| Last Update: 6/26/2003 Reveal & Gardner - 06/21/2001 Knotts - 2/17/2002 for Heck and Champley. I have been doing genealogy research on the Reveal name since May 1997. This site also contains information on my mother's side of the family under Ritter and Knotts, my father's mother (Gardner), as well as my wife's family on the names (Heck) and (Champley). It is my understanding that the Reveal name is French. There are a number of variations of the spelling of the name: Revel(l)e, Revielle, Revil(l)e,ReVeal, Revels, Reveil, Reveile, Reveallee, Revil(l), Reavell,and Revell. The English surname Revil(l), Revil(l)e, Reavell, etc. was derived from the Old French word revel, meaning "pride, rebellious sport". It was used as a nickname long before it became a surname. The story is that 2 or 3 brothers fled France some time in the 1600 or 1700 hundreds during the Holy Wars between the Catholics and Protestants to avoid being beheaded. They possibly went through Spain > England > Ireland or Scotland. In the late 1760's Riley Reveal at the age of 14 left Scotland or Ireland on a boat for the United Sates of America. Hiding in the lower part of the boat and not being found until far out on the Atlantic Ocean. After being discovered he stay onboard ship entering America through New York or Massachusetts. He went on to Fredericks County Virginia to live. His children Thomas (born 1776) and William (born 1775) moved on to Ohio > Kentucky > Indiana.. I have found pockets of the Reveal name in the 1800's in Highland County Ohio, Nicholas County Kentucky, Shelby and Hamilton Counties Indiana, and Wapello County, Iowa. A Ozrow Reveal did a lot of research on the family. He states that William Reveal is the common ancestor of the family name. His name was originally William ReVell. Somewhere along the line a bitter disagreement developed between the two brothers and William changed his name to Reveal, severing all ties with his brother. William's descendants eventually moved to Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa. Ozrow managed to trace the Reveal name to Marseilles, France. Another source says Alsace- Lorraine, France. I believe that Ozrow is the son of my great grandfather Lewis H.B. Reveal and is part of the Noblesville, Indiana line of Reveals. His grandson was Clay Reveal, Jr. who lived in Noblesville, IN. I have a 1927 newspaper article about a Reveal family re-union that was held in Noblesville, Indiana. The newspaper article has the story about Riley Reveal coming form Ireland just before the American Revolution in 1776. There were 115 people who attended the 1927 re-union in Noblesville. It is my understanding that a line of the Reveals have held reunions in the Springfield,Illinois area in the past as well. A Margo Reveil recently wrote to me that during/after the french revolution (1789) it was fairly common for small nobility (who had already entered the merchant trades and were not actually functioning as nobles protecting land any more) to change their names to avoid persecution (and continue their businesses). They often selected names that were abstract concepts as opposed to the older names (which were more concrete names like nouns, names tied to the land,or careers. Réveil is a new name by french standards and means "awaken" (or alarm clock today). It is not at all a common name there, and is not related to the name Revelle, Revel and other versions which are older French names and quite common in France.I believe that the name Reveal, Reveil, Reveille, and Reveile are all related. There was a Joseph Reveil that shows in 1850 Census in Milam County Texas. He was married to Arvazena Williamson in Missouri on June 13, 1844. Joseph was born in 1827 in Indiana where the Reveal name is concentrated in the 1830's. Joseph and Arvazaena Reveil children appear to have changed the spelling to Reveile. The Thomas, William, and Joseph in the Reveal lines had the name spelled Reveil in records before 1800 in Ohio & Kentucky. |
The Reveal Family
Updated August 2, 2007 |
Kenneth Harvey Reveal |
|
Edit Your Page |
|
GEDCOM Trees (viewing trees requires 4.0 or later) |
|
|
|
Family Photos |
|
|
|
Family Tree Maker Reports and Trees |
|
Related Links |
|
The content shown on this page has been submitted by a Genealogy.com customer, and is not subject to verification by Genealogy.com. Neither Genealogy.com nor its affiliates are responsible for the accuracy of any information contained on this page. The opinions expressed on this page are the author's alone and not the opinions of Genealogy.com.
|
|||||||||||
| © 2009 Ancestry.com |