Marion County, West Virginia Biography of Robert Sidney REED ************************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: Material may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is obtained from the contributor of the file. These pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor. Submitted by Valerie Crook, , March 1999 ************************************************************************** The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 13-14 ROBERT SIDNEY REED has been successfully engaged in the practice of law in the City of Fairmont, Marion County, since 1914, and is one of the representative members of the bar of his native county. He was born at Boothsville, this county, June 3, 1886, the eldest of the children of Robert L. and Eva (Briscoe) Reed. After profiting by the ad- vantages of the public schools of his native town Mr. Reed entered the State Normal School at Fairmont, in which he was graduated in 1908. In 1911 he received from the Uni- versity of West Virginia the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and in the year 1913 he was graduated in the law department of the institution, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. After his graduation he was for one term a teacher in the State Normal School at Glenville, and he was identified with business enterprise for somewhat more than a year there- after. In 1914 he was admitted to the bar, and he has since been actively engaged in the practice of his profession at Fairmont. He is a member of the Marion County Bar Association, th6 West Virginia Bar Association and the American Bar Association. He is affiliated with the Benevo- lent and Protective Order of Elks, the Phi Kappa Psi college fraternity and the democratic party, of the principles of which he is a loyal advocate. Boyd H. Reed, brother of the subject of this sketch, was born at Boothsville September 29, 1888, was graduated in the State Normal School at Fairmont, and is now engaged in business at Morgantown, Monongalia County. The maiden name of his wife was Kelsey Brown. Mr. Reed is a representative of the third generation of the family in Marion County, his father having been born in this county February 23, 1844, and having here died Novem- ber 3, 1916. He was a son of Joseph and Minerva (Lowe) Reed. Joseph Reed was born in Fayette County, Pennsyl- vania, in 1817, and was the original representative of the family in Marion County, West Virginia. He was attending school at Smithfield, Fayette County, at the time when General La Fayette, in his visit to the nation which he had aided in gaining independence, called at the school and incidentally took young Reed by the hand and said to him: "You are too young to know who I am, but you will remember me in after life." Joseph Reed was about twenty years of age when he came to Marion County, and, a tanner by trade, he here established and operated a tannery at Boothsville. He was a son of Reason and Elizabeth (Fordyce) Reed, both natives of Fayette County, Pennsylvania. Reason Reed was born June 23, 1792, and died in 1873. He was a tailor by trade, and the most of his life was passed in his native county. As a soldier in the War of 1812 he was with the American forces at Detroit, Michigan, when that city was surrendered by General Hull. He was a son of Hugh Reed, the family name of whose wife was Somers. Hugh Reed was a son of Joseph Reed, who, in all probability, was born near Altoona, Pennsylvania, the lineage tracing back to English origin. Reason Reed was born and reared in the Protestant faith but married a wife who was a communicant of the Catholic Church, to which be transferred his member- ship, he having been buried in a Catholic Cemetery at Uniontown, Pennsylvania. Robert L. Reed, father of the subject of this review, was for fifty years a merchant in Marion County—first at Monongah and thereafter at Boothsville. He was a demo- crat in politics and at the time of the Civil war his sympathies were with the cause of the Confederate States. Both he and his wife were Protestants in religious faith. Mrs. Reed was born at Mineral Wells, Wood County, this state, April 1, 1861, and she now resides at Fairmont. She is a daughter of Warwick and Sarah (Blakeney) Briscoe, her father having been a clergyman of the Methodist Church and having been for many years a circuit-rider in what is now West Virginia, with headquarters at Charleston. He was a son of Isaac Briscoe, and the maiden name of his mother was Callahan. Mrs. Sarah Briscoe was a daughter of Joseph and Polly (Atkinson) Blakeney, and her mother was a representative of the same family as is ex-Governor Atkinson of this state. Minerva (Lowe) Reed, paternal grandmother of the subject of this sketch, was a daughter of Cephas and Eleanor (Hughes) Lowe and a granddaughter of Robert and Elizabeth (Swear- ingen) Lowe. Robert Lowe was born and reared in England and upon coming to America first settled in Maryland, whence, in 1808, he came to what is now West Virginia and settled in the present Marion County, which was then a part of Harri- son County, Virginia. The wife of Cephas Lowe was a daughter of Thomas and Ann (Moore) Hughes. Thomas Hughes was born in Union County, New Jersey, in 1768, a son of Thomas, Sr., who was a native of Wales, whence he went to Scotland, from which country he came to America and settled on the present site of Rahway, Union County, New Jersey. The above named Elizabeth (Swearingen) Lowe was born in Maryland, the daughter of Charles and Susannah (Stull) Swearingen. Charles Swearingen was born in Washington County, Maryland in 1735, and became a lieutenant-colonel in the Revolutionary war. He was a son of Van and Elizabeth (Walker) Swearingen, and a grandson of Thomas Swearingen and Jane (——————) Swearingen. Van Swearingen was born in Somerset County, Maryland, in 1692 and died there in 1801, having lived in three centuries. The father of Thomas Swearingen was Gerret Van Swearingen, who was born in Holland in 1636. He immigrated to America in 1657, and settled in what is now New Castle, Delaware. Later he moved to the Western Shore of Maryland, and there married Barbarah de Barrette, who was born in Vallenciennes, France. In 1669 by an act of the General Assembly of the Western Shore of Maryland, they were naturalized as Amer- ican citizens.