James W. Reid, assistant general attorney of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway Company at Parsons, is one of Parsons’ young lawyers and a man of many brilliant qualifications and of rising reputation.
He was born in Johnson County, Missouri, July 22, 1883. His ancestors came out of England and were early settlers in the State of Ohio. His father J. N. Reid was born in Ohio, and died at Xenia in that state in 1896. Most of his active career was spent in Missouri as a farmer, and he was also a traveling salesman for a number of years. Politically he was a republican and was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. J. N. Reid married Elmira Elliott, a native of Ohio. She died in Warrensburg, Missouri.
James W. Reid received his early education in the public schools of Warrensburg, Johnson County, Missouri, graduated in 1900 from the high school at Warrensburg, and then came to Kansas and in 1903 received his degree A. B. from Baker University. Newspaper work formed part of his early experience, and he paid some of the expenses of his law course in that profession. In 1907 he graduated LL. B. from the Kansas City School of Law and was admitted to the bar the same year. He practiced for a time in Kansas City, Kansas, but from 1908 to 1913 was associated with John J. Jones at Chanute, Kansas. Since October, 1913, he has been assistant general attorney with the Missouri, Kansas & Texas with headquarters at Parsons. He is a member of the Labette County and State Bar associations and belongs to the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Parsons. In 1909, at Topeka Mr. Reid married Miss Anna Hoch, daughter of that distinguished Kansan former Governor E. W. Hoch. Mr. and Mrs. Reid have two children: Edward Hoch, born December 27, 1909, and James Richard, born May 1, 1914.
