Charles Mason Reed, who is engaged in farming on section 18, Mount Pleasant Township, was born in Ontario County, New York, and in his youthful days obtained a common school education. He was but seven years of age when he accompanied his parents, Ezra and Emeline Reed, from the east to Wisconsin, the family home being established on the plank road in Mount Pleasant Township. There they lived for a few years and the father conducted a hotel at Ives Grove. Later he purchased a tract of land in Mount Pleasant Township, upon which he resided until 1865, when he removed to a farm of eighty acres on section 18 in the same Township and occupied that place until his demise, which occurred in 1899. For two years he had survived his wife, who passed away in 1897. Both had attained ripe old age and were numbered among the valued and respected pioneer settlers of the County.
Charles Mason Reed was reared under the parental roof and in early manhood, responding to the country’s call for troops, joined the Union army as a member of Company H, Twenty-second Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, with which he served throughout the period of hostilities, participating in a number of hotly contested engagements. Following his return from the war he resumed farming in Mount Pleasant Township, where he has since made his home.
Mr. Reed had been previously married, in 1862, in Mount Pleasant Township, to Miss Emily S. Phelps, a daughter of Seth P. and Angeline O. Phelps, who were natives of Hannibal, Oswego County, New York. In 1839 they arrived in Racine County, where they remained until 1843 and then drove back to the Empire state. In the spring of 1844 they once more came to the middle west and established their home in Mount Pleasant Township. They had a family of seven children, as follows: Emily S.; Barton H., who served in the Union army, as a member of Company H, Twenty-second Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry; Viola J., living in California; Hortense, who is deceased; Byron P., a resident of Alberta, Canada ; Helen J., who makes her home in St. Louis: and Bert J., of Racine. The father passed away in 1891, while the mother survived for almost two decades, her death occurring in 1910. They were consistent and earnest members of the Baptist church and were recognized as people of the highest respectability, warm regard being entertained for them by all who knew them. In his political views Mr. Phelps was an earnest republican and always cast his vote for the candidates of that party.
To Mr. and Mrs. Reed have been born eight children, namely: Estella, Clarence, Hortense and Louie, all of whom have passed away; Byron C., Halsey J., Isabelle, and Edna, who is deceased. Mr. Reed exercises his right of franchise in support of the men and measures of the Republican Party but has never been an aspirant for office, preferring to concentrate his energies upon his business affairs. He and his wife ate members of the Baptist church and both are widely and favorably known in this locality.
