Rueben Reid and Mary Anne Raye

of Hamilton Co., OH, Farmington, IA, Athens, MO, Butte and Mendocino Cos., CA and Truckee, CA

Rhoda Reid, daughter of Rueben and Mary Anne (See below)

Rueben was born in New Jersey in 1805 and Mary Ann in Kentucky in 1807.[34] Rueben's ancestors may have come from New England or directly from Scotland.[35] Some evidence suggests he grew up on the Youghiogheny River in Dunbar Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, the home of Colonel William Crawford. Mary Ann's kin may have been their neighbors.[36] The Reids and Rayes migrated down the Ohio River to Kentucky and later crossed over into the first settlements in Ohio near Cincinnati.[37]

Rueben earned his living as a drayman.[38] He married Mary Anne Raye in Hamilton County, Ohio in 1826. They seem to have had several children that died early--probably due to one of the many epidemics, raids or fires that plagued such fragile early frontier settlements. Rueben Reid never stayed in any one place for long. His eldest surviving son, Andrew Jackson Reid, was born in Ohio in 1834 and his eldest surviving daughter, Rebecca, was born in 1836 in Kentucky, probably at settlements near the river.

By 1840 Rueben had moved to northeast Missouri on the south side of the Des Moines River where it flows into the Mississippi.[39] He probably arrived in time for the Honey Wars of 1839 in which Iowans fought Missourians for a wilderness famous for its bee trees on the north side of the Des Moines west of Keokuk. The true issue was slavery--Missouri slave owners would lose their slaves if the land went to Iowa--which it did.

Displaced Mormons driven from western Missouri came into the area to settle shortly thereafter. They stayed briefly and then moved across the Mississippi to nearby Commerce, Illinois, which they renamed Nauvoo. The leader, Joseph Smith, got into a fight with a fellow believer who owned the local newspaper. A riot broke out, Smith was jailed and shot to death trying to escape.

A band of Mormon vigilantes, rejected by their own leadership in Nauvoo, began to terrorize, murder and rob throughout the region where the Reids had settled. The Fox River Outlaws, another band of counterfeiters, thieves and murderers added to the hazardous living conditions. In response to the mayhem, the farmers around Farmington formed their own vigilante group.

Rueben Reid survived as a share copper and raised his family near Athens, Missouri on the Des Moines River despite the violence. Sometime between 1845 and 1847 they moved from the south bank of the Des Moines to the north bank in the marginal timberlands near Farmington where Rhoda and her younger sister Belle were born.[40] Rueben left no trace of having owned any property in either Missouri or Iowa. However, in 1847 he recorded a mortgage on a horse. He valued his proud steed, named Sir William Wallace, at $50.[41] Mary Ann bore her last son about 1852 in Iowa.[42]

In 1853 Rueben came to Tuolumne County, California, probably to prospect for gold. He seems to have been successful for by 1860 he had accumulated some property and money and had settled the entire family on a farm in Ophir township, Butte County. Ophir was southwest of Oroville in the flat open valley east of the Feather River.[43]

Rhoda Reid

Rhoda Reid was born in 1847 near Farmington, Iowa, to Rueben Reid and Mary Ann Raye. Rhoda married Jacob Teeter, Constable of Truckee, CA and is featured in the book Showdown at Truckee

                        Rueben Reid/Reed [34]
			b. Aug-Sept. 1805, NJ
			d. >1872 
			m. 1826, Hamilton Co., OH [37]


	Rhoda Reid/Reed [34]
 	b. ~Aug 1847, near Farmington IA
 	d. May 10, 1870, Truckee, CA    
	m. Jacob Teeter, Nov. 6, 1864, Butte Cr., CA [45]


			Mary Anne Raye [34]  
			b. Aug-Sept. 1807, KY
			d. >1870 [62]   


Ancestors of Rhoda Reid

Sources:

34--U.S. Federal Census for Iowa, 1850, Lee County, District 29, Sept. 14, 1850, p. 442, dwelling #831. Rueben's age 45, Mary Ann age 43 and Rhoda age 3. The Census 1860, for California, Butte County, Ophir Township, taken July 23, p. 92, dwelling #1038 shows Rueben's age 54, Mary Ann age 52 and Rhoda age 12. All three, therefore, must have been born between July 24 and September 14.

35--Inconclusive research on the origins of Rueben Reid suggest he may be related to Reed/Reid families of Butte, Tehama and Colusa Counties, CA some of whom are known to be of Scots origin. The name 'Rueben Reed/Reid' was common in New England in Colonial days.

36--That Rueben lived in Fayette Co. PA as a child is speculation derived from U.S. Federal Cenus for Pennsylvania, 1810, Fayette Co., Dunbar Township, where an illegible record for Reubin Reid/Reed was found living near a 'Raye' family.

37--Reubin Reed and Mary Ann Raye marriage record, Hamilton Co., OH, Marriage Bk. 3, p. 116. 1826. Literacy and mortality is based on census declarations.

38--The Cincinatti Directory Advertiser for 1831.

39--U.S. Federal Census 1840, Missouri, Clark County, Sweet Home Township.

40--U.S. Federal Census, 1850, Iowa, Lee County, District 29.

41--Clark County, Missouri, Recorder, Kahoka, MO, Deed Bk. E, p. 63.

42--The Reed's are not listed in the Iowa State Census of 1853 nor the California State Census of 1852.

43--Great Register of Voters, Mendocino County, CA, 1872. Rueben states he was last registered at Tuolumne County. On the U.S. Federal Census for California, 1860, Butte Co. CA, Rueben claims to be a farmer with $500 in real estate and $700 in personal property.

62--Last known document for Rueben is the 1872 Great Register of Mendocino Co., CA and the last known document for Mary Ann Reid is the 1870 census of Mendocino Co.

The above brief history of this Reid Family is taken from Showdown at Truckee by Marilou West Ficklin © 1997.