BIOGRAPHY: William P. REESE, Cambria County, PA 

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From Wiley, Samuel T., ed. Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Cambria 
County, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: Union Publishing Co., 1896, p. 295-6
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WILLIAM P. REESE.  Cambria county owes its name, and, in a great measure, its 
prosperity, to emigrants from Wales and their patriotic descendants. The first 
Welsh colony settled in what is now Cambria township, one hundred years ago 
(1796), and gave to their settlement the name Cambria, in memory of their old 
home in the mountainous part of Wales, the ancient Cymbria. When parts of 
Somerset and Huntingdon counties were formed into a new county in 1804, the name 
of the Welsh settlement was given to the county.
     About a half a century after the organization of the county, there began a 
great development of the mineral wealth of Cambria county, especially in the 
neighborhood of Johnstown; this led to a great influx of Welsh, both from Wales 
and the eastern part of our own State. The Welsh have long been noted for their 
skill as miners and iron-workers, and those who settled in Johnstown by their 
skill and energy did much to give the iron mills of that city a world-wide 
reputation. So favorably was the work of these men known to capitalists engaged 
in the coal and iron trade, that there is scarcely a mill west of the Allegheny 
mountains in which some of them or their descendants are not employed as 
superintendents or master mechanics. Such names as Jones, James, Morgan, 
Williams, Lewis, etc., are of frequent occurrence among the superintendents, 
inventors and mechanics, who have placed the United States in advance of all 
other nations in the production of iron and steel. 
     From such stock as this the subject of this sketch, William P. Reese, is 
proud to trace his descent. He is a son of William D. and Mary Lewis Reese, and 
was born at Johnstown, January 7, 1863. 
     His father, William D. Reese, was born in Wales, and was an iron-worker by 
trade. He was ambitious and enterprising, and emigrated to America about the 
year 1848. He first located in the State of Maryland; from there he moved to 
Pittsburg [sic], and finally came to Johnstown in 1853, where he remained until 
the time of his death, which occurred in 1866. 
     William was thus left an orphan at an early age; as soon as he was old 
enough to be admitted, he was sent to the public schools in Millsville borough, 
and continued to attend until he completed the course. He then became a student 
of the State Normal school at Indiana, Pennsylvania, from which he graduated in 
the class of 1882. He is now president of the Conemaugh Valley Alumni 
association of his Alma Mater. 
     After graduating he taught in the public schools of Millville borough until 
1886; he was elected superintendent of the borough schools, and was re-elected 
annually until the borough was merged in the city of Johnstown in 1890. 
     While engaged in teaching, Mr. Reese employed his vacations and spare 
moments in the study of law under the preceptorship of Col. H. H. Kuhn, and in 
January, 1891, was admitted to practice as a member of the Cambria county bar, 
and has since practiced his profession in Johnstown, where he occupies an office 
in the Alma Hall building. Mr. Reese is a gentleman of fine literary tastes, and 
is familiar with the greatest English and American authors, whose best works 
find a place on the shelves of his library. 
     In politics Mr. Reese is a republican, and is known as a "stalwart." Since 
boyhood he has taken an active interest in the success of his party. During 
President Harrison's term he served as deputy collector of internal revenue, and 
at the election of 1896 was elected a member of the State legislature.