Brief History of James "Jim" Warren Reed

From the Family Story written by Velma Reed Reynolds, daughter of Gilbert, which had been added to and some dates corrected by Marilee Cornum Vannoy, granddaughter of Lizzie. Copy of James Warren Reed's death certificate in possession of Marilee Vannoy. Threadgill information from Crystal Cornum Baker.Velma Reynolds original story is in the Book "Joseph Reed St. and His Family Through The Years" by: Clefaine Reed King, Pub. 1991, pages 134-135.

James "Jim" Warren Reed

James "Jim" Warren Reed was the ninth child and sixth son of John Leverett Reed, Sr., and Mary Ann Bird. He was born the 3rd of May, 1849, in Lexington, Henderson County, Tennessee. His father's family being the first white settlers there. His father was born in Georgia and moved to Tennessee as a young boy, and his Mother was born in Virginia.

Julia Frances Threadgill

 At the age of 24, he married Julia Frances Threadgill, who was a beautiful young lady of 18. Julia was the seventh child of nine children of Harvey Gilbert Threadgill and Elizabeth Pearl Collins. She was born the 18th of August, 1855, in Lexington, Henderson County, Tennessee. Her Father was born in North Carolina and her Mother in Virginia.


They were married just a week before Christmas, and started their married life on a farm about five miles southeast of Lexington. It was here their first child, James Gilbert Reed, was born.

When Gilbert was three years of age, his mother, Julia, became ill with tuberculosis. She spent most of a year in bed. About the end of that year, a preacher, known as Robert Edge visited their home several times. During one of his visits, he gave her a blessing promising her she would be made well--she was healed almost instantly.

About a year later, she and her husband, James, and other members of the Reed family including James' mother, Mary Ann Bird, joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. They were baptized May 24, 1880, there in Henderson County, Tennessee. Julia's parent were not accepting of the Church, in fact due to her baptism they disowned her. Later it was found out, through some Threadgill genealogy research, that Julia's parents had disowned her to the extent that on their family records, they recorded her as dying as a child.

Due to persecution of Southern members of the Church, the Reeds (and others) were forced to leave their Tennessee homes; they emigrated to the San Luis Valley, Colorado, in November 1880, following their baptisms in the spring.

Velma Reynolds, a granddaughter, has observed:
It was very hard for Grandma and Grandpa to have to leave their home and other members of their families, but they were forced to. By then they had three children, Dad (Gilbert), Aunt Annie, and Aunt Naomi. Dad was five years old.

When they arrived in the Valley, Jim De Priest, met them and took them to his home in Manassa. The De Priests and some other people that had joined the Church from Hickman County, Tennessee, had come in about 1878 or 1879.

They stayed in the De Prist home for a short time; then they moved to the old fort at Los Cerritos, just south of Manassa. From there Jim and His family moved to Ephraim. Ephraim was northeast of Manassa in a rather low swampy place. They lived in Ephraim for six or seven years before the people were asked to move north to higher ground where Sanford is now located.

Jim and family moved from Ephraim to Sanford in 1887. They bought a lot one block east of the main street, where the Sanford Town Park now is. It was the southeast corner of the block. They built an addition, called a lean-to, on the east side. This lean-to was divided into a pantry and kitchen, and a very small bedroom. The bedroom was about two feet wider than a double bed and about four feet longer. They lived in that house with their eight children, and it was in that house that Jim's wife, Julia, passed away early on Christmas Day. She had giving birth to her last son, Ralph, Christmas Eve, 1892.

Julia's son, Gilbert, had gone to the Christmas Eve dance and was called home a little early, due to the critical illness of his Mother. He went for the doctor, but by the time he returned, his mother was dead. Julia left a large family, two sons and six daughters.

Gilbert being the oldest was almost 18, Annie was 15, Naomi was 13, Hattie was 10, Alice was 8, Addie was 6, Lizzie was 3, and new baby Ralph was only a few hours old.
After Julia passed away, Sister Ira Whitney helped care for the new baby until her death a few months later. At that time, the older daughters had the care of the baby.

The next Christmas was just as sad, with still the memories of loosing their dear Mother and Wife, on Christmas Day. Addie, who had just turned seven years old, passed away two days after Christmas. Christmas was a time of very much sadness for Jim and his family.

In spite of his deep sorrow, Jim carried on. He managed to accumulate sixty acres of farm land in the Ephraim area and latter bought eighty acres of land across the road and a little north of Bountiful. He was a loving and caring father and worked hard to make a living for his family.

Unfortunately, he had diabetes, and finally, like his brother, John Leverett, he developed gangrene in his foot. The doctor amputated his big toe. Unexpectedly, while changing the bandage on his foot, his daughter, Naomi found a small piece of metal lodged against the bone of his toe. The doctor had broken this piece of metal from the knife he used to cut off the toe. It wasn't long after this that the gangrene had spread, and on April 24, 1925, James Warren Reed died (thirty-three years after his wife's death). He was buried by the side of his wife Julia, with Addie on the other side of her, in the Sanford Cemetery.



Hattie Reed Bates, Gilbert Reed, Lizzie Reed Cornum, Alice Reed, Ralph Reed in Sanford, CO


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