MEMORANDUM

This memorandum summarizes the inferences drawn from Mick Reed’s web page and his e-mails to me, as well as e-mails from his cousin. It includes web-based information on Monkwearmouth, Longhorsley and Elsdon that throw a surprising amount of light on possible future research. References persons named Reed in all variant spellings in published histories of Counties Durham and Northumberland are disappointingly scarce and unreliable.

On 17 July 2008, I found out that Mick Reed of Armidale, New South Wales, Australia and I had a35/ 37 marker Y DNA match. Since we had a common surname, the probability is that we have a common ancestor within 16 generations. FamilyTree DNA states in its explanation of DNA match that Mick and I are "within the range of most well-established surname lineages in Western Europe." A 36/37 match would predict a common ancestor within 5 to 16 generations and a 35/37 match such as ours should yield the same judgment of probability. Mick has researched his family for five generations, and I have been able to extend our USA Reed research back five generations.

Since Mick Reed has a well-worked out family history lineage back to William Reed of Monkwearmouth, County Durham, England, I will summarize his findings first, then follow with mine.

There are no co-incidences. The relationships noted below explain the probable origin of our common ancestor in Redesdale, Northumberland sometime around 1600-1650. The Northumberlands National Park studies on Wingates Township and Elsdon village and Parish in Northumberland are very useful sources of background information that may help us to find our common ancestor.

The memorandum also summarizes the known ancestry of Tom Reed of New Castle, Delaware as far back as his research has taken him. There is a "missing link" yet to be identified that connects Mick Reed’s known ancestors with John Reed of Virginia, Tennessee, Alabama and Pennsylvania.

A. Generation One

1 William Reed (b. ca. 1735 unk. d. aft 1786 unk).

William Reed (reference number 1) was a resident of Monkwearmouth from 1767 to 1786. He married Isabella Grey on 4 January 1767 in St. Peter’s Church, Monkwearmouth (from St. Peter’s marriage records bishop’s transcripts Bishop of Durham).

CHILDREN

2. John Reed (b. ca.1750 d. aft 18 Oct. 1790 Wingates Twp.)

John Reed’s will from the ecclesiastical court records held by the University of Durham was

the will of an unmarried man who left specific bequests to his brothers William and Anthony, and willed his farm lease to his brother Anthony who lived at Coal yard in the chaplery of Netherwitten, Northumberland. He also willed personal property to his niece Judith Reed who lived with him.

3. Anthony Reed ( b. ca 1750 d. aft. 7 Jun 1805 Coal Yard) Anthony, John Reed’s brother, also a bachelor willed most of his property to his nephew John Turner, with specific bequests to nephews William and John Reed. The devise to John Turner included his farm lease in Wingates willed to him by John Reed.

John and Anthony Reed’s wills make specific bequests to Isabella, John and William Reed, who appear to be children of William Reed & Isabella Grey. One may safely conclude that Anthony, John and William Reed(1) were brothers. More work needs to be done to confirm this inference.

12. John Reed b. 24 Aug 1769 d. 16 Oct 1860 Wingate, Longhorsley. John Reed (12) moved to Wingate Township before his uncle Anthony’s death in 1805. He had married Jane Storey on 6 June 1793 stating his residence was Longhorsley, according to the Bishop of Durham’s marriage transcription. John Reed died in 1860 and is buried at Longhorsley. His grave is marked with a stone that lists his children.

CHILDREN

121(12) Ann Reed b.17 Jun 1811 Longhorsley d. unk

17. William Reed b. 1783, Monkwearmouth, County Durham, d. 18 Jun 1856 Clerkenwell, Middlesex London) is a well-documented London skilled tradesman and undertaker. His 1856 will was probated. John Mawman Reed, his son and nephew Anthony Storey Reed (also a builder) were his executors

CHILDREN

C. Third Generation

171 Mary Reed b. ca. 1817 Clerkenwell, Middlesex, living 1878 m. Edmonson ca. 1835-40. Mary Reed Edmonson’s children have not been identified. She took over administration of William Reed 1’s estate in 1878 when John Mawman Reed died.

172 Robert Middleton Reed , b. ca. 1817-22 Clerkenwell, Middlesex m. Jane Beall 21 Apr 1849 Clerkenwell Middlesex, d aft 1849 unk. No children as yet identified

173 William Middleton Reed b. ca. 1817-24 Clerkenwell, Middlesex. No information on any spouse or children from William M. Reed.

174 John Mawman Reed b. ca. 1827 christened 27 Dec 1827, d. 17 Aug 1878 Clerkwenwell, Middlesex. John M. Reed was a Clerkwenwell undertaker for about 30 years. He married Celia Susanna Bielfefeld on 3 Dec 1853 in Clerkenwell.

CHILDREN

175 Elizabeth Middleton Reed 175 b. 21 Jan 1831 Clerkenwell, Middlesex, d. aft 1888 m. Charles W. Mutlow 9 Apr 1853 Clerkwenwell

CHILDREN

12(10). Anthony Storey Reed (son of John Reed b. 1769 Monkwearmouth) b. 25 Apr 1808 Wingates Longhorsley, County Northumberland d. 1873 Walthamstowe, Essex. Anthony S. Reed was a builder working in Essex east of Londong for about 50 years.

CHILDREN

1741 William J. Reed, b. abt 1852 Clerkenwell, Middlesex, d aft 1900 unk Clerkenwell Furniture dealer.

CHILDREN:

1742 Henry James Reed , b. 30 Jan 1856 Clerkenwell, Middlesex, d. Clerkenwell aft 1910. Henry J. Reed was a printer and printer’s laborer for most of his adult life. Late n life he took up carpentry. He married Eliza J. Walter 3 September 1876 at St. Giles Cripplegate Church London

CHILDREN:

1743 Charles Reed, b. bet 1853 and 1879 Clerkenwell Middlesx, d. unk. Nothing is known about this man or his family, if any, at this time.

1744 Elizabeth Reed, b. bet 1853 and 1879 Clerkenwell Middlesx, d. unk. Nothing more is known about Elizabeth Reed 1744 at this time.

1745 Amelia Elizabeth Lorimer Reed, b. 9 Jul 1860 Clerkenwell Middlesx, d. unk

m. Thomas Waterhouse d. unk

CHILD

E. Fifth Generation

17422 William James Reed 17422 b. 20 Oct 1880 Clerkenwell, d. aft 1915 unk., m. Annie May Reed a/k/a Hannah Walters 1915

CHILDREN:

174221 William Reed, b. 1914 Clerkenwell, London d. Jan 2008 unk

[nine other children unmentioned]

174221 William Reed, b. 1914 Clerkenwell, London d. Jan 2008 unk m. 1942

CHILDREN

A. First Generation

1. John Reed (b. 18 Feb 1776 Pennsylvania, d. ca. 1848 Alabama)

John Reed 1 was identified in 1981 from Jacob W. Reed’s History of the Reed Family in the United States (1861). According to J. W. Reed, John Reed was born February 18, 1776. He married "Miss Bishop" in Virginia and later settled in Alabama. This brief account does not give a complete picture of John Reed's migration. According to his son's statements on two U.S. Census returns, John Reed was born in Pennsylvania. His eldest son, James, born in 1807, was a native of Virginia. Isaac P. Reed, William Reed and Thomas Reed, his next three sons, born between 1814 and 1818, were natives of Tennessee. John Reed's youngest son, Johns born in the late 1820's, may have been a native of Alabama. John Reed left Virginia sometime between 1807 and 1814 and settled somewhere in Tennessee. Around 1830, he migrated to Alabama, settling near Town Creek in northwestern Lawrence County. Reed's relocation to Lawrence County, Alabama ca. 1830 is confirmed by two tax deeds to him from the County Treasurer in 1831 and 1833, and by his presence in the 1830 and 1840 U.S. Censuses for Lawrence County, Alabama. John Reed does not appear in the 1850 census, although several of his children appear in the census as heads of families. According to J.W. Reed, John Reed died in a yellow fever epidemic. Extant records do not show a yellow fever epidemic in northern Alabama from 1840 to 1850. The 1848 cholera epidemic, however, did strike that region. It is probable that John Reed was a casualty of that scourge. He was survived by several sons and daughters: James Reed, William Reed, Isaac P.Reed, Thomas C. Reed, John Reed, Jane Reed, Margaret Reed McGee, Eveline Reed, Huldah or Hannah Reed, Nancy Reed and Frances Reed..

CHILDREN

B. Second Generation

11. James Reed, b. 10 Apr. 1807 Virginia d 9 Sep. 1876 Missouri City, Clay County, Missouri. James Reed married Nancy Pitts, November 6, 1827 in Ray County, Missouri.

CHILDREN

13 Isaac Pearson b, ca. 1814 Tennessee, d. 1888 Gober, Fannin County, Texas. Isaac

Pearson Reed, married Elizabeth Pickens Henderson of Lawrence County on April 14, 1835 before Rev. C. M. Donald of the Disciples of Christ.

CHILDREN:

14 William B. Reed b. ca. 1815, Tennessee, d. 1861 Lawrence County, Alabama. On August 20, 1849, he married Delana Flowers in Lawrence County, Alabama. He was a saddle & harness maker.

CHILDREN

15 Thomas C. Reed 15 b. 2 October 1816, Tennessee, d. 30 January1883, Missouri City, Clay County, Missouri. He married Emily Pitts in Ray County Missouri

CHILDREN

135 Thomas Clark Reed 135 b 16 March 1843 Lawrence County, Alabama, d. 24 March 1923, Ladonia, Fannin County, Texas, m. Mary Jane Miller, 1875 Ladonia, Fannin County, Texas.

CHILDREN:

1351 Forrest Thomas Reed b. 20 February 1876, Ladonia Texas, d. 1941 Dallas, Texas. Forrest Reed was born in Ladonia, Fannin County, Texas. He married Maude Hendrix about 1900. They were childless. Maude was a fine musician and singer. Her father was a minister. Forrest Reed worked for Southwestern Bell Telephone Company. He eventually became district manager in Dallas, Texas. He retired from Southwestern Bell in 1940. He died quite suddenly the next year. Maude Hendrix died in 1972 or 1973 in Dallas. Both are buried in Ladonia, Texas.

141 Charles Andrew Reed (b. 11 Oct. 1851, Lawrence County, Alabama d. 15 Oct. 1882 Jackson County, Alabama. Charles Reed is listed in William Reed̓s household in the 1860 U.S. Census for Lawrence County, Alabama. He married Mary Brandon 29 January 1874 in Jackson County, Alabama.

CHILDREN:

142 Sarah F. Reed b.1854 Lawrence County, Alabama, d. aft 1878 Jackson County, Alabama. Sarah F. Reed was listed in her father̓s household in the 1860 U.S. Census. She married Thomas Benton Pierce 22 December 1878 in Jackson County, Alabama.

CHILDREN

143 William Thomas Reed d b.1855 Lawrence County, Alabama, died 10 January 1890 Fannin County, Texas. William Reed appears in his father̓s household in the 1860 U.S. Census. He married (1) Tincy Hayes, (2) Eunice Hayes

CHILDREN W/ TINCY HAYES

CHILDREN W/ EUNICE HAYES

144 Mary Lewis Reed b.1857 Lawrence County, Alabama, d. 1879 Jackson County, Alabama.. Mary L. Reed appears in her father̓s household in the 1860 U.S. Census. She married Thomas Porter Kirby 15 August 1875 in Jackson County, Alabama.

CHILDREN:

114 Mary (Molly) Reed , b. 1846 Ray County, Missouri, d. unk. She married Arthur Leopold of Missouri City 4 September 1865. Mr. Leopold ran a restaurant in Missouri City for a number of years. The family moved to Kansas City where Mr. Leopold had a number of jobs before dying in 1902.

CHILDREN

Died unmarried after 1930.

Arthur married Parkins abt 1923 Kansas City, Missouri. They had no children.

1354 Paul C. Reed, b. 17 March 1885, Honey Grove, Texas, d 7 November 1972, Wichita Falls Texas. Paul C. Reed married Nell Wilson 8 Jun. 1908 in Pilot :Point, Texas.

CHILDREN

1356 John M. Reed b. 1 August 1895 Ladonia, Texas, d. 30 March 1977 Dallas, Texas, married Eddrie his wife around 1918.

CHILDREN

13461 Doris Reed b. 25 June 1925, Dallas, Texas, d. 2005) Doris Reed married Loren Bowie in 1947. Mr. and Mrs. Bowie lived in Dallas, Texas. They had no children

13462 Living 2007.

     1412 Dilana Catherine Reed b 28 August 1876, Jackson County, Alabama, d. 22 March 1953, Gainesville, Cook County, Texas. She married Julian Houck Hancock 28 September 1895 in Jackson County, Alabama.

CHILDREN:

1421 Arthur Reed Pierce, b. 1874 Jackson County, Alabama d. 1908 unk. Arthur Pierce married Lucinda King before 1900. They had no children.

1422 Ella Virginia Pierce, b. 6 December 1875 Scottsboro, Alabama, d. 9 May 1965 Scottsboro Jackson County, Alabama. She married Earnest M. Donald Woods before 1901 in Jackson County, Alabama. Mr. and Mrs. Woods had no children.

1431 Pierce William Reed, b. 21 February 1882, Ladonia, Texas, d. 23 December 1973, Scottsboro, Alabama. Pierce Reed married Mae Hancock before 1905 in Scottsboro, Alabama

CHILDREN

    1141 Harvey Leopold b. 1866 Missouri City, Missouri, d. aft 1930 Kansas City, Missouri. Harvey Leopold married Eris ca. 1915 in Kansas City Missouri

CHILDREN:

CHILDREN

E. Fifth Generation

13541 Thomas P. Reed, b. 4 Oct 1909 Gainesville, Texas, d. 19 Mar. 1979 Bloomington, IL m. Bernardine M. Dorsey 1937 Wilmington, Illinois

CHILDREN:

        3542 Nell Wilson Reed b. 21 April 1915, Gainesville, Texas, d. 2006 ,Donna Texas. Nell Reed was born in Wichita Falls, and graduated from high school and business college in Wichita Falls. In 1935, she married William A. (Mac) McLean, who worked for Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. Mr. and Mrs. McLean had two children, 135421 and 135422 both of whom are living in 2007. Mr. McLean died of cancer in 1952.

CHILDREN:

C. 13462   Living 2007.

CHILDREN

D.11444 Naomi Leopold, b. 12 September 1912 Kansas City, Missouri, d. 31 July 1988 Yuma, Arizona. She married Donald Knouse abt. 1930.

CHILDREN:

A. Monkwearmouth, County Durham.

William Reed, the ancestor of Mick Reed came down from northeastern England to London about 1820. Prior to 1820 he lived in Monkwearmouth, County Durham. Monkwearmouth today is a suburb of Durham, across the River Wear from Durham Castle and Durham Cathedral. It was a far older settlement than Durham. The Venerable Bede, England’s first serious scholar and historian was born in Monkwearmouth in the 8^th century. The parish church of St. Peter’s Monkwearmouth, was originally built in the 9th century, although much modified and modernized by later pastors.

Mick’s earliest ancestor, William Reed 1, was a carpenter working in Monkwearmouth in the late 18^th century. His burial site is unknown. The tombstones were removed from the church graveyard many years ago and their whereabouts are not known. The parish records of St. Peters were burned in a 1791 fire.

The background information presented is taken from an article on Monkwearmouth published by Durham Records on-line written by Ken Coleman.

Originally built as a monastery, much has been written about St Peter’s and its fame and reputation as the seat of learning and religion during the Saxon ages may indeed be viewed as a legitimate object of historical research. However, as the focus of this review is to deal not with the Church but more with its parishioners who resided around the mouth of the river Wear, it is felt that a potted history will suffice.

Around 674 AD, in the fourth year of the reign of Egfrid, King of Northumberland, Benedict Biscop obtained a grant of land on the north bank of the river Wear, on which he built a monastery and dedicated it to St Peter, the chief of the Apostles. The ground is believed to have been quite considerable in extent, amounting to some 15 square miles. In about 689, at the tender age of seven a young boy named Bede was brought to the monastery and committed to the care of Benedict, under whom and his successor Ceolfrid he was carefully instructed for twelve years. At the age of nineteen he was ordained deacon and became exemplary at that early age for his piety and studious life. Ordained a priest at thirty, he published his ‘Ecclesiastical History’ in 731 at the age of forty nine, and died in 735 having being bestowed with the title of Venerable Bede.

In the latter part of the eighth century, the Danes in one of their many predatory incursions, subjected the monastery at Wearmouth to merciless avarice, destroying every ornament of the church, slaying the monks and setting the building on fire. At this time, Christianity was almost extinct; very few churches were built for nearly two hundred years afterwards. After a degree of reparation, the monastery once again suffered extensive damage, firstly from the vengeance of William the Conqueror on account of the murder of Robert Comyn, a Norman baron whom the Northumbrians had slain during an insurrection, and then shortly afterwards in 1070 when Malcolm, King of Scotland laid waste the whole neighbourhood.

In 1084 in the eighteenth year of his reign, King William the Conqueror decreed that the monks of Jarrow and Wearmouth be received by the bishop, and their liberties, customs and dignities be restored. From this period Wearmouth became a cell for three or four monks only, at the Benedictine order, subordinate to the Abbey of Durham.

It was during the rule of Bishop Pudsey of Durham (1153-1197), that the parishes of Monkwearmouth and Bishopwearmouth were integrated under a charter of privileges. Through the unification of these two settlements sundered (eroded) from each other by the river Wear, the town of Sunderland came into being.

In 1358, Bishop Hatfield leased the borough of Sunderland with the fisheries in the Wear to Richard Hedworth of Southwick for twenty years. For many years religious life continued relatively uninterrupted in the area against the background of the Hundred Years war with France; intermittent wars with Scotland and Wales, and the Black Death.

In 1384, Richard II, on account of his devotions to St Cuthbert the titular saint of Durham, granted leave to export coals from the mines without paying any duties to the corporation of Newcastle. This was speedily taken advantage of and in 1395 coals were shipped to Whitby in Yorkshire from Sunderland and neighbouring ports at a rate of three shillings and four pence per chaldron of thirty-six bushels. In the year 1421, it was enacted that the ‘keels’ (an ancient Saxon word for a ship or vessel) carrying coals to the colliers (coal-carrying ships) should measure exactly twenty chaldrons, to prevent fraud in the duties payable to the King. In 1464, Edward IV granted the borough with the passage of the river, and the fisheries to Robert Bertram to which the King provided his lease with a ferry boat.

For centuries small wooden sailing ships came to the Wear for coal, glass and pottery and as they arrived on the tide and moored up, they would be served by the keels which were flat-bottomed craft carrying a variety of buckets, skips and slings. The ship’s crews and the keelman would unload the tons of sand ballast from far-away beaches. As each keel was filled it made its way to the bank where the sand would be dumped on dry land.

In 1590, Bishop Hutton leased the borough, the ferry boats and the fisheries to Ralph Bowes Esq., of Barnes. After the statute of Henry VIII by which the palatine jurisdiction was restrained and mutilated, Sunderland became a place of considerable note; and about the latter end of the reign of Elizabeth, the coal trade began to find its way into the Wear. It may be of interest to note that in 1609 Sunderland exported 11,648 tons of coal.

Seventeenth Century

Shortly after Charles I was crowned in Edinburgh in 1633 Bishop Morton desirous of encouraging the rising trade of the borough, incorporated the burgesses and inhabitants by the title of Mayor, twelve Alderman and Commonality of the Borough of Sunderland, and granted the privilege of a market and annual fairs. Previous to this incorporation, the borough had been governed by a Bailiff appointed under the Bishop. The charter states "…that Sunderland had beyond the memory of man been an ancient borough known by the name of the New Borough of Weremouth, containing in itself a certain port where ships had plied….that the trade was then greatly increased by reason of the multitude of ships that resorted thither, and the borough anciently enjoyed divers liberties and free customs, as well as by prescription, as by virtue of sundry charters from the Bishops of Durham confirmed to them by the crown; which from defect in form proved insufficient for the support of the ancient liberties, privileges, and free customs of the borough."

The gentlemen incorporated under this charter were (alphabetically) as follows:

Mayor: Sir William Belasye, of Morton House, Kent

Aldermen:

Robert Bowes, of Biddic-Waterville, Esq;

George Burgorn, of Wearmouth, Gent;

George Gray, of Southwick, Gent;

Richard Hedworth, of Chester Deannery, Esq;

Francis James, of Hetton, Esq;

Sir William Lambton, of Lambton, Kent;

William Langley, Gent;

George Lilburne, of Sunderland, Gent;

George Walton, Alderman, of Durham;

Hugh Walton, Alderman, of Durham;

Thomas Wharton, Esq;

Hugh Wright, of Durham, Esq

Common Council Men:

Thomas Atkinson; Adam Burdon; William Caldwell; Robert Collingwood; Christopher Dickenson; William Dossey; William

Freeman; John Hardcastle; Humphrey Harrison; John Harrison; George Humble; William Huntley; John Husband; Thomas Lacie; Edward Lee, of Monkwearmouth, Gent; Clement Oldcorn; Thomas Palmer; William Potts; Thomas Scarborough,

William Thompson; William Wycliffe of Offerton, Gent; William Watt and Robert Young.

In 1641 a resolution of Parliament requested all males aged over 18 to take an oath in support of the Crown, Parliament and the Protestant religion, to oppose the "plots and conspiracies of priests and Jesuits" that were allegedly subverting the kingdom. Lists of those taking the oath in each parish were sent to Parliament in 1642. Most men took the oath and those who refused to sign (mostly Catholics) were sometimes also listed. The Protestation Returns’ for Monkwearmouth taken on 24 February, 1641 are set out below:

Addison, John	Cuth(e)bert, Richard	Harrison, William	Rockwood, Robert	Thompson, Thomas
Addison, John	Daile, George	Henderson, James	Rockwood, Tabat	Thompson, Thomas
Ager, William	Dayle, Robert	Hesley, William	Rockwood, Thomas	Todd, John
Ammond, John	Denninge, Richard	Heworth, John	Rowland, Francis	Todd, Thomas
Amory, John	Dickeson, Thomas	Hickes, Richard **	Roxby, William	Todd, Thomas
Anderson, Thomas	Ditchburne, Ralph	Hilton, John	Sanderson, Ralph	Todd, William
Atchinson, Edward	Dodg(s)on, Thomas	Hilton, Ralph	Scurfield, Bernard	Tongue, William
Atchinson, Edward	Doweson, Richard	Hilton, Robert	Scurfield, William	Trumble, Usward
Atchinson, Robert	Drydon, Richard	Hilton, Robert, Jun	Seemar (?), William	Trumble, Usward
Atchinson, Thomas	Emmerson, John	Hopper, Edward	Shepherdson, Christop’r	Ushaw, John
Bee, Bernard	Errington, John	Humble, Alexander	Smith, Duke	Vas(e)y, Ralph
Bell, John	Fawcet, John	Hunter, Thomas	Smith, John	Vas(e)y, Ralph
Bell, John	Field, William	Hunter, William	Sparrow, John, Snr	Wade, Richard
Bell, John	Foster, John	Kitchinge, Thomas	Sparrow, John	Wake, Richard
Bell, Nicholas	Foster, Matthew	Langley, John,	Sparrow, Thomas	Wake, Thomas
Bell, Robert	Foster, Thomas