Louisiana AHGP

Part of the American History and Genealogy Project

John Reeder

John Reeder, a well-to-do planter of Claiborne Parish, Louisiana, was born in Christum County, Kentucky, October 27, 1818, and is a son of William Reeder, a South Carolinian, who was reared in that State, and was there married to Miss Sarah Evans, a native of South Carolina also. They were pioneers of Kentucky, to which State they moved in 1810, and he was the second man to take a wagon across the Tennessee River, locating in Christian County. He afterward went back across that river into Caloway County, and there remained until his death in 1845, having been a farmer and blacksmith throughout life. His widow survived him until 1876, when she, too, passed away. Of a family of sixteen children born to them, three daughters and thirteen sons, four sons are all that survive: Martin (of Kentucky), John, Jacob (of Texas), and Elbert (of Missouri).

In the State of Kentucky John Reeder was reared to manhood, and there he was married to Miss Frances Short, also of that State, and there he spent the first ten years of his married life. In 1851 he moved with his family to Louisiana and settled in Claiborne Parish, where he now resides, having always lived on the farm which he now occupies, which he has made himself, converting it from a wilderness into a valuable plantation. He has over 533 acres in one body, but, at one time was the owner of over 1,000 acres, but gave some to his sons and sold some. He now has about 200 acres under cultivation, well adapted to raising all the products of the South.

In 1864 he enlisted in McNeal's regiment and served until the close of the war, then returning home. He lost his first wife July 21, 1865, she leaving him with a family of eight children to care for. He was married December 13, 1870, to Miss Martha Hunt, a native of Missouri, reared and educated in Greene County, a daughter of Elijah Hunt. Five, children blessed this union. He and his wife are members of the Baptist Church and are well known and highly honored throughout, this section of the country for their many amiable qualities.

The names of Mr. Reeder's children by his first wife are: William (who died in New Orleans, October 23, 1861, while serving in the Confederate Army), Martha (wife of T. N. Bolin, of this parish), Amos (in Arkansas). Elizabeth (wife of E. D. Waters), George, John (both married and living near their father's home), Jane (wife of William Beau), Emma (wife of John McElroy) and Luella (wife of Sidney Mixon.

The children of his last union are: Minnie A. (wife of Jeff Rowe), Sallie, James Marion, Elva E. and Effie. He has thirty-five grandchildren. Although he received no advantages in his youth, he took up a course of study fitter his marriage and now has a fair business education, and is a well-informed man on the general topics of the day.

Biographical Sketches| Claiborne Parish

Source: Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northwest Louisiana, Southern Publishing Company, 1890