George B. Reed

Born in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, as a child he moved with his parents to Westford, Massachusetts, and then to a farm in Vermont in 1823.{{Cite book|url= https://archive.org/details/historyofreedfam1861reed/ |title= History of the Reed Family in Europe and America |last= Reed |first= Jacob Whittemore |year= 1861 |publisher= John Wilson and Son |page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofreedfam1861reed/page/279/ 279] |accessdate= June 14, 2023 }} He went on to study at Middlebury College and then studied law in Rutland, Vermont.{{Cite web|url= https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS12233 |title= Reed, George 1807 - 1883 |website= Wisconsin Historical Society |date= 8 August 2017 |accessdate= June 14, 2023 }}

He moved to Milwaukee, Michigan Territory, in 1834, possibly from Chicago. He is believed to have been the first attorney to move to the Wisconsin Territory, and was for many years an advisor to Solomon Juneau.[http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/WI.FalgeHistv02 Falge, Louis, editor-in-chief. History of Manitowoc County, Wisconsin Chicago: Goodspeed Historical Association, 1912; vol. 2, p. 576] He was soon joined by his parents and siblings.

George Reed followed his brothers Orson and Curtis to the area that is now the town of Summit, Waukesha County, Wisconsin, in the late 1830s, and took up a farm there. While living in Summit, he was elected to serve as a delegate to Wisconsin's first constitutional convention in 1846. After the rejection of that constitution, he was elected to represent Waukesha County in the addition sessions of the 5th Wisconsin Territorial Assembly.

He moved to Manitowoc, Wisconsin, in 1850; while in Manitowoc, Reed served as a two-year term as county judge and was elected as the first village president of Manitowoc upon its incorporation as a village.[http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/WI.Monograph36 Ehlert, Edward. Manitowoc County Historical Society: occupational monograph 36, 1978 series. Courts and the legal profession in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin. From about 1820 to the present Manitowoc: Manitowoc County Historical Society, 1978; p. 9]

In 1854, Reed and Jacob Lueps bought a portion of the town of Maple Grove and had it surveyed and platted. These 56 blocks became the village of "Mud Creek", later renamed Reedsville after "Judge Reed" (as he was widely known).[http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/WI.manReedsville Zarnoth, Dorothy, ed. History of Reedsville to 1976 Brillion, Wisconsin: Zander Press, [1976?]; p. 2

Reed served as a Democratic member of the Wisconsin Senate from 1865 to 1870.

Reed was involved in the railroad business. He died in the Newhall House Hotel fire in Milwaukee in 1883.'The Convention of 1846,' Milo Milton Qualife, Wisconsin Historical Society: 1918, Biographical Sketch of George Reed, pg. 778

George B. Reed was the second child and eldest son of the eight children born to Seth Harrison Reed and his wife Rhoda ({{nee}} Finney). The Reed family were descendants of the colonist Philip Reade, who came to the Massachusetts Bay Colony from England in the 1660s. Nearly all of George Reed's seven siblings were notable in some way:

• Julia Ann Reed (1806–1881) married physician Thomas J. Noyes who was the president of Milwaukee's first medical society, and the first doctor at Menasha, Wisconsin.
• Orson Reed (1809–{{circa}}1890) was a member of the Wisconsin Senate and Assembly and served as sheriff of Waukesha County.
• Mary Augusta Reed (1811–1866) married attorney Abram D. Smith who became one of the first elected justices of the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
• Harrison Jackson Reed (1813–1899) was one of the original owners of the Milwaukee Sentinel and an early editor of the Wisconsin State Journal, and then became one of the founders of Neenah, Wisconsin. Later he moved to Florida and, during reconstruction, he became the 9th governor of Florida.{{Cite web|url= https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS12234 |title= Reed, Harrison 1813 - 1899 |website= Wisconsin Historical Society |date= 8 August 2017 |accessdate= June 14, 2023 }}
• Curtis Reed (1815–1895) was the founder of Menasha, Wisconsin, and served two terms in the Wisconsin State Assembly—one of which was concurrent with Orson Reed's term in the Assembly in 1853.{{cite web|url= https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS12232 |title= Reed, Curtis 1815 - 1895 |website= Wisconsin Historical Society |date= 8 August 2017 |accessdate= June 14, 2023 }}
• Martha Reed (1818–1902) married the prominent Milwaukee banker and congressman Alexander Mitchell and became a philanthropist. Their son John L. Mitchell was a U.S. senator; their grandson, Billy Mitchell, is considered the father of the United States Air Force.
• Herbert Reed (1822–1875) was a railroad depot agent in Iowa County, Wisconsin.

George Reed married Juliette Sherwood Bulkley on August 10, 1836. They had at least four children together.

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{{s-bef|before = Joseph Vilas }}

{{s-ttl|title = {{nowrap|Member of the Wisconsin Senate}} {{nowrap|from the 19th district}} |years= January 2, 1865{{spaced ndash}}January 2, 1871 }}

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{{s-non|reason = New village government }}

{{s-ttl|title = Village President of Manitowoc, Wisconsin |years= May 12, 1851{{spaced ndash}}April 1852 }}

{{s-aft|after = James Bennett }}

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{{s-bef|before = Ezekiel Ricker }}

{{s-ttl|title = County Judge of Manitowoc County, Wisconsin |years= January 3, 1853{{spaced ndash}}January 1, 1855 }}

{{s-aft|after = George C. Lee }}

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Category:1807 births

Category:1883 deaths

Category:Businesspeople from Milwaukee

Category:Farmers from Wisconsin

Category:Middlebury College alumni

Category:Members of the Wisconsin Territorial Legislature

Category:People from Middlesex County, Massachusetts

Category:Politicians from Milwaukee

Category:People from Reedsville, Wisconsin

Category:People from Summit, Waukesha County, Wisconsin

Category:American city founders

Category:Wisconsin state court judges

Category:Democratic Party Wisconsin state senators

Category:Lawyers from Milwaukee

Category:19th-century Wisconsin state court judges

Category:19th-century American lawyers

Category:Deaths from fire in the United States

Category:19th-century members of the Wisconsin Legislature

Category:19th-century mayors of places in Wisconsin