James Reavis - Early Life

Early Life

Reavis was born the second of five children to Fenton George Reavis and Mary Reavis (née Dixon) on May 10, 1843 in Henry County, Missouri near the town of Clinton. His father was a Welshman who had immigrated to the United States in the early 1820s. His mother was of Scottish and Spanish descent and proud of her Spanish heritage. The family lived on a small farm and owned a small tannery. Reavis received little formal education, but his mother read Spanish Romantic literature to him and he developed a grandiose and eloquent writing pattern. In 1857, the family sold their farm and moved to Montevallo, Missouri, where they opened a store.

Following the outbreak of the American Civil War, Reavis enlisted in Hunter's Regiment of the Confederate Army, 8th Division of the Missouri State Guard. Several months later he went to Springfield and reenlisted in Captain Lowe's company. Initially holding dreams of glory, the 18-year old Reavis soon discovered the realities of military life did not match his romanticized ideals. About this time, he accidentally discovered that he could accurately reproduce his commanding officer's signature. Using this new-found skill, Reavis began producing passes to avoid the drudgery of army life and instead spent time visiting his mother. When his fellow soldiers noticed the frequency and manner by which he obtained his passes, Reavis began selling forged passes to them. When some of his superiors became suspicious of Reavis, he obtained leave supposedly to get married. He used the leave to surrender to Union forces instead of getting married. Following his surrender, Reavis joined the Union Army and briefly served in an artillery regiment.

Following the war, Reavis traveled to Brazil and gained functional fluency in Portuguese. Reavis returned to St. Louis, Missouri near the end of 1866. There he worked a series of jobs, including streetcar conductor, traveling salesman and clerk at a variety of retail stores. Eventually, he found success as a real estate agent. After several small real estate deals, Reavis saved enough money to open his own office. He then discovered that the skills he learned forging army passes allowed him to adjust real estate paperwork and correct imperfect property titles. In one established instance, he aided in this manner a man seeking to purchase a tract of land near St. Louis. Three generations of documents accumulated by the selling family were unable to establish clear title for the land. Reavis was able to produce a yellowed and fading 18th century document that all previous searches had failed to notice. Accepted as valid by all parties to the transaction, this (forged) document allowed his client to complete the transaction.