Reuben Graves was born in Spotsylvania County, Virginia on May 23, 1760. A resident of Halifax County, Virginia at the time of the American Revolution he lived near Rachel Rogers at the time of her marriage to Frederick Debow. Graves served as a private in the Halifax County Regiment of the Virginia Militia in 1776 and again in 1781. He later resided in Jackson County, Tennessee, where he successfully applied for his own veteran's pension. He died in about 1841.