 1851, leaving : Minna Eliza G De Vere, b. July 17, 1851, a lovely girl. She d. June 19, 1864.
2. ii. Margaret Cabell 5 Rives, b. September 5, 1831 ; d. September 26, 1867 ; unmarried.
3. iii. Lucy Brown 5 Rives, b. January 6, 1834 ; m., March 21, 1860, Prof. M. Scheie DeVere, LL. D. (his second wife), who was appointed professor of modern languages at the University of Virginia, September 23, 1844, which position he still fills. In September, 1894, he completed a half century of devoted service as a professor in the University. His wife is still living. No issue.
4. 301. iv. Isabella5 Rives.
5. v. Alexander5 Rives, Jr., b. December 24, 1837; a doctor of medicine of the Universities of Virginia and New York ; an assistant surgeon, C. S. A. ; physician ; d. May 1, 1876, in Mississippi ; unmarried.
6. vi. Robert5 Rives, b. November 25, 1839; M. A. and B. L. of the University of Virginia, and Utriusque Legis Doctor of the University of Heidelberg, Germany ; d. May 19, 1867, in Bolivar County, Miss. ; unmarried.
7. vii. Charles Meriwether5 Rives, b. September 18, 1841 ; B. L. of the University of Virginia ; first lieutenant, Wyatt's Battery, C. S. A. ; he was killed at Cold Harbor, June 3, 1864. " A brilliant young man. Ever at his post, with silent zeal and unflinching courage."
8. 302. viii. Emma Estelle 5 Rives.
9. 303. ix. Adela Bertha5 Rives.
10. x. Francis William5 Rives, b. March 4, 1848; University of Virginia, 1868; in business in Charlottesville.

He died on September 17, 1885 and was buried in Monticello Memorial Park, Albemarle County, Virginia, USA.

Early and family life
Born on June 17, 1806, in Oak Ridge, Nelson County, Virginia to the former Margaret (Peggy) Cabell (c. 1770–1815) and her husband Robert Rives (1764–1845),[1] Rives was related to the First Families of Virginia through his mother and later wife. His father Robert Rives of Sussex County had served in the patriot army during the final Yorktown campaign, then became a commission merchant (first operating as Robert Rives and Company and later as Brown, Rives and Company), with Thomas Jefferson as one of his clients. He built a plantation, Oak Hill, in Nelson County in 1802, where he would bury his wife, and later be buried. On his death in 1845, the personal estate of Rives Sr. would be valued at $100,000 and included lands in Albemarle, Buckingham, Campbell and Nelson Counties.[2] His elder brother William C. Rives US Senator William Cabell Rives would become a Virginia and federal legislator as well as twice U.S. Minister to France, and Robert Rives Jr. (1798–1869) would also serve in the Virginia House of Delegates. His distant nephew Alexander Brown wrote books about the early history of Virginia as well as The Cabells and their Kin.[3] Rives graduated from Hampden–Sydney College in 1825 and from the University of Virginia in 1829.[1]

Career
Like his father and other family members, Rives operated his plantations using enslaved labor. In the 1830 federal census, he owned one enslaved man, an enslaved woman also between 20 and 30 years old, and a girl in Albemarle County.[4] A decade later, Rives owned 17 enslaved men and boys and 13 enslaved women and girls.[5] In the 1850 federal census, Rives owned 69 slaves in Albemarle County.[6] In the final prewar census, Rives owned 66 slaves in Albemarle County.[7] His brother or nephew Robert Rives Jr. owned 43 slaves in Albemarle County in 1850.[8] and 70 slaves a decade later.[9] His other brother William C. Rives owned slightly more enslaved people in the county's Frederickville section. Following the war, Judge Rives continued to operate the farms using paid labor until entering the federal judicial service in 1871, as described below.[1]

Meanwhile, in addition to his private legal practice, Albemarle County voters elected Rives as one of their (part time) representatives in the Virginia House of Delegates several times, as well as failed to re-elect him numerous times.[10] Albemarle County voters elected him to the Virginia Senate in 1857, and he served one term in that part-time position.[11] Following the American Civil War, Rives became the ninth Rector of the University of Virginia from 1865 to 1866.[1] He was a justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia from 1866 to 1869.[1]

Politics
Rives was initially a Democrat, but like his brother William C. Rives, opposed the sub-treasury policy of President Martin Van Buren. Thus, Rives joined the Whig party in 1844.[12]

In 1870, Rives ran for the United States House of Representatives as a Republican, but lost to Richard Thomas Walker Duke. Duke's son later said that Rives "had 'ratted' and became a 'scalawag' republican." Nonetheless, Rives had obtained a pardon for his opponent, to remove Duke's disability from seeking office, without charging Rives's usual fee of up to $500.[13]

Federal judicial service
President Ulysses S. Grant on February 3, 1871 nominated Rives to the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia, a new seat authorized by 16 Stat. 403.[1] He was confirmed by the United States Senate on February 6, 1871, and received his commission the same day.[1] His service terminated on August 1, 1882, when he retired.[1]

Notable case
In 1878, Judge Rives took the then-controversial view that the exclusion of blacks from jury service in Virginia state courts was a violation of the Equal Protection rights of two criminal defendants, granting their petitions for habeas corpus relief.[14] The Virginia General Assembly passed a resolution denouncing the Reynolds decision, and demanding an appeal.[15] The Supreme Court agreed in principle with Rives, in three decisions issued on March 1, 1880, but overruled his reasoning in Virginia v. Rivesordering him to return jurisdiction over the petitioners to the Commonwealth.[16] However, in Ex parte Virginia the court confirmed federal authority to enforce African Americans' rights to serve on juries, and in Strauder v. West Virginia the court declared states could not limit jury service to white men.[17] Over 100 years later, the Supreme Court ruled that even the use of peremptory challenges where exclusion was made on the basis of race was unconstitutional, in Batson.

Later years, death and legacy
Rives lived in Charlottesville until 1833; then at "Carlton" on Monticello until 1873, and spent his final years at "Eastbourne Terrace" in Charlottesville.[18] > Rives died on September 17, 1885, in Charlottesville, Virginia.[1] He was interred beside his wife and namesake son in Monticello Memorial Park, Albemarle County, Virginia.[19][Notes 1]

Some of Rives' papers before 1875 are held by the University of Virginia library.[20]

The Rives family estate where Rives was born, Oak Ridge in Nelson County, was sold in 1867, but remains today as an event and wedding venue. It was renovated beginning in 1901 by magnate Thomas Fortune Ryan, and more recently by John Holland Sr. and his son John Holland Jr.[21][22][23]

Notes

According to the 1880 U.S. Federal Census for District 12 of Charlottesville, Albemarle County, his household (dwelling 240) consisted of himself, his wife, daughter J.B. Coleman and 22 year old granddaughter P.S. Coleman, 20 year old nephew T.K.W. Morris (listed as a student), as well as a 30 year old black female cook and 15 year old black male servant.

References

1. "Rives, Alexander - Federal Judicial Center". www.fjc.gov.
2. "Founders Online: Robert Rives to Thomas Jefferson, 3 July 1811".
3. Brown, Alexander (1939). The Cabells and Their Kin. Richmond: Garrett and Massie.
4. 1830 U.S. Federal Census for Albemarle County, Virginia pp.113 of 150.
5. 1840 U.S. Federal Census for Albemarle County, Virginia p.51 of 74.
6. 1850 U.S. Federal Census Slave Schedule for St. Anne, Albemarle County, Virginia pp. 8, 9 of 10.
7. 1860 U.S. Federal Census Slave Schedule for St. Anne, Albemarle County, Virginia p. 88 of 89.
8. 1850 U.S. Federal Census Slave Schedule for Fredericksville, Albemarle County, Virginia p. 149 of 149.
9. 1860 U.S. Federal Census Slave Schedule for St. Anne's, Albemarle County, Virginia pp. 25, 26, 27, 89 of 89.
10. Cynthia Miller Leonard, Virginia General Assembly 1619-1978 (Virginia State Library 1978) p. 371, 384, 400, 448
11. Leonard pp. 467, 473
12. Virginia Biographical Encyclopedia 1915, online
13. "Richard Thomas Walker Duke, Jr.: Recollections of My Early Life". UVa Special Collections Library. Retrieved 15 October 2007.
14. Ex parte Reynolds, 20 F.Cas. 586 (C.C.Va. 1878).
15. "VIRGINIA DEMANDS PROTECTION" (PDF). The New York Times, January 18, 1879. 18 January 1879. Retrieved 17 February 2008.
16. Virginia v. Rives, 100 U.S. 313 (1879).
17. encyclopediavirginia.org/Ex_Parte Virginia 1880
18. Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography (1915)
19. "Alexander Rives (1837–1876) - Find A Grave..." www.findagrave.com.
20. Alexander, Rives. "Papers of Alexander Rives 1801-1875. - UVA Library - Virgo". search.lib.virginia.edu.
21. Dawkins, Joan Tupponce, Kip (11 September 2017). "Old Glory".
22. Koerting, Katrina. "Nelson's Oak Ridge estate owner dies".
23. "Cabell Family Homes - Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library". small.library.virginia.edu.

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Alexander Rives served on the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals and as a federal judge after the Civil War.

links

• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/93556262/alexander-rives
• https://encyclopediavirginia.org/10614hpr-f4d5c752c87aabd/
• https://ballotpedia.org/Alexander_Rives
• https://libguides.law.virginia.edu/c.php?g=39996&p=254125
• https://openjurist.org/judge/alexander-rives
• https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/Alexander_Rives
• https://scvahistory.org/scv/r/alexander-rives-1866-1869/further-rea...
• https://prabook.com/web/alexander.rives/2564338
• https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4719941
• https://alchetron.com/Alexander-Rives
• https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Rives-278
• https://www.jstor.org/stable/1105924
• https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=50392
• https://archive.org/stream/cabellstheirkinm00brow/cabellstheirkinm0...