George R. Reeves, for whom a 2600-square-mile West Texas county was named, was born in Tennessee, married Jane Moore in Arkansas in 1844, and came to Texas about 1845. He served as Grayson County tax collector from 1848 to 1850, sheriff from 1850 to 1854, and State Representative from 1855 to 1861. Commissioned a Confederate army officer in 1863, he participated in the Battle of Chickamauga and the Hundred Days Atlanta Campaign. He returned to the Legislature in 1873 and was Speaker of the House from 1881 to 1882.