BIOS:  Norman Bruce REAM, 1844, native of Somerset County, PA 

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Connie Burkett cgb July 26, 2009, 1:10 am

Copyright 2009.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/somerset/
________________________________________________

Source: Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania Biography. Volume III, pages 744-745
Author: John W. Jordan, LL.D.

REAM, Norman Bruce,

Soldier, Man of Large Affairs.

The antecedents of Norman Bruce Ream can be traced back to Andrew Ream, a German
emigrant, who settled in Pennsylvania during the first half of the eighteenth
century. He had a son, John Ream, who was a patriot soldier in the War for
American Independence, and Samuel Ream, his son, married Mary Rheims, who had
issue.

Levi Ream, son of Samuel and Mary (Rheims) Ream, was born in 1816, in Somerset
county, Pennsylvania; was a farmer who resided there until his death in July,
1902. He married Highley King, daughter of Jacob and Eva (Pringry) King, in
Somerset county, Pennsylvania. She was descended from English-Scotch ancestry,
who came to New Jersey in Colonial days, and was the mother of several children,
among them a son, whose sketch follows.

Norman Bruce Ream, son of Levi and Highley (King) Ream, was born November 5,
1844, in Somerset county, Pennsylvania. He attended the district schools of his
native county until he was fourteen years of age and then worked on his father's
farm; taught school one term of four months, and traveled about the country
making ambrotypes, then a new improvement in photography, between terms of the
Somerset County Normal School, which he attended until 1861, about three years
altogether.

He enlisted November 12, 1861, in Company H, 85th Pennsylvania Regiment, and
served with it through several campaigns and many battles. He was promoted from
sergeant to second lieutenant in December, 1862; to first lieutenant, May 1,
1863; was wounded at Whitmarsh Island, Georgia, February 22, 1864, and again at
Petersburg,

Virginia, June 17, 1864; was discharged on account of wounds, August 31, 1864.

After leaving the army he clerked in a store at Harnedsville, Somerset county,
Pennsylvania, in 1864 and 1865; in 1866 he moved to Princeton, Illinois, where
he conducted a general mercantile business. A year later he removed to Osceola,
Iowa, where he remained until 1871, and conducted a general live-stock and grain
business, in connection with farming. In 1871 he went to Chicago, Illinois,
where he began trading as commission merchant in grain and live-stock, in which
he was very successful. Later he became an operator on the Chicago Board of
Trade, and there laid the foundation of his fortune and subsequent career. In
time he became interested in real estate and when, in 1886, he organized a
syndicate to erect a large office building, it was suggested that the frame be
made of steel, riveted together so as to form a bridge-like structure; and thus
he authorized the construction of the first steel frame building in Chicago,
known as the Old Rookery. He was one of the promoters in the formation of the
National Biscuit Company, which company has achieved great success due to the
introduction of improved and scientific methods of baking and wrapping soda and
other biscuits. He has also been interested in the Corn Products Company of
Illinois; the Pullman Palace Car Company; and in the United States Steel
Corporation, of which he is a member of its finance committee. He was interested
in the reorganization of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and the Colorado Southern
Railroad Company; has also financed and built several systems of street
railroads in different cities, and is largely interested in the First National
Bank of Chicago. During recent years Mr. Ream has served on the directorates of
many financial and commercial organizations. He is vice-president and director
of the Central Safety Deposit Company of Chicago, Illinois; director of the
First National Bank of Chicago, Illinois; is likewise of the Securities Company
of New York; and trustee of the New York Trust Company. He is a director of the
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company; the Chicago & Erie Railroad Company; the
Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railway Company; the Erie Railroad Company; the
Pere Marquette Railroad Company; and the Seaboard Air Line Railway Company. He
is a director of the United States Steel Corporation; the Pullman company; the
National Biscuit Company; the Franco-American Association; the Cumberland
Corporation; the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States; the
Fidelity-Phoenix Fire Insurance Company of New York; the Sussex Realty Company,
and the Mount Hope Cemetery Association.

Mr. Ream married, February 19, 1876, at Madison, New York, Carrie Thompson,
daughter of Dr. John and Elizabeth Putnam; she was born March 1, 1852, at
Madison, New York; is descended from a well known old New England family. Mr.
and Mrs. Ream had children: 1. Marion B. Ream, born in Chicago, Illinois;
married Redmond D. Stephens. 2. Frances M., born in Chicago; married John L.
Kem- merer. 3. Norman P., born in Chicago. 4. Robert C, born in Chicago; married
Mabel Wrightson. 5. Edward King, married Nellie Speed. 6. Louis Marshall.

Mr. Ream is an Independent in politics; is a member of the Pennsylvania Society
of New York; the Metropolitan Museum of Arts; and of the Illinois Commandery of
the Loyal Legion. In Chicago he is a member of the Chicago Club; and in New York
of the Union Club, the Art, the Metropolitan, the New York Yacht, and the South
Side Club, besides a number of other social and recreation clubs.

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/pafiles/