EDWARD SHIELDS REID

Born: 28 Jun 1859, Abersychan, Monmouth, Wales

Parents: Edward and Sarah Shields Reid

Died: 3 Feb 1946, North Salt Lake, David, Utah

Arrived in Valley: 12 Sep 1861, John R. Murdock Co.

Married: Mary Losana Page

Date: 22 Sep 1881, Salt Lake City, Utah

Born: 2 Jan 1862, Payson, Utah, Utah

Parents: Jonathan Socwell and Mary Leaver Page

Died: 28 Mar 1918, Preston, Franklin, Idaho

Edward was two years old when his parents brought him across the plains. He rode most of the way on his father's shoulders. His father was descended from a Scotch family who had migrated to Ireland. When asked how he could be a Scotsman and be born in Ireland, he would answer, “If a cat had kittens in the oven, would they be biscuits?”

The Reid family settled in Payson where Edward attended school. When he was about 13, the family moved to Salt Lake where his father was a tailor. He attended school there and remembered the spelling matches where he excelled. His close friend was the son of Porter Rockwell.

The family moved back to Payson when he was teenager and he obtained work at saw mills, brick yards, and lumber yards. He also worked at some of the local ranches and at a silver mine.

At the age of 20, he and a friend traveled to Montana where they worked on a freight line. He returned in 1881 to Payson where he and Mary were married. They lived in Oxford, Idaho, for a time and then in 1903, he purchased a farm in Preston, Idaho, where the children could attend some good schools.

Following the death of Mary, he sold his farm and moved to Logan to be near his daughter. Later he moved to North Salt Lake where he built a home and raised chickens and strawberries.

Once in awhile he worked as a front-desk clerk in hotels. He was a talented and skillful builder and was always engaged in remodeling or improving his children's homes. He was a kind, loving, and generous man.

Taken From: “Stalwart Mormon Pioneers, Conquerors of the West” Sons of the Utah Pioneers