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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