Stephen Reed

	Reed

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The first documentation of an African-American settler in Mecosta County Michigan was James Guy. His deed was signed by Abraham Lincoln. He obtained 160 acres in Wheatland Township on May 30, 1861. The Homestead Act of 1862 allowed each settler 160 acres in Michigan. By 1873 African-Americans owned 1,392 acres in the three counties of Isabella, Mecosta and Montcalm. Most of the land where Remus sits in the 1860's was owned by the Old Settlers.

Stephen Reed

Pictures Courtesy of Ken Todd

& Marvin Lett

Eliza Norman and Elisha Reed

Eliza Norman - Daughter of George Norman

and Sister of

Grandson II - Bertha Reed-Lett's Mother

Bertha (Hackley) Lett

Daughter of

Eliza Norman & Elisha Reed

Elizabeth (Reed) Harris

Theodore R. & Gertrude L.

(Harris) Reed

Gertrude & Ted Reed, Jr.

Juanita, Paula &

Gertrude (Harris) Reed

Theodore Reed, Sr.

Gertrude Harris Reed,

Theodore Reed, Juanita Harris

Front: Paula & Juanita Reed

Fairplains Township 1870 Census lists: Reed, Stephen age 70, male, mulatto from Kentucky. Wife: Nancy age 60 female, also Kentucky. Children: Elisha 30, Deliah and Abner 21. It is believed that they also had a son named Alvin. No other children are known. The census also lists Avlance Hollingsworth age 15 as staying with Stephen and Nancy Reed in the 1884 Census. In the Millbrook Township Census, James H. Reed is listed as a stepson to the Hollingsworth. His mother or father could have been a child of Stephen and Nancy Reed.

Elisha Reed married Eliza Jane Norman Hackley. Their children were: Bertha, Bell, and Ret. Bertha Reed married Ira Lett. Bell Reed married Arthur Totten. Their children were: Doris and George. Doris married Paul Totten and their children were: Betty, Mary and George. These children were adopted by their great aunt and her husband, Bertha Reed and Ira (Doc) Lett.


	Reed

There are "Old Settlers" who came from Canada via "The Underground Railroad." It was the most dramatic nonviolent protest against slavery in the United States that began in the Colonial Era and reached its peak between 1830 and 1865. An estimated 30,000 to 100,000 slaves used the "railroad" to get to Canada; many others escaped to Mexico, the Caribbean, and Europe.