BIO: Frank Smith READER, Beaver County, PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Judy Banja & Joe Patterson Copyright 2005. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/beaver.html http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/beaver/bios/bbios.htm Index for this bio book. _________________________________________________________________ BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES. This Volume Contains Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens of Beaver County, Pennsylvania. Buffalo, N.Y., Chicago, Ill.: Biographical Publishing Company, 1899, pp. 338-341. _________________________________________________________________ FRANK SMITH READER, journalist, New Brighton, Pa., was born in Coal Center, Washington county, Pa., November 17, 1842. His father, Francis Reader, was a native of Warwickshire, England, - his parents removing from there to Washington county, Pa., in 1802. His mother, Ellen Smith Reader, of the same county, was of Scotch-Irish descent. Her paternal grandfather, Rev. John Smith, was a prominent minister of his day, and her maternal grandfather, Lieut. William Wallace, was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. The subject of this sketch worked at farm- BEAVER COUNTY 339 ing and carpentering, and acquired at the schools of his town, and at Mount Union College, Ohio, an academic education. He lived among the scenes of the Monongahela Valley, Pa., until 1861, when he enlisted as a soldier, on April 27, 1861, serving in Company I, 2nd Reg., Va. Inf., in the commands and departments of Generals Rosecrans, Reynolds and Milroy, until April, 1862, in Western Virginia; he took part in the campaign of Gen. John C. Fremont in the Shenandoah Valley, and in that of Gen. Pope in Eastern Virginia, in 1862. His regiment returned to Western Virginia in October, 1862. June 1, 1863, the regiment was changed to the Fifth West. Va. Cavalry. He was offered a promotion in his company but declined it, and was assigned to duty at Gen. W. W. Averill's headquarters, July 1, 1863, and afterwards to the headquarters of Gen. Franz Sigel and Gen. David Hunter in the Shenandoah Valley, taking part in their campaigns. After the victory under Gen. Hunter, at Piedmont, Va., June 5, 1864, he was one of the first Federal soldiers to enter Staunton, Va., and there had charge of paroling five hundred wounded Confederates. He was captured on this expedition, June 20, 1864, and after being thirty days a prisoner, made his escape from a train, with three comrades, twenty miles south of Bunkersville Junction, Va., while on the way to Andersonville prison. Having undergone eleven days and nights of great suffering, hardships and hunger, hiding in the woods by day and traveling by night, he reached Gen. Grant's head-quarters at Petersburg, Va., June 30, 1864, having passed through the right wing of Gen. Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army. His term of service having expired July 10, 1864, and being so broken in health that further duty was impossible, he was discharged in August of that year. He taught school the following winter, and in July, 1865, accepted a position in the U. S. Civil Service, in which he served at different periods for over ten years; he was chief deputy collector of internal revenue nearly eight years, and acting collector for some months. On December 24, 1867, Mr. Reader was united in marriage with Miss Merran F. Darling, of New Brighton. Her father, Joseph Darling, was a native of Vermont, his paternal grandfather serving in the Revolutionary War, and her mother, Rebecca Cobb Darling, was a native of Chautauqua county, New York. Two sons were born to the couple, Frank Eugene Reader, attorney-at-law, and Willard Stanton Reader, journalist. Mr. Reader became a member of the Methodist Episcopal church December 15, 1865, and entered the North Missouri Conference of the church, in 1868, as preacher in charge of a circuit of nine appointments, but owing to the failure of his voice, he was compelled to retire after one year's service. He has held an official relation in the church ever since, and has been Sunday school superintendent for over twenty-two years. Mrs. Reader is a member of the Presbyterian church. Mr. Reader is the author of a life of Moody and Sankey, the noted evangelists, - and also of the history of the Fifth West Va. Cavalry, be- 340 BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES sides historical sketches of the Harmony Society, Economy, Beaver county, Pa., of New Brighton, Pa., and the Beaver Valley, in which his paper is published. On May 22, 1874, he and Major David Critchlow established the "Beaver Valley News," at New Brighton; on January 1, 1877, he bought the major's interest in the paper, and on February 4, 1883, he began the publication of the first daily paper in the county, - "The Daily News." He was secretary of the Republican county committee for several years; while in that office he prepared and presented in the state legislature the first law enacted in Pennsylvania for the government of primary elections; he was alternate to the Chicago convention which nominated James G. Blaine for president in 1884; he was suggested as a candidate for congress and for the state senate, but declined to be a candidate; he served in the council and school board of his borough, and held other positions of trust, but never solicited any public position. Frank Eugene Reader, attorney-at-law, New Brighton, Pa., son of Frank S. and Merran D. Reader, was born at Greencastle, Mo., December 15, 1868. He attended school at New Brighton, Geneva College, Beaver Falls, Pa., and entered Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md., in the fall of 1885, from which he was graduated in 1888, second in a large class, with the degree of B. A. He studied law with Brown & Lambie, a prominent law firm, of Pittsburg, Pa., and was admitted, on examination, to the bar of Allegheny county, Pa., in 1891, and later was examined and admitted to the bar of Beaver county, Pennsylvania. He became a partner of the law firm of Moore Bros., Beaver, Pa., in 1892, the new firm being Moore, Moore & Reader. In April, 1892, he was elected solicitor of the Beaver County Building & Loan Association, New Brighton. In 1896, he retired from the law firm and opened an office of his own in New Brighton. He was elected secretary of the council of New Brighton in March, 1899. On June 3, 1896, he was united in marriage with Miss Jennie B. Nesbit, a daughter of Rev. Samuel H. Nesbit, D. D., one of the most prominent, able and influential members of the Pittsburg Conference of the M. E. church; he was, for twelve years, editor of the Pittsburg "Christian Advocate"; presiding elder, and pastor of some of the best charges in the conference. A daughter, - Dorothy Nesbit, - was born to Mr. and Mrs. Reader, the date of her birth being May 8, 1897. They are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Willard Stanton Reader, journalist, was born at New Brighton, Pa., September 28, 1871; he attended the public schools of his native town, and was a pupil in Geneva College, Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. He entered the office of the Beaver Valley News as an apprentice, and in 1889 was appointed the New Brighton reporter of the paper. September 28, 1892, on his twenty-first birthday, he was admitted to partnership in the, business, and has since held the position of city editor. In addition to the duties of this position, he BEAVER COUNTY 341 has written for leading papers in Pittsburg and other cities; has served on the Republican county committee, and is now secretary of the board of health of his native town. He united with the Methodist church, in January, 1885. Mr. Reader was united in marriage with Miss Lily Robinson, a daughter of Thomas and Mary Robinson, March 1, 1897. Mr. Robinson was a soldier in the Civil War, serving his country with fidelity and courage. Both Mr. and Mrs. Reader are members of the Methodist Protestant church. They have one child, a son, Willard Donald Reader, born December 20, 1897.