Reuben G. (maybe Gravet) Tatum was born about 1815 in Virginia.  His father was most likely the Reuben Tatum (Jr) in Williamson Co, Tn (middle Tennessee) in 1830. Since Reuben G. married abt 1835, this is probably his father.
He married Lucinda Pruett about 1837 probably in Wayne Co, Tn (but no marriage record has been found).

In 1840, Wayne Co, Tn there were 3 Tatums:
• Reuben G. Tatum 10001-/00001- p 76  (meaning males 0-5, 20-30, female 20-30, which would be Reuben, Lucinda & William)
• Reuben Tatum 001010001-/00000010 - p 76 (males:10-15, 20-30, 50-60, females 40-50 - maybe Reuben G's father)
• Alex Tatum 220001-/020001- p 82 (males 0-5, 5-10, 30-40, females 5-10, 30-40) - (don't know relationship?)

In 1850 they were still in Wayne Co, Tenn:
Tatum, R. G., age 36, Farmer, b VA  (p 173)
Tatum, Lucinda, age 33, b TN
Tatum, William, age 12, b TN
Tatum, Shepard, age 4, b TN
(No other Tatums were in the county, so his father either died by then or was in Lewis Co)

Wayne County court records: Monday Feby 2d 1852
"George W. BAKER vs Richard DABBS, R. G. TATUM & Samuel L. BURNS & James ARNETT - Execution Levied on Land [Ex.] Came the plaintiff by his attorney and presented the following proceedings and moved the Court for and order to see the land described in the levy thereon which proceedings are in the words and figures following to wit"
"Note - On or before the twenty fifth day of December next we or either of us promise to pay W. C. DUNCAN twenty three Dollars and ninty cents for value rec'd witness our hands this 24th day of March 1851. Richard DABBS, R. [X mark] G. TATUM"
"Warrent - To the Sheriff or any constable of said County you are hereby commanded to summon Richard DABBS R. G. TATUM & William C. BURNS & James ARNETT to appear before me or some other justice of the peace in said County to answer the complaint of George W. BARKER in a plea of Debt due by note under fifty dollars Given under my hand and seal this 3rd day of January 1852 J.C.G. WILSON JP"
"Officers Return - Executed for trial Jany 17th 1852 (TATUM not found) C. ACKLIN D. Sheff."
"Execution - To any lawful officer of the said County Greeting I command you that of the Goods and chattles lands and tenements of Richard DABBS R. G. TATUM S. L. BURNS and James ARNETT if to be found in your County you make the sum of twenty five dollars and eight cents and all interest and costs to satisfy a judgement that George W. BARKER obtained against the said DABBS TATUM BURNS and ARNETT before me on the 17th of January 1852 Given under my hand and seal this 24 of January 1852 J.C.G. WILSON JP. WC."

Reuben evidently had some difficulties in Wayne County. Maybe that's why he decided to move away. He moved his to family Stoddard Co, Mo. in 1856. The Tatums probably lived between Bloomfield & Idalia, Mo. (see map below); Bloomfield at the time was the county seat and the largest town in the county with about 800 people.
Reuben Tatum bought from S.G. Kitchen 80 acres on Dec 26, 1856. Then bought another 80 acres from Andrew J. Berz on Oct 21, 1857.

Reuben died between before Feb 1858 (probably late 1857) without a will (age 43). Here are notes from the probate record:
• First letters of administrator, Feb. 4, 1858.
• The first record is June 2, 1858, Stoddard Co Mo Book B, p 518. and it is Lucinda Tatum vs Dunkin D. Lennsford, adm of Reuben G. Tatum. Parties appear and the defendant waives the service of a notia herein and the court after hearing testimony judged that said plaintiff recover against defendant $70 for the purpose of purchasing provisions for the use of the family of the deceased for 12 months.
• Book B , p 545 - Lucinda Tatum appointed administrator. Two men were present and a security of $1000 was presented for her.
• July 27, 1874, final settlement. Now at this time comes William G. Tatum, administrator of the estate of Reuben G. Tatum, deceased and presents to the court this final settlement of said estate and is charged with $175.20 and credited with a like amount leaving nothing in the hands of the administor, which settlement is by the court approved and ordered filed.

In 1860  Lucinda was living in Stoddard Co, Mo (Richland twp, Bloomfield post office, probably near Idalia). She had Sheperd and Mary with her. Next door was her son, William with his (2nd) wife, Mary Ann, and their baby, Matilda.
Lucinda Tatum was given land by patent deed from Stoddard County by J.V.O'Dell, commissioner Lot 5 Twp 24, Range 11; 161 acres May 29,1865 and recorded May 29,1865
Mary E Tatum was given land by Lucinda Tatum, lot 6 Twp 24, Range 11; 40 acres; Sept 5, 1868 and recorded March 16, 1869
Shepard B Tatum was given land by Lucinda Tatum, Lot 5, Twp 24, Range 11; 120 acres; Sept 5, 1868 and recorded Jan 4, 1869

By 1870 Lucinda had married a McLard and was widowed again. She had Mary E. Tatum and Nancy McLard with her and was living in Elk Creek twp, PO Bloomfield.

Children:

1.    WILLIAM G. TATUM, b abt 1838, Wayne Co, TN; m Susannah Taylor, Mary Ann Eaves & Caroline Webb; d 1899, Ark.
    Children: [See next generation below]

2.    SHEPERD BARTLETT TATUM (called "B"), Mar 20, 1846, Wayne Co, TN. He married Mary Caroline Thompson, Feb 15, 1864 in Stoddard Co, Mo. Mary was also born in Tennesse in 1848 and died in Stoddard Co in 1908.  He married 2nd to Annis McGehee.
    Sheperd seems to have been a Unionist during the Civil War, which might have been difficult in southern Missouri, except that the Union Army seemed to have a stronghold in that area. His brother, William, evidently was on both sides!
    Bartlett & Mary had 12 children; 4 did not live to be grown which were 2 sets of twins, both sets were a boy and a girl. One was stillborn, one lived one month, one lived 5 months and one lived 5 years.
    Shepherd died Mar 9, 1920; buried in Hagy Cem, Dexter, Mo. His 1913 will lists 5 daughters (Janette Mayes, Susie Vaught, Birdie Jones, Fanny Berry & Maud Hanks, plus 2 granddaughters Daisy Turner & Cora Venable)
    Tombstone reads: "Mary C. Thompson, wife of S.B. Tatum born Jan 13, 1848. This couple lived a peaceful and happy life 44 years, 1 month, 5 days, when death called her name Mar 20, 1908"
    Children (8 daughters!):
2a)    Sarah Ellen Tatum, b Mar 12, 1865; m 1882 to Christopher Pyatt. Ellen died nine months after her marriage (age 17), perhaps giving birth to a child.
2b)    Texeter  Frances Tatum, b Jan 10, 1868; died Sept 6, 1884 in Stoddard Co, Mo. (age 16)
2c)    Emma Elizabeth Tatum, b Mar 7, 1869; married Henry G. Turner in 1885; d 1906; children: Daisey Dean (m John Avery) and Cora (m Fred Venable)
2d)    Janette Alice Tatum, b Sep 20, 1870, Dexter, Mo; m 1887 to John Wesley Mayes. She died 1947, bur Hagy Cem., Dexter.
2e)    Mary Elvira Tatum, b Feb 11, 1874; died 1879 (age 5). She was as twin to a boy who was stillborn.
2f)    Susan Anne Tatum, b Mar 14, 1876, Mo; m David M. Swift, 1893, &  Wm. Monroe Vaught, 1901; she d 1923, Detroit, Michigan; Swift ch: Daisy Lena (m Epperson), David Bartlett (unm); 4 Vaught ch.
2g)    Birdie Mayfield Tatum, b May 12, 1878; m Charles R. Jones; d 1954
2h)    John M. Tatum, b Jun 29, 1880; died the next day.
2i)    Polly Afeleier? Tatum, b Jun 29, 1880; died at 5 months
2j)    Fanny Brown Tatum, b Jul 3, 1882; m 1900 William H. Berry; d 1941
2k)    Maude Robert Bartlett Tatum, b Jul 17, 1889; m Joshua Hanks; d 1986, Bakersfield, Ca

3.     MARY ELIZABETH TATUM, b 1849, Wayne Co, TN.  She was the “Mary Ann Tatem” who married Moses Wells, Oct 13, 1870 in Stoddard Co, MO [Bartlett’s granddaughter, Lena, said that her grandfather’s sister married Moses Wells]
3a)    Elbert Wells, b abt 1865, Mo
3b)    Ed Wells, b abt 1868, Mo
 
 

William G. Tatum, b about 1838 in Wayne Co, TN.  There has been some question about whether his middle name was "G" or "J", but his father's probate records show "William G. Tatum, administrator of the estate of Reuben G. Tatum, deceased..."  And one of his great-grandmothers was a Gravet, which may be what the G stand for.
    William's parents moved to Missouri in 1855. Grandson Bill (son of Gilbert) said William worked at a mill in Sikeston when he was 17 [abt 1855] and that his wife was from just across the river at Cape Girardeau in southern Illinois.
    William married 1st to Susannah Taylor about 1857. Susannah Taylor Tatum is listed in a cemetery record book as born May 31, 1839 and died Jan. 31, 1858, buried Old Idalia-Lewis Cemetery east of Bloomfield (William was living near Bloomfield in 1860).  She was 19 years old when she had Reuben Stephen, Jan 12, 1858 and died 19 days later. In a probate claim against the estate of Susan Tatum (Reuben's mother), which was taken out to sell land of hers for Reuben's education, it calls her "Susan Tatum, previously known as Susan Taylor." Reuben was not on the 1860 census with William and Mary Ann, but he was on the 1870 census with William and Caroline. [I wonder who he was living with in 1860? Maybe his Taylor grandparents.]

 
    William married (2nd) Mary Ann M. Eaves, April 5, 1859 [Stoddard Co Marriage Book A, p 54].  In 1860 they were in Stoddard Co, MO with their baby Matilda in Richland twp, Bloomfield post office, probably near Idalia.
    William was in the Confederate Army during the Civil War (there is a story that he was actually fought on both sides and escaped by crossing the Mississippi River -- maybe he was drafted by the invading Union army and escaped to the south). [There was a William Tatum who was taken prisoner and put in prison on Nov. 22, 1864 in Woodruff Co, Ark and was released in May, 1865 after signing an oath of allegience to the USA. He claimed his residence was Batesville, Ark. His description was 5'10", complexion dark, dark hair, hazel eyes. This must be a different man because William would have had to have been at home in Jan-Feb of 1865 since he had a baby Sept 1865.]
    Bloomfield, Mo seemed to have been an important piece of land during the Civil War. General Grant visited it once and recommended that a fort be built there. Crowley's Ridge which runs by Bloomfield is the only natural highway through the swamplands of southeast Missouri and was the only good access to "Little Dixie" in the Missouri River valley area.
    Mary Ann died probably Sept 3, 1865, maybe with the birth of her baby, Arabella, and William married (3rd) Sept. 27, 1865, in Stoddard Co, Mo. to Frances Caroline Webb. William evidently was desperate for a wife to take care of his 3 small children. She was 17 when she married a 30-year-old man with 3 children, Reuben (7), Matilda (5) and Arabella "Bettie" (newborn).
    William G. Tatum sold 411 acres to William B. Eaves and wife (probably Mary Ann's brother),  on Nov 17, 1873. Daughter, Isadora was born in 1874 in Missouri. William moved to Ark. sometime after her birth. After their move, daughters, Matilda & Amanda married men from Oregon Co, Mo and settled there); son Reuben S. married in 1879 in Stoddard Co, Mo. but was in Lawrence Co, Ark with his father in 1880.
    William died in 1899 in Lawrence Co, Ark., but a will could not be found there.

Child of Susanna (Taylor):
1.     REUBEN STEPHEN TATUM, Jan 12, 1858, Stoddard Co, Mo.; m 1st Thomasine Larue (1877 Mo), m 2nd Sarah Helm (1879, Mo), m 3rd Violet Tatum (1889, Ark), m 4th Ruth Hampton (1912, Ark); Reuben d 1925, Green Co, Ark.; ch:
(Sarah’s)
1a)    Ellen
1b)    Audrey;
(Violet’s)
1c)    Mary Frances, b Mar 4, 1890, Ark; d July 16, 1891, Ark (age 1 yr)
1d)    Harry Oliver, b Jan 17, 1892, Ark; d Apr 4 1892, Ark (age 3 mos)
1e)    Altie Irene, b Mar 6, 1892, Ark; d Aug 1898, Ark (age 6)
1f)    Luke Stephen, b Dec 18, 1895, Ark; m Emma Thelma Coy; d Jul 20, 1968, Paragould, Ark
1g)    Vance Mark Tatum, b Oct 9, 1900, Ark; d July 11, 1976, Paragould, Ark
1h)    Matthew Tatum, b Mar 19, 1903, Ark; d July 8, 1943
1i)    Maudie Jane Tatum, b Mar 10, 1905, Ark; m George Sidney Burst; m 2nd James Arthur Campbell; Nov 12, 1987, Waterloo, Iowa
1j)    baby boy Tatum, b/d Feb 1, 1908, Ark.
1k)    John D. Tatum, b Sept 27, 1909, Bard, Green Co, Ark; m Lois Johnson (1931), m 2nd Binnie Leodus Bernice Knight (1934), m 3rd Leona “Dodie” Gay (1959); d Jan 24, 1987, Booneville, Logan Co, Ark.; ch: (Binnie’s) Bobbie

Children of Mary Ann (Eaves):
2.     MATILDA MARILLA TATUM, b 1860, Stoddard Co, Mo; m James Erasmus “Rab” Jolliff, 1878; d 1929, Oregon Co, Mo. children:
2a)    Amanda Jolliff, 1879
2b)    Elizabeth M. “Lizzie” Jolliff, b May 1881
2c)    Nora Bell Jolliff, b Sep 13, 1882
2d)    Elijah Summer Jolliff, b Mar 28, 1887
2e)    William Randolph Jolliff, b Mar 1, 1890
2f)     James Erasmus “Razie” Jolliff, b Jan 8, 1892
2g)    Aaron George Jolliff, b Mar 22, 1895
2h)    baby Jolliff, b Jul 1897
2i)     Ava May Jolliff, b Jan 1900

3.    Arabella “Bettie” Tatum, b Sep 3, 1865, Stoddard Co, Mo; m Aug 25, 1881, Lawrence Co, Ark to Robert F. Deal. Married right before her sixteenth birthday, her father, "W.G. Tatum" signed her marriage license as security with an "X". There is a statement attached by William that she will be 16 on Sept. 3, 1881.

Children of Caroline (Webb):

4.     Alonzo C. Tatum, b Jul 1870; m Eliza D. Vernon, 1888, Lawrence Co, Ark.  Marriage license in Lawrence Co, Ark, signed by William Tatum, says Alonzo C. Tatum married Eliza D. Vernon 10/29/1888. William and Alonzo both signed with an "X". Alonzo married Mrs. A.D. Hutcheson in 1900. Oscar signed as security on the license.
5.    Amanda Tatum, b 1872, Stoddard Co, Mo; m John George Washington Jolliff, 1892, Lawrence Co, Ark (he was from Oregon Co, Mo); d 1897, Rover, Oregon Co, Mo; ch: Edith Gertrude & Mable Victoria
6.    Isadora Tatum, b 1874, Stoddard Co, Mo; m S.E. Conquette, 1894, Lawrence Co, Ark. Marriage license says "I.D. Tatum." William signed as security on the license.
7.    Oscar Tatum, b 1897, Lawrence Co, Ark.; m Mabel Adrian, 1901, Lawrence Co, Ark. Signed his marriage license. He could sign his own name, unlike his father and 2 older brothers who signed their names with an "X."
8.    Gilbert Franklin Tatum, b Mar 20, 1882, Walnut Ridge, Ark.; m Florence Adrian, 1902, Lawrence Co, Ark.; d 1962; ch: Ernest, William Oliver “Bill”, Guy, Grady, Ann, Esther, Grace
9.    Albert Tatum, b 1884 [His mother would have been 47 years old when he was born.] Record from Duty Cemetery, Pocahontas (Randolph/Lawrence Co line) Ark: Tatum Child, child of Mrs. Albert Tatum, died 8 Feb 1910