1890 Buchanan and Delaware Counties History pgs. 241-243

George W. Rea.  This gentleman is now one of the oldest of the surviving early settlers of Delaware county.  He has been a resident of the county for more than forty-two years, being one of the  few settlers who came prior to 1850.    He is a Pennsylvanian by birth, coming also of Pennsylvanian parentage, originally   of Scotch extraction. His father, George Rea, was a native of eastern Pennsylvania, born in 1775.     He settled  in   Bedford    county, that state, when a young man, and there subsequently married  a  young  lady  of   that county, Miss Ann Webb, and resided there until 1824, when he moved to Richland county, Ohio,  remaining  there   for  twenty-two years.    In 1846  he moved to Jo Daviess county, Ill., and six months later to Delaware county, Iowa, settling on a farm a half-mile    west of  the   present town  of Colesburg,  Colony  township,   where he shortly afterwards died, being then in the seventy-third year of his age.     He was a farmer throughout life, a man of moderate   means, possessing industrious habits, quiet, sober and intelligent, actuated by the sole purpose of doing what he conceived to be his duty as a citizen, neighbor, friend and parent, in the best manner possible for one of his means and opportunities. Coming of old Scotch stock he adhered to the traditions and teachings of his fathers in matters of  religion, being an almost life-long  member  of   the   Presbyterian church.    He took but little interest in politics, but voted as all good citizens must, and when he did so always affiliated with the democratic  party.     The  mother of our subject died  at his home in Colony township, Delaware county, in 1877 aged ninety-two.    She was a pious, exemplary Christian  woman, industrious,  neat   and orderly   as   a   house-wife,    faithful and affectionate as a spouse, and gentle and forbearing as a parent.    To George and Ann (Webb) Rea were born a family of nine children, all but one of whom reached maturity. The eldest of them, James, now resides in Fayette county, Iowa; the second is George W., whose name heads this sketch; the next, Elizabeth, who died unmarried, at the age of twenty-five, in Richland county, Ohio; Arthur E. resides at Osceola, Iowa; John died in Fillmore county, Minn.; Martha is the wife of Rudolph Keller, a farmer of Delaware county, Iowa; Mary J., who became the wife of A. Hazlett, died in Fillmore county, Minn.; Robert died in Grayson county, Tex., and Thomas died in Richland county, Ohio, when a child.

George W. Rea, whose personal history this article is more especially designed to perpetuate,  was  born in the  village of Bedford, Bedford county, Pa., June 20, 1817, and was reared in that county and in  Richland county,  Ohio,   whither his parents moved when he was nine years of age.     He grew up on his father's farm and received the rudiments of a common English education in the country schools of the locality where he resided.   June 11, 1840, he married Miss Mary P. Meredith, of Richland county, Ohio, and settled, on a farm in that county, where he resided, engaged in agricultural pursuits till 1846, when,  in  company  with  his father, he moved  to Jo  Daviess  county,  Ill.   He resided there two years and then in 1848 moved to Iowa, settling in Colony township,  Delaware county,   where   he has since resided.    He  purchased  the place on which  he now   lives, consisting of one hundred  and    sixty  acres in sections 9 and 16,  in   1851,  and  has resided there since that date.    He has a pleasant country place, well stocked and well improved, a home-like  place,  one that shows the labor of years in all its surroundings and appointments. Mr. Rea has been engaged in agricultural pursuits all his life, and is a thoroughgoing farmer, having a full knowledge of the possibilities, as well as the responsibilities, of his calling. He has taken much interest in everything of a general nature relating to his township, having held the usual number of local offices and contributed his share to the common good in every way he has deemed it his duty to do so. His life has been of that quiet, industrious sort, chiefly marked in its effects on the public mind, and for the good it has accomplished in a silent, unobtrusive way. Mr. Rea is a democrat in politics, and is a man who possesses a clear idea of the purposes of civil government, and has extensive and accurate knowledge of the history and workings of his own government. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, but with the exception of this he has never belonged to any other order.

We have already noted that Mr. Rea married in Richland county, Ohio, prior to his removal West. His wife, Mary P. Meredith, was a daughter of Benjamin and Margaret Meredith, descendants of two of the early settled families of the Buckeye State, the father having been born there, and the mother having been born in Virginia, but reared in Ohio, her parents moving to that state when she was young. They both died in Richland county, Ohio. Mrs. Rea was born in Belmont county, Ohio, April 3, 1819. She died August 31, 1887, at her home in Colony township, after a married life extending over forty-seven years. She was an estimable lady, and her death was a bereavement to her many friends, as well as to the members of her own family. She was the mother of ten children, all but two of whom survive her. These are Amandus W., George T., Margaret A., Martha E., Oscar E., Albin M., Emma J., Florence S., Frank and Mary E. Amandus W. is a merchant, residing at Colesburg, Delaware county. He was one of Delaware county's contributions to the Union army in the late war, being a volunteer in Company E, Fifth Iowa cavalry. He married Miss Frances Hubbard, of this county, and has one son, Edwin C. George T. resides also at Colesburg, being an invalid old soldier, having served in Company G Sixth Iowa cavalry. He married Miss Osie Daniels, of Davison county, Dak., and has two children, Mary and Harry. Margaret is the widow of Simon Myers, and now resides with her father. She has one child, Charles A. Martha E., the deceased member of the family, died in Richland county, Ohio, at the age of six months. Oscar E. is a civil engineer, residing at Bismarck, Dak. Albin M. is a farmer, residing on the old homestead. He married Miss May E. Van Osdel, of Chicago, by whom he has two children-Harriet and Margaret. Emma J. is the wife of Frank Grimes, a miller of Colesburg. They have four children-Blanche, Joseph, Clifford and Mary M. Florence S. is the wife of Dr. O. A. Dunham, of Manchester, a sketch of whom appears in another place in this volume. Frank is a commercial traveler, residing at Holstein, Iowa. He married Miss Mary Gilmore, of Delaware county, and has two children-Mabel and Florence, Mary E. died in Delaware county, Iowa, at the age of four years. The Rea family stand socially at the front.

 

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