|
MONONGALIA COUNTY WEST VIRGINIA
******************************************************************
Submitted to the West Virginia Biographies Project by:
Chris & Kerry
cmac4330@chesapeake.net
December 13, 1999
******************************************************************
The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.
Chicago and New York, Volume II
pg. 153
MILLER WATSON REED has been active in the civic and business life of Morgantown
for a quarter of a century. He is a building contractor with a large volume of
work to his credit, and is also president of the Athens Lumber Company.
He was born on a farm five miles from Morgantown, in the Union District of
Monongalia County, April 1, 1860, son of John and Harriet (Ross) Reed. His
paternal grandparents were William and Lydia (Watson) Reed, the latter attaining
the age of ninety-six. The maternal grandparents were Enoch and Elizabeth
(Miller) Ross. John Reed was born in Monongalia County in 1822, and died on his
farm in Union District in 1903, at the age of eighty-one, having devoted all his
active years to his farm and to the discharge of his duties as a good citizen.
His wife, Harriet Ross, now living at Uniontown, Pennsylvania, in her
ninety-eighth year, was born in Greene County, Pennsylvania, but was brought as
an infant to Monongalia County. They were active members of the Methodist
Protestant and Church of the Brethren, respectively. To their marriage were
born ten children: Ross E., a resident of Monongalia County; Josephine, who
died in infancy; James Quinter, who died in August, 1917; Newton, who died as a
child; Omizine W., of Uniontown, Pennsylvania; Belle Olive, wife of James P.
Brand, of Salem, West Virginia; Miller W.; Idella, whose first husband was
Elliot Stewart, and she is now the widow of Jefferson Wallis, of Uniontown;
Bound, who died at the age of twenty-one; and H. Clara, the wife of John G.
Gibbs, of Uniontown.
Miller Watson Reed grew up on the home farm and had a common-school education.
When he left home at the age of twenty-one he learned the trade of carpenter,
started as a journeyman, and in 1896 located in Morgantown, and has since
performed an important service and done a large business as a building
contractor. He was one of the organizers of the Athens Lumber Company in 1904,
was a director, and since 1905 has been its president. Mr. Reed served one term
as a member of the Morgantown City Council, and he is a trustee of the Church of
the Brethren.
At Markleysburg, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, Mr. Reed was united in marriage
with Miss Susana Thomas, a native of Fayette County. Three children were born
to this union, but all died in infancy.
|
