James Harrison Reed and Wife Nancy Jane Lillard

At the age of 26, William Gray’s younger brother James Harrison ran Good’s Mill, which was a grist mill located near Port Republic in Rockingham Co., VA, about six miles southeast of Harrisonburg and four miles southwest of McGaheysville. At the time, James lodged with the William Warner Carpenter family at their farm on Pineville Road, which was within a mile or two of Good’s Mill. James had worked from an early age and willingly parted with his earnings to help his family.

James married Nancy Jane Lillard, who was born 26 Feb 1829 in Virginia to Hedgeman Lillard and Margaret “Patsy” Bradley, likely in Rockingham Co., on 19 May 1851. According to the 1850 census a Jane Millard, who was born in 1829, was living at the Jacob Barley farm, which was located in same district as the Carpenter farm. Jacob Barley’s wife Phebe was a Henton and related to William Carpenter’s wife. If this were in fact Nancy Jane Lillard it would explain why James and Nancy would have been easily acquainted.

Ida L. Reed, James’ second daughter, indicated that James had been encouraged to invest in the frontier of Western Virginia, so in 1859 James and Nancy picked up their young family and moved from the valley below the Massanutten Mountain to Barbour Co., West Virginia, where James had purchased some uncleared land. This trip would have been over 140 miles. There they resided in Pleasant Township just north of Arden across the scenic Tygart River. According to the 1860 census, James was a farmer with land valued at $1500 and home valued at $282. The 1860 census also indicated that James belonged to the Church of the United Brethren in Christ. He may have joined while living with William Carpenter in Rockingham Co., VA, as they lived very close to the Mt. Olive Brethren Church.

James supposedly lost much wealth after a bank collapse during the Civil War. The bank was probably in Elkton, Rockingham Co., VA. James lost all of his holdings in Virginia at the time and he struggled the rest of his life to regain what he had lost.

James was a devout Christian, which bolstered his spirits against his worldly troubles. He would often entertain preachers and missionaries of various faiths in his home. His home library included a book on the world’s creation, “The Book of Nature” by John Mason Good, and a copy of a “Life a Christ” by Rev. Williams Hanna. These books, which he refused to sell to those visitors who wished to have them, James instead gave the books away to them. One of his favorite things to say was, “We must look up through Nature to Nature’s God.” It is no wonder that one of his daughters became a famous hymn writer, and one of his sons a preacher.

In addition to the spiritual references, the Reed library included copies of “Graham’s Magazine of Literature and Art,” a periodical which included the works of great writers such as Edgar Allen Poe and Jules Verne. Their daughter Ida treasured these books, and they attest to the fact that they were a learned family.

James died on 31 Aug 1892, a little less than a month before his 69^th birthday. He most certainly died from some lung disease associated with his work in the mills. The following is the account from Ida’s autobiography:

My father had been ill for long years with lingering consumption, or tuberculosis, and was at this time slowly dying. He had never recovered fully after leaving the mill in Virginia, but the change to open air work no doubt prolonged his life for many years. Like many others who suffer from this disease in this form, he clung to his work as long as a strong will could drive his frail body to do its bidding and when he could no longer do even the light tasks to make the days seem less long, he went feebly about the house, lying down more and more often to rest as he grew weaker.

James was laid to rest in Mariah’s Chapel Cemetery in Clemtown, a few miles from his home.

(Photo courtesy of Edwin Ball)