Individual Details
William Decatur Reed
(15 Feb 1815 - 30 May 1858)
Lawyer
Lawyers and Lawmakers of Kentucky, by H. Levin, editor, 1897. Published by Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago. Reprinted by Southern Historical Press. p. 200. Jefferson County.
WILLIAM DECATUR REED was born February 15, 1815, near Danville, now Boyle county, then Lincoln county, Kentucky, and died on the 30th day of May, 1858, at Louisville, this state.
In our age of refined reason and enlightened liberty, the lives of the virtuous great who have lived and are interred in our state exhibit the most attractive models for our emulation, for they have ennobled and blessed the state and nation. Few have been fraught with greater import for the advancement of the good of mankind than that of William Decatur Reed........
The family came to Kentucky from Virginia, to which state the son of the first Reed had emigrated, between 1775 and 1780, and settled on the fine lands about four miles from Danville, at what is put down on Filson's first map of Kentucky as "Reeds." Here the grandfather of William D. Reed built a brick house, known later as Reed's Mansion--probably the first erected in Kentucky, of brick burned on the premises; it stands today, 1896, with the bullet marks of the Indians' rifles, received while its
inmates were repelling attacks of the savages--a mute monument of the heroism of its early builders. In this home Jonathan Reed, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born and resided until his marriage to Annie Gaines, whose father was of English descent and of the earliest pioneers into Kentucky, having emigrated from the state of Virginia in the latter part of the eighteenth century.
William D. Reed was left an orphan in early boyhood, and was reared in the home of his sister Letitia, the wife of Judge Paul J. Booker, near Springfield, Kentucky. He was sent to Center College, Danville, Kentucky, and there received a good academical education. On reaching his maturity, and coming into possession of his estate, being desirous of seeing and knowing his country better, he journeyed by stage and on horseback through the settled parts of both the United States and Canada. With his intellect broadened by these travels, and with an ambition to make a place for himself in the world, which to him was of greater extent than the county and state in which he lived, he returned to his home to begin the serious work of life. He had determined upon the law as his profession and entered the office of Hon. Ben. Chapeze, of Bardstown, Kentucky, one of the brightest minds and most indefatigable workers at the bar; later he attended the Transylvania University at Lexington, taking there the law course, and, when fully equipped by careful study, was admitted to practice in the courts, and settling at his old home, Springfield, he entered at once on the business of his life, the pursuit of his honorable profession. He at once secured a footing and became one of the most active practitioners in the circuit. His diligence and sober, intelligent application and faithful honest work in the interest of his clients made and kept them his friends and steadily increased their number. His interests and professional business grew with astonishing rapidity, and in 1841 he determined to removed to Frankfort, where the court of appeals offered to his genius an ample field and more congenial and more lucrative practice than the circuits. There he entered into partnership with Hon. Charles S. Morehead, one of the leaders of the state bar at that time, who was in 1855 and 1859 elected governor of the state. In 1844 he was appointed by Governor William Owsley to the office of secretary of state. In 1846 he was elected a member from Franklin county to the state legislature. In 1852 he sought a still broader field for the practice of his profession and moved to the metropolis of his state, Louisville, where he entered into partnership with Judge Owen G. Cates, which relationship continued until a few years before he was compelled to abandon active work by his last illness, with which he was attacked in January, 1857. On taking up his residence in Louisville, he entered at once into a lucrative practice, his reputation being well established throughout the state, of which he was a prominent factor in both the political and social life.
Mr. Reed took a laudable interest in national politics and was an elector for the Democratic party in the electoral college which chose James Buchanan president and John C. Breckinridge vice president.
He foresaw that the telegraph, then a new invention, was destined to fill an important place in the business world, and the wondrously beneficial influence its development would have on the general welfare of the country. He was one of the original projectors of the Southwestern Telegraph Company, which owned its existence to his perseverance and faith in the usefulness and practicability of the invention of Morse to utilize electricity on wires as a means of communication in the world of business. Mr. Reed became greatly interested in the development of this wonderful agency of civilization, and to his foresight and courage, more than to that of any other, the establishment of this pioneer company was
due. It was through his earnest advice and solicitation that his friend, Dr. Norvin Green, who afterward became president of the consolidated companies, under the name of the Western Union Telegraph Company, took an interest in the enterprise, in which Mr. Reed, with unbounded faith in the success of the company, had made a liberal investment of his means. He had also secured the co-operation of his brother-in-law, John M. Sharp, and was with him among the largest stockholders, evidencing his faith by risking his own means when others were invited to make investments. He was the secretary and attorney for the Southwestern Company, and traveled over all of the states through which its lines passed, securing protecting legislation for the property of the corporation. It was while engaged in this labor that he was one of the passengers on an ill-fated steamer which sank in the Mississippi in the
early part of January, 1857, and, being exposed without shelter to the inclement air and the snow and rain of winter, he contracted neuralgia, which, after a confinement of eighteen months to his house and bed, resulted in his death.
Although a practicing lawyer at the Louisville bar for only five years, he secured a most lucrative clientage, his fees for the last twelve months of his career amounting to over ten thousand dollars, which for a Louisville lawyer in 1856--before the day of railroad receivership and sales--was a very liberal income. He left an estate, which, when closed, returned to his heirs over one-fourth of a million dollars, the result of his own individual effort in his profession and from his
investments.
His personality may be summarized as one of great individuality, forcefulness and perseverance being predominant factors. Of sterling integrity and high purpose, every act of his life was but the stepping stone to something greater. There seemed no limit to the possibility of what he might have accomplished but for the interposition of death at the early age of forty-three years.
He was married in 1839 to Jane Maxwell Sharp, only daughter of Colonel Solomon P. Sharp, of Frankfort, Kentucky, whose biography appears in this volume.
Mrs. Reed partook largely of the characteristics of her father, a loving and kindly disposition, with great force of intellect and industry and with power that enabled her to devote her life assiduously to the
rearing of her family,--five boys and two girls. Mrs. Reed and four of her sons are still living. Of the sons, P. Booker, Leander Sharp and William D. Reed were successively receivers of the Louisville chancery court for fifteen years, and the last is still the incumbent of that responsible office. P. Booker Reed was mayor of Louisville from 1885 to 1887; Solomon S. Reed is a farmer in Oldham county, Kentucky; and Jonathan Duff Reed is a member of the Louisville bar.
Lawyers and Lawmakers of Kentucky, by H. Levin, editor, 1897. Published by Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago. Reprinted by Southern Historical Press. p. 200. Jefferson County.
WILLIAM DECATUR REED was born February 15, 1815, near Danville, now Boyle county, then Lincoln county, Kentucky, and died on the 30th day of May, 1858, at Louisville, this state.
In our age of refined reason and enlightened liberty, the lives of the virtuous great who have lived and are interred in our state exhibit the most attractive models for our emulation, for they have ennobled and blessed the state and nation. Few have been fraught with greater import for the advancement of the good of mankind than that of William Decatur Reed........
The family came to Kentucky from Virginia, to which state the son of the first Reed had emigrated, between 1775 and 1780, and settled on the fine lands about four miles from Danville, at what is put down on Filson's first map of Kentucky as "Reeds." Here the grandfather of William D. Reed built a brick house, known later as Reed's Mansion--probably the first erected in Kentucky, of brick burned on the premises; it stands today, 1896, with the bullet marks of the Indians' rifles, received while its
inmates were repelling attacks of the savages--a mute monument of the heroism of its early builders. In this home Jonathan Reed, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born and resided until his marriage to Annie Gaines, whose father was of English descent and of the earliest pioneers into Kentucky, having emigrated from the state of Virginia in the latter part of the eighteenth century.
William D. Reed was left an orphan in early boyhood, and was reared in the home of his sister Letitia, the wife of Judge Paul J. Booker, near Springfield, Kentucky. He was sent to Center College, Danville, Kentucky, and there received a good academical education. On reaching his maturity, and coming into possession of his estate, being desirous of seeing and knowing his country better, he journeyed by stage and on horseback through the settled parts of both the United States and Canada. With his intellect broadened by these travels, and with an ambition to make a place for himself in the world, which to him was of greater extent than the county and state in which he lived, he returned to his home to begin the serious work of life. He had determined upon the law as his profession and entered the office of Hon. Ben. Chapeze, of Bardstown, Kentucky, one of the brightest minds and most indefatigable workers at the bar; later he attended the Transylvania University at Lexington, taking there the law course, and, when fully equipped by careful study, was admitted to practice in the courts, and settling at his old home, Springfield, he entered at once on the business of his life, the pursuit of his honorable profession. He at once secured a footing and became one of the most active practitioners in the circuit. His diligence and sober, intelligent application and faithful honest work in the interest of his clients made and kept them his friends and steadily increased their number. His interests and professional business grew with astonishing rapidity, and in 1841 he determined to removed to Frankfort, where the court of appeals offered to his genius an ample field and more congenial and more lucrative practice than the circuits. There he entered into partnership with Hon. Charles S. Morehead, one of the leaders of the state bar at that time, who was in 1855 and 1859 elected governor of the state. In 1844 he was appointed by Governor William Owsley to the office of secretary of state. In 1846 he was elected a member from Franklin county to the state legislature. In 1852 he sought a still broader field for the practice of his profession and moved to the metropolis of his state, Louisville, where he entered into partnership with Judge Owen G. Cates, which relationship continued until a few years before he was compelled to abandon active work by his last illness, with which he was attacked in January, 1857. On taking up his residence in Louisville, he entered at once into a lucrative practice, his reputation being well established throughout the state, of which he was a prominent factor in both the political and social life.
Mr. Reed took a laudable interest in national politics and was an elector for the Democratic party in the electoral college which chose James Buchanan president and John C. Breckinridge vice president.
He foresaw that the telegraph, then a new invention, was destined to fill an important place in the business world, and the wondrously beneficial influence its development would have on the general welfare of the country. He was one of the original projectors of the Southwestern Telegraph Company, which owned its existence to his perseverance and faith in the usefulness and practicability of the invention of Morse to utilize electricity on wires as a means of communication in the world of business. Mr. Reed became greatly interested in the development of this wonderful agency of civilization, and to his foresight and courage, more than to that of any other, the establishment of this pioneer company was
due. It was through his earnest advice and solicitation that his friend, Dr. Norvin Green, who afterward became president of the consolidated companies, under the name of the Western Union Telegraph Company, took an interest in the enterprise, in which Mr. Reed, with unbounded faith in the success of the company, had made a liberal investment of his means. He had also secured the co-operation of his brother-in-law, John M. Sharp, and was with him among the largest stockholders, evidencing his faith by risking his own means when others were invited to make investments. He was the secretary and attorney for the Southwestern Company, and traveled over all of the states through which its lines passed, securing protecting legislation for the property of the corporation. It was while engaged in this labor that he was one of the passengers on an ill-fated steamer which sank in the Mississippi in the
early part of January, 1857, and, being exposed without shelter to the inclement air and the snow and rain of winter, he contracted neuralgia, which, after a confinement of eighteen months to his house and bed, resulted in his death.
Although a practicing lawyer at the Louisville bar for only five years, he secured a most lucrative clientage, his fees for the last twelve months of his career amounting to over ten thousand dollars, which for a Louisville lawyer in 1856--before the day of railroad receivership and sales--was a very liberal income. He left an estate, which, when closed, returned to his heirs over one-fourth of a million dollars, the result of his own individual effort in his profession and from his
investments.
His personality may be summarized as one of great individuality, forcefulness and perseverance being predominant factors. Of sterling integrity and high purpose, every act of his life was but the stepping stone to something greater. There seemed no limit to the possibility of what he might have accomplished but for the interposition of death at the early age of forty-three years.
He was married in 1839 to Jane Maxwell Sharp, only daughter of Colonel Solomon P. Sharp, of Frankfort, Kentucky, whose biography appears in this volume.
Mrs. Reed partook largely of the characteristics of her father, a loving and kindly disposition, with great force of intellect and industry and with power that enabled her to devote her life assiduously to the
rearing of her family,--five boys and two girls. Mrs. Reed and four of her sons are still living. Of the sons, P. Booker, Leander Sharp and William D. Reed were successively receivers of the Louisville chancery court for fifteen years, and the last is still the incumbent of that responsible office. P. Booker Reed was mayor of Louisville from 1885 to 1887; Solomon S. Reed is a farmer in Oldham county, Kentucky; and Jonathan Duff Reed is a member of the Louisville bar.
Events
| Birth | 15 Feb 1815 | ||||
| Marriage | 1839 | Jane Maxwell Sharp | |||
| Death | 30 May 1858 |
Families
| Spouse | Jane Maxwell Sharp (1821 - 1898) |
| Child | Leander Sharp Reed (1840 - 1896) |
| Child | Dr. Paul Booker Reed (1842 - ) |
| Child | William D. Reed (1845 - 1912) |
| Child | Solomon S Reed (1847 - 1931) |
| Child | Eliza T. Reed (1848 - 1896) |
| Child | Jonathan Duff Reed (1850 - 1912) |
| Child | Anna K. Reed (1856 - ) |