Obituary Record

Henry Harrison (H.H.) Reed
Died on 1/15/1930
Buried in Blair Cemetery

#1 Printed in Pilot-Tribune, January 16, 1930

AGED RESIDENT OF BLAIR PASSES AWAY

H.H. REED DIES WEDNESDAY AFTER WEEK’S ACUTE ILLNESS

One of the most lovable and picturesque figures in the life of this community was called to the Great Beyond when H.H. Reed passed away Wednesday morning at 8:00 o’clock following an acute illness of several days due to old age.

Henry Harrison Reed was born in Ashland, Ohio, April 19, 1841, and was nearly 89 years of age. When quite a young lad he moved to eastern Iowa with his parents and was later apprenticed out to a blacksmith which trade he followed until the breaking out of the war between the north and the south.

Enlisting in the Sixth Iowa Infantry he served as a union soldier until the close of the war. He participated in many of the larger engagements under General Grant and was with General Sherman on his march to the sea. At the close of the war, with the other eighteen survivors of his regiment, Mr. Reed took part in the grand review before President Lincoln at Washington, D.C.

Mr. Reed was married soon after returning from the war and came to Washington county with his family in 1876, settling first on a farm near what is now known as Coffman station. The family later moved to a farm near Blair and finally came to Blair in the late eighties, where Mr. Reed engaged in the mercantile business in the building now occupied by the gas office.

Some years later, Mr. Reed devoted his entire attention to auctioneering and was for many years practically the only auctioneer in Washington county. There are few farms in the county that Mr. Reed has not “cried” one or more sales on, and he enjoyed a wide and pleasant acquaintance with a host of the earlier settlers of this district.

He was a man of many good qualities, kind hearted and public spirited; enjoying the confidence of all who knew him, and his passing will leave a void in the hearts of many of our older residents who had claimed him as a friend for these many years.

Surviving members of the family are Mrs. Clark O’Hanlon and Frank Reed of this city, and a brother and sister who reside in Ohio.

Funeral services will be held from the Reed home on South street at 10:00 o’clock Friday morning, Rev. A.F. Newell officiating.

#2 Printed in the January 16, 1930 - The Enterprise

H. H. REED ANSWERS CALL

H. H. Reed, an old and highly respected resident of Blair for many years, passed quietly from this life on Wednesday morning, January 15, at his home on east South street. He had attained a fine old age, being eighty eight years, eight months and twenty days old at the time of his death. He had been a strong and vigorous man in his youth and even in old age was considered very rugged and hale. His passing was attributed to old age as he had no serious physical ailment.

Henry Harrison Reed was born in Ashland, Ohio, April 25, 1841. At the outbreak of the Civil War he enlisted in the 6th Iowa Infantry and served throughout the entire war. During his army career he served under both Grant and Sherman, and was one of the boys, who under Sherman, participated in that famous “March to the Sea”. He was also a participant in the “Grand Review” of the armies before President Lincoln at the close of the war.

In 1876 he came west and lived near Coffman, this county, for about four years, and later moved to a farm near Blair. In 1884 he moved to Blair where he engaged in the mercantile and Auctioneering business. For years he was considered the best farm sale auctioneer in this part of the state.

He is survived by two stepchildren, Mrs. Clark O’Hanlon and Frank Reed, who have always been very attentive and very kind to him. His wife passed away in 1917, and since her death he, with Frank as a companion, lived on in the old home and were very comfortable and happy together. Both Frank and Mr. and Mrs. O’Hanlon spared no pains in their kind attention of him, and his last days were made as comfortable as was possible.

He is also survived by one brother and one sister back in Ohio.

Mr. Reed was a prominent K. P. in his active years and took considerable interest in the order. He was also a member of the Congregational church for many years.

Funeral services will be held at ten o’clock Friday morning from the home at 203 east South street.

(veteran)

Note; K.P. is Knights of Pythias

~~~Obituary courtesy of the Nebraska Washington County Genealogical Society. News clippings on file in the Blair, Nebraska Public Library~~~

FindaGrave #57412179

Printed in the Washington County Pilot-Tribune on 1/16/1930


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