J. W. Reeder, who has occupied a central place upon the stage of public activity in Tipton and Cedar county and in all things has achieved success which indicates the careful direction of his labors, his keen insight and his unfaltering perseverance, is now numbered among the capitalists of Cedar County, and the work which he has done in behalf of the public schools is an indication of his deep and abiding interest in the public welfare.
A native of Ohio, Mr. Reeder was born in the village of Goshen, Clermont county, not far from Cincinnati, on the 11th of October, 1836, his parents being George and Sophia (Straub) Reeder, the former a native of Virginia and of English descent. His grandfather, Jacob Reeder, was born in England but, coming to America in the Colonial days, participated in the Revolutionary war as an American soldier under General Washington. He afterward removed to Ohio with his wife and four sons, Michael, George, Jacob and William, and there spent his remaining days. The mother of J. W. Reeder was of German lineage, her grandparents having come from the fatherland to this country, at which time they established their home in Pennsylvania. Soon after the Revolutionary war both the paternal and maternal grandparents of Mr. Reeder emigrated to Ohio, settling near Cincinnati among the early residents of that locality. The parents of J. W. Reeder were married in Ohio and after removing westward spent their remaining days near Tipton. They had seven children: Mrs. Eliza Parks, now deceased; Mrs. Elizabeth Mason, who has also passed away; Michael, deceased; William B., of Tipton; George W., deceased; J.W., of this review; and A.C. of Tipton who served for three years as a member of the Twenty-fourth Iowa volunteer Infantry during the Civil war.
J. W. Reeder spent the first fourteen years of his life at the place of nativity and then came with his parents to Cedar county. Reaching Tipton the 11th of October, 1850, he arrived on the fourteenth anniversary of his birth after crossing the Mississippi river in a side-wheel ferryboat. The family had driven from Ohio and were three weeks upon the road. J. W. Reeder later was closely and prominently connected with the educational progress of Iowa, entering the district school at Goshen when six years of age, at which time he had already mastered the alphabet and the numeration table and could print his name in capitals. He had been taught to believe that a school teacher had but little love and less compassion for a dull boy and that the application of the rod would create aptness in learning as well as prove an antidote for disobedience. From that time until he reached the age of sixteen his time was about evenly divided between attending school and performing the work of field and meadows. He supplemented his early educational privileges by study in the Upper Iowa Conference seminary at Mount Vernon and he was not only a pupil in the institution but as often called upon to hear recitations in the absence of the teacher. This encouraged him to study the methods and acquaint himself with the elements that enter into and make up the character and tactics of a successful teacher. He completed a course in the high school of Tipton and in 1857 began teaching in the country schools, notwithstanding his father’s desire that he should assume the management of the farm. From the first his ability as a teacher was manifest. The three directors of the school district in which he made application for a school favored him, stipulating only that he must maintain discipline. He had an average attendance of fifty-five pupils, while sixty-six were enrolled. That he was successful during the term of three months was indicated by the fact that he was employed to teach two more weeks at the close of that period. He was offered the school again the following year but returned to the seminary at Mount Vernon to resume his studies and later entered the Tipton high school, where he remained until the following winter, when he was employed to teach a four-months district school at twenty-eight dollars per month. He there not only faced the situation of teaching well advanced pupils but also had to harmonize the discordant factions. The task was successfully accomplished and he then returned to resume his studies in the Tipton high school. After another winter term in the district schools, he was chosen principal of the grammar department at Tipton. He entered upon his duties April 9, 1859, and bent every energy to the task of establishing a school of high grade and character. The following year he was again chosen for the position at an increased salary and when it was decided to divide the school at Bethel, having the high school in the Methodist Episcopal church and the younger students in the schoolhouse, Mr. Reeder was appointed principal and teacher of the high school. During the time when the legality of the free school law was under advisement by the supreme court of the state, teachers received only school orders pending the legality of the new school law and received no remuneration until the law went into effect, by order of the court. Mr. Reeder continued to teach in Tipton for two years and altogether in the Cedar county schools for ten years.
He then turned his attention to agricultural pursuits and the live-stock business, becoming well known as a farmer, feeder and shipper. About thirty-five years have been devoted to this line of business and as his financial resources have increased, Mr. Reeder has made extensive investments in real estate and is now the owner of eight hundred and eighty-five acres of valuable land adjoining Tipton. In fact e is one of the largest landowners of the county. His extensive tract is all in one body and is only a quarter of a mile north of the county seat. Through his own efforts Mr. Reeder has become one of the prosperous residents of this part of the state and deserves much credit for what he has accomplished, as his success has all been won through his earnest efforts and intelligently directed labors. He was one of the original directors of the Cedar County State Bank, with which he has transacted business since 1881, serving through the entire time as one of the directors. In connection with his brother, A. C. Reeder, he shipped live stock to Chicago and other markets for thirty-one years, under the name of Reeder Brothers. He ably and satisfactorily adjusted the business in connection with the Joseph E. Lee estate of Mechanicsville, one of the largest estates in the county at that time, and in connection with his brother A. C. Reeder, he has been a trustee for the large estate of P. J. Friend for twenty-seven years.
With great faith in Cedar county he has invested nearly all of his business capital in property here and in addition to his farm lands, he erected the J. W. Reeder block, containing three large rooms on the first floor with the offices on the second floor. It is located opposite the courthouse and is one of the most prominent blocks of the city. He was one of the organizers of the Cedar County state bank and in all business affairs his judgment is regarded as most sound and reliable.
While carrying on an extensive farming and live-stock business, Mr. Reeder’s interest has never abated in the cause of education but remains to the present time one of its stalwart champions. For about twenty years he was a member of the board of education in Center township and served as a director and secretary of the board. For nine years he was also a member of the board of trustees of Cornell College at Mount Vernon, from which institution six of his children have graduated. He withholds his cooperation from no movement which he believes will promote the educational progress of the locality.
In his political views Mr. Reeder is an earnest republican and has always taken a citizen’s interest in the political views in the political situation and questions of the day. His many friends in Tipton in 1905 requested him to become a candidate for the state legislature but owing to the extent of his business interests he declined the proffered honor. At the primaries held June 7, 1910, however he received the republican nomination for representative, carrying every ward in Tipton and Center township, where he has lived for sixty years, by a majority of over one hundred and the county by a majority of one hundred and sixty-four.
His religious faith is indicated in his membership in the Methodist Episcopal church, with which he has been identified since 1854. He has been untiring in his efforts in behalf of the church and for about thirty years he was superintendent of the Bethel Sunday school. Since removing from the farm to Tipton in 1896 he has been a teacher of the first Bible class of the Methodist Episcopal Sunday school and is chairman of the board of stewards, having acted also as district steward for many years. That he is an earnest champion of the temperance cause is indicated in the fact that he is an active member of the Independent Order of Good Templars. He also belongs to the Knights of Pythias fraternity.
In 1861 Mr. Reeder was united in marriage to Miss Sarah E. Lee, who was born in Reynoldsburg, Fairfield county, near Columbus, Ohio, August 6, 1844, and was brought to Iowa by her parents, the Rev. and Mrs. William A. Lee, in 1845. Her father was a local preacher of the Methodist Episcopal church. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Reeder were born nine children: Charles, at home; Lilly Maria, who died at the age of twenty-one years; Rosella, the wife of Charles Fayram of Los Angeles, California; Arthur C., of Tipton; Luanna, the wife of Edwin Zerkle of Chicago; Ralph M., living near Tipton; William G., a practicing physician of Chicago; Herbert, at home; and Grant, a student in Rush Medical College of Chicago and a graduate of the Chicago University.
Mr. Reeder has ever been a most public-spirited citizen and has cooperated in many progressive movements for the welfare and progress of his adopted county. He was chairman of the Reunion executive committee and also planned the semi-centennial program of the Tipton union schools. He took a most active and helpful part in making that a memorable and never to be forgotten occasion. The committee selected Washington’s birthday as an appropriate time for the celebration, making it a patriotic as well as reminiscent day. A most interesting program was arranged, setting forth the conditions fifty years before and indicating as well the progress that had been made in the school system in half a century. Mr. Reeder was among those prominent in organizing the school system of Tipton under its present unified form and many other evidences of his public spirit could be cited. Whatever he undertakes he seems to carry forward to successful completion, his labors being resultant factors, while his spirit is undaunted by any difficulty or obstacle that may arise.
