James G. Reed

As printed in 1905

JAMES G. REED.

On another page of this work will be found a sketch of the life of Robert C. Reed, brother of our subject, and in the connection is incorporated much interesting data concerning the prominent and honored family of which the two brothers are representatives. The Reed family was one of the first to settle in Butler county, the grandparents of the subject having located here long before the admission of Ohio to the Union, while the fact that the father of James G. was the first male white child born in the county bears all of significance as showing how early must have been the period when the family name became identified with the annals of this division of the Buckeye state. To the article mentioned we would refer the reader for further genealogical data, which it is unnecessary to recapitulate in the present connection. The lineage is of Scotch-Irish extraction, and the paternal grandparents of our subject immigrated from the north of Ireland to America and were among the first to establish a home in the sylvan wilds of Butler county, as has already been noted.

James G. Reed, the immediate subject of this review, has passed his entire life in Butler county, and is one of the prominent, representative and highly esteemed farmers of Lemon township. He was born on the old homestead farm, in this township, the date of his nativity having been April 30, i85 7* while it may be said that he was the second in order of birth of the two children of Thomas C. and Rachel (Gordon) Reed, the former of whom was born in the same township, in 1797, while the latter was born in New Jersey in 1824, being a daughter of James and Mary (Slack) Gordon, who were likewise pioneers of Butler county. The father was summoned into eternal rest in 1874. and the mother lived to attain the age of seventy-two years, her death occurring in 1896.

The subject of this sketch was reared on the old home farm and has never lapsed in his allegiance to the great basic art of agriculture. which he has found altogether worthy of his best efforts and through the medium of which he has attained distinctive prosperity and temporal success. He received his educational training in the public schools of his native county, having completed a course in the high school at Amanda, where he was graduated as a member of the class of 1874. He owns a quarter section of most arable land, and to the improvement and cultivation of this place he has given his undivided attention since 1888, when it came into his possession. His farm is well improved and is devoted to diversified agriculture, while he also gives considerable attention to the raising of live stock. In politics he is a stalwart adherent of the Republican party, with which he has been affiliated from the time of attaining his legal majority, and he and his entire family are members of the United Presbyterian church. Mr. Reed is a man of progressive ideas and liberal views and takes a consistent interest in the questions and issues of the hour and in public affairs of a local nature, though he has never sought official preferment. He has been a warm friend of the cause of education and has been influential in the securing of the best possible advantages in the line for his township, being at the present time a member of the school board of his district.

On the 20th of November, 1879. was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Reed to Miss Geraldine S. Conover, who was born in St. Luke’s Place, New York city, on the 3d of November. 1856, being a daughter of Samuel C. and Mary Conover, both of whom died when she was a mere child, and she was reared in the home of her uncle, John L. Schenck. in Butler county. Her father was for a number of years superintendent of the Eaton & Richmond division of the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railroad. Mr. Roberts was an elder in the United Presbyterian church for the long period of forty years, was a man of fine mental gifts and well-fortified convictions and was an able and effective public speaker. Mrs. Reed received her educational discipline in the public schools of Hamilton, and there attended Professor Starr’s high school for three years, while she also attained marked proficiency in music. She was a woman of noble character and gentle and gracious presence, endearing herself to all who came within the sphere of her influence, while her beautiful attributes of character phone most resplendent in the sacred precincts of her own home, where her devotion to husband and children was unmeasured and unselfish in the extreme. She was summoned into the life eternal on the 20th of April, 1890, and in her death came the great loss and bereavement of the subject’s life. She was survived by her six children, the youngest being at the time but six months old. Mr. Reed managed by great care and solicitude to keep his motherless children together in the home and has given them the best of educational advantages available, while five of the number still remain with their father on the old homestead. Verna is now the wife of Charles I. Wykoff. an employe of the Big Four Railroad; and the names of the other children arc as follows: Robert R., Harold T., Gordon J., Rachel M. and Wallace W.

As printed in Centennial History of Butler County, Ohio (1905). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.