Reed Line

The ancestry of Mary Reed (c. 1804 - c. 1852), wife of Jesse Collins and mother of Mary Elizabeth “Polly” Collins: a free family of color counted, by turns, as “other free,” white, free colored and enslaved, from the New River country of Ashe County, North Carolina, to Clay County, Kentucky, and, most likely, the small Reed settlement near Martinsville, Morgan County, Indiana. Mary herself went on to Iowa.

The line at a glance

William Read “Malatta” (b. c. 1673, Charles City Co, Virginia) [?] > … several generations not traced … > Hugh Reed Sr. (d. bef. the end of 1786, Rowan Co, North Carolina) [?] > James Reed (b. c. 1766-75; d. bef. 6 Jan 1845, Morgan Co, Indiana [or c. 1841, Clay Co, Kentucky]) = Susannah, maiden name unknown > Mary Reed (c. 1804 - c. 1852) = Jesse Collins

Where the scope ends

The line walks up from Mary through her father. It reaches James and then Hugh Reed Sr., whom only the Attride compilation names as James’s father. William Read, whom Heinegg treats as the founder of the free colored Reed family, is added as a second scope because no parent-child links connect him to Hugh or James; he is the line’s possible root, not a proven ancestor. Stephen Reed Sr. of Ashe County (b. c. 1748), a probable older generation of the same family whose relationship to James is unknown, is outside the scope; his file and his children’s are there for when that question is answered.

The weakest links

• Which James Reed. James Read’s 1827 consent note proves he was Mary’s father. Where he died is open: in Clay County about 1841 (the Clay reading, resting only on the Attride compilation’s 1841 estate), or in Morgan County, Indiana, before his will was recorded on 6 January 1845 (the Morgan reading). The Reed addendum leans to the Morgan reading, and the files record his death that way, but it is not proven. The children named in the Morgan County will and land records (Elisha, John or James, Naaman) are his only under that reading; Samuel and William, from the 1841 Clay estate, only under the other.
• James > Hugh Reed Sr. (possible): the Attride compilation alone. A James named at the 1786 estate sale is not shown to be a son, and the 1783 Rowan grant needs a James born by about 1762, older than ours.
• Hugh > William Read (possible): Heinegg lists James and Stephen Reed of Ashe County among the “other members of the Reed family” without parents. No generation between is traced.
• Mary’s mother. James’s wife was born about 1770-80 and was counted white in 1830. Her given name, Susannah, comes from a Morgan County land transfer reported by JoEllen Reed and holds only under the Morgan reading. The Hollingsworth maiden name in online trees is unsupported.

Mary’s brothers and sisters

Only Mary is proven James’s child. Elizabeth (m. Hiram Collins 1829) and Stephen (m. Nancy Powell the same day as Mary’s wedding) are probable; Randolph, Benjamin, Tilford and Sarah Reid (Bradley Collins’s partner) possible; Naaman, Elisha and John [or James] are his under the Morgan reading, Samuel and William under the Clay reading. Patsy Reed (m. James Hollinsworth 1822), once listed as a sister, is more likely a cousin, a daughter of Stephen Reed Jr.

Open questions

• Which James? The tests are ranked in the Reed addendum, section 12: the 1850 Morgan County census for his widow; JoEllen Reed’s copies of the will, the land transfer naming Susannah, and any purchase deed; Deed Book J, p. 522 and James’s purchase deed for the SW quarter of Section 17 (FamilySearch film 1468446, not online); the Morgan County probate order book, 1822-1847; and the 1841 Clay estate file.
• Is the will’s second son John or James?
• Susannah’s maiden name.
• Was James a son of Hugh Reed Sr., or of Stephen Reed Sr.? Stephen Sr’s Ashe estate (c. 1812) and the 1802 James-to-Stephen deed may say.
• The generations between William Read and the Ashe County Reeds. A Y-DNA test of a male-line Reed descendant of James would help.