MILLER WATSON REED
Monongalia Co. WV


The History of West Virginia, Old and New 
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc. 
Chicago and New York, Volume II 
pg. 153
MILLER WATSON REED has been active in the civic and business life of Morgantown for 
a quarter of a century. He is a building contractor with a large volume of work to 
his credit, and is also president of the Athens Lumber Company.

He was born on a farm five miles from Morgantown, in the Union District of Monongalia 
County, April 1, 1860, son of John and Harriet (Ross) Reed. His paternal grandparents 
were William and Lydia (Watson) Reed, the latter attaining the age of ninety-six. The 
maternal grandparents were Enoch and Elizabeth (Miller) Ross. John Reed was born in 
Monongalia County in 1822, and died on his farm in Union District in 1903, at the age 
of eighty-one, having devoted all his active years to his farm and to the discharge of 
his duties as a good citizen. His wife, Harriet Ross, now living at Uniontown, 
Pennsylvania, in her ninety-eighth year, was born in Greene County, Pennsylvania, but 
was brought as an infant to Monongalia County. They were active members of the Methodist 
Protestant and Church of the Brethren, respectively. To their marriage were born ten 
children: Ross E., a resident of Monongalia County; Josephine, who died in infancy; 
James Quinter, who died in August, 1917; Newton, who !
died as a child; Omizine W., of Uniontown, Pennsylvania; Belle Olive, wife of James P. 
Brand, of Salem, West Virginia; Miller W.; Idella, whose first husband was Elliot 
Stewart, and she is now the widow of Jefferson Wallis, of Uniontown; Bound, who died 
at the age of twenty-one; and H. Clara, the wife of John G. Gibbs, of Uniontown.

Miller Watson Reed grew up on the home farm and had a common-school education. When he 
left home at the age of twenty-one he learned the trade of carpenter, started as a 
journeyman, and in 1896 located in Morgantown, and has since performed an important 
service and done a large business as a building contractor. He was one of the 
organizers of the Athens Lumber Company in 1904, was a director, and since 1905 has 
been its president. Mr. Reed served one term as a member of the Morgantown City 
Council, and he is a trustee of the Church of the Brethren.

At Markleysburg, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, Mr. Reed was united in marriage with 
Miss Susana Thomas, a native of Fayette County. Three children were born to this 
union, but all died in infancy.