Pylant Geneology

GENEALOGY OF THE REEDER FAMILY - by W. A. Dickson (This article appeared in the Oconee News on 29 June 1893 in Walhalla, South Carolina.)

 Just when Jonathan Reeder, the founder of the family of that name in Oconee, came here and where he came from are matters of speculation even with such of his descendants as I have conferred with.  It is generally believed, however, that he was a Virginian and it is very certain that he came here in the opening years of the present century. At any rate, he was one of the first settlers of Oconee and was a most substantial citizen in all respects.  Success attended all his business enterprises and he accumulated much property in land and negroes, and was able to give all his children a fair start in life. He was an indulgent creditor even in the time when the laws with reference to the payment of debts were more far reaching than now; and being a man of unassuming manners and endowed with a temperament held in balance by the milk of human kindness, it is probable that he passed out of this world without an enemy.  On coming to this country he located on what is now known as the Allman land, near Fair Play, and finished out his life there.  His body, together with that of his wife - of whose name and parentage I am unadvised - and nearly all their children rests in the old graveyard near the site of the family residence. The premises are now owned and occupied by Joe Sharp, a colored man.  Jonathan Reeder was an ardent believer in the principles of ancient Freemasonry and was for a long time an active member of the order. In his religious beliefs he was a Universalian, and in this several of his children adhered to with him; but at the present day his descendants are divided between Baptists and Methodists. One of his daughters, the mother of Samuel V. Harbin, was a firm believer in Presbyterianism, but she never united with the church.  About the period of the war, it is probable that the Reeders were the most numerous family in the county, excepting the Marets, but now there are not half a dozen male representatives of the family in Oconee.  There are but two grandsons living in Oconee of the name - J. L. Reeder of South Union, and W. H. Reeder, formerly Old Pickens, now living at Walhalla.  Two of Jonathan Reeder's sons - Benjamin Franklin and James H. - served in the closing months of the late war under the call that drew out the "old men" but a large number of his grandsons were active soldiers under the banner of the Southern Confederacy from start to finish. One, Lewis H. Reeder, now dead, was a gallant lieutenant in Orr's Rifles; and three others - Thomas Reeder, Jerry Cleveland, and James Reeder - as members of the 22nd S. C. Volunteers, by a sad fatality were buried alive by the explosion of Burnside's mine at Petersburg, Virginia, July 30, 1864. Another grandson, Nat Harbin, belonging to a command of 17 year olds was mortally wounded in a skirmish with the enemy on the coast of South Carolina in the spring of 1865.  I give below a list of Jonathan Reeder's descendants to the fourth generation.  His children on the order of priority were: Polly, Samuel Cherry, Lewis, Andrew M. Pickens, Rebecca, James Harrison, Benjamin Franklin, Matilda, Milton and Amanda F. Benjamin Franklin married Laura Michem, and these are their children: Harriet married John Simmons; James killed at Petersburg; Polly married James Simmons; Berry L. married Eliz Bearden; John Pickens married Josephine Hunt; Mattie married Joseph H. Kay, first, and the second time ______ Scott of Texas; Amanda, Joseph S. Isbell; Grace married ______ Jones of Texas.