Husband William Reese 1 2
AKA: William Rees
Born: 1787 - Brecon, Wales 1
Christened:
Died: 4 Aug 1892 3
Buried:
Marriage:
• Family History: from Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, Her People Past and Present (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1914).
To read a sketch of the history of this family, click here.
Wife Elizabeth Joseph 2
AKA: Elizabeth [Unk] 1
Born: Abt 1798
Christened:
Died: 12 Apr 1874 3
Buried:
Children
1 F Rachel Reese 3 4
Born: - Llanelly, near Abergavenny, south Wales
Christened:
Died: Bef 1908
Buried:
2 M Isaac Reese 1 2
AKA: Isaac Rees
Born: 29 Apr 1821 - Llanelly, near Abergavenny, south Wales 1 2
Christened:
Died: 1908 5
Buried:
Spouse: Elizabeth Bebb Jones (1824-1898) 6 7
Marr: 24 May 1844 6 7
3 F Leah Reese 3 4
Born: - Llanelly, near Abergavenny, south Wales
Christened:
Died: Bef 1908
Buried:
4 M Jacob Reese 3 4
Born: Abt 1825 - Llanelly, near Abergavenny, south Wales
Christened:
Died: 25 Mar 1907 - Philadelphia, PA 3 8
Buried:
Spouse: Eliza Matthews ( - ) 3 8
Spouse: Jessie McElroy ( - ) 9
Marr: Autumn, 1901 9
5 F Rebecca Reese 3 4
Born: - Llanelly, near Abergavenny, south Wales
Christened:
Died: Bef 1908
Buried:
6 M Abraham Reese 3
AKA: Abram Reese 4
Born: 1829 - Llanelly, near Abergavenny, south Wales 10
Christened:
Died: Abt 1907
Buried:
Spouse: Mary Godwin ( - ) 3 10
7 M Joseph Reese 3 4
Born: - Llanelly, near Abergavenny, south Wales
Christened:
Died: Abt 1861-1865
Buried:
8 F Mary Ann Reese 3 4
Born:
Christened:
Died: Bef 1908
Buried:
9 M Benjamin Franklin Reese 3 4
Born:
Christened:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Dora Berkey ( - ) 3 11
10 F Elizabeth Reese 3 4
Born:
Christened:
Died: Aft 1908
Buried:
Spouse: Rev. Joel V. Stratton ( - ) 4
General Notes: Husband - William Reese
His father and grandfather were born in Breconshire, Wales. He emigrated to America in 1832 with his family of seven children, all born in Llanelly, near Abergavenny, in southern Wales. Three more children were born in America.
His father went from Wales to Germany in the eighteenth century to build a puddling furnace, of which he took charge for two years, returning at the end of that time to his native country.
He was an iron worker, as was his father before him, the latter building the first iron mill on the borders of France and Germany and living there two years to manage it, returning to his native land (it is said of him) able to speak both French and German fluently.
He and his wife came to America from southern Wales with seven children. They crossed the ocean in the ship "Twin Brothers," which carried on this trip the first railroad iron, flat bars, ever brought to the United States. They landed in Philadelphia in 1832. He had been an ironworker in the mills of the old world, and readily found like employment in this country, first in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, where he was virtually the pioneer ironworker of the state. Later he erected a forge in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, where he managed for some time. Subsequently he moved to Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, where he built the first sand bottom furnace, as applied to puddling, in the United States, and where the first "bloom" under the boiling process was made. He came to Pittsburgh in 1837 and was employed by Hogg, Bealor & Company, shortly after known as Hogg & Hartmann, rolling mill operators, in their mill in Birmingham, the South Side of Pittsburgh, the mill later known as the Fifteenth Street Mill. He remained at this mill for about five years. Next he managed for fifteen years the Spang Rolling Mills in Pine Creek, in the vicinity of Pittsburgh. He then went west and engaged in farming for about ten years, after that returning to Pittsburgh, where he spent the remaining years of his life. He lived to the remarkably advanced age of one hundred and four years. In religious faith he was a Baptist.
He and his wife were plain, God-fearing people. They were uncompromising in their integrity. They organized Sabbath schools and prayer meetings in every community in which they lived if they found none there. They believed in the old proverb, "If there is an idle man there is another starving." They brought up their ten children to habits of industry and thrift.
His cousin, Lewis Rees (the father of Dr. Abraham Rees, the encyclopaedist), was also born in Brecon, and both were descended from the clergyman of the Church of England who held the living of Penderyn, in Breconshire; both Lewis Rees and William Reese have the Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in their respective families.