Reed Family Investigation Addendum

Created: 26 September 2026. Last updated: 27 September 2026.

Companion to: meredith_collins_research.md (main research file), Meredith_Collins_Origin_Line_Addendum.md, Molata-Addendum-Laws-Riddle-Bruner.md, and Collins_Reed_Master_Family_Tree.md.

Scope: the Reed side of the line. Mary Reed's father James Reed, his wife, his parents and siblings, the Stephen Reed households, the Reed marriages into the Hollingsworth and Collins families, and the Reed settlement in Morgan County, Indiana.

Working convention: the Ancestry "Ellingwood Family Tree" is a place for collecting possibilities. Nothing in this file rests on it. Claims that come from online trees are tagged as such.

Evidence tags

• [D] Seen in a record image or original document (census page, register, consent note).
• [S] Stated in a secondary source or an index whose underlying record has not been seen here (compiled database, county history, published genealogy, another researcher's transcription or notes, record index).
• [T] Online tree, Find a Grave family links with no cited source, or family tradition.
• [?] Our inference or an open hypothesis.

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1. Where the Reed research stands (27 September 2026)

What we have learned

• Mary Reed's father was James Reed (Read). He wrote the note of 25 November 1827 asking the Clay County clerk, Abner Baker, to license Jesse Collins to marry "Mary Red." Stephen Read and Hiram Collins (the name read as "Hirom(?)") witnessed it [D]. It is still the only record that names Mary as James's daughter.
• The James Reed who died in Morgan County, Indiana, is still the most likely father (reading B, section 3), but it is not proven. His will did not settle it. It deals only with his home farm and names no wife and no daughters (section 2).
• His will was signed on 19 July 1836 and recorded on 6 January 1845. It leaves 103 acres of the SW quarter of Section 17, Township 11 North, Range 1 East, to "my two sons": Elisha, and a second son who is John in Coy Robbins's abstract of the recorded will (Deed Book J, p. 522) and in JoEllen Reed's handwritten notes, but James in her typed transcription. It also refers to land given to "my other sons" [S]. The deed book page will settle John or James.
• He died before 6 January 1845, the date the will was recorded, according to the transcription. JoEllen Reed's notes put his death in December 1845. One of the two years is wrong, and the recording date is the better evidence [S; ?].
• He bought his farm from earlier owners. The federal patents for the SW quarter of Section 17 went to Nancy Smith (west half, 1822) and Samuel Long (east half, 1831). No Morgan County patent under Reed or Read is in James's name [S, BLM land patent index]. He therefore bought the quarter by deed, probably between his arrival in 1831 and the will of 1836 [?]. That purchase deed has not been looked for. It may say where he lived when he bought; a phrase such as "of Clay County, Kentucky" would tie the Morgan James to Clay, and so to Mary.
• Section 17 was the Reed block. John Reed entered land there after the lands opened in 1820 (first patent 1822) and by 1838 held 240 acres of the section; Naaman had a forty there by 1838; James held the SW quarter; a James Hollandsworth took a forty in 1840. Reed's Chapel Cemetery, on land John gave the Methodist Episcopal church, is in the same section (section 8).
• John Reed was in Morgan County by 1820, about ten years before James. Abner Reed (born in Indiana about 1821) later sold land out of John's quarter and is more likely John's son than James's [?].
• The Morgan County Reeds married each other and the Hollingsworths. JoEllen Reed's list of Morgan County marriages has Reed-to-Reed marriages in 1832, 1836, 1837, 1842, 1851 and 1875, and Reed-Hollingsworth marriages in 1832, 1834 and 1839 (section 8). A bride named Reed was not always a born Reed: Esther Reed married Thomas Reed in 1837 and then, in what JoEllen Reed's list marks as Esther's second marriage, Elisha Reed in 1842.
• James's wife was named Susannah, if reading B holds [S: a land transfer, per JoEllen Reed's notes]. Her maiden name is unknown. The Hollingsworth maiden name in online trees is still unsupported, and at least five other Susannah Reeds and Susannah Hollingsworths in the same records explain how trees have merged her with other women (section 4).
• The 1830 Clay census enters James in the slave column (aged 55-100), not as the free colored man (section 2; re-checked against the image on 26 September 2026). The correction is now in the master tree, the main research file and the origin-line addendum; the book still has the older reading (section 13).
• A probable older generation. Stephen Reed Sr (b. c. 1748) and his wife fit the older couple entered as "S. Reed" on the 1810 Ashe page [D for the entry; T for the names and dates]. Other researchers call several of the Reeds who married Vincent Hollingsworth's children his children [S/T]. Whether James was also his son, or a nephew or cousin, is not known [?].
• Morgan County, Indiana, 1840. Free colored Reed households headed by James, Elijah, Naaman, Randle, John and Solomon, and one more whose first name may be Stephen, with Hiram Collins on the page after James's [D]. Richard, Thomas and Burris Reed on the same pages are counted white (section 8).
• Most of the records that could settle the open questions are not online. Morgan County's marriages are on FamilySearch and searchable. Its deeds and probate for the 1830s and 1840s are on microfilm that could not be viewed online (27 September 2026). Section 12 lists what is where.

Still open

• Which James is Mary's father (reading A or B, section 3).
• Whether the will's second son is John or James.
• Susannah's maiden name, and whether she is the white woman aged 50-60 in the 1830 Clay household.
• Whether Elizabeth (Hiram Collins's wife), the younger Stephen, Benjamin and Tilford were James's children.

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2. James Reed: the records in order

Age check. If the census entries below are all the same man, he was 26-44 in 1810 (born 1766-1784), 45 or over in 1820 (born by 1775), and 55-100 in 1830 and 1840 (born by 1775 and by 1785). Together: born c. 1766-1775. The Attride compilation's "born about 1765" sits at the edge of this range, and its 1783 Rowan land grant (which needs a man born by about 1762) falls outside it, so the Rowan entries may belong to another James Reed [?].

Date	Place	Record	What it shows	Tag
1783	Rowan Co NC	State grant #522	130 acres on Dutchmans Creek	[S] Attride; possibly a different James
1786	Rowan Co NC	Sale of Hugh Reed Sr's estate (187 acres on Second Creek)	James named in the sale. Being named in an estate sale does not by itself show he was a son.	[S] Attride
1790	Wilkes Co NC, p. 156	Census, "Jas Reed"	2 men 16 and over, 2 females, no children; counted white	[D]; identity unproven
1800	Ashe Co NC, Morgan district	Census, "James Reid"	Head of 6 "other free" (free colored)	[S] Heinegg [NC:87]; image not yet read (it is among the hints on Susannah H.'s profile in the Ellingwood tree)
1801	Ashe Co NC	Deed Book A, pp. 370-371	Bought land from Spencer Mullins	[S] Attride
1802	Ashe Co NC	Deed Book B, p. 375	Sold land to Stephen Reed	[S] Attride
1802-03	Ashe Co NC	Land entries of Elisha Collins	Collins land adjoining Stephen Reed and James Reed on the Laurel Fork and North Fork	[S] origin-line addendum, section 4
1810	Ashe Co NC, p. 81	Census, "J Reed"	11 people: 3 boys under 10, 2 boys 10-15, a man 26-44, 3 girls under 10, a girl 10-15, a woman 26-44; counted white	[D]
c. 1811	Ashe Co NC	Land transactions	With William Hollinsworth and Eli Cleveland	[S] Attride
8 May 1813	Clay Co KY	Birth of Naaman Reed, son of the Morgan County James	Places that James's family in Clay by 1813	[S] Find a Grave index
1820	Clay Co KY	Census	James Reed, free colored male 45 and over	[S] Attride
25 Nov 1827	Clay Co KY	Consent note	James Read asks the clerk to license Jesse Collins to marry "Mary Red"	[D]
1830	Clay Co KY, p. 172	Census, "James Reid"	7 people: James (55-100) in the slave column; 4 young men (10-24) in the slave column; 1 free colored man (24-36); his wife (50-60) counted white	[D]
1831	Clay Co KY to Morgan Co IN	Move	Per Naaman Reed's obituary, as quoted in a 2014 online query	[S]
1831-36	Morgan Co IN, SW 1/4 of Section 17, T11N R1E	Purchase of his farm (deed not seen)	The quarter's federal patents went to Nancy Smith (W½, 21 Feb 1822) and Samuel Long (E½, 8 Feb 1831), so James bought it from them or later owners; his will of July 1836 calls it his	[S] BLM patent index; [?] for the dates
1836	Morgan Co IN	Deed	Gift of 29 acres by James to "Norman" (the notes list Norman and Naaman separately, and JoEllen Reed is unsure whether they are one man; Naaman's son Norman was born c. 1837)	[S] JoEllen Reed's notes
19 Jul 1836	Morgan Co IN	Will signed	103 acres of the SW quarter of Section 17 to "my two sons," Elisha and John (or James); land already given to "my other sons"	[S] Robbins #50; JoEllen Reed's transcription and notes
1839	Clay Co KY	Marriage register	A James Reed married Polly Silver	[D]; which James is unknown
1840	Morgan Co IN (image 34)	Census, "James Reed"	7 people, all free colored: a man 55-100, a man 24-36, 2 girls under 10, a young woman 10-24, a woman 24-36, a woman 55-100	[D]
1841	Clay Co KY	Estate	Appraised at about $800; parts sold to "Mrs Reid," Samuel Reid and William Reid	[S] Attride; whose estate is open
before 6 Jan 1845	Morgan Co IN	Death	The will was recorded on 6 Jan 1845, so he had died by then. JoEllen Reed gives December 1845; one of the two years is wrong. Buried in Reed's Chapel Cemetery	[S] will transcription; JoEllen Reed
6 Jan 1845	Morgan Co IN	Will recorded	Deed Book J, p. 522	[S] Robbins #50; transcription
1846	Morgan Co IN	Deed	Randal Reed sold 36 acres to "James' widow, probably his mother"	[S] JoEllen Reed's notes

The will

The copies seen (27 September 2026)

• JoEllen (Reed) Ingram's typed transcription, posted on Ancestry by joellenreed on 15 March 2012 [S]. It opens: "This will was filed and recorded January 6th 1845." James Reed "of the county of Morgan in the State of Indiana," in "perfect health," gives "unto my two sons Elisha Reed and James Reed my plantation where on I now dwell known as being a part of the South West quarter of section Seventeen Township Eleven North of range one East containing One Hundred and three acres," being "the residue of the afore said quarter section of land belonging to me after what I have here after conveyed to my other sons." He revokes all earlier wills. It is dated "this Nineteenth day of July 1836."
• Coy D. Robbins's abstract of the will as recorded in Deed Book J, p. 522 (his entry #50): the two sons are Elisha and John [S].
• JoEllen Reed's handwritten notes: John [S].

What it tells us

• Two of James's sons by name: Elisha, and John or James. It also shows there were "other sons" who had received land.
• A quarter section is 160 acres, so about 57 acres had gone, or were going, to the other sons. The 29 acres given to "Norman" in 1836 would be part of that [?].
• A younger James Reed married Mellissa Reed in Morgan County on 27 April 1836, three months before the will [S, JoEllen Reed's list]. If the transcription's "James" is right, he is probably the son; if Robbins's "John" is right, this James's place in the family is open.

What it does not tell us

• It names no wife, no daughters, no executor and no witnesses (as transcribed). It deals only with the home farm, so its silence about daughters, Mary and Elizabeth included, neither supports nor weakens reading B.
• It does not name Susannah. Her name comes from a separate land transfer (section 4).

Where it survives. JoEllen Reed has been told the courthouse no longer has the will. It survives as recorded in Deed Book J, p. 522, which is on microfilm (section 12).

The 1830 Clay page, read from the image

Clay Co KY, p. 172 (FamilySearch images 346-347, catalogued as Estill). The first four heads on the page are Abraham Collins, Hiram Collins, Bradley Collins and James Reid [D].

• Abraham Collins: a white boy under 5 and a white woman 20-30; one man 24-36 in the slave column (Abraham). Total 3.
• Hiram Collins: a white boy under 5; a man 24-36 and a woman 10-24 in the slave columns (Hiram and Elizabeth Reed). Total 3.
• Bradley Collins: eleven people, all white.
• James Reid: a white woman 50-60; four young men 10-24 and one man 55-100 in the slave columns; one free colored man 24-36. Total 7.

The census names only the head. The man aged 55-100 is taken to be James because he is the only male in the house old enough to be the James who was 45 or over in 1820 and Mary's father.

Re-checked on 26 September 2026 against the full-resolution image: in James's row the "4" sits in the slave males 10-24 column, the "1" in slave males 55-100, and the free colored "1" in males 24-36; the white "1" is in females 50-60. The main file (READ THIS FIRST, the section 9.8 table and the paragraph after it) and the master tree said James was the free colored man; they were corrected on 27 September 2026 (section 13).

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3. Which James: two readings

(A) Two men. Mary's father stayed in Clay County and died there about 1841 (the Attride estate). The Morgan County James was a close relative, a brother or cousin.

(B) One man. Mary's father is the Morgan County James. He was in Clay for the 1827 consent note and the 1830 census, moved to Morgan County in 1831, bought the SW quarter of Section 17, and died there before his will was recorded on 6 January 1845. The 1841 Clay estate belongs to someone else, perhaps the James Reed who married Polly Silver in 1839.

Points toward (B)

• The 1830 Clay households in our files include one James Reid. The Morgan James lived in Clay until 1831. If both statements hold, the 1830 household is his, and so is the 1827 consent note.
• The households fit one family ten years apart. James is 55-100 in 1830 and in 1840. His wife, born 1770-1780 by the 1830 bracket, would be 60-70 in 1840, which fits the woman aged 55-100 in the 1840 household. She is counted white in 1830 and free colored in 1840; this family's classification shifts between enumerators throughout the records.
• Hiram Collins and Elizabeth (Reed) Collins, Mary's probable sister and her husband, are on the page after James's on the 1840 Morgan schedule (image 36).
• Randal (Randolph) Reed, who married Rhodey Hollinsworth in Clay in 1825, is among the possible sons of the Morgan James in JoEllen Reed's notes and is a free colored head on the 1840 Morgan schedule (image 32). His 1830 Clay household (himself free colored, a white wife 20-30, three boys under 5 counted white) fits the 1840 Randle Reed household ten years on, with three males aged 10-24 [?]. His first federal land patent in Morgan County is dated 30 September 1834 [S, BLM], so a second Reed household counted in Clay in 1830 had bought land in Morgan County by 1834; he sold 77 acres there in 1836 [S, JoEllen Reed's notes].
• Jesse and Mary were in Morgan County by 1830 (Matilda was born there in May 1830), where a John Reed had held land since 1820.
• If the Reed at the foot of image 32 is a Stephen, his household (free colored: a man 36-55, a woman 24-36, four boys under 10) would fit the younger Stephen, who married Nancy Powell on the day of Mary's wedding [?].
• Mary named her second daughter Delilah Susan (b. 1828). This fits a mother named Susannah and is weak on its own.

Points toward (A)

• The 1841 Clay estate as given in the Attride compilation. Its source record has not been seen here.

What would break (B)

• A James Reed head already on the 1830 Morgan County census.
• A second James Reed or Reid head elsewhere on the 1830 Clay census, or evidence of a second James in Clay in 1830 who did not head a household.
• A record naming the Morgan James's heirs in a way that leaves no room for Mary or Elizabeth. The will is not that record: it covers only the home farm (section 2).

What would confirm (B)

• James's purchase deed for the SW quarter of Section 17, if it calls him "of Clay County, Kentucky" or otherwise places him in Clay before the purchase.
• An 1850 Morgan County census entry for his widow Susannah whose age fits the 1830 Clay wife (born 1770-1780).
• A probate, deed or court record naming Mary Collins, Elizabeth Collins, Jesse Collins or Hiram Collins among his heirs.

Loose ends either way

• Benjamin (b. c. 1808) gave Kentucky as his birthplace while the J. Reed household was in Ashe NC in 1810. Either his birthplace is loose or he belongs to another Reed household. Tilford (b. c. 1811) fits a move to Kentucky about 1810-11.
• Mary gave Virginia as her birthplace (1850 census, b. 1804) while the family was in Ashe NC. Ashe borders Grayson County, Virginia.
• JoEllen Reed's notes give the Morgan James's children as Elisha John and, as possible brothers of Elisha, John, Naaman, Norman and Randal. They do not include Mary, Elizabeth, Stephen, Benjamin, Tilford, Samuel or William. Her list comes from the will and deeds. The will names only Elisha and one other son (section 2), and daughters would not necessarily appear in a will about the home farm.

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4. James's wife

What the records show

• 1810 Ashe: a woman 26-44 in the J. Reed household (born 1766-1784) [D].
• 1830 Clay: a white woman 50-60 (born 1770-1780), the only person in the household counted white [D].
• 1840 Morgan, if reading (B) holds: a woman 55-100, free colored [D].
• Given name Susannah: a Morgan County land transfer names Naaman as "son of James and Susannah" [S, JoEllen Reed's notes; the deed has not been seen]. This is Mary's mother only under reading (B).
• Not named in James's will of 1836 (section 2).
• Alive in 1846, when Randal sold her 36 acres [S].
• An online tree gives her dates as 1770-1859, with no source [T].
• Not the Susannah Reed aged 8 in William Reed's household in Owen Township, Warrick County, Indiana, in 1850 [D]. That record is set aside (section 9).

The Hollingsworth claim, and why it is set aside

• Online trees make her "Susannah Hollingsworth," daughter of Vincent Hollingsworth and Mary Beasley of Wilkes and Ashe [T].
• The published lists of Vincent's daughters do not include a Mrs. James Reed. A compiler's page drawing on Betty Hollandsworth Jackson's The Holly Tree gives five daughters: Mrs. Lemuel Lunsford, Mrs. William Hubbard, Mrs. Stephen (Winny) Reed, Mrs. William (Susannah) Cooper and Mrs. Levi Potter [S]. WikiTree and Geni give variants, with a Susannah married to Levi Potter or to Lemuel Lunsford [T]. None makes a Susannah the wife of James Reed.
• JoEllen Reed, who descends from the Morgan James and holds a copy of his will, says she has verified only the given name. She rejects the Hollingsworth identification on the strength of The Holly Tree [S].

The other Susannahs. The records of the Morgan Reeds and Hollingsworths hold at least five other women named Susannah Reed or Susannah Hollingsworth, and online trees have merged several of them with James's wife:

• Susannah Hollingsworth, Isaac Hollingsworth's daughter. John Reed was appointed her guardian after Isaac died, and his will names her as his daughter [S].
• Susannah Hollingsworth who married Solomon Reed in Morgan County on 18 December 1834 [S, JoEllen Reed's list]. She may be the same girl as the last [?].
• Susannah Reed who married James Kemp in Morgan County on 18 June 1837 [S, list].
• Susannah Reed who married William Hollingsworth in Morgan County on 2 June 1839 [S, list].
• Susannah Reed who married Samuel S. Bates, date not given [S, list]. The list also has a Sarah Reed marrying a Samuel S. "Bares (Bates?)," possibly the same entry.
• Outside the family: Susannah Hollingsworth who married James L. Russell in Shelby County, Kentucky, on 3 February 1814. Her daughter Pattie Russell Hughes's Kentucky death record names the mother as Susan Holingsworth, born in Kentucky [S, index]. A Susannah Hollingsworth also headed a Shelby County household in 1810 [S, index].

Polly Silver. A James Reed married Polly Silver in Clay in 1839 [D]. Under reading (B) this is a different James. The younger James who married Mellissa Reed in Morgan County in April 1836 was settled and married in Indiana by then, which makes him a less likely groom in Clay in 1839 unless Mellissa had died [?]. Under reading (A) it could be the widowed father remarrying, and the 1841 "Mrs Reid" could be Polly.

mtDNA. Her maternal line is the same as Mary Reed's and Elizabeth Reed's. The cousin tiers for a Reed mtDNA test are in the origin-line addendum, task 60.

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5. The Stephen Reed households

• 1790. No Stephen Reed head has been found in Wilkes yet. The search hit that shows as "Stevens Reed" is the entry on p. 160 that reads "Rd Stephens" on the image, a household of one man [D]. That does not fit Stephen Reed Sr, who married in 1767 [T] and had children by 1790. Virginia's 1790 census does not survive, so a family then living on the Virginia side of the line has no 1790 schedule.
• 1800 Ashe. Stephen Reed, head of 6 "other free" [S, Heinegg NC:86].
• 1802 Ashe. Bought land from James Reed (Deed Book B, p. 375) [S, Attride]. The deed's wording may show how they were related.
• 1810 Ashe, p. 81. "S Reed": a man 16-25, a man 45 and over, a woman 45 and over; three people, counted white [D]. This fits Stephen Reed Sr (b. 5 Jul 1748 per Find a Grave [T]) and his wife Susannah Drew (b. 1752 [T]) with a son aged 16-25. It does not fit Stephen Jr (b. 1784), who had married about 1802-05 and would be expected to head his own household, with young children, by 1810 [?].
• c. 1812. Stephen Reed Sr died in Ashe County [T]. An estate record naming his heirs would show whether James was a son.
• Stephen Reed Jr (b. 1784, Wilkes) married Winnifred (Winny) Hollingsworth, Vincent's daughter [S]. He was in Clay at 67 in the 1850 census, with his wife and children [S, WikiTree citing FamilySearch]. The older of the two 1830 Clay Stephen Reids (40-50, an all-white household) fits him [?]. WikiTree's "married 1802 in Clay County" cannot be right as written: Clay was formed in 1807, and Winnifred would have been about 12.
• Stephen Reed Jr's children, per WikiTree [T]: James, Larkin, Wiley, Martha Patsy (married a Hollingsworth), Elizabeth (married a Drew), Sarah (married a Hollingsworth), Claiborn and John William.
• The younger Stephen married Nancy Powell on 13 December 1827, the same day and before the same minister as Jesse Collins and Mary Reed [D], and witnessed Mary's consent note [D]. He is probably the younger 1830 Clay Stephen Reid, a free colored man with a white woman aged 15-20 in his household [?], and possibly the free colored Reed at the foot of the 1840 Morgan image 32 (section 8). Some online trees give Stephen Jr a second wife named Nancy Powell [T]; the two separate 1830 Stephens argue against that.

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6. The Reed and Hollingsworth marriages

Reed spouse	Hollingsworth spouse	Where and when	Tag
Stephen Reed Jr	Winnifred (Winny), Vincent's daughter	Ashe or Clay, c. 1802-05	[S]
Rhoda Reed	William Hollingsworth, Vincent's son	Ashe; Clay by 1815; Gasconade Co MO by 1840-41	[S]
Polly (Mary) Reed	John Henry (Jonathan) Hollingsworth, Vincent's son	unknown	[S/T]
Sarah Reed	Isaac Hollingsworth, Vincent's son	unknown	[S] JoEllen Reed
Martha "Patsey" Reed	James Hollingsworth, son of William and Rhoda	Clay, 1822	[D] register; [S] county history
Randolph (Randal) Reed	Rhodey Hollinsworth	Clay, 1825	[D] register
Nancy Reed	William Hollingsworth	Morgan Co IN, 2 Feb 1832	[S] JoEllen Reed's list, which calls it William's second marriage
Solomon Reed	Susannah Hollingsworth	Morgan Co IN, 18 Dec 1834	[S] list
Susannah Reed	William Hollingsworth	Morgan Co IN, 2 Jun 1839	[S] list, which calls it William's third marriage

• Rhoda and William. The 1979 Gasconade County (Missouri) history, quoted on Rhoda's Find a Grave memorial, has William Hollingsworth and his wife Rhoda (Reed?) homesteading 80 acres on 16 December 1840 and 120 acres on 1 March 1841. It says the family came through Ashe NC, Clay KY and Morgan Co IN. It names their children's spouses, including James (wife Martha "Patsey" Read), Susan (husband Larkin Henson) and Charity (husband James Henson) [S].
• 1840 Morgan census (image 34). William Hollingsworth heads a free colored household of five: a man and a woman 55-100, a young man and a young woman 10-24, and a boy under 10. He is entered under manufactures and trades. Larkin Henson and James Henson are the next two heads, both counted white [D]. The Henson neighbors made this William look like Rhoda's husband. The Morgan marriages give another candidate: the William Hollingsworth who married Nancy Reed in 1832 and Susannah Reed in 1839, whom JoEllen Reed's list treats as one man marrying for the second and third times. Rhoda lived until 1873, so that William was probably not her husband, unless the two marriages belong to two different Williams [?]. The same image also has a second William Hollingsworth, counted white. Which William is Rhoda's husband is open; the identification is downgraded from "very likely" (26 September) to "possible."
• Isaac Hollingsworth. JoEllen Reed has Sarah Reed as his wife. Her family's notes give two other possible wives: Polly Applegate of Clay County, or Elizabeth, who as his widow married Solomon Griffin [S]. His death date is also unsettled: JoEllen Reed has the county's first probate case, in 1821, as his; the Gasconade history says William's brother Isaac died in Morgan County in 1840 [S].
• A Hollingsworth in the Reed block. James Hollandsworth took a federal patent for the SW 1/4 of the SE 1/4 of Section 17, T11N R1E, on 10 November 1840 [S, BLM]. He may be the James Hollingsworth who married Patsey Reed in Clay in 1822 [?].
• Claims to hold at arm's length.
  • The county history's statement that Rhoda was full-blooded Cherokee [T]. The memorial's maintainer disputes it.
  • The maintainer's statement that DNA shows Stephen Reed Sr was Rhoda's father [T]. The DNA evidence is not shown.
  • The memorial gives Rhoda's birth as 1780 in Ashe County, which did not exist until 1799.
• Patsy probably moves off James's list. The main file lists Patsy Reed (m. James Hollinsworth 1822) as a candidate daughter of James, and the Attride compilation lists a Martha Patsy Reed, b. 1810, among his children [S]. WikiTree places Martha Patsy among Stephen Jr's children [T], and the county history makes her husband William and Rhoda's son [S]. She is more likely Stephen Jr's daughter [?].

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7. The Reed and Collins connections

Marriages and partnerships

• Jesse Collins and Mary Reed, married 13 December 1827, Clay [D].
• Hiram Collins and Elizabeth Reed, married 8 December 1829, Clay, after a license of 1 December 1828 lapsed [D].
• Richard Reed and Kelsey (Kesiah?) Collins, license January 1827, not returned as solemnized [D].
• Bradley Collins and Sarah Reid, parents of Nancy (b. c. 1822), per Nancy Williams's 1909 death certificate [D]. Whether this Sarah is the Sarah Reed who married Isaac Hollingsworth is unknown [?].

Telitha Reed and Ambrose Collins [S, JoEllen Reed]

• She lists a sister of James named Telitha, "verified" as his sibling by court records about the race of Telitha's son Abraham. She says the family believes Telitha married Ambrose Collins. The court record has not been seen.
• Ambrose Collins in our files: on the 1773 Botetourt delinquent list marked "Indian Lands"; an estate taxed in 1778; in Wilkes in 1790; head of 4 "other free" in Ashe in 1800 [S, Heinegg; OL1].
• Abraham Collins in our files: married Christina Poulston in Clay in 1828 [D]. He is the first head on the 1830 Clay page, himself entered in the slave column with a white wife, directly above Hiram and three lines above James Reid [D].
• If JoEllen Reed's identifications hold, Abraham was Mary Reed's first cousin, and the Reed-Collins marriages began a generation before Jesse and Mary [?].

Pages where Collins and Reed households sit together [D]

• 1810 Ashe, p. 81: the Reed heads, then two Collins heads (the second initial reads "A.", possibly Ambrose), then four Hollingsworths.
• 1830 Clay, p. 172: Abraham, Hiram and Bradley Collins, then James Reid.
• 1840 Morgan: Hiram Collins (image 36) on the page after James Reed's (image 34).

1790 Wilkes, Tenth Company (pp. 160-161). This company holds the core of the New River Collins community: Vardy, Valentine, Ambrose, George, Martin and David Collins; Andrew, Jordan, Joel, Archibald, Ezekiel and Dorothy Gibson; a Bolin; a John Cox (names read from a screenshot; confirm) [D]. Heinegg also places David Collins in the Tenth Company in 1790. No Reed appears on these two pages.

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8. The Morgan County, Indiana settlement

• 1820 land entries. In township 11 N, range 1 E (the Martinsville area), the entries made after the lands opened in September 1820 include John Reed and Isaac Hollingsworth (Noah J. Major, The Pioneers of Morgan County, 1915, p. 237) [S]. John Reed's first federal patent, for the W½ of the NW 1/4 of Section 17, is dated 21 February 1822 [S, BLM].
• A Samuel Reed was one of the county's first four justices of the peace, 1822 (Major, p. 245) [S]. Nothing yet connects him to James.
• First probate, 1821. Isaac Hollingsworth's estate, with John Reed as a witness; John and Isaac lived next to each other [S, JoEllen Reed citing a county history].
• Reed's Chapel Cemetery. Find a Grave (cemetery 2401431) places it on Jordan Road, Martinsville, in Section 17, T11N R1E, Washington Township. It describes a historic African American church cemetery with no intact stones, marking a small Black community active through the 1870s; it says "John Reed donated land from his holdings to the Methodist Episcopal Church and also mentioned this donation in his will dated March 17, 1845"; it gives the Indiana DNR cemetery registry number CR-55-161; and it has 13 memorials [S]. JoEllen Reed's notes date John's will to 1844 [S], and a newspaper clipping in her family papers also has John giving the land [S]. James is buried there [S]. JoEllen Reed writes that her grandfather found him buried in what was known as a "Black" cemetery.

Section 17, T11N R1E: the Reed block

Federal land patents for Section 17, from the BLM General Land Office index (searched 27 September 2026) [S]. A patent was issued some time after the land was bought, often a year or more later, so a patent date is a latest date for the purchase, not the date the buyer arrived.

Part of Section 17	Patentee	Patent date	Accession
NW 1/4, W½	John Reed	21 Feb 1822	STA-IN0870__.188
NW 1/4, E½	John Reed	12 Sep 1836	STA-IN0950__.077
NE 1/4, NW 1/4 of it	John Reed	10 Sep 1838	STA-IN3260__.492
NE 1/4, SW 1/4 of it	Naman Reed	10 Sep 1838	STA-IN3210__.309
SE 1/4, NW 1/4 of it	John Reed	15 May 1837	STA-IN3190__.112
SE 1/4, SW 1/4 of it	James Hollandsworth	10 Nov 1840	STA-IN3280__.190
E½ of the NE 1/4 and E½ of the SE 1/4	Thomas McClure (military warrant)	15 Mar 1851	MW-1056-014
SW 1/4, W½	Nancy Smith	21 Feb 1822	STA-IN0870__.192
SW 1/4, E½	Samuel Long	8 Feb 1831	STA-IN1080__.136

These nine patents cover the whole section.

• James bought his farm. His will describes his plantation as part of the SW quarter. That quarter was patented to Nancy Smith and Samuel Long, so James bought it from them or from later owners, probably between 1831 and July 1836 [?]. The purchase deed would be in Deed Books B-F (1829-1839).
• John Reed built up 240 acres in the section between 1822 and 1838: the whole NW quarter and two forties to the east and south.
• Abner Reed and his wife Catharine sold Elisha Reed 30 acres, part of the NW quarter of Section 17, for $300 (Robbins's abstract #52, Deed Book L, p. 139; the dates in the abstract need checking against the deed book) [S]. The NW quarter was John's, so Abner (born in Indiana about 1821) probably had his share from John, which makes him more likely John's son than James's [?].
• Naaman's forty (SW 1/4 of the NE 1/4, patented 1838) adjoins John's land. The 1836 gift of 29 acres from James to "Norman" is separate [S, JoEllen Reed's notes].
• Nancy Smith's patent has the same date as John Reed's first patent, with document numbers four apart (188 and 192). Whether she had any connection to the Reeds is unknown.

Other Reed patents in Morgan County (BLM index, searches under "Reed" and "Read") [S]

Patentee	Patent date	Land (2nd Principal Meridian)	Accession
Randle Read	30 Sep 1834	T11N R1W, Sec 25, NW 1/4 of NW 1/4	STA-IN1240__.428
Burries A. Reed	21 Oct 1834	T11N R1E, Sec 35, NE 1/4 of NW 1/4	STA-IN1270__.246
Solomon Reed	15 May 1837	T11N R1W, Sec 26, NE 1/4 of NE 1/4	STA-IN3180__.132
Randle Read	10 Sep 1838	T11N R1W, Sec 25, SW 1/4 of NW 1/4	STA-IN3210__.365
Randle Read	10 Sep 1838	T11N R1E, Sec 22, W½ of SE 1/4; Sec 27, NE 1/4 of NE 1/4	STA-IN3220__.494
Richard Reed	10 Sep 1838	T11N R1E, Sec 22, NE 1/4 of NE 1/4	STA-IN3210__.362
Burrus A. Reed	10 Nov 1840	T11N R1E, Sec 35, SE 1/4 of NW 1/4	STA-IN3280__.103

• Solomon's 1837 forty and Randal's 1834 forty touch across the line between Sections 26 and 25, a few miles southwest of Section 17.
• No patent under Reed or Read is in the name of James, Elisha, Elijah, Abner, Stephen or Thomas. "Reid" has not been searched.

The 1840 and 1860 censuses

• 1840 census, Reed heads [D]:
  • Image 34: James, Elijah and Naaman ("Nawarn" in the index), free colored. Burris Reed, on the same image, is counted white.
    • Elijah: a man 24-36 and two women 24-36. No Elijah Reed appears in JoEllen Reed's Morgan marriage list, while Elisha married Delilah Bowmire in August 1839; a newly married Elisha would fit this household. The name should be re-read on the image [?].
    • Naaman (b. 1813): a boy under 10, a man 24-36, a man 55-100, a young woman 10-24, a woman 55-100. His daughter Diana was born c. 1839 (1860 census), but the row as read has no girl under 10; re-read at full zoom. The older man and woman are unidentified.
  • Image 32 (read from a screenshot; confirm at full zoom):
    • Randle Reed, free colored: three boys under 10, three males 10-24, a man 24-36; a girl under 10 and two women 24-36.
    • John Reed, free colored: two boys under 10, three males 10-24, a man 36-55; a girl under 10, a young woman 10-24, a woman 36-55. A head aged 36-55 (b. 1785-1804) fits the younger John (b. c. 1802) better than a brother of James, unless that brother was much younger than James. Whether the Section 17 John and the John aged 58 in 1860 are one man or two is open.
    • Richard Reed, counted white: a boy 10-15, a man 40-50, a woman 20-30.
    • Thomas Reed, counted white: a man 20-30, a woman 20-30, three girls under 5. He married Esther Reed in 1837 [S].
    • A Reed whose first name may read "Stevin" (Stephen), free colored: four boys under 10, a man 36-55, one or more girls under 10, a woman 24-36.
    • Solomon Reed, free colored: two boys under 10, a man 24-36, a girl under 10, a woman 24-36.
    • Christopher Bolin, on the same page, is counted white.
  • The Reed households have no entries in the employment columns. William Hollingsworth, also free colored, has one under manufactures and trades.
• 1860 census, per JoEllen Reed's family transcription [S] (county not stated in the notes; Naaman's 1860 household was in Washington Township, Morgan County, per the census index):
  • Namon Reed, 47, mulatto, born Kentucky; Delila, 50, mulatto, born North Carolina; children Norman 23, Diana 21, Noah 17, Drucilla 15, Dalena 12 and Sarah A. 9, all born Indiana.
  • John Reed, 58, born North Carolina c. 1802, with Elizabeth, 18. An Elizabeth Reed, wife of a John Reed, died 14 December 1857 and is buried at Martinsville (Find a Grave index) [S].
  • Abner Reed, 39, born Indiana c. 1821, with Sarah D., 33, and five children. He married Sarah A. Reed on 22 January 1851 [S, JoEllen Reed's list].

Marriages in Morgan County (JoEllen Reed's list)

JoEllen Reed's "Reed and Hollingsworth Marriages, 1832-1915, Morgan County, Indiana" lists 52 marriages (37 Reed, 15 Hollingsworth), with duplicates marked and some second marriages noted [S]. The ones before 1852:

Date	Groom	Bride	Notes
2 Feb 1832	William Hollingsworth	Nancy Reed	Listed as his second marriage
13 Aug 1832	Naaman Reed	Delilah Reed	Naaman's wife in 1860 (Delila, 50, born NC)
18 Dec 1834	Solomon Reed	Susannah Hollingsworth
27 Apr 1836	James Reed	Mellissa Reed	A younger James (section 2)
1 Apr 1837	Thomas Reed	Esther Reed	Esther's first marriage
18 Jun 1837	James Kemp	Susannah Reed
2 Jun 1839	William Hollingsworth	Susannah Reed	Listed as his third marriage
1 Aug 1839	Elisha Reed	Delilah Bowmire	Listed as Elisha's first marriage
25 Mar 1842 (list); license 27 Dec 1842	Elisha Reed	Esther Reed	Esther's second marriage; see below
13 Feb 1848	Granville Reed	Polly Webb
22 Jan 1851	Abner Reed	Sarah A. Reed	Abner's wife in 1860 (Sarah D.)
23 Jan 1851	Morgan Reed	Mary N. Hazelwood
undated	Samuel S. Bates	Susannah Reed	The list also has Sarah Reed with Samuel S. "Bares (Bates?)"

• Later marriages that fit Naaman's children [?]: Dianna Reed and Hiram Mitchell (23 Mar 1859); Drucilla Reed and Clifford Wilson (15 Aug 1865); Norman Reed and Frances G. Prudy (26 Nov 1872); Noah Reed and Angeline Dixon (4 Sep 1876), then Sarah Goss (24 Sep 1878). Naaman himself married Salma Lambert on 31 Mar 1877; the list's second-marriage table labels his two marriages the wrong way round.
• Reed-to-Reed marriages: Naaman and Delilah (1832), James and Mellissa (1836), Thomas and Esther (1837), Elisha and Esther (1842), Abner and Sarah A. (1851), and Clayborn and Dulcena (23 Sep 1875; Clayborn's second marriage, after Arena Wilson in 1861). Some brides named Reed were probably Reed widows, or women raised in Reed households, rather than born Reeds; the records do not say which [?]. They do show a small community whose members married among themselves and with the Hollingsworths.
• Elisha and Esther. The license was issued on 27 December 1842 by H. R. Stevens, clerk of the Morgan Circuit Court [D: Marriage Records April 1842-April 1851, FamilySearch DGS 007578353, image 52]. The certificate below it, signed by C. B. Butler, gives the wedding as the 27th of a month cut off at the foot of the screenshot (it looks like March), and was filed on "17 February 1842." A February or March 1842 date cannot follow a December 1842 license, so a year in the entry is miswritten. JoEllen Reed's list gives 25 March 1842 and marks this as Esther's second marriage, after Thomas Reed in 1837. If Esther was Thomas's widow, she was a Reed by marriage, and this need not have been a marriage between blood relatives [?].

Other notes on the settlement

• Two Collins groups in the county.
  • Major describes nine Collins families from Tennessee, several near the mouths of Sycamore and Highland creeks, with "Old Sol" (Solomon) three miles north of Martinsville. Their heads included Old Sol, four Davids, Isaiah and a Hiram. Sol left about 1836; this Hiram stayed on a farm near the mouth of Highland Creek (pp. 253-257) [S].
  • This is the Branch A family in our files (David Collins and Thompsey Posting's line), not Meredith's. Earlier work placed their Hiram's birth at c. 1793 (1850 census).
  • The free colored Hiram near the Reeds in 1840 is aged 24-36, which fits our Hiram (b. c. 1804-06).
• The 1830 Morgan Jesse Collins household (S63 in the main file) was found among the Branch A households in earlier work. That page is worth rechecking for Reeds, and for the head's age bracket and the number of young girls (Matilda was born in May 1830).
• Law in force. Indiana's bond act of 1831 applied to Black and mulatto people who arrived after 1 September 1831 (Laws addendum). If James arrived late in 1831, it applied to him; the county's order books for 1831-33 are where a bond or complaint would appear. The 1852 registration act produced county registers. Coy D. Robbins, Indiana Negro Registers 1852-1865, prints the ones that survive; whether Morgan County's is among them is still to check.
• Records reportedly lost. JoEllen Reed has been told the Morgan County courthouse no longer has copies of James's and John's wills. Her family's copies survive [S], and James's will survives as recorded in Deed Book J (section 2). The courthouse burned in March 1876 and many records were damaged (FamilySearch Wiki) [S].
• Family stories, per JoEllen Reed [T]: a Native American grandmother; Reed brothers trying to burn the Martinsville courthouse to destroy records calling them mulatto. She found a record of trouble over their race, but not of a fire.
• DNA, per JoEllen Reed [S]: her brother, a direct male-line Reed, tested on Ancestry at about 4% African (2% North Africa, 2% Cameroon/Congo) and 0% Native American.

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9. Census inventories

1790 Wilkes Co NC: Reed entries (Ancestry collection 5058)

Indexed name	Page	Household	Notes
Thom Reed	149 (image 1)	1 man 16+, 3 boys under 16, 4 females; 8	Neighbors mostly Coffey, Ferguson, Israel, Holmes and Demoss
Jas Reed	156 (image 5)	2 men 16+, 2 females; 4	Joel Stamper heads p. 156, and a Jonathan(?) Stamper is the line after Jas Reed (a Joel Stamper heads the 1783 list of McDaniel's men who refused a tour, the list Meredith Collins is on); Holbrooks just above him (a Wilkes family; no link to the Whidbey Island Holbrooks is known); Johnsons. Nelson Donathan (Donathan is one of the Louisa County community surnames) closes the same company at the head of p. 157, above the Seventh Company heading
Sam Reed	157 (image 5), Seventh Company	1 man 16+, 1 boy under 16, 2 females (the last figure could be a 4); 4	Among Kilburn, Martin, Dotson, Parks and Davis households
Jno Reed	not yet noted	not yet read
Robert Reed	not yet noted	not yet read
"Rd Stephens" (search alternate "Stephen Reed")	160 (image 7)	1 man 16+; 1	Reads as Rd Stephens; Tenth Company
Stephen Reed Sr	not found		Expected as a family household

Vincent Hollingsworth is on p. 168 (M637, roll 7, image 103, per a member's citation on his Ancestry profile). The Seventh Company heading falls on p. 157 and the Tenth on p. 160, so p. 156 belongs to the company before the Seventh. On the 1784-87 state census Vincent is in Vannoy's District, Wilkes (1787).

1810 Ashe Co NC, p. 81 (Ancestry collection 7613, image 24; roll 39)

In order, as read so far (initials to confirm): E. Osborn(?), J. Ashley, J. Weaver, W. Price, M. Weaver, J. Jones, W. Cornett(?), C. Gilley, S. Laytham(?), J. Maxwell; then the Reed heads, with E. Powell among them (the index gives one S. Reed and two J. Reeds; the page may hold a fourth Reed line); then two Collins heads (the second "A."); then J. Hollinsworth, J. Hollinsworth, W. Hollinsworth and V. Hollinsworth (Vincent); then L. Lunce[ford?]; then W. Morefield(?), four Weavers, G. Ayers(?) and D. Workman.

Still to read: the "all other free persons" and slave columns for each Reed, Collins and Hollingsworth row; the second J. Reed's household; which J. Reed row carries the household of 11.

1830 Clay Co KY, p. 172

See section 2. Other heads on the page include Christopher Bowling, John Lunceford, and Benjamin and Abraham Potter.

1840 Morgan Co IN (Ancestry collection 8057)

• Image 32 (4410758_00264): Randle Reed and John Reed (free colored); Christopher Bolin (white); Richard Reed and Thomas Reed (white); at the foot of the page a Reed whose first name may be Stephen, and Solomon Reed (both free colored). Household readings in section 8.
• Image 34 (4410758_00266): James, Elijah and Naaman Reed and William Hollingsworth (free colored); Larkin and James Henson; a second Hollingsworth; a second William Hollingsworth (white); Robert Asher; Burris Reed (white).
• Image 36: Hiram Collins (free colored): 2 boys under 10, a young man 10-24, a man 24-36, 2 girls under 10, a woman 24-36. This is the same household, bracket for bracket, as the 1840 "Montgomery County, Indiana" Hiram in the origin-line addendum (section 14.23, where he is also the only free colored entry on his page) and the master tree. That entry was restored from an earlier session's reading, with its citation still to re-attach (task 53). The two are very likely one entry, with "Montgomery" a misreading or a label slip. Checking whether Hiram is the only free colored head on image 36 would settle it.

Records checked and set aside

• 1820 Rowan Co NC, James Reed (collection 7734): a man 16-25 with a young wife and a boy; counted white. Not our James, who was in Clay, 45 or over, and counted free colored. It shows James Reeds still in Rowan in 1820.
• 1830 Harrison Co IN, Boone Twp, James Reed (collection 8058): head 30-39, six people, all white. Not ours.
• Ray Co MO, 7 Oct 1844 (collection 9071): not a will. It is James Reed's $300 bond as administrator of the estate of Thompson Mason. He was alive; Ancestry's "inferred death year" is an indexing artifact. A different man.
• 1850 Warrick Co IN, Owen Township, dwelling 201 (FamilySearch DGS 004192484, image 159 of 227; enumerated 28 August 1850): William Reed, 31, farmer, born Kentucky, counted white, with Sarah 9, Susannah 8, Alfred 7, Catharine 6, Rachael 5 and Delilah 4, all born Indiana [D]. The Susannah here is a child, not James's wife. The names Susannah and Delilah recur among the Morgan Reeds, but nothing else connects this family.
• Online tree person "Susannah H. Unknown (1770-1859)": a composite of James's wife, the Shelby County Susannah Hollingsworth (m. James L. Russell 1814), the wife of Stephen Reed Jr, and records of other women: an English baptism (a Susannah Reed, wife of a James Reed); an 1850 Susannah Reed, b. c. 1820 North Carolina, living in Madison County, Illinois, with a Thomas Reed; and a Find a Grave entry for an Elizabeth Reed (d. 1857, Martinsville, wife of a John Reed).
• "Mrs. S. H. Reid" (Southern Christian Advocate obituaries, 1867-78): a later death; not relevant.

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10. Families living together across the pages

Family	Ashe NC 1810 (p. 81)	Clay Co KY, 1820s-30s	Morgan Co IN, 1830s-1840
Reed	several heads (S. and J.)	James; two Stephens; Randolph; Richard	James, Elijah, Naaman, Randle, John, Solomon and a possible Stephen, free colored; Richard, Thomas and Burris, white. John, James and Naaman hold land in Section 17
Collins	two heads (one "A.")	Jesse, Hiram, Abraham, Bradley	Hiram, free colored
Hollingsworth	J., J., W., V. (Vincent)	James m. Patsy Reed 1822; Rhodey m. Randolph Reed 1825	William, free colored; others white; James Hollandsworth patents a forty in Section 17 (1840); marriages to Reeds 1832, 1834, 1839
Powell	E. Powell	Nancy m. Stephen Reed 1827; Sytha m. William Collins 1832	none seen
Lunsford	L. Lunce[ford?] (possibly Lemuel)	John Lunceford (1830, p. 172); Hiram Luncford (1830); Bradley Collins m. Elizabeth Luneford 1836	none seen
Henson	none seen	James Henson (1830, same section as a Stephen Reid in a published transcription)	Larkin and James, next to William Hollingsworth
Bowling	none seen	Christopher (1830, p. 172)	Christopher Bolin (image 32)
Potter	none seen	Benjamin and Abraham (1830, p. 172); a Hollingsworth daughter married a Levi Potter	none seen
Asher / Sizemore	none seen	Robert Asher m. Polly Sizemore 1827	a Robert Asher (to check)

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11. Working roster of the Reeds

Relationships tagged [?] are hypotheses; see the sections above.

Person	Dates	Spouse	Key records	Placement
William Read	b. c. 1673	Mary [?]	Charles City and Surry Co VA; freedom suit won 1694; "Malatta" 1699 [S Heinegg]	Reed progenitor per Heinegg; link to the Ashe Reeds unproven
Hugh Reed Sr	d. before end of 1786		Rowan Co NC estate sale [S Attride]	Father of a James Reed per Attride; link to ours uncertain
Stephen Reed Sr	b. c. 1748; d. c. 1812	Susannah Drew (b. c. 1752; m. 1767) [T]	1800 Ashe, 6 other free [S]; 1810 Ashe "S. Reed" [D]	Father of Rhoda, Stephen Jr and Celia [T]; relationship to James [?]
James Reed	b. c. 1766-75; d. c. 1841 (reading A) or by 6 Jan 1845 (reading B)	Susannah [S]	Sections 2 and 3; will signed 1836, recorded 1845 [S]; SW 1/4 of Section 17, bought [S; ?]	Mary Reed's father [D]
John Reed			Morgan land from 1820; patents in Section 17, 1822-1838 [S BLM]; guardian of Isaac Hollingsworth's daughter; gave the land for Reed's Chapel; will dated 17 March 1845 (Find a Grave) or 1844 (JoEllen Reed) [S]. A John Reed took a Clay marriage license in 1819 that was not returned as solemnized [D register; identity open]	James's brother per JoEllen Reed [S]; whether he is also the John aged 58 in 1860 is open
Telitha Reed		Ambrose Collins? [S]	Court records about her son Abraham [S, not seen]	James's sister per JoEllen Reed [S]
Rhoda Reed	b. c. 1770-80; d. 1873	William Hollingsworth	Gasconade Co MO homesteads 1840-41 [S]	Stephen Sr's daughter [T]
Stephen Reed Jr	b. 1784	Winnifred Hollingsworth	1830 Clay, the older Stephen [?]; 1850 Clay [S]	Stephen Sr's son [T]
Polly (Mary) Reed		John Henry (Jonathan) Hollingsworth		Stephen Sr's daughter per a memorial note [T]
Sarah Reed		Isaac Hollingsworth		James's sibling or cousin per JoEllen Reed [S]
Celia "Sely" Reed	1790-1860	a Richardson		Stephen Sr's daughter [T]
Mary Reed	1804 - c. 1852	Jesse Collins	Consent note 1827 [D]	James's daughter [D]
Elizabeth Reed		Hiram Collins	Married 1829 [D]; 1830 Clay and 1840 Morgan beside or near James [D]	James's daughter, probable [?]
Stephen Reed (younger)	b. c. 1800-07	Nancy Powell	Married 1827 [D]; witnessed Mary's note [D]; 1830 Clay, free colored, white wife 15-20 [S main file]; possibly the free colored Reed at the foot of the 1840 Morgan image 32 [?]	Probably James's son [?]
Randolph (Randal) Reed	b. c. 1803 [T]	Rhodey Hollinsworth	Married 1825 [D]; 1830 Clay, free colored, white wife, three boys under 5 [S main file]; federal patents, Morgan, 1834 and 1838 [S BLM]; 1840 Morgan, free colored [D]; Morgan land sales 1836 and 1846 [S]	A possible son of James per JoEllen Reed's notes [S]
Martha "Patsey" Reed		James Hollingsworth	Married 1822 [D]	More likely Stephen Jr's daughter [?]
Richard Reed	b. c. 1790-1800	licensed to marry Kelsey Collins, 1827	Clay licenses 1823 and 1827, neither returned as solemnized [D]; federal patent, Section 22, 1838 [S BLM]; 1840 Morgan, counted white, a man 40-50 [D, screenshot read]	Unplaced
John Reed (younger)	b. c. 1802, NC	an Elizabeth (d. 1857)? [S]	1860 census, aged 58, with an Elizabeth, 18 [S, JoEllen Reed's notes]; probably the free colored John Reed, 36-55, on the 1840 Morgan schedule [?]	The will's second son is John in Robbins's abstract and JoEllen Reed's notes [S]; possibly the same man as the Section 17 John [?]
James Reed (younger)		Mellissa Reed (m. 27 Apr 1836, Morgan) [S]		The will's second son in JoEllen Reed's typed transcription [S]; James's son if that reading is right [?]
Elisha Reed		Delilah Bowmire (m. 1 Aug 1839); Esther Reed (license 27 Dec 1842) [S; D for the license]	Named in the will [S]; bought 30 acres of the NW 1/4 of Section 17 from Abner and Catharine Reed [S Robbins #52]; 1850 census, enumerated twice, with a Julia A. Hollingsworth, 15, in the household (county not stated) [S]; possibly the "Elijah" on the 1840 image 34 [?]	James's son [S]. JoEllen Reed's tree calls him Elisha John and repeats Naaman's dates; it may merge Elisha with a brother John [?]. Her line later moved to Mt. Auburn, Christian Co, Illinois [S]
Naaman Reed	8 May 1813 - Jan 1883	Delilah Reed (m. 13 Aug 1832; b. c. 1810, NC); Salma (Salina E.) Lambert (m. 31 Mar 1877) [S]	Born Clay; federal patent for a forty in Section 17, 1838 [S BLM]; Morgan censuses 1840-1880 [D/S]	James's son per the land transfer [S]
Elijah Reed			1840 Morgan, aged 24-36 [D]	Unplaced; possibly Elisha misread [?]
Solomon Reed	b. c. 1804-16	Susannah Hollingsworth (m. 18 Dec 1834) [S]	Federal patent, T11N R1W Sec 26, 1837 [S BLM]; 1840 Morgan, free colored, aged 24-36, with a woman 24-36 and three children [D, screenshot read]	Unplaced
Thomas Reed		Esther Reed (m. 1 Apr 1837) [S]	1840 Morgan, counted white: a man 20-30, a woman 20-30, three girls under 5 [D, screenshot read]	Unplaced; probably dead by 1842 if Esther was his widow [?]
Abner Reed	b. c. 1821, Indiana	Catharine (c. 1846-48); Sarah A. Reed (m. 22 Jan 1851) [S]	With Catharine sold Elisha 30 acres of the NW 1/4 of Section 17 [S Robbins #52]; 1860 Morgan [S]	More likely John's son than James's [?]
Burris (Burries, Burrus) A. Reed			Federal patents, T11N R1E Sec 35, 1834 and 1840 [S BLM]; 1840 Morgan, counted white (image 34) [D]	Unplaced
Benjamin Reed	b. c. 1808		Iowa by c. 1838 [D]	Candidate son [?]
Tilford Reed	b. c. 1811		Iowa by c. 1836 [D]	Candidate son [?]
Samuel Reid			1841 Clay estate sale [S]	Candidate son [?]
William Reid		Lydia Langdon (1830)?	1841 Clay estate sale [S]	Candidate son [?]

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12. Where the records are, and what to try next

Where the records are (27 September 2026)

Records	Where	Online?
Marriages	Morgan County marriage books; FamilySearch (for example, Marriage Records April 1842-April 1851, DGS 007578353)	Yes: images and FamilySearch Full-Text Search
Deeds, 1822-1901, with indexes (includes Deed Book J, p. 522, the recorded will, and Book L, p. 139)	Morgan County Recorder, Martinsville (originals). Microfilm: FamilySearch catalog 629486, "Deed records, 1822-1901, with indexes, 1822-1903" (the title of Morgan County's deed series); Indiana State Library. Films by volume: Vol. B-D, 1829-1836 (film 1468443, ISL L-82); Vol. E-F, 1836-1839 (1468444, L-83); Vol. G-I, 1839-1843 (1468445, L-84); Vol. J-L, 1843-1847 (1468446, L-85; Book L continues on 1468447). ISL also has a grantor/grantee index, 1822-1852 (PW-27)	Not found online (27 Sep). The county recorder's online records begin in 1988
Probate order book, 1822-1847	FamilySearch film 1468479 (catalog 629553, Probate Order Books 1822-1919); ISL PW-8	Not viewable online (27 Sep)
Probate complete record, Vol. C, 1837-1846	FamilySearch film 2421387, item 1 (catalog 1423678); ISL PW-4	Not viewable online
Probate estate record, 1845-1852	FamilySearch film 2421337, item 3 (catalog 1423533); ISL PW-25	Not viewable online
Morgan County Public Library probate index	morgancountylibrary.info	Online, but it covers mainly later files: no Reed or Hollingsworth estate of the 1840s appears under R or H. The library does record lookups by request, $3 each, 2-4 weeks
Federal land patents	BLM General Land Office records	Online; searched 27 Sep (section 8)
Census, 1830-1880	Ancestry, FamilySearch	Online

In the FamilySearch catalog, a camera icon beside a film means its images can be viewed; a camera with a key means they can be viewed only at a FamilySearch center or affiliate library; a film reel alone means not digitized. The courthouse burned in March 1876 and many records were damaged (FamilySearch Wiki).

Open questions and tests (ranked, 27 September 2026)

1. 1850 census, Morgan County (online). Open Naaman Reed's 1850 household (Washington Township, per the index) and read the pages on either side rather than searching by name. Look for James's widow Susannah (about 70-80, born about 1770-1780, and possibly indexed as Susan, Susanna or Reid), Elisha's two entries, John, and any Mary or Elizabeth. Her age and birthplace would test reading B against the 1830 Clay wife.
2. Write to JoEllen Reed (Ancestry: joellenreed). Ask:
   • whether her photocopy of the recorded will (Deed Book J, p. 522) names the second son John or James, and whether "January 6th 1845" is the recording date (her notes give December 1845 for the death);
   • for a copy of the land transfer that names Susannah;
   • whether her family has James's purchase deed for the SW quarter of Section 17;
   • for the Telitha and Abraham court record;
   • whether her brother has a Y-DNA test. A match with Reed men from other lines that Heinegg traces to William Read would test the unproven link between William Read and the Ashe Reeds. An autosomal comparison would be weak evidence: under reading (B), Frances and JoEllen Reed's brother would be fifth cousins, and their tests are on different sites (23andMe and Ancestry), so both would need to be on a shared site such as GEDmatch.
   • Her other posted item, "Methodist Episcopal Church and Reed's Chapel Cemetery (transcription)" (Ancestry, 20 June 2012), has not been read yet.
3. One records request, three documents. From the Morgan County Recorder, the Morgan County Public Library's genealogy request service, or anyone with access to film 1468446: (a) Deed Book J, p. 522 (the will as recorded); (b) Deed Book L, p. 139 (Abner and Catharine Reed to Elisha); (c) James Reed as grantee in the deed index, 1829-1839, and the deed or deeds by which he bought the SW quarter of Section 17 from Nancy Smith, Samuel Long or later owners. The purchase deed may say where he was living when he bought.
4. Probate for James (1844-45) and John (1845). The probate order book, 1822-1847 (film 1468479), would show the administration of each estate, the heirs, and any widow's claim.
5. The 1841 Clay estate file. The request to the Clay County clerk; the file would show whose estate it was and the widow's name (test of reading A).
6. 1830 Morgan Co IN. Is there a James Reed head? On the Jesse Collins page (S63), are there Reeds?
7. Clay Co KY, 1830 and 1840. Any second James Reed or Reid head in 1830; and in 1840, is there a James Reed or Reid, and of what age?
8. Coy D. Robbins, African Heritage in Morgan County, Indiana, and his Indiana Negro Registers 1852-1865 (whether Morgan County's register survives and is printed there). The Indiana State Library's Ask-a-Librarian service copies pages from books (up to 50 pages of an item); ask for the Reed and Hollingsworth entries and the land abstracts around #50 and #52.
9. "Elijah" on Morgan image 34. Re-read the first name; it may be Elisha.
10. Hiram, 1840. Confirm that Hiram is the only free colored head on Morgan image 36. If so, the "Montgomery" entry in the origin-line addendum is this one, and the citation for task 53 is Ancestry collection 8057, Morgan Co, Indiana, image 36 of 116.
11. The foot of Morgan image 32: read the first name of the Reed above Solomon (possibly Stephen), and confirm the household readings in section 8.
12. Naaman's 1840 row: re-read for a girl under 10 (Diana, b. c. 1839). His son Norman (b. c. 1837) would be the boy under 10.
13. 1800 Ashe images. James Reid's and Stephen Reid's households, and their pages relative to Vincent Hollingsworth (roll 29, p. 80, per a member's citation).
14. 1810 Ashe p. 81. Confirm the initials; read the other-free and slave columns; read the second J. Reed's household.
15. 1790 and 1787. Find Stephen Reed Sr (Wilkes under variant spellings; neighboring Surry). Note the pages of Jno and Robert Reed. The 1784-87 North Carolina state census for Wilkes (Vincent Hollingsworth is in Vannoy's District in 1787) may place the Reeds by district.
16. Stephen Reed Sr's estate (Ashe, c. 1812) and the 1802 James-to-Stephen deed (Book B, p. 375): look for wording that states a relationship.
17. Vincent Hollingsworth's 1816 estate record (the heirs' sale of 190 acres on the North Fork): whether any Reed besides Stephen Jr is named among the heirs.
18. Major's memoir, remaining chapters (politics, election day): search the archive.org text for "Reed," "colored" and "mulatto."
19. Stephen Reed Jr, 1850 Clay census (FamilySearch M6P1-2RP): Winnifred's age and birth place, and the children's ages.
20. DAR Patriot A204128 (Vincent Hollingsworth): the free Descendants tab.

Done on 27 September 2026: the will (read in transcription and in Robbins's abstract); JoEllen Reed's marriage list and land abstracts; the federal land patents for the Reeds and for Section 17; the Elisha and Esther marriage record; the Warrick County Susannah (set aside); a search for where the deeds and probate are held.

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13. Corrections to carry into the other files

Status, 27 September 2026. The corrections in the first list are now in the master tree (Collins_Reed_Master_Family_Tree-op5.5update.md), the main research file (meredith_collins_research-op5.5update.md) and the origin-line addendum (Meredith_Collins_Origin_Line_Addendum-op5.5update.md). The book has not been changed. The second list gives the passages in Molata v3.5 that still carry the older reading, for the book pass once the research is finished.

Carried into the research files and the master tree (27 September 2026)

• Main file, section 9.8 table and the paragraph after it. James Reid in 1830 is the slave-column male aged 55-100, not the free colored man ("James = FCM (~65)"; "James himself is free colored, and the other males are 'slaves'"). The free colored male in his household is aged 24-36. Re-checked against the image on 26 September 2026.
• Main file, READ THIS FIRST ("The Reeds in Iowa"). The 1830 clause becomes: "in 1830, himself entered in the slave column (55-100) with four young men also in the slave columns, one free colored man aged 24-36, and his wife the one white person in the house." The parenthetical after it becomes: "(Hiram and Elizabeth are the couple entered as slaves; James is also in the slave columns, his wife counted white.)"
• Master family tree, James Reed's note. The same correction for 1830.
• Master family tree, James's children. Move Patsy Reed (m. James Hollinsworth 1822) to [?], noting that she is more likely Stephen Jr's daughter.
• Origin-line addendum (section 14.23, the Hiram roster row, OL37, task 53) and the master tree's Hiram line: 1840 Hiram Collins. The county is very likely Morgan, not Montgomery (pending the check in section 12, item 10).
• James's birth. c. 1766-1775 on census evidence. The Attride "c. 1765" and the 1783 Rowan grant may belong to another James.
• James's death. "c. 1841, Clay Co" stands only under reading (A). Under reading (B) he died at or near Martinsville, Morgan County, Indiana, before 6 January 1845, when his will was recorded. The "December 1845" in JoEllen Reed's notes conflicts with the recording date.
• James's sons, wherever they are listed. The will names Elisha and one other son (John in Robbins's abstract, James in JoEllen Reed's transcription) and refers to "other sons" without naming them.
• Also carried, though not on the list above: the main file's section 9.06 (the DNA estimate, which had James "free colored in 1820 and 1830") and section 9.4 (the Reed classifications); the same 1830 census line in the origin-line addendum's READ THIS FIRST; in the main file, Benjamin and Tilford changed from probable to possible sons, and "Mary's brothers" to "possibly Mary's brothers"; Hugh Reed and William Read marked [?] in both files' lineage lines and tables; in the origin-line addendum, the Polly Silver marriage dated 1839 with no month recorded.

Still to carry into the book (Molata v3.5, claude/Molata-1st-Ed-v1.3-rewrite-op5.5-v3.5.md)

• Chapter Four, "The missing generations": "The first of Mary's ancestors we can name with confidence on the near side of the gap is her grandfather, Hugh Reed, who died in Rowan County, North Carolina, sometime before the end of 1786." Hugh is named as James's father only in the Attride compilation [?]. The same section's "We're confident the two ends of the line are kin" is stronger than the evidence, since Heinegg does not trace the Ashe County Reeds back to William.
• Chapter Four, "James Reed": "took up a state grant of 130 acres on Dutchmans Creek in 1783 and was named in the sale of his father's estate a few years later." The grant may belong to another James, and being named at the sale does not show he was Hugh's son. "James was in his fifties" when the family settled in Clay holds only if he was born by about 1770; the census range is c. 1766-75.
• Chapter Six: "Stephen Read was Mary's brother," and James "seeing a son married in the same hour." Stephen is a probable son, not a proven one.
• Chapter Seven: "At James Reid's he entered Mary's father as a free man of color, her mother as a white woman, and five men of the household in the slave columns." James is the man aged 55-100 in the slave column, four young men of the household are also in the slave columns, and the one free colored man is aged 24-36. Also "not far from her brothers Benjamin and Tilford Reed": possible brothers.
• Chapter Eight: "Mary's brother Tilford" and "his brother Benjamin": possible brothers of Mary.
• Chapter Eleven, "The story and the records": "Every link in it is documented in these pages except two, which of Thomas's sons fathered Meredith, and which generations of Reeds stand between William and James's father, Hugh, and both are marked where they fall." James's link to Hugh, and the family's link to William, are also unproven.
• Chapter Twelve, "What this means and what it doesn't": "any cousin descended from Mary Reed, or from her sisters Elizabeth and Patsy, through daughters only." Patsy is more likely a cousin (Stephen Reed Jr's daughter), and Elizabeth is a probable sister.
• Chapter Thirteen, "The oldest questions": "the generations between William Read, suing for his freedom in 1694, and Mary's grandfather Hugh, dying in Rowan County in the 1780s." Hugh is unproven.
• Chapter Thirteen, "The woman counted white": "beside a husband counted as a free man of color and five men of the house entered as slaves." Her husband is entered in the slave column himself. That she "bought part of her husband's estate at its sale in 1841" holds only under reading (A); under reading (B) her given name was Susannah.
• Sources, Chapters Four and Thirteen: the Rowan grant, the 1786 estate sale and the 1841 estate are cited "per the Attride database." The Rowan records may belong to another James, and the 1841 estate holds only under reading (A).
• Not yet in the book: reading (B) itself: the Morgan County will of 1836, James's probable move in 1831 to Morgan County (where Jesse and Mary were living by 1830), and Hiram Collins's free colored household on the 1840 Morgan County page after James's.

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14. Sources

• R1. James Read's consent note, 25 Nov 1827, Clay Co KY loose marriage papers (origin-line addendum, OL22).
• R2. 1830 census, Clay Co KY, p. 172: FamilySearch image group 005155883, images 346-347 (catalogued as Estill), https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9YY1-9YC8 and https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GYY1-912F.
• R3. 1840 census, Morgan Co IN: Ancestry collection 8057, images 32 (4410758_00264), 34 (4410758_00266) and 36, of 116.
• R4. 1810 census, Ashe Co NC, p. 81: Ancestry collection 7613, image 24 of 33 (4433260_00024); roll 39.
• R5. 1790 census, Wilkes Co NC: Ancestry collection 5058, image 1 (p. 149; 4440913_00093), image 5 (pp. 156-157; 4440913_00097), image 7 (pp. 160-161; 4440913_00099). Vincent Hollingsworth, p. 168 (M637, roll 7, image 103, per a member's citation).
• R6. Records set aside: 1820 census, Rowan Co NC (collection 7734, 4185988_00159); 1830 census, Harrison Co IN (collection 8058, 4410754_00214); Ray Co MO, Wills, Letters, Bonds, vol. B-C, 1836-1863 (collection 9071, 007631033_00157).
• R7. JoEllen Reed, "My hunt for James Reed, email reply," Ancestry story (joellenreed), submitted 26 Sep 2015.
• R8. "Notes Reed Hollingsworth," Ancestry member photo (joellenreed), submitted 27 Apr 2012.
• R9. Naaman Reed: Find a Grave index entry (b. 8 May 1813, Clay Co KY; d. Jan 1883, Martinsville); census index entries 1850-1880; Indiana marriage, 31 Mar 1877.
• R10. Noah J. Major, The Pioneers of Morgan County: Memoirs of Noah J. Major, ed. Logan Esarey (Indiana Historical Society Publications 5, no. 5, 1915), pp. 237, 245, 253-257. https://archive.org/details/pioneersofmorgan55majo
• R11. Rhoda Reed Hollandsworth, Find a Grave memorial 73035027, quoting Gasconade County History, vol. 1 (1979). https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/73035027/rhoda-hollandsworth
• R12. Stephen Reed Sr, Find a Grave memorial 239229746. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/239229746/stephen-reed
• R13. WikiTree: Stephen Reed Jr (Reed-13111), https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Reed-13111; Vincent Hollingsworth (Hollingsworth-104), https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Hollingsworth-104. Read from search excerpts only.
• R14. J. Maxwell, "Hollandsworth (Hollingsworth)," citing Betty Hollandsworth Jackson, The Holly Tree. https://www.angelfire.com/in/JMaxwell/holl.html. Read from search excerpts only.
• R15. Geni, Susannah Martha Potter (Hollingsworth).
• R16. Query about James Reed of Morgan Co IN, JustAnswer (2014). https://www.justanswer.com/genealogy/8dqdt-searching-parents-siblings-4th-great.html
• R17. David Attride Genealogy Database, James Reed (main file S51).
• R18. Paul Heinegg, Free African Americans of North Carolina, Virginia, and South Carolina, Reed and Collins entries (main file S52).
• R19. Clay Co KY marriage registers and index (main file S45; origin-line addendum OL17, OL20, OL34).
• R20. Nancy Williams, Iowa death certificate, 1909 (main file S47).
• R21. Susannah Hollingsworth and James L. Russell, 3 Feb 1814, Shelby Co KY (Kentucky compiled marriages and the Shelby County marriage bond index, Ancestry); Pattie Russell Hughes, Kentucky death record (index).
• R22. Coy D. Robbins, African Heritage in Morgan County, Indiana (Indiana African American Historical and Genealogical Society, 1991). Seen only as two land abstracts pasted by the user on 27 September 2026: #50 (the will of James Reed, Deed Book J, p. 522) and #52 (Abner and Catharine Reed to Elisha Reed, Deed Book L, p. 139). Also cited by JoEllen Reed.
• R23. 1830 Clay Co KY census transcription, KentuckyGenealogy.org. https://kentuckygenealogy.org/clay/clay-county-kentucky-genealogy.htm
• R24. Genealogy.com forum, "NC Drew & Reed/Reid Families" (1999). https://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/drew/440/
• R25. Will of James Reed, signed 19 July 1836, recorded 6 January 1845: typed transcription by JoEllen (Reed) Ingram, Ancestry (joellenreed), posted 15 March 2012 (seen on Nayman Reed's hints in the Ellingwood tree); compared with R22 #50 and with JoEllen Reed's handwritten notes (R8).
• R26. JoEllen Reed, "Reed and Hollingsworth Marriages, 1832-1915, Morgan County, Indiana" (52 marriages), Ancestry (joellenreed), posted 3 October 2012; text pasted by the user on 27 September 2026.
• R27. Elisha Reed and Esther Reed, marriage license, 27 Dec 1842: Morgan County, Indiana, Marriage Records April 1842-April 1851, FamilySearch DGS 007578353, image 52 of 329 (found with FamilySearch Full-Text Search). https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L9XF-WZ3J
• R28. 1850 census, Warrick Co IN, Owen Township, dwelling 201 (William Reed): FamilySearch DGS 004192484, image 159 of 227. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-6LHQ-79Y
• R29. Bureau of Land Management, General Land Office Records, land patent index: searches for "Reed" and "Read" in Morgan County, Indiana, and for Section 17, T11N R1E, 2nd Principal Meridian, 27 September 2026. https://glorecords.blm.gov/
• R30. Find a Grave, Reeds Chapel Cemetery (cemetery 2401431), read 27 September 2026. https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2401431/reeds-chapel-cemetery
• R31. Indiana State Library, "Morgan County Records on Microfilm." https://www.in.gov/library/files/Morgan-microfilm-final.pdf
• R32. FamilySearch Wiki, "Morgan County, Indiana Genealogy" (probate catalog links; courthouse fire of March 1876). https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Morgan_County,_Indiana_Genealogy
• R33. FamilySearch catalog 629486, "Deed records, 1822-1901, with indexes, 1822-1903" (the title of Morgan County's deed series as listed at https://ldsgenealogy.com/IN/Morgan-County-Land-Records.htm). https://www.familysearch.org/en/search/catalog/629486
• R34. Morgan County Public Library, Genealogy (research requests) and Morgan County Probate Index (updated 5 June 2024; R and H sections). https://morgancountylibrary.info/genealogy/ and https://morgancountylibrary.info/wp-content/uploads/Morgan-County-Probate-Index-5-June-2024A.pdf
• R35. Indiana State Library, Genealogy FAQs (Ask-a-Librarian copying from books). https://secure.in.gov/library/collections-and-services/genealogy/brochures-and-maps/genfaqs/
• R36. Record Access, "Morgan County Property Records" (the recorder's records online through Doxpop from 1988). https://propertyrecords.indianaofficialrecords.com/county/morgan

Source independence. JoEllen Reed manages the WikiTree profile for Stephen Reed Jr. The Find a Grave memorial for Stephen Reed Sr was created by Cheri Denise Blaylock-Lovell; the linked memorials for Susannah Drew and Stephen Reed Jr carry adjacent memorial numbers, so were probably added at the same time. An Ancestry member "Blaylock222" posted the "Hollingsworth DNA Matches" images; this may be the same person (unverified). Agreement among WikiTree, Find a Grave and Ancestry trees on the Stephen Reed family may therefore come from one research circle. The "(DNA verified)" labels in their trees are not accompanied by the DNA evidence. JoEllen Reed's will transcription, handwritten notes and marriage list are three products of one researcher. Robbins's abstract (R22) is the only independent reading of the will seen so far; on the second son's name it agrees with her handwritten notes (John) and disagrees with her typed transcription (James).

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Changelog

• 2026-09-26: Created. Draws on the day's work: Ancestry hints and images (1790 Wilkes; 1810 Ashe; 1820 Rowan; 1830 Harrison; 1840 Morgan; Ray Co MO), the user's 1830 Clay images, JoEllen Reed's email and notes, Noah Major's memoir, and the Hollingsworth and Stephen Reed pages on Find a Grave, WikiTree and a family compiler's site.
• 2026-09-26 (check): Re-read the 1830 Clay image at full resolution, confirming James in the slave column. Checked the dates, brackets and citations against the research files and the day's screenshots. Added household readings for the Reeds on Morgan image 32, including the possible Stephen, and Randolph's 1830-1840 fit. Corrected the Hiram "Montgomery" file references, Abraham's line position on the 1830 page, and the Polly Silver date (1839; no month recorded). Limited the Susannah statements to reading (B).
• 2026-09-27: Rewrote section 1 as a summary of what we have learned. Added the will of James Reed (section 2): signed 19 July 1836, recorded 6 January 1845; the second son is John in Robbins's abstract and JoEllen Reed's notes, James in her transcription. Corrected James's death from "December 1845" to "before 6 January 1845." Added the federal land patents for Section 17 and for the other Morgan County Reeds (section 8), which show that James bought his quarter rather than entering it. Added JoEllen Reed's Morgan County marriage list, the Reed-to-Reed marriages, the Elisha and Esther license of 27 December 1842, and the other Susannahs (sections 4 and 8). Downgraded the identification of the 1840 William Hollingsworth as Rhoda's husband (section 6). Added Reed's Chapel Cemetery details from Find a Grave. Set aside the 1850 Warrick County Susannah. Added the table of where the Morgan County records are, re-ranked the open questions, and updated the roster and corrections.
• 2026-09-27 (carried): Carried the section 13 corrections into the main research file and the origin-line addendum (the master tree was done earlier the same day), including several spots the list had missed. Added to section 13 the passages in the book (Molata v3.5) that still need changing, for the book pass. Sections 1 and 2 now say the corrections are carried.