BIO: George Edward REED, Cumberland County, PA

    Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Joe Patterson
    OCRed by Judy Banja

    Copyright 2004.  All rights reserved.
    http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/copyright.htm
    http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/pa/cumberland/
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    >From Biographical Annals of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania,
    Chicago: The Genealogical Publishing Co., 1905, pages 56-58
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    GEORGE EDWARD REED, S.T.D., LL.D., seventeenth president of Dickinson
  College, was born in Brownville, Maine, in 1846. His father, a clergyman of
  the Methodist Episcopal Church, came to America from Devonshire, England, in
  1836.
    The father dying when the son was about six years of age, the mother, a
  woman of great strength of character, removed with her large family to
  Lowell, Mass., where George received the rudiments of his education. The
  family, however, being in straitened circumstances the boy was compelled at
  an early age to begin the battle of life for himself, which he did, serving
  for several years in various capacities in one of the large manufacturing
  companies of the city, first as a "runner" in the counting-room, and later as
  a "bobbin boy" in the mills. In the summer he worked on farms adjacent to the
  city, gaining in this severe school the stalwart, vigorous frame which has
  stood him in such good stead in later years. Having accumulated money enough
  to warrant the continued pursuit of the studies he had been compelled,
  temporarily, to lay aside, he in January, 1865, entered the Wesleyan Academy,
  Wilbraham, Mass., to prepare for college. This he accomplished in one term and
  a half, doing in that

    CUMBERLAND COUNTY.  57

  surprisingly brief period the amount of work for which nine months are
  usually required. He regards this as the greatest achievement of his life,
  the record never having been surpassed. In September, 1865, he entered
  Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn., from which he graduated in 1869, with
  distinction, in a class famous for the number of its members who have attained
  eminence in their various callings.
    After graduating from college he spent one year in the School of Theology
  of the Boston University, and then began the work of the ministry of the
  Methodist Episcopal Church, serving two of the most important churches of
  that body, in Willimantic, Conn., and in Fall River, Mass. In 1875, when but
  twenty-nine years of ago, he was transferred to the Hanson Place Church,
  Brooklyn, N.Y., then and now the largest Methodist Church in this country. At
  the end of three years he was appointed to an influential church in Stamford,
  Connecticut. In 1881 he became pastor of the Nostrand Avenue Church,
  Brooklyn, where he continued for three years, and then again served the
  Hanson Place Church. On leaving the city of Brooklyn he was tendered a
  reception in the Brooklyn Tabernacle by citizens of the city, irrespective of
  denominational lines, in recognition of public services rendered.
    In 1887 Dr. Reed assumed the pastorate of Trinity Church, New Haven, and
  while serving his second year there he was honored with a unanimous call to
  the presidency of Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa., one of the oldest
  colleges in the country. Here he has assiduously labored ever since and with
  eminent success. He gives careful personal attention to all duties of his
  position, and in the years of his administration the number of students has
  more than doubled and evidences of the prosperity of the institution in all
  other lines are correspondingly apparent. In 1886 he received the honorary
  degree of Doctor of Divinity from his Alma Mater, the Wesleyan University,
  Middletown, Conn., and in 1889 the degree of Doctor of Laws from LaFayette
  College, Easton, Pennsylvania.
    In addition to the various duties of his position as college president Dr.
  Reed is in great demand as a lecturer and a preacher in all parts of the
  country and with constantly increasing fame. He is a careful thinker,
  eloquent in diction, self-possessed, and interesting and attractive in the
  mode of presenting his subject. He distinctly enunciates his propositions and
  convinces the minds and wins the hearts of his hearers by clearness of
  statement and sincerity and earnestness of manner. While a clergyman by
  profession, and devoted to his calling, he nevertheless holds pronounced
  opinions in regard to political affairs. He has always been a Republican, and
  when he deemed it necessary and proper never hesitated to publicly advocate
  his party's candidates and policies, but just as freely and courageously has
  led in independent movements when his sense of duty called him in that
  direction. Notably was this the case while he lived in Brooklyn, when in his
  judgment it was necessary to act outside of party lines. As a political
  orator, no less than a preacher and lecturer, Dr. Reed has won enviable
  distinction. Although in no sense a seeker after party recognition - his well
  known independence being a handicap upon political aspirations - he for four
  years was Pennsylvania's State Librarian, a public position which he occupied
  at the request of Gov.

    CUMBERLAND COUNTY.  58

  William A. Stone, but resigned before the expiration of the term for which
  he was appointed.
    President Reed in June, 1870, was married to Ella Frances Leffingwell, of
  Norwich, Conn., a lineal descendant of the famous Puritan, Miles Standish, of
  the Plymouth Colony. To them one son has been born, George L., who is a
  student in Dickinson College.