REED, W. A.

REED, SHELLMAN, BAILEY, HEMPSTEAD, RAMSEY

Posted By: Nettie Mae
Date: 1/19/2003 at 00:55:22

Source: "The 1901 Biographical Record of Clinton Co., Iowa, Illustrated" published: Chicago : S. J. Clarke Pub. Co., 1901.

W. A. REED
One of the best-known passenger engineers on the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad residing in Clinton, was born in Chicago, July 29, 1854, his parents being J.M. and Malvina (Shellman) Reed, who were natives of Canada and New York, respectively. The father was one of the early railroad men of the west, and was an engineer on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad for twelve or fifteen years, running out of Chicago, to which city he removed in the early ‘50s. He was also one of the first engineers on the Chicago & Northwestern Railway, and ran the work train which hauled the iron and ties for the road between Denison and Council Bluffs. Later he was one of the passenger engineers on the Western Iowa division, and subsequently worked for the railway still farther west. Shortly before his death he retired from the road on account of ill health, and died in Clinton, in November, 1887. He had survived his wife several years, her death occurring in Manning, Iowa, in 1869. In their family were four children, namely: W.A., our subject; Henrietta, wife of H.W. Bailey, of Manning Iowa; C.H., and engineer on the Western Iowa division of
the Chicago & Northwestern Railway, and a resident of Boone.

During the childhood of our subject W. A. Reed removed with his parents to Aurora, Illinois, where they remained until he was eleven years of age, and to its public schools he is indebted for his early educational advantages. The father then entered the employ of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad, and brought his family to Iowa. They lived in a car which accompanied the work train carrying the supplies for the road, their home being on the road while laying the track from Denison to Council Bluffs. Later they lived between Boone and Dunlap.

At the age of fifteen years Mr. Reed commenced braking on the road, but at the end of two weeks decided to become his father’s fireman on the road between Dunlap and Boone, and while thus employed he was hurt in getting off the engine. In 1870 he entered the employ of the International & Great Northern Railroad in Texas, firing a wood burner, and during the year spent with that road made his headquarters at Palestine, Texas. He next went to Topeka, Kansas, and ran on the Santa Fe Railroad to La Junta, which was then the end of the line. Seven months later he went to southern California and was in charge of a gang of Chinamen engaged in grading for the track on the Southern Pacific Railway. Subsequently he went to Sacramento, and entered the employ of the Central Pacific Railroad as fireman on a wood burner. Shortly afterward he went to Emigrant Gap, in the Sierra Nevada mountains, where he had charge of a fire engine, or a train on the Central Pacific Railroad to watch snow sheds, nine months being thus passed. We next find him in Carson City, Nevada, and for a year he engaged in firing on an engine on the Virginia & Truckee Railroad.

In 1877 Mr. Reed came to Clinton, Iowa, and re-entered the service of the Chicago & Northwestern Railway as fireman. In 1881 he was promoted to freight engineer, and for the past twelve or fifteen years was frequently called on to run extra passenger trains. He now has a regular run on the No. 1 overland limited to Boone, and returns on No. 16. He has been very lucky in his railroad career, and has met with no very serious accidents. He is a member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. In politics he is a Republican, and as a citizen takes a commendable interest in public affairs.

Mr. Reed married Miss Marian Virginia Hempstead, of Nevada, Iowa, and unto them two children were born, namely: Zoe Belle, who died February 8, 1897, at the age of sixteen years; and Rae Violet. Mrs. Reed’s parents were John and Ellen (Ramsey) Reed. The father, who was a farmer by occupation, was the third or fourth settler of Story county, Iowa, where he located a claim with a soldier’s land warrant received by his father, Charles Hempstead, for his services in the war of 1812. He was killed in a runaway in 1892, and Mrs. Reed’s mother died in 1870. They were the parents of six children. Mr. Reed has a fine home at 423 Eighth avenue, where he has lived for the past ten or twelve years.