"Elisha Bisbee Read, son of Sampson and Huldah Bisbee. Born at Hartford, Me., Nov. 8, 1820. Grew to manhood on the homestead farm; obtained his book education at district schools and taught several winter schools before starting a commercial life about the year 1840, in selling oil cloth carpeting, a new thing just suitable for covering the then many rough floors of Maine farm houses, and he obtained such a large and profitable trade throughout Maine that he established a wholesale house in Boston, under the firm name of "Read & Sturtevant," of which he was the senior partner and conducted at 251/2 Milk Street, up to near the time of his death in 1852. Jan 1, 1847, he married Abigail Brett, born March 4th, 1824, and the daughter of Simeon Brett and Saphrona Hayford, of Canton, Me. They soon went to housekeeping in Boston, where their only child and son, Sampson, was born, but he soon moved into the suburb, Cambridge Port. He was a man of high ideals, and a lover of fine horses. He purchased the most spirited horse he could find in the state of Maine, costing four hundred dollars, which he used to drive from Cambridge to his place of business until he commenced bleeding of the lungs, caused by the strain upon his lungs in driving him. He asked to be taken to his old home in Hartford, where he died of quick consumption Sept. 26, 1852. They had one son, Sampson Augustus, born in Boston, Mass., Dec. 8, 1848. The father was six feet tall, slim, sandy complexionn and red hair. He was extremely particular in his dress and habits." --Axel H. Reed, p. 24

"He was a man of integrity, strong and positive in character, but his too close application to business in which he was engaged in the city of Boston, Mass., impaired his health, cutting him down in the prime of his life, when the future seemed ot hold rich stores of properity for himself and family." --Hon. Otis Hayford.

"In visiting the burying ground one mile above Canton, Aug. 19, 1875, I found the grave of Brother Elisha and his wife Abbie about the center of the yard, marked by a marble slab bearing the following inscription: 'God is Love. Elisha B. Read, died Sept. 26, 1852, age 31.' Following verse inscribed at the request of the widow: 'Rest, dear husband, while above thee flows the sad and silent tear. Oft shall I still do love thee. Sigh and weep undiscovered here.'" --Axel H. Reed Genealogy, p.22.

"The spelling of the name READ was changed to REED by the family of Sampson READ and Huldah Bisbee of Hartford, Me., about the year 1848, initiated by the oldest son Elisha, who entered the mercantile business in Boston, Mass., and the brothers and many other relatives adopted the spelling of their names as REED." --Axel H. Reed Genealogy, p. 27 footnote.