Carroll County IAGenWeb

HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY IOWA

A Record of Settlement, Organization, Progress and Achievement

VOLUME II ILLUSTRATED

CHICAGO THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY 1912

Transcribed by Sharon Elijah October 5, 2020

William H. Reever, editor and publisher of the Glidden Graphic, is one of the well known and highly respected citizens of Carroll county. He is a native of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, born October 23, 1866, and is the son of Ephriam and Elizabeth (Storrick) Reever, both of whom were born in the Keystone state. The father was reared at Gettysburg and was by trade a blacksmith and also engaged in farming. In 1869 he removed with his family to Panora, Iowa, four years later coming to Pleasant Valley township, Carroll county. He bought several tracts of land and accumulated in all six hundred and forty acres in Pleasant Valley township, becoming one of the leading farmers in that part of the county. He died January 27, 1892, being asphyxiated by inhaling gas in the Commercial Hotel in Chicago, through defective piping of the gas in the hotel. At the time of his death he was forty-nine years of age and in the height of his usefulness. He served about a year and a half in a Pennsylvania regiment at the time of the Civil war and participated in a number of battles.

Mrs. Reever was called from earthly scenes October 10, 1898, at the age of fifty-one years. There were six children in the family of Mr. and Mrs. Reever, namely: William H., of this review; Harry E., of Carroll county; Charles A. of Ogden, Utah; Minnie May, who died at the age of fifteen months; Ida Pearl, who died at the age of twenty-two years; and Alice M.

Grandfather Ullery J. Reever on the paternal side was a farmer of Pennsylvania. He married Mrs. Maria Diehl and was forty-three years and eight months old at the time of his death which was caused by typhoid fever. They had six sons, namely: Ephriam, Leander J., Abraham C., William U., Reuben C., and Charles A.

Adam Storrick, the maternal grandfather, was born in Germany. He came to America and settled in Adams, county, Pennsylvania, where he lived to the age of sixty-nine years. He was a tailor in early life but later a stock dealer and farmer. His wife was a native of Germany and died at the age of eighty-two years. In their family were seven children, namely: Anna Catharine, Eva Margaret, Maria, Elizabeth, John Nicholas, Sarah Jane and William Clayton.

William H. Reever arrived in Carroll county with his parents when he was a lad of six years. He grew to manhood on his father’s farm and secured his early education in the district schools. Later he attended the Carroll high school and after leaving that institution became a student of the State Normal School at Cedar Falls, from which he graduated in 1895. Desiring to pursue his studies still further, he entered the Collegiate department of the State University, graduating in 1897, B. Ph. He taught school a number of years, beginning as early as 1887, and thus earned money with which to pay his expenses through normal school and college. He continued to teach until September, 1910, and was superintendent of the Laurens school six years, Greenfield school, one year, the Manning schools, two years, the Baldwin schools, one year, and the Glidden schools, three years being in the latter position when he retired from his work as teacher. He holds a life certificate for teaching in the state of Iowa.

He purchased the Glidden Graphic in 1910 and under his management the paper is giving evidence of increasing influence throughout a wide section of this part of the state. He is a good business man, as is indicated by the fact that he owns a farm of three hundred and twenty acres in Pleasant Valley township and an interest in the Carter-Fountain Land Company of Missouri Valley, Iowa, which owns eight and one-half sections of land.

On the 26th of December, 1900, Mr. Reever was united in marriage to Miss Agnes T. Woods, a daughter of Daniel W. and Ellen Louisa (Baily) Woods, and two children came to bless this union, Elizabeth and William Harold. Mrs. Reever was born in Goodland, Indiana, her father being a native of Vermont and her mother of New Hampshire. Their home for the past thirty years has been at Greenfield, Iowa.

There were four children in their family: Agnes T.; Samuel D. of Des Moines, Iowa, secretary of the Board of Parole; Dr. Arthur D. of State Center, Iowa; and Mary L. the wife of Dr. Levi Wilkinson, of Prairieburg, Iowa. The father served valiantly in the cause of the Union during the Civil war.

Mr. Reever and his estimable wife are members of the Methodist church. Fraternally he is identified with the Masonic order, Knights of Pythias, The Modern Woodmen of America and the Yeomen of America, and he has a host of warm personal friends in those organizations. In political belief he is in thorough sympathy with the republican party. Being a man of wide reading and observation, he is broad-minded in his views and is highly popular wherever he is known. He is a clear and forcible writer and is remarkably well informed concerning the needs of Carroll county as well as its resources. As an editor he has attained a distinct success and his future is one of great prominence.

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