[p. 405] one of the leading physicians and surgeons of New Castle, who has been identified with the interests of this city for the past twenty-one years, was born September 18, 1858, in Shenango Township, Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, and is a son of John C. and Phebe A. (Iddings) Reed.
On both sides of the family, Dr. Reed can trace an old and honorable ancestry. In early days these families were undoubtedly followers of William Penn and adherents of the Quaker faith. Both families have been mainly agricultural, and both names stand in Pennsylvania for people of substance and of high moral standards. William Reed, the paternal grandfather, cultivated his own land and worked also as a millwright. He married Ann Cannon who was a member of another fine old family of the Keystone State, and the eldest born of their children was named John C., probably in honor of the maternal grandfather. William Reed died in 1842 and was survived by his widow for some years. They were good and virtuous people, leading members of the United Presbyterian Church.
John C. Reed, father of Dr. Reed, was reared on his father's farm in Shenango Township, secured a district school education, followed agricultural pursuits, and did his duty in furthering the improvement of his community during the whole of a life that was unusually useful to his fellow citizens. In his early political views he was a Whig, but from the date of its organization was a firm supporter of the Republican party. His death took place in January, 1895, at the age of sixty-nine years. In 1851 he married Phebe A. Iddings, who was a daughter of Joseph and Hannah (Hoopes) Iddings, natives of Chester County, who came to Lawrence County in 1820. The children of Joseph Iddings and wife were: Mary, Mirabel, Hannah, Ezra, Sarah, Elizabeth, Levinah, and Phebe A. To John C. Reed and wife were born the following children: William E., who married Eliza Keller; Hannah, deceased; Joseph H., a physician, who married Kate Bowman; Charles A., Anna and Mary, both of whom are deceased; Sarah J., who married Harry Wright; Levinah, who married Henry Weinschenk; John W., deceased, and Luther M., who married Elizabeth McMillin.
The boyhood of Dr. Reed was mainly spent on his father's farm and his early education was secured in the country schools. Later he attended the High School at New Castle, and still later completed the academic course at Edinboro, Pennsylvania. Shortly afterward he began the study of medicine, his preliminary reading covering several years, and in 1882 he entered Miami Medical College at Cincinnati, where he graduated three years later. Prior to coming to New Castle in July, 1886, he served as resident physician in the Western Pennsylvania Hospital at Pittsburg, but it is to the people of New Castle that Dr. Reed has given the best years of his life. With the passage of two decades he can look backward over a path, which often, undoubtedly, seemed filled with difficulties, but which he now realizes were professional triumphs. In twenty-one years his beloved science has made great strides forward and it has been his constant aim to keep abreast of the tide.
On October 14, 1891, Dr. Reed was married to Margaret E. Gaston, who is a daughter of Philo and Mary Gaston, late of New Castle. Dr. and Mrs. Reed have two daughters, Elizabeth G. and Mary G. Mrs. Reed is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which Dr. Reed was also reared. They have a beautiful home which is situated at No. 26 North Mercer street, New Castle, and Dr. Reed has his well equipped office and his excellent library located in his residence. He votes with the Republican party, but is in no sense a politician, never having consented to hold any office with the exception of that of health officer, his public spirit and sense of civic duty making him consent to that concession. Fraternally, he is an Odd Fellow and a Mason of high degree.
20th Century History of New Castle and Lawrence County Pennsylvania and Representative Citizens Hon. Aaron L. Hazen Richmond-Arnold Publishing Company, Chicago, Ill., 1908
Previous Biography | Table of Contents | Next Biography
Explanation/Caution | Lawrence Co. Maps | Lawrence Co. Histories
Updated: 16 Oct 2001