REID, HENRY

REID, HARCUS, ALLEN, BALFOUR, TOLLACK, SAULISBERRY, STEINMAN

Posted By: Jean Kramer (email)
Date: 9/9/2003 at 21:37:05

Biography reproduced from page 338 of Volume II of the History of Kossuth County written by Benjamin F. Reed and published in 1913:

One of Algona’s best known, substantial and popular citizens is Henry Reid, a retired farmer holding large land interests. Mr. Reid came to Algona in 1903, buying a beautiful home and settling here for the purposes of educating his children. He is a native of Scotland, his birth having occurred on one of the Orkney Islands, January 1, 1848. He was the only son of Robert and Mary (Harcus) Reid, who were married in that country and there passed their entire lives. The father, who was a farmer and fisherman, was drowned when the subject of this sketch was but fourteen months old. The mother attained the ripe age of eighty-seven years, her death occurring in 1906.

Henry Reid was reared and educated in his native land and at the age of twenty-one years he decided to cast his lot in the new world, and on arriving in New York city proceeded to Canada. He remained there but a few months when, the lure of the great west possessing him, he turned his face toward the setting sun and in the fall of 1869 he came to Algona, settling on a homestead in Burt township. There he built a farmhouse ten by fourteen feet with a shingle roof, this being at that time the best house in the neighborhood. He later improved this property by building an addition fourteen by twenty-two feet and there lived until he traded the farm for two hundred and forty acres three miles distant, a property which he still owns. He brought this property to a fine state of cultivation, planting large orchards, and followed general farming and dairying for many years, having his home on that farm. Mr. Reid owns a quarter section of land in Alberta, Canada, and had land interests in Minnesota. These he sold some time ago. He owns at present four hundred acres of splendid farm land, well improved, in this county. In 1903, desiring to give his children better educational advantages and having attained a success justifying his retirement, he came to Algona, where he was become a prominent citizen.

In 1872, in Chicago, Mr. Reid was married to Miss Mary Allen, a native of Scotland, who came to America in 1871, locating in Chicago. She was a daughter of John and Elizabeth (Balfour) Allen, both of whom were natives of Scotland and spent their entire lives there. The father was a stone mason and contractor and Mr. Reid worked for him for some time in Scotland. To Mr. and Mrs. Allen seven children were born: Mary, now Mrs. Henry Reid; Jane, the wife of George Tollack, of Scotland; Thomas, a ship captain, who died at sea when his vessel and all on board were lost; William, who died at the age of twenty-one; Elizabeth, deceased; John, a brick contractor of Racine, Wisconsin; and Ina, deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Reid are the parents of nine children: Elizabeth, the wife of Grant Saulisberry, a farmer residing near Algona; Robert, who died in infancy; Mary, the wife of Henry Steinman, a farmer of Union township; John, a farmer of Union township; Benjamin, who is the owner of three hundred and twenty acres of land and resides in Alberta, Canada; Thomas, of Union township; Ralph, who passed away in Canada; Albert, who is a graduate of the Algona high school and is the owner of three hundred and twenty acres of land in Alberta, Canada, on which he makes his home; and Walter, also a graduate of Algona high school, who is employed as a mail carrier in Des Moines, Iowa.

Politically, Mr. Reid is a republican but in local affairs he is independent in the bestowal of his political support. He is not a politician and has never sought public place or position but has served at different times as school director, road supervisor and in other local offices. Mr. Reid has never belonged to any of the fraternal orders except the Grange, of which he was formerly a member. Mr. and Mrs. Reid are members of the Presbyterian church, in which he is a trustee. In Mr. Reid and his family Algona has some of her very best citizens. The fact that he met with great success in his agricultural pursuits serves to the people of his county as an emphasis of the well known fact that Scotland raises and furnishes in many cases to other countries the best farmers in the world. Living a life of retirement in his comfortable home, surrounded by his family and a large circle of warm friends and neighbors, he is enjoying to the full that well earned rest after a life of activity and labor, which is looked forward to by every man.

Kossuth Biographies maintained by Linda Ziemann.
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