Joseph Reed was born around 1841 in Pennsylvania to William Reed. His father was a farmer who owned $2,400 of real estate and $1,000 of personal property by 1860. He grew up and attended school in North Beaver, Pennsylvania, and by 1860, he was working as a farm laborer.

 

He enlisted in the Union army on June 28, 1861, and he mustered in as a private in Battery B of the 1^st Pennsylvania Light Artillery. The regiment took part in the Seven Days Battles, the Second Battle of Manassas, the Battle of Antietam, the Battle of Fredericksburg, the Battle of Chancellorsville, the Battle of Gettysburg, and the Overland Campaign. He was promoted to corporal in August 1861 and then to sergeant in April 1864. He mustered out on June 9, 1864.

 

He returned to North Beaver after leaving the army, and he married a woman named Harriet around 1866. They had at least two children: Ira, born around 1867; and Jennie, born around 1875. He worked as a stone mason and farmer, and by 1870, he owned $700 of real estate and $100 of personal property. His wife died in 1916. By 1920, he was living in his son Ira’s household in North Beaver. He died in 1927.

SOURCES