J. C. Reed

 

SOURCE: "Portrait and Biographical Album of Champaign County, Illinois," Chapman Brothers, Chicago, 1887
SURNAMES: BELL, CALDWELL, JACKSON, REED

J. C. REED. The finely arranged farm of this successful agriculturist and stock-raiser is pleasantly located in Philo Township, on section 16. It came into his possession in the spring of 1880, and includes 480 acres, which have been brought to a fine state of cultivation being drained with 30,000 rods of tiling. The farm buildings and stock are of first-class description, and the family residence, a view of which will be found on another page, will bear comparison with that of any in Champaign County. Our subject came to this vicinity from Wheeling, W. Va., where he was born May 19, 1822. His father, John Reed, was a Virginian by birth, and the descendant of Irish ancestors. He was married in his native State to Miss Louisa CALDWELL, also a native of the old Dominion, the wedding taking place near Wheeling, where they afterward settled and lived until the ‘50’s, when they came West with other members of the family and settled in the northwestern part of Peoria County. There the father died soon afterward, aged sixty-two years; the mother survived until about 1865. Both parents were active members of the Presbyterian Church, and highly esteemed wherever known.

William Reed, the grandfather of our subject, a native of County Armagh, Ireland, emigrated from his native land with his family and settled near Wheeling, W. Va. His son John, the father of our subject, was the youngest child and the only one born in West Virginia. The maiden name of the grandmother was Miss Jane JACKSON. Both she and her husband died near Wheeling. The Reed family are connections of the Caldwells, McCulloughs and Bogges, and the Caldwells were connected with the Calhouns, both by blood and marriage. Lewis Wetzel, the noted Indian fighter, was also connected with these families, all of whom figured prominently in the early history of Virginia. Many of them were of Scottish ancestry.

The subject of this history possesses the marked characteristics of a reliable and substantial race. He was the fourth of twelve children, and received his early education in the primitive log schoolhouse of the early days. He was a bright and ambitious boy, and engaged in merchandising when sixteen years of age. He also for some time was employed in transportation on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, and for a period of eight years was occupied as a drover, handling annually over 1,000 head of stock. He was at one time quite extensively engaged in the buying and shipping of horses, and was remarkably successfully in his undertaking. His first experience as an agriculturist dates from his arrival in this county, when he bought a tract of land in Philo Township. He was a man greatly attached to his family, and in his retirement from farm life had in view the improvement of his wife’s health and the better training of his children.

In 1877 Mr. Reed took a trip overland and into the region of the Rocky Mountains with his private teams, and accompanied by his wife and two children. This trip practically completed his tour of the Western Continent, and he possesses a valuable fund of information gathered from his observations during his journey from Virginia to Illinois and thence to the farther West. He was joined by others in this latter trip, which made a party of twenty-one persons. They carried their provisions and were equipped with the modern conveniences of camp life, including a physician and a blacksmith. Mr. Reed, in fact, has employed much of his time—about six years—in traveling over the different States in the Union.

Mr. Reed was married in his native county, on the 19th of May, 1868, to Miss Mary B. BELL, also a native of the Old Dominion. They have become the parents of five children—Charles W., Henry K. L., Mary B., John C., Jr., and James B. Mrs. Reed is a lady of culture and education, and numbers among her friends and acquaintances the best people of Philo Township. Both our subject and his wife are connected with the Presbyterian Church, and in politics Mr. Reed is a firm supporter of Republican principles, although he has uniformly declined to become an office-holder.