Francis Everod Rives (January 14, 1792 – December 26, 1861) was a Virginia Democratic politician and businessman who served two terms in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

. After making his fortune as a slave trader, Rives became a planter and soon won election and re-election multiple times to both houses of the

Virginia General Assembly The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western Hemisphere, and the first elected legislative assembly in the New World. It was established on July 30, ...

before his two terms representing

Virginia's 2nd congressional district Virginia's second congressional district is a List of United States congressional districts, U.S. congressional district in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It currently encompasses all of the counties of Accomack County, Virginia, Accomack, Nort ...

, and afterward represented several counties near Petersburg in the

Virginia Senate The Senate of Virginia is the upper house of the Virginia General Assembly. The Senate is composed of 40 senators representing an equal number of single-member constituent districts. The Senate is presided over by the lieutenant governor of Virg ...

as well as served as the city's mayor. Rives also helped establish the state-chartered

Petersburg Railroad The Petersburg Railroad ran from Petersburg, Virginia, south to Garysburg, North Carolina, from which it ran to Weldon via trackage rights over the Seaboard and Roanoke Railroad (later eliminated with a new alignment). History Founding In 183 ...

Early and family life

Born in

Prince George County Prince George County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 43,010. Its county seat is Prince George. Prince George County is located within the Greater Richmond Region of the U.S. sta ...

, near

Petersburg, Virginia Petersburg is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 33,458 with a majority bla ...

, Rives received a private education appropriate to his class. He also served as an ensign in the state militia during the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

, stationed in Norfolk. Rives in October 1833 married Eliza Jane Pegram Rives (1802–1874), who survived him and bore several children, including a daughter, Mary Chieves Rives Frazer (1821–1851).

Business and political career

In 1818, Rives and his neighbors Peyton Mason Sr. and Jr. formed a slave trading partnership. The business known as "Peyton Mason and Company" bought bondspeople in Virginia and walked them further south. Rives twice personally drove coffles of enslaved people through

Fayetteville, North Carolina Fayetteville ( , ) is a city in and the county seat of Cumberland County, North Carolina, United States. It is best known as the home of Fort Bragg, a major U.S. Army installation northwest of the city. Fayetteville has received the All-Ameri ...

and westward to Tennessee and some all the way down the

Natchez Trace The Natchez Trace, also known as the Old Natchez Trace, is a historic forest trail within the United States which extends roughly from Nashville, Tennessee, to Natchez, Mississippi, linking the Cumberland River, Cumberland, Tennessee River, ...

Natchez, Mississippi Natchez ( ) is the only city in and the county seat of Adams County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 14,520 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located on the Mississippi River across from Vidalia, Louisiana, Natchez was ...

. Having thus made his fortune, Rives became a planter himself, and also sought political office. Prince George County voters elected and re-elected Rives as one of their (part-time) representatives in the

Virginia House of Delegates The Virginia House of Delegates is one of the two houses of the Virginia General Assembly, the other being the Senate of Virginia. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-numbe ...

from 1821 to 1831. He then joined the Democratic party and successfully won election to the

State senate In the United States, the state legislature is the legislative branch in each of the 50 U.S. states. A legislature generally performs state duties for a state in the same way that the United States Congress performs national duties at ...

, where he represented Prince George and neighboring

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, Surry and

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

Counties from 1831 to 1836, and later from 1848 to 1851. Rives may have worked as an agent for the slavetrading firm Franklin and Armfield in the 1830s. In the 1840 census, Rives considered himself a resident of Sussex County and 27 of the 37 people in his household were enslaved. In the 1840s and 1850s, he made Petersburg his official residence. In 1840 he listed his occupation as "Law", and he and his wife lived with a young doctor, an elderly non-relative and young girl (possibly all servants), in 1860, Rives listed himself as "Gentleman" and lived with three other white adults in central Petersburg. Rives also owned 13 enslaved people in the city in 1850, and N.F. Rives an additional 8 persons (6 of them under 12 years old) in Petersburg, A decade later, F.E. Rives owned 33 enslaved people in Petersburg. Moreover, in 1850 John E. Rives owned 34 enslaved people in Sussex County. In 1860, G.E. Rives owned 6 slaves in Prince George County, and John E. Rives owned 35 slaves in Sussex County. Rives won election and re-election as a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

to the Twenty-fifth and Twenty-sixth Congresses (March 4, 1837 – March 3, 1841), but chose not to seek re-election in 1840. While a Congressman, he served as chairman of the Committee on Elections (Twenty-sixth Congress). In addition to his plantations, Rives worked to build and manage railways in Virginia and

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

. He was a principal of the

, and sometimes accused of chicanery for his efforts to boost Petersburg at the expense of railroad competitors as well as

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

, its port city rival. Petersburg voters elected him as the city's mayor, and he served from May 6, 1847, to May 5, 1848.

Death and legacy

Francis Rives died in late 1861, possibly on November 30 at Littleton in Sussex County, or on December 26, 1861, in Petersburg.Virginia Death index on ancestry.com He is interred in

Blandford Cemetery Blandford Cemetery is a historic cemetery located in Petersburg, Virginia. Although in recent years it has attained some notoriety for its large collection of more than 30,000 Confederate graves, it contains remains of people of all classes and r ...

in Petersburg.

Electoral history

*1837; Rives was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives with 80.61% of the vote, defeating fellow Democrat William B. Goodwyn. *1839; Rives was re-elected with 57.6% of the vote, defeating Whig James W. Pegram.

References

Sources