Father: Thomas REED (-)
Mother: Mary FLETCHER (-)
John Reed and family immigrated from Ireland in 1861,
according to facts from several census listings of his children,
statements in a 1911 biography of his son-in-law Edward Welsh, and
statements by his granddaughter Bernadine (Reed) Guinan.
In 1920, his son John Reed gives 1861 as his immigration year,
and in 1900, his daughter Katherine Reed Welsh gives 1861 as her immigration
year. Also in 1900, John's widow Mary is living with their daughter,
Mary Snyder, wife of John Snyder. That 1900 census states that the
daughter Mary was born in June of 1861 at sea. However,
that conflicts with other sources for Mary's age, and the widowed mother
Mary's census line for 1900 says she immigrated in 1870 (which
I'm pretty sure is just plain in error).
The following account of the immigration of John and his family
was written by John's granddaughter, Bernadine (Reed) Guinan (1900-1985).
``Aunt Kate'' refers to John's daughter, Catherine (Reed) Welsh:
In 1861, the third Reed family came to Iowa from Ireland. The English
government had forced them to sell their land and as a result, they
moved to town. Grandmother Reed decided they would come to America,
so she gathered up the money that was left and they set sail for the
U.S. Grandfather's name was John and Grandmother's name was Mary.
The trip, on a slow ship, was rugged and they ran low on food so it
had to be rationed. In New York, Grandfather couldn't find a job so
they went to Boston where Aunt Kate, 15, worked as a maid. When she
earned enough money to pay their fare to Iowa, they came to join their
other Reed relatives who had preceded them to Clinton County.
After immigrating, they located in Center Grove (later called Villa Nova),
in Clinton Co., Iowa
where John Reed bought one hundred and twenty acres of
land, to which the family subsequently added two hundred and
forty acres. The Reed family ``were members of St. Patrick's
Catholic church, and most estimable people'' according to Ed Welsh's biography.
Census: 1870, Washington Twp,Clinton Co.,Iowa
Census: 1880, Washington Twp,Clinton Co.,Iowa
