J. P. Reed

REED, SAVAGE, MORRISON

Posted By: Diane Wilson (email)
Date: 5/19/2004 at 22:30:24

. . . Mr. Savage continued to publish the paper until in the latter part of September, 1878, when a financial crash came upon him and he was obliged to abandon “The News.” The office was sold at sheriff’s sale, and was purchased by J.P. Reed, the present editor and proprietor.
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In November, 1878, Mr. Reed took editorial control, and in his salutatory, speaks thus:
“Having chosen the publishing business as a life calling, we purchased the material of the late Shell Rock ‘News,’ and propose to make this beautiful little town of Shell Rock our starting point. We believe we have a correct idea of what a good local newspaper should be, and that idea shall be faithfully our guide. We then, reaching across the editorial table, extend a friendly hand to everybody throughout the country, and especially to ever citizen of Butler county. We ask your friendship and assistance, your prayers and words of cheer, for the average newspaper man does not get rich in these days of close competition, and his burdens are often grievous to be borne. We shall always labor to make the ‘News’ a spicy, lively and able exponent of the business and growth of our town and Butler county. We are from principle a republican, and shall adhere to the doctrines of that party; but in these critical times it is essential that every man should be on his guard; and it shall ever be the aim of ‘The News’ to lay bare fraud and corruption whether it be committed by republicans or democrats, and always to be on alert for the interests of the people. On questions of temperance and morality we shall ever be on the right side, and work for the morality in all its phases. We know that the interests of the people are our interests; the people’s prosperity our prosperity; and we trust always to advocate the highest good to the greatest number. We hope to make ‘The News’ a household and a welcome visitor to every family in Butler county. With these hasty words of salutation, we now turn to the work at hand, with a faith strong and enduring in the future greatness of the beautiful and picturesque village of Shell Rock.” J. P. Reed
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Mr. Reed still manages the newspaper, and has made it one of the leading press advocates in the county. With a large and healthy subscription list it makes a most desirable medium for advertising. Mr. Reed is a well read and well posted man, an able writer an a thorough newspaper man.
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J. P. Reed, editor and proprietor of the “Shell Rock News,” was born in Mercer county, Pennsylvania, November 24, 1851, and is a son of Martin and Elizabeth (Morrison) Reed, who are both natives of Pennsylvania. In 1858 his parents moved west and settled in Stephenson county, Illinois, and here J. P. grew to manhood, and received his education in the common schools of Freeport.
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In the spring of 1864 he enlisted in Company B, 46th Illinois Volunteers and served as a private until honorably discharged at Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Upon receiving his dismissal from the army, he returned to Freeport, and learned the “art preservative of all arts,” in the office of the “Journal” of that city.
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In 1869 he came to Cedar Falls, Iowa, and, for a while, clerked in a grocery store of that place, and then formed one of the staff of the “Gazette,” and afterwards of the “Reporter,” of Waterloo. In 1878 he located at Shell Rock, and bought the “News,” of which paper he has since been the proprietor. Mr. Reed was married in September, 1880, to Miss Carrie S. Jones, who was born in Shell Rock, and is a daughter of J. R. Jones.
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In December, 1882, Mr. Reed received an appointment in the Treasury Department at Washington. The “News” says in its issue of December 21, 1882: “J. P. Reed, editor of this paper, writes us saying, that he secured a clerkship in the Treasury Department at Washington, at a salary of $1,20 a year. He does not say when he be at home, but the “News” will be issued every week just the same.”
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Source: History of Butler and Bremer Counties, Iowa
Union Publishing Co., Springfield, IL, 1883
Pages 313-315