Obituary for James Henry Reed

Transcription of Obituary for

James Henry Reed

(17 Feb 1826 - 17 May 1901)

THE BARNWELL PEOPLE

Vol XXIV No. 39, p. 3, col. 3

Thursday, May 30, 1901

BLACKVILLE NEWS

    Mr. James W. Reed died on the 17^th inst., aged 77 years, and was buried in the Odom burial ground. Rev. W. D. Rice conducted the funeral services.  For many years, he was a consistent member of Healing Springs Church.  

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I found this obituary recently on microfilm at the South Caroliniana Library at the University of South Carolina here in Columbia.  Besides the fact that it has his middle initial as W instead of H (a fairly commonly found error), it poses a couple of questions.  

James's birthdate on his tombstone is February 18, 1825.  In the Benjamin Odom, Jr., Family Bible, it is February 17, 1826.  According to this obituary, he was 77 years old when he died, which would have him born in 1824.  I realize we may never know for sure, and I am okay with that.  The date of death on the obituary does match the tombstone date, however.  

More interesting to me is the phrase "buried in the Odom burial ground."  The small plot where he is buried along with seven other relatives is on Gardenia Road in upper Barnwell County.  Click here to see.  I seriously doubt that more than eight graves would fit inside the chain link fence there.   

The plot is on (or at least near) land that James's father John Reed bought from the estate of Benjamin Odom, his father-in-law.  When Benjamin died, the land was auctioned on March 7, 1825.  John Reed was the highest bidder at $2001.00.  (Click here to see where this has been thoroughly documented by Bruce Odom.)  

Does this make you wonder if other Odom and Reed unmarked graves might be at the same site? 

How Many Samuels Do You Have?

On my tree, I count seven Samuel Reeds and four others with different last names who were named Samuel Reed.  

1. 1751-1823 - Samuel Reed, husband of Mary Clark 
2. 1795-1847 - Samuel Reed, son of Samuel and Mary 
3. 1810-1887 - Samuel Reed, son of Hugh and Jane McSpeddon Reed 
4. 1826-1862 - Samuel James Reed, son of #2 above and Elizabeth Boylston
5. 1829-1864 - Samuel Reed Boylston, son of #1's daughter Mary Reed and Austin Boylston
6. 1835-1848 - Samuel Reed Waters, son of #1's daughter Jane Reed and Jonathan Thomas Waters
7. 1846-1889 - Samuel Elijah Reed, son of #3 above and Matilda Willis
8. 1862-1924 - Samuel Reed Boylston, Jr., son of #5 above and Elizabeth Rebecca Riley
9. 1874-1874 - Samuel S. Reed, son of James William Reed (son of Hugh) and  Anna Rebecca Tyler Reed
10. 1882-1918 - Samuel Elijah Reed, Jr., son of #7 above and Emma Warner
11. 1885-1849 - Samuel Reed Copeland, son of Ida Reed and William Riley Copeland (Ida was a daughter of James Henry and Mary Cook Reed, granddaughter of John and Julia Odom Reed, great-granddaughter of Samuel and Mary)

Other Samuels on the tree who descend from Samuel and Mary:  

1. 1823-1890 - Samuel J. Hartzog, son of Rebecca Reed (daughter of #1 above) and Henry Bernard Hartzog 
2. 1825-1899 - Samuel Ledwick Hair - son of Lavisa Reed (daughter of #1 above) and David Hair 
3. 1840-1912 - Samuel Prioleau Chisolm, son of Adella Ursula Reed (daughter of #3 above) and Samuel Prioleau Chisolm (granted, he was named after his father) 
4. 1848-?? - Samuel Powell Cooper, son of Alice Ann Reed (daughter of #2 above) and Clark Columbus Cooper 
5. 1853-1853 - Samuel Capers Milhous, son of Cyrena Reed (daughter of Hugh) and William Capers Milhous 
6. 1858-?? - Samuel E. Ray, son of Martha Jane Reed (daughter of #3 above) and Hugh Charles Ray 
7. 1860-?? - Samuel Hutchins Still - son of Ellen Rebecca Rebecca Hair (daughter of Lavisa Reed and David Hair) and Samuel Hutchins Still (yes, named after his father)
8. 1880-1894 - Samuel Lemuel Hair - son of David Furman Hair (son of Lavisa Reed and David Hair) and Irene Sophora Addison

And, although he's not a descendant, it is interesting to note that the first name of the father of Jane McSpeddon (Hugh Reed's wife) was Samuel!  

Surely these are not all.  If you have any I've missed, please let me know!

NEW BLOG: Samuel and Mary Clark Reed of Barnwell Family Photos

This past weekend I spent most of my time creating "Samuel and Mary Clark Reed of Barnwell Family Photos."  It is a companion blog to this one that is designed to share our pictures of the descendants of Samuel and Mary Reed.  

I am still working out some of the kinks, but I believe I am ready to share it with you.  

The address is:  http://samuelreedfamilyphotos.blogspot.com/ 

When you go to the blog, you will see the latest post.  In the column to the right, there is a Photo Index.  Click on a name to take you to the post where you will find photos of that person. 

Of course, I started with photos of my own forebears.  (I thoroughly enjoyed spending yesterday with my grandparents!)  

In the next few weeks, I will be adding some wonderful old photos that I have received through the last few years.  Please let me know if you have photographs or portraits that you would like to share.  Be sure to let me know who has the original and an approximate date of the picture.  Contact me at samuelreedfamily@gmail.com.  

Privacy of living persons in photos will be guarded to the best of my ability.  I will also do my best to give credit where credit is due and request that you do the same.  

I would like to have your feedback on this photo blog idea.  It may or may not be the best way to accomplish this sharing.  We shall see, as time goes on, where it needs tweaking.  Please let me know how it works for you, good or bad, in opening and viewing the pages.  Does it take too long to load?  (Picture heavy pages sometimes do.)  

You will be able to leave comments on there just as you can on here.  Please share your memories and knowledge with us, as well as your photos! 

Michael Joshua Reed (1851-1924)

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Michael Joshua Reed

Michael Joshua Reed was born on April 19, 1851, the fourth of 13 recorded children of James William Reed (1827-1901) and Anna Rebecca Tyler (1828-1882).

Michael married M. Pauline Tyler, daughter of Joshua Tyler and Jane Corbitt, on March 13, 1873, in Barbour County, Alabama.  They had seven children by 1887.  Pauline died in Alabama, after which Michael and his family returned to South Carolina. 

On December 31, 1889, Michael married Mary Alice Fanning, daughter of Joseph C. Fanning and Martha Corbett.  They had eight children.

Michael Joshua Reed died on February 2, 1924.  His obituary in the Augusta Chronicle stated that between 1200 and 1500 people attended his funeral and burial at Pleasant Hill Baptist Church in Springfield, SC! 

Michael Joshua Reed and Mary Alice Fanning Reed (abt 1920)

This photograph and the one at the top of this post were sent by Roger Ganis, a great-grandson of Michael and Mary Alice Reed.  Estimates place it in the early 1920s.

Michael and Mary Alice Fanning Reed (about 1890)

Stephanie Rowell Murray, a 2-great granddaughter of Michael and Mary Alice, contributed this picture.

(Remember that you can click on any of these pictures to see them larger.)  

Roger also has this picture of all eight Michael and Mary Alice's children plus "Add," a son from Michael's first marriage to Pauline Tyler.  It was taken before some time before Christine's death in 1956.

Children of Michael Joshua Reed

Ladies L-R:  Nina Maroney, Lula Emma Fogle, Myra Johnson, Christine Hair
Men, L-R: Dallas, Clayton, [Unsure], James, and [Unsure].

Many thanks to Roger's mother Annie Mae Fogle Ganis and Myrtle Quattlebaum for identification.  The two "unsures" are thought to be Addie (known as "Add") and George Arthur.  Please let me know if you know which is which. 

To Roger and Stephanie:  Thank you very much for sharing these treasures with us.  Photos like this really help our history come alive. 

Sources/Verifications:
Birth and Death Dates, Parents, Burial:  South Carolina Death Certificate #003063 at Ancestry.com
Marriage to Pauline:  Alabama Marriage Collection 1800-1969 at Ancestry.com
Marriage to Mary Alice:  William and Ann Carter Tyler and Some of their Descendants 1604-2008 by Albert L. Brodie, Jr.
M. J. Reed Obituary:  Augusta Chronicle (February 8, 1924, page B3) at Genealogybank.com; used with permission.  

"Many Years After" by D. Graham Copeland is Online

Yesterday, the University of South Carolina Libraries Digital Collections made available online the book Many Years After, A Bit of History and Some Recollections of Bamberg with Appendix of Data Concerning a Few Bamberg County Families and their Connections by D. Graham Copeland.

Click here to see it.  

I am thrilled!  Seeing it all from the comfort of my desk chair sure beats bending over a microfilm reader at the South Caroliniana Library! 

When you click "View Book" from the link above, it opens a viewer.  Browse the column to the left for chapter headings.  Test the different views available in the line above the image.

Edited 5/2/2011 to add:  "The Reeds and Their Connections" chapter is on pages 379-385. 

Click on "View" in the left column to see a drop-down menu.  If you select "complete print version," it will download a PDF of the entire book! (664 pages and 128 MB) 

Please keep in mind a couple of important points.

1)  This book is a source, not a verification.  I believe it is fabulous, but it remains a "jumping off point," a place to guide you to information that still needs to be verified through other sources.

2)  If you use any parts of this book, please remember to mind your copyright manners.  Give credit where credit is due, not just to Graham Copeland, but the USC libraries as well.

George Reed and Abigail Leger Were Not the Parents of Samuel Reed of Barnwell.

There was another Samuel Reed in South Carolina in the late 1700s and early 1800s who is often confused with our ancestor Samuel Reed of Barnwell. I hope here to clear up that confusion. 

Our ancestor Samuel's parents were not George Reed and Abigail Leger.  George and Abigail did indeed have a son named Samuel, but he was not the one who married Mary Clark.

Information about the other Samuel:

According to the Revolutionary War record of this other Samuel (located in the National Archives and available on Footnote.com), he was a son of George Reed and was born in Lancaster County, PA, on January 26, 1749.  When he was 13 years old, the family moved to Rowan County, NC, and then on to Abbeville, SC.

In 1775, this other Samuel enlisted in the militia and served for about six years in the Revolutionary War under his father Colonel George Reed, as well as others. 

He remained in South Carolina until about 1800 or 1806 when he moved to Georgia.  His war pension of $20.00 a year was executed on September 25, 1832, when he lived in Gwinnett County, GA.

After the death of his companion in 1840, he moved to St. Clair County, Alabama to reside with his children.  He died on February 8, 1843.

A letter in this Samuel's record states that this data was obtained from the papers filed for his pension claim.  It also states that this Samuel Reed was the only soldier of that name or similar spelling who served in the South Carolina troops whose record is found in the Revolutionary War records of that office.

Moving on from the war record, we have the 1790 census which shows "Capt. Saml Reed" living in Abbeville County, SC.  This is the other Samuel Reed AND the only Samuel Reed on the 1790 census in South Carolina.  

In a Google Books snippet from North Carolina - South Carolina Bible Records (by Jeannette Holland Austin, Heritage Books, 2008, page 244), I found "Capt. George Reid Bible" owned by Raymond M. Bell of State College, PA.  It lists Capt. George Reed born 12/23/1719 in Ireland who married Abigal Leger, born in France and died in Abbeville 11/3/1786.  Their children were Rosa who married Major John Rowie; Ann (Nancy) born 12/25/1747 and died 1/12/1769 who married Capt. William Raskin, Jr.; Margaret who married Hugh Reid and then William Cauder Baskin; Samuel who married Caroline Thomson; Alexander; and Joseph (Lieut.) born 6/5/1756 who married Isabella Baskin.  

Information we know about our Samuel:

The dates of the Revolutionary War were 1775-1783.  Our ancestor Samuel never served in the Revolutionary War.  He was in Ireland at the time.  His son Hugh was born in Ireland in 1783.

We know from our Samuel's will that he died in 1823 in Barnwell County, South Carolina, not in1843 in Alabama or Georgia. 

The 1850 Census has Hugh Reed (Samuel and Mary's son) as being 65 years old and born in Ireland.  Of course, his tombstone tells us that he was born on October 6, 1783.  The war was over by then.


In researching our families, we often need to rule out people with the same name as the ancestor we are hunting.  In doing so, sometimes we get to know the other person fairly well.  This happened when I was looking into this other Samuel Reed.  I hope this post sets the record straight regarding Samuel, son of George, and our ancestor Samuel Reed.
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Photographs of Eula Reed Tyler's Family

Some wonderful old pictures have been shared with me in the last few years, and it's time to start sharing them with you.  As I work on the stories behind the ones I've received, I'll start with a couple of my own.  (Remember to click on pictures to view them larger.)

Eula Reed Tyler - wife of Levy Tyler - Statesboro, Ga.

The handwriting of my grandfather John Osborne Reed (1894-1965) identifies his Aunt Eula and her family.  I had this photo for 30 years before I got into genealogy and finally discovered who Eula Reed Tyler was. 

Mary Eula Reed was a daughter of James Henry and Mary Cook Reed and a great-granddaughter of Samuel and Mary Clark Reed.  She was born in Blackville, South Carolina, about 1869.  She grew up in the Blackville/Healing Springs area of Barnwell County and was a member of Healing Springs Baptist Church. 

About 1887, she married Levi Sylvester Tyler, Jr. from across the South Edisto in the Willow Swamp area.  Levi was a son of Levi Silvester Tyler (1823-1864) and Catherine Thomas (1834-1904).  This was not the first time Reeds and Tylers had gotten together.  Levi's father was a brother of Anna Rebecca Tyler who married James William Reed (son of Hugh and Jane McSpeddon Reed).

On the 1900 census, Eula, Levi, and their four children were living in Bamberg.  Living with them were Eula's parents Mary and James Reed and her younger sister Elizabeth Julia "Bessie" Reed.

On 27 April 1901, Bessie married George Edward Hudson.  On 17 May 1901, Eula's father James died. (To date, I still have not found a death date for Mary Cook Reed.)

By the 1910 census, Eula's family had moved to Brier Patch in Bulloch County, Georgia.  Eula and Levi remained in Bulloch County until their deaths (Eula on 6 Aug 1936 and Levi on 28 Dec 1933). They are buried at Emit Grove Baptist Church in Statesboro, Georgia. 

Granddaddy drew arrows for Eula and Levi.  Eula's children were Alma (1889-1951), Lee Oren (1890-1960), Bertha (1893-1964), and Clifton R. (1895-1966).  It is easy to tell who the boys are (Lee standing and Clifton sitting.  I am not sure who is who among the three young women.

Notice, though, how everyone is dressed up, and the young woman in the middle in the back is all in white.  Could it be someone's wedding day?  Alma married about 1914-15 when Clifton was 9 or 10 years old.  Lee married Letitia Addie "Leta" Kearse from Barnwell County by 1910.  Perhaps the woman to the far right is Leta.   

Maybe this next picture will help.  Or maybe not!

Front

Back

This photo was also my grandfather's.  These hats were high fashion the first decade of the 20th century.  The gentleman seems to have been a Mr. C. W. Pat____ (Patterson?) from Pembroke.  (Pembroke is 25 miles from Statesboro.)

What do you think?  Could Alma be the bride in the family group picture?  Could Beulah be the young woman standing in front of Levi?

This last picture of the Tylers was marked by my grandmother "Some of Osborne Reed kin in GA name Tyler." Well, that's a start!

Look closely to see that this photo was taken at the same house as the family group picture.  I never dreamed I would ever know who these people were, but, after a great deal of research on Ancestry.com and some pretty hard squinting, I am ready to make a guess.

Please remember that this is my best guess, and, while I believe it's a pretty good guess, I cannot vouch for its accuracy.

The man on the left would be Lee Oren Tyler about age 27.  The man stooping would be Clifton R. Tyler at 21.  Eula's first five grandchildren were all boys and were born in 1910, 1913, 1915, 1915, and 1916.  The youngest baby here looks to be around a year old.  Assuming these are Eula's first five grandchildren, this picture was taken about 1917.  

The oldest child would be Lee's son Cleveland Furman Tyler at about age 6.  The next child in the line would be Lee Oren Tyler, Jr. at about age 4.  I'm going to venture a guess that the man on the right is Alton Howard, Alma Tyler's husband, at about 32 years, and that the child next to him is his son Willard at about age 2.  The child in the middle I guess to be Clifton's son Jesse Clifton Tyler at about a year old.  Peeking around him would be Lee's son Daniel Elbert Tyler at about 2 years old.

I realize I am really sticking my neck out with these guesses.  I certainly hope that anyone who can actually verify who these folks were will contact me here.  Just post a comment below or write to me at samuelreedfamilyATgmailDOTcom.

If anyone is interested in verification of the actual facts stated herein, please contact me at the same email.
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