Reeder, N. M.

REEDER, DRAKE, WHITE

Posted By: Mary H. Cochrane, Volunteer
Date: 7/7/2019 at 08:08:08

Biographical and Historical Record of Ringgold and Decatur Counties, Iowa, (Lewis Publishing Company (1887)), pp. 667-68:

"N. M. REEDER is one of the active business men of Lamoni, and has been identified with the interests of this place since its beginning. He was born in Posey County, Indiana, February 16, 1841, a son of Isaac and Jane (Drake) Reeder, who were natives of South Carolina and Kentucky, respectively, both now deceased. Our subject was reared to manhood on a farm in his native county, remaining there till he enlisted in the late war, October 17, 1861, a member of Company C, Sixtieth Indiana Infantry. His first engagement was at Munfordville, Kentucky, and soon after, at the battle of Shiloh, most of his brigade was captured, but was shortly afterward paroled, and in November, 1862, he was exchanged. In the Thirteenth Corps he participated in the assault at Chickasaw Bluffs, under General Sherman, and later was in the line of the capture of Arkansas Post, where his regiment met with quite a severe loss in the campaign ending in the capture of Vicksburg. With the Thirteenth Corps he participated in the Red River campaign, and near the close of the war at the capture of Spanish Fort. He was a gallant and faithful soldier, and passed unscathed through nineteen battles and many skirmishes. He was a second time captured in the Red River campaign, making his escape with a comrade, A. L. Thompson, from Alexandria, October 17, 1864, after being a prisoner two months and twelve days. They reached the Union lines with five rebel prisoners they had captured, and in consideration for this act, Mr. Reeder was given a pass, and excused from regimental duty for three months. He received an honorable discharge at Indianapolis, March 27, 1865. After the war his parents made their home in White County, Illinois. He was united in marriage August 17, 1865, to Miss Anna White, a daughter of William B. White, a former resident of Charleston, Illinois, where he was one of the leading lawyers in that part of the State. He is now deceased, dying in the year 1877. Mrs. Reeder was born near Charleston, in 1847. Mr. and Mrs. Reeder have six children -- Mary A., married and living in Brashear, Missouri; Lillie B., Mattie J., Laura M., William I. and Julia E., living at home. Mr. Reeder was for a time engaged in business at De Soto, Jackson County, Illinois and later in Springerton, White County, Illinois, from whence he came, in 1878, to Lamoni, Decatur County, Iowa. The first year after coming here he followed carpentering, and early in the year 1880 he engaged in the general mercantile business with Wilson Hudson, with whom he was associated a little more than a year. He disposed of his interest to his partner in July, 1881, and in September following began dealing in agricultural implements, which he followed until March, 1885, when he again engaged in the mercantile trade at Lamoni, and July, 1886, he sold out his stock of goods for a farm in Ringgold County, but yet owns his residence and business property at this place. In politics Mr. Reeder casts his suffrage with the Democratic party."

(Submitted to the Decatur County GenWeb site by Christy Jay, email: Jaygenie@aol.com)