Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens
Lawrence County Pennsylvania 1897
[p. 621] We have the pleasure to present to our readers the biography of one of New Castle's foremost physicians, whose excellent reputation for professional honor and skill has been acquired through a general practice in New Castle, extending from July, 1886, until the present time. Dr. Reed possesses that peculiar insight into the hidden causes of various forms of disease which will ever be the greatest recommendation of a successful physician. A case once definitely diagnosed loses much of the dread that surrounds it, and the mistakes that are occasionally made by even the best of practitioners result invariably from an incorrect diagnosis. Dr. Reed was born in Shenango township Sept. 18, 1858, and received his early education in the district schools of his immediate neighborhood and in the high school of New Castle. After completing an academic education at the State Normal School of Edinboro, Pa., he read medicine for a while, and eventually, in 1882, entered Miami Medical College of Cincinnati, Ohio, from which institution he graduated in 1885. His preceptors and advisors in medical studies were Dr. Joseph Reed of Sharon, Pa., and Dr. J. J. Wallace of New Castle. Dr. Reed also took a one-year's course in the Western Pennsylvania Hospital of Pittsburg, Pa., where he was a resident physician. In July, 1886, he took up his residence in New Castle, and now has all he can do to attend to his constantly increasing practice.
Our subject is a son of J. C. and Phoebe A. (Iddings) Reed, both of whom were natives of Shenango township, Lawrence Co., Pa. Joseph Iddings, our subject's grandfather on his maternal side, was a native of Chester Co., Pa.; when a young man he went to sea, and when he returned home after a three-years' absence he became a student of a college in Pennsylvania, from which he graduated. He spent the remainder of his life in agricultural pursuits and educational work. He married Hannah Hoopes, a native of Chester County, and they removed to Lawrence County in 1820. They were Quakres [sic] in religious belief. Their children were: Mary, who is eighty-four years old; Mirabel, deceased; Hannah, who married Martin Reno, deceased, of Shenango township, Lawrence County; Sarah, who married Hugh A. McKee; Elizabeth, deceased, who married James Leonard of Lawrence County, and now of Michigan; Ann, deceased; Lavina, who married James Davis of Lawrence County; and Phoebe A., our subect's mother. William Reed, the paternal grandfather of Dr. Reed, was a native of Pennsylvania; he was a millwright by trade and by the means of that calling and by farming he managed well to secure a livelihood, raise a goodly number of children, providing liberally for them, and to put himself beyond the grasp of want in his old age. He married Ann Cannon, a native of Mahoningtown, this county, and this union resulted in the following children: John C., the father of Dr. Charles A. Reed; Margaret; Henderson; Jane; William; Elizabeth; and Mary. In religious belief they were United Presbyterians. William Reed died about the year 1842, aged forty-five years.
John C. Reed was educated in the district schools of Shenango township, and after the completion of such an education, turned his attention to agricultural pursuits. Nearly his entire life was spent on the farm where his life began. Industrious and progressive in all his labors, he found it a comparative easy matter to accumulate a comfortable amount of property, and was considered a very prosperous man. Politically, he was a stanch Whig, and later on, when the Republican party was organized with many Whig principles incorporated in it, he joined the ranks of the younger,and more vigorous party. He took an active and intelligent interest in politics. In 1851 he married Phoebe A. Iddings, and this union resulted in ten children, as follows: William E., who married Eliza Keller of Shenango township, by whom he had three children, Lillian, Wesley, and one that died in infancy; Hannah, deceased; Joseph H., a physician of Sharon, Pa., married Kate Bowman of New Castle, Pa., and they have one child, Helen; Charles A., our subject; Anna and Mary, deceased; Sarah J., who married Harry Wright and bore him two children, Mary and Charles; Levinah, who married Henry Weinschenk of Shenango township, and their marriage has been blessed with one child, Margaret; John W., deceased; and Luther M., who married Elizabeth McMillin, and has two children, Norma and Nettie. In religious matters they favored the M. E. Church. Our subject's father died in January, 1895, aged sixty-nine years, but the mother still survives at the age of sixty-seven years.
Dr. Charles A. Reed was joined in marriage Oct. 14, 1891, to Margaret E. Gaston, daughter of Philo and Mary Gaston, of New Castle, Pa., both now deceased; Elizabeth G., their only child, was born Oct. 8, 1895. Mrs. Reed is a member of the M. E. Church. Dr. Reed is a Republican in politics, but allows no organization to dictate to him how he shall vote at the polls, but casts his vote for the man whom he thinks best suited for the place. Although no office-seeker, he held the office of city physician two years, being elected on his own merits. Socially, he is a member of the Knights of Pythias, New Castle Lodge, No. 404, in which society he has been past chancellor and trustee since 1893. He is also a member of Shenango Lodge, I. O. O. F.
Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens Lawrence County Pennsylvania
Biographical Publishing Company, Buffalo, N.Y., 1897
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