The secret wife of Dionysius Virgil Stephens: part 02 (Rebecca Reaves)
As detailed in part 1 of this story, the first wife of D. V. Stephens died at age 26. Within six months, Dionysius had married Rebecca Catherine Reaves, originally spelled Reeves.
Rebecca Reaves
Rebecca was the sister of William F.
Reeves, who was a business associate
of Dionysius.
Several Atlanta City Directories and
other documents link William Reeves
and my great-grandfather Dionysius.
In fact, there is some evidence that
Reeves helped two of his brothers-in-law
establish gunsmith and locksmith businesses.
These business-cards were provided by Joy Pendry, the great-granddaughter of William Reeves.
Rebecca
We know a bit more about Rebecca than
we did about Mary Kitchens. In fact,
we have a photograph of Rebecca late
in her life. This picture shows the
back of the photograph as well as
explanatory text that I added.
The notes may have been written
by Christine Stephens Kelly, great-granddaughter
of Dionysius.
The note tells us about Rebecca's kind and loving personality, based on family stories and recollections.
Research tip: When scanning old photographs and documents, you should always flip them over and scan any text, notes, or scribbles on the other side. You never know when you'll need them. Also, images can sometimes be enhanced to read things that you couldn't normally see.
This detail from the back of a different and unrelated photograph gives us some important information. We see the October 23, 1941 processing date. We see the name of the developer, and the Atlanta location. You can read more about my photo detective work here.
Seems like everyone in the family knows about Mary Kitchens and Rebecca Reaves, D. V.'s first and second wives. But I found something that really shocked me. He had a third wife! A mystery wife. Go to page 3 to find out about this puzzling woman.
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