Marriage record in Harlan Co., NE gives middle initial M. instead of W. At that time he was identified as a resident of Harlan Co. By 1920, he is living alone in Oakland, CA, divorced. In 1900 he is with his family in Boulder, CO, listed as a gold miner. Census records 1880, 1900, and 1920 indicate he was born in IL, not PA as family records say. Thus, it is not clear exactly when the William Reedy family came to Illinois.
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David Reedy family living in same household with Oliver Reedy in 1880 census of Harlan Co., NE, ED 31, p. 12, line 26. Parents both born PA acc. to same census.
Dates and birthplace from LDS International Genealogical Index. That source gives death date as 20 nov 1930 , but tombstone at Gold Hill Cemetery, Boulder, CO transcribed as 1856-1931. A compiled genealogy (Alethea Mary Wallack McClain, The Way we were, 1977) gives a death date of 20 feb 1930 and calls him Edward Hagart Reedy. He may have been named after the Edward Hagar from Vermont and New York who lived in Chemung Tp., McHenry Co. at the time of the 1860 census.
He is with his mother and stepfather, James A. and Mary K. Carpenter, in the 1870 census of Jefferson, Greene Co., IA, listed as Edward H. "Reedly". In 1900, he is in Gold Hill, Boulder Co., CO with his wife and two children. The census that year reports that they had a third child, who had died.
MARRIAGE: 06 JUL 1951, Los Angeles Co., California
Draft registration card dated 12 sep 1918 says he is manager of the Reedy Auto Truck Co., 19 E. Archer Ave., Tulsa, OK, and lists next of kin as Katie Reedy, 1334 E. 1st St., Tulsa.
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From World War I draft registration card filed at Tulsa, OK.
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He was living in Proctor in 1942, according to his mother's obituary.
MARRIAGE: 26 MAY 1919, Tacoma, Pierce Co., Washington
She was in Long Beach in 1942, according to her mother's obituary. In fact, she is listed as the wife of C. Homer DePuy in Long Beach directories 1929-30, then alone as Mrs. Rose M. DePuy in 1931. Homer was still in the area too, a 1932 directory listing shows him working as a cook for the restaurant of Mrs. Hazel Benning, 1717 E. Anaheim St., without mention of Rose. At least one reference calls her Eulalia, which may be correct, but the official documents say Eulia.
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according to notarized deposition of Carrie E. McDougal Reedy, listing entries from family bible, and information on marriage certificate.
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Marriage was performed by James J. H. Reedy, father of the bride.
Myrtle was the informant on the death certificate of her mother in 1942. Myrtle was then living at 2408 W. 36th Ave., Denver, Colorado. Myrtle's name appears with the extra initials F. E. either before or after the name. After her marriage to Isaac Albright, she appears either as Mrs. Albright or as Mrs. Reedy. SSAN 524-12-2685, last residence Loma Linda, California. The marriage license was reported (no exact date given) in the Denver Post, 12 feb 1913. Her full name is from internet sources mentioning her marriage to L V Hoskins.
Myrtle and her children are mentioned in an article in the Denver Post, June 26, 1921 (p. 1, continued on p. 3). Under the headline "Water Board Ignores Famine Which Exists in North Denver. Residents Are Forced to Pay for Service They Don't Get—Commissioners Who Pay $900 for Bronze Plate Have No Money for Improvements,", we read that the Commissioners paid $900 for a commemorative bronze name plate at the Cheesman Dam, while residents on Eliot Street got almost no water. "The main which supplies the homes in this block has been tapped by so many new homes in the last ten years that it is unable now to carry enough water to supply all the users. From six to eight hours a day non water is obtainable in some of these homes, according to Charles Kaiser, 4235 Eliot street." The reporter then interviews the Reedy family:
Mrs. C. E. Reedy and her daughter, Mrs. Myrtle Albright, the latter the mother of five small children, reside at 4244 Eliot street, directly across the street from Kaiser.
"We got up at 7 o'clock Saturday morning and were not able to use the bathroom until noon because of the lack of water," said Mrs. Reedy. "That condition is not unusual, as we have had this trouble for years. It is worse some times than others, but in summer we generally have a water famine in this block.
"It isn't right for the water board to spend $900 for a bronze tablet on Cheesman dam and let us be without water when a small sum, spent properly, would remedy the situation here. We are not asking for anything that we are not entitled to. We pay for water and should get it-not part of the time-but all of the time."
"Do you notice how dirty the faces of those children are," asked Mrs. Reedy, as she pointed to four youngsters on the front porch of her home. The faces of the children, with one exception, were covered with dirt.
"Well, their faces are dirty because we haven't had enough water to wash them," said Mrs. Reedy. "And, with no water in the bathroom half of the time, we are up against it. It is a problem, with so many children in the house. In addition to the five youngsters there are four grownups, making nine in all. I hope something can be done."
By the middle of 1924, Myrtle was apparently running a boarding house in Santa Ana, California, and one of her tenants was her next husband, L. V. Hoskins (see our notes for her son Robert Albright).
At some point, presumably after 1930, she left Hoskins and, according to one of her Albright children, took up with another roomer, William Warrow. It is possible she had other children and that one or more besides Theodore Albright were adopted out. William Warrow is apparently the "William M. Morrow" who was the subject of the following story: San Bernardino County Sun (San Bernardino, California), 27 feb 1931. "Police Hunt Morrow to Tell Him Son Safe at Holtville. If W. M. Morrow, believed to be in the vicinity of Colton, reads this, he will know that his 12-year-old stepson, Robert Albright, is at Holtville, staying with Mrs. W. H. Meyer. Mrs. Meyer yesterday wrote to the Colton police department that the boy had come to her house in search of food and clothing. He stated that the stepfather and L. V. Hoskins had gone to Colton from Yuma, Ariz. The boy, having permission to visit Yuma friends, returned to a truck where he was said to have met the stepfather, after the vehicle had gone. Mrs. Hoskins requested the police to assist in locating the adults."
Perhaps the best clue for locating her children is her obituary in the San Bermardino Sun, 25 mar 1974, p. 10: "M. Albright, Loma Linda Myrtle Frances Albright, 82, of 24592 Stewart St., Loma Linda, died yesterday at a Loma Linda hospital. She was born in Omaha, Neb., and lived in Loma Linda seven years. Mrs. Albright was a retired practical nurse. Survivors include two sons, Theodore Grewell of Los Alamitos and David Albright of San Francisco; five daughters, Dorothy Shaeffer of Zachery, La., Phoebe Albright of Los Alamitos, Gloria McFarland of Fletcher, N.C., Jane Hart of Stillwell, Okla., and Venita Fries of San Bernardino; 56 grandchildren and 30 great-grandchildren. Services will be at 2 p.m, tomorrow at Hughes Loma Linda Mortuary. Burial will be in Montecito Memorial Park. Friends may call after 5 p.m. today at the chapel."
1850: Jackson Tp., Huntingdon Co., Pennsylvania, Henry Ready 60, Margaret 50, Margaret 19, Hannah 14, John 9. Living next door, Jacob Ready 28, Nancy 18, John 6/12.
His son Jacob gave the following answer to a pension examiner in Chicago, 07 jul 1882, when asked about the death of his father: "He died twenty-eight or twenty-nine years ago in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, near what was then known as McCleary's Fort. I don't know of what he died. He was old for one thing, and was always doctoring for the liver complaint—for a year or two before he died—that is all I know about it."
1860 Census: Seneca, McHenry Co., Illinois, with wife Harriet age 30, children John age 10, Margaret age 8, Eliphas age 6, Mary age 4, and Willis age 2, all born in Pennsylvania except Willis, who was born in Illinois. 1865 Illinois State Census: Decatur, Macon Co. (p. 110): John Redy, 1 male age 10 or under, 1 male age 30-40, 2 females age 10 or under, 1 female age 20-30; James Redy, 1 male age 20-30, 1 female age 10 or under, 1 female age 20-30; Jacob A. Ready, 1 male age 10 or under, 1 male age 30-40, 1 female age 10-20; Gideon Redy, 1 male age 10 or under, 1 male age 10-20, 1 male age 50-60, 1 female age 10 or under, 1 female age 10-20, 1 female age 20-30, 1 female age 40-50. 1870 Census: Decatur, Macon Co., Illinois, with wife Mary age 37, and sons Joseph age 4 and Edward age 6, wife and children all born in Illinois. 1880 Census: Quincy, Adams Co., Illinois, with wife M. A., stepson Frank Kester, stepdaughter Martha Reidy. Pension file ordered from NARA 17 mar 2014. The file is quite extensive, about 240 pages, because a dispute arose about whether some of the affidavits in support of his pension were untrue.
He is buried in the Leavenworth National Cemetery, section 8. row 1, site 44.
The death record of his son Eliphaz in Chicago, Cook Co., Illinois, 25 sep 1912, gives the name of his mother as Margaret Radicon.
His Civil War pension file contains many affidavits taken at various times. He mentions in one of them that he was first married about 1847, but his first wife died in the spring of 1861. One affidavit in the pension file indicated his wife while he lived in Quincy was a fortune-teller, another affidavit reported the rumor that his wife and his step-daughter "kept a fancy house" there.
He ended his ministry in Tulsa, OK. There are several notices of his career from Tulsa, and a few additional mentions from other locations where he served in the Protestant Episcopal Church. There is even a "notice of discipline" of Deacon James J. H. Reedy by the Bishop of Iowa, 01 mar 1891, (with no details) in the Journal of the Seventeenth Annual Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church (Newark, NJ, 1891). Other, similar volumes from Newark as well as Omaha (Diocese of Nebraska) show that he was a "candidate for Holy Orders" in 1888, when he was living in Omaha. Somewhat later, he applied for "Deacon's Orders only", and transferred to the Diocese of Iowa. By 1889, now ordained as Rev. J. J. Hamilton Reedy (restricted diaconate), he was officiating at All Saints' Church in Council Bluffs, Iowa, and then released on his own request from that ministry in 1891.
He was a Mason, as revealed by a poem of his published in the New Age Magazine, Washington., D.C., September, 1919:
The Eastward Facing Gate
By Bro. Rev. James J. H. Reedy
"Then he brought me back by the way of the gate to the outward sanctuary that looketh toward the east."—Ezekiel 44:1.
Three score years and six and more,
Treading mountain, vale and shore,
Wondering what the end shall be—
What the future has for me.
Not alone each place I go,
Marked by painful step and slow,
Visions bright oft seal the day,
Milestones marked upon the way.
One score years and ten and more,
Studying Mason's golden lore;
Such has been my happy lot,
Gaining thence each blessed thought.
Marked by Master with His Name—
Since this way Himself he came—
Light from Him shall lead us straight
Toward the Eastward-facing Gate.
Fellow-Crafts we still must be
While we sail upon life's sea;
Rudder, compass, pilot He,
Trust in Him our only plea.
Safely landed home at last,
Entrance gained to such repast
As the Master shall provide
Those who Him have ne'er denied.
Some interesting information is contained in the marriage affidavit. It mentions the written consent of James' mother, proof of his father's death, and evidence of his being of lawful age. Also, an affidavit from William F. Adams is mentioned, attesting that he was personally acquainted with Carrie McDougal and that she was over the age of 18. From this we deduce the unavailability of her own family, likely because they were living somewhere else at the time. Who was Adams? A friend, a relative?
Andreas' History of the State of Nebraska (1882), section on Columbus, Platte Co., gives the following sketch of J. J. H. Reedy, providing material we have not found elsewhere:
"PROF. J. J. H. REEDY, Columbus, was born in Clearfield County, Penn., in 1853; his parents moved to Freeport, Ill., the following year, locating, in the spring of 1855, at Marengo, Ill. Prof. R. is a graduate of the Pecatonica High School, in Illinois [Winnebago Co.], and of the Jefferson Normal School, in Iowa; for the past fourteen years, he has taught school almost continuously; he has been an instructor in several county normal institutes, among them the Madison County Normal Institute in 1880 [the 1880 census shows him as a school teacher in Pierce Co., NE]; he also has been an active newspaper correspondent. He was married in 1871, in Jefferson County, Iowa, to Miss Carrie E. McDougal, who is a native of Monmouth, Ill.; she also has been engaged in teaching; they have four children--Louie V. M., Lowell W., Eulalia R. M. and Ernest W."
(In spite of the above information, the marriage is recorded in Greene Co., IA, and the McDougall family is found in the vicinity of Wilmington, IL. There are now 4 alleged birthplaces for Carrie McDougall! Part of the confusion arises because the "Jefferson Normal School" is in Jefferson, Greene Co., IA, and not in Jefferson Co., IA. He is in Jefferson, Greene Co., IA in the 1870 census, but his mother has remarried to James A. Carpenter, and he and his brother Edward are called "Reedly".)
So far, no trace of his family has been found at Curwensville, Pike Township, Clearfield Co., PA. However, Rev. James Jackson Hamilton, formerly "O. S. P. Clergyman" from Coal Township, Northumberland Co., PA (1850 census), was the minister at the Curwensville Presbyterian Church from 1851 to 1855. James J. H. Reedy was named after him. A biographical sketch of Rev. James Jackson Hamilton is found in The Centennial Memorial of the Presbytery of Carlisle, 2:236-244 (1889), referring also to lengthy obituaries upon his death on 19 feb 1886 in the Lock Haven Express and the Clinton Republican. It may be significant for our story that Rev. Hamilton's first wife, Sarah Coates, who died 20 jun 1852, was survived by a brother, Hon. John Coates of Freeport, IL.
The following item in the Columbus, Nebraska Journal suggests further directions for research: (05 nov 1884) "D. A. Magee has received notice of the death of his grandfather, John Magee, in Clarion county, Pa., at the mature age of 100 years, 3 months and 19 days. At his 100th birthday, he entertained some 300 relatives, many of them his descendants, a few of them of the fifth generation.—Sioux City Journal. The birthday anniversary mentioned above was noted in these columns. Mr. Magee is a cousin of Mr. J. J. H. Reedy of this city. Instances of such great age are rare, and when so well authenticated are worthy of record."
In the same newspaper, 17 sep 1884, we find: "A grand uncle of J. J. H. Reedy, of this city, celebrated his 100th anniversary on the 28th of May, 1884, over 500 visitors being present. The old gentleman is blind. He was persuaded to have his picture taken for his friends. He resides near Bellefonte, Pa. Another uncle of Mr. R.'s survived that age nearly a dozen years."
These relationships appear to be explained from secondary sources that indicate John Magee (born 22 may 1784) had a son David Frampton Magee (born 22 jul 1823, Cumberland, PA) who married Abigail Rankin (born 08 feb 1827, Cumberland, PA). Their son David Alexander Magee was presumably the D. A. Magee mentioned in the newspaper article. Abigail died in 1904 in Monticello, Iowa. Abigail was the daughter of John McGinley Rankin and Catherine Kerr, and is mentioned in papers relating to her mother's estate.
Another item from the Journal: (18 oct 1899) "J. J. H. Reedy was in the city Thursday advertising for the A. O. U. W. day at the Exposition, Oct. 14. He keeps books for the county coroner at Omaha. Some twenty years ago he lived in this city. He visited his child's grave while here."
A much more detailed article appeared in the Rockford Republic (Rockford, Illinois) on -1 oct 1927 (p. 5): "VETERAN OF PULPIT PAYS VISIT HERE. Early days in northern Illinois were realled today by a guest here, the Rev. James J. H. Reedy, Curate of Trinity Episcopal church of Tulsa, Okla., who is visiting Rockford relatives and renewing old ties. The Rev. Mr. Reedy, whose boyhood was spent in Marengo, on a farm near Byron, and in Pecatonica, has been invited by the Rev. H. P. Armstrong of Middle Creek Presbyterian church, Winnebago, to preach there on Sunday morning. The Middle Creek church was a successor to the old Grout church, which was near the farm where a part of Father Reedy's boyhood was passed. On Sunday evening, at 7:30, the curate will speak on The Ministry of Healing, at Emmanuel Episcopal church. Father a Missionary. Father Reedy's father, William M. Reey, a missionary colporteur for the Presbyterian church, with his wife and children left Pennsylvania in 1854, abandoning the part of the country that had been the family's home since revolutionary days. They came to northern Illinois, went as far as Freeport, and stopped there, since the railroad went no further. In 1855, they retraced their steps east as far as Marengo, where the senior Reedy built a house that is still standing. Reedy senior died in 1857, leaving his widow with seven boys, all under 10 years. Three of the boys, including James, came to the Jonathan P. Roberts farm near Byron. They attended the old Grout church. "And when I was ten years old," Father Reedy recalled today, "I recited the shorter catechism without a mistake, and I got a Bible for it." Exchanges Chores for Latin. In the autumn of 1867, the widow Reedy moved to Pecatonica. There James finished his high school course, studying Latin with the Rev. Mr. Dada, performing chores about the parsonage to compensate his instructor. In 1868 he went to normal school in Iowa, and in 1870 he started a career as school teacher. He taught for many years in Iowa, Nebraska, and, at last, in the Indian schools of Oklahoma, where he went in 1907. In 1889 he was ordained a deacon at Council Bluffs, Ia., and 11 years later, in 1900, he was trasferred to Colorado. In 1906 he was transferred to Oklahoma, in 1910 to Nevada, and in 1926 back to Oklahoma. He is now in his 17th year as curate, and in spite of his 70-odd years, he is very active in church and lodge work. His chief work, he ways, is visiting the sick, and he pays calls on 60 patients a week. Friends Arrange Trip. Father Reedy is now on a journey made possible by a group of friend, who provided a trip to New York for him. He has been traveling since Sept. 14. En route home from the east he visited his daughter, Miss Louie V. M. Reedy in Washington, D. C., and in Illinois he stopped at Marengo to visit his cousin, Mrs. Libby Davis, 202 E. Railroad st. He is now the guest of Mrs. Alice May Roth, 112 Daisyfield road, and of Mr. and Mrs. O. H. Peck, 1408 Sixth St. Father Reedy is a member of many Masonic bodies. He is a past grand prelate of Knights Templar; past grand chaplain of Royal and Select Masons, and also of Royal Arch Masons; active chaplain of five lodges, two chapters of Royal Arch Masons, and one council of Royal and Select Masons; and past grand chaplain of the Odd Fellows. For 20 years he was emergent grand chaplain of the grand lodge, A. F. & A. M. He is a life member of Masonic bodies up to the 32nd degree; of the Eastern Star, Grotto, Shrine and White Shrine." A similar article in the Daily Register Gazette (Rockford, Illinois) mentions cousins Mrs. Libbie Davis and Mrs. Norah Sassman of Marengo, and Mrs. Alice May Roth of Rockford and her daughter Mrs. Otto H. Peck.
There are a number of references in newspaper articles to another of his interests, blacksmithing. A notice in the Tulsa World (Tulsa, Oklahoma), 07 nov 1915, gives some interesting details: "JAMES J. H. REEDY has purchased the interest of W. G. Craig in the Reedy Carriage Works at Archer and Boston and will hereafter be associated in the business with his son, Ernest W. Reedy. This institution has been located on the same street in Tulsa for nine consecutive years and has had a wonderful growth. They build "jitney" bodies for autos, nitro-glycerin wagons, buckboards, and various other vehicles, as well as carrying on a general blacksmithing business. Ernest Reedy has been in charge of the business and James J. H. Reedy has been bookkeeper for the firm." By 1922, the firm was known as Reedy Auto Truck & Trailer Company.
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deposition of Carrie E. McDougal Reedy showing family bible entries, 23 jan 1941. Other sources show 03 may 1852.
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Acc. to affidavit. However, Greene Co., IA marriage record shows license granted 12apr1871, return dated05may1871, by J. A. Allen, JP; also R. H. Reedy to Sylvia Vader 21oct1871/01nov1871 by J. S. Dunning.
