Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-07-25
ROBERT RAYMOND REID. OF
GEORGIA AND FLORIDA.
Judge, COngressman, Governor,
scholar and Gentleman.

Jatdqe Richard H. Clark, in the Sunny South.
There can be little doubt that the an
nouucement above will take the majority of
readers by surprise. Very few of the living
have ever heard of Judge Reid. for he has
been in his grave more than forty years.
While he richly deserves to lives In the
memory Of men, like many other celebrities
Of preceding generations, he has been, ex-
cept to few, either forgotten or never
known. The appreciative reader who has
never heard of him will be struck with
name so alliterative and melodious. 1t fur
nishes one of those few instances in life
where the real name is as beautiful
as any the prolific brain of the novelist can
produce. The coincidence does not stop
here, for this euphonious name was
liuked with high gifts of person and mind,
and a romantic as well as useful life. The
career of Judge Reid is another illustration
of the old adage, that "truth is stranger
than fiction" He died at the age of fifty
one, and yet there were crowded into that
comparatively short space of manhood life
more events than pertains to any other
civilian within my knowledge. These events,
whether Of a private or public nature, are
important enough to record, and when taken
altogether, read like romances. | shall only
briefly refer to them, for the extracts from
his private journal, herewith published, will
give q better idea of his life and character
than the best | could write. He will be beet
known and understood when he speaks for
himself. He was native of Prince Williams
parish, South Carolina. and bis birth day
was the Sth of September, 1889. He went
to school at Beaufort, Savannah and Au-
gusta, and was graduated at the University
of South Carolina. Before he had attained
his twenty first year he was admitted to the
bar, and began the practice at Augusta, Ga.
The rapidly recurring subsequent events
will attest his success. In 1916, at the age
Of twenty-seven. he was elected Judge of
the Middle Circuit, which then embraced
the county of Richmond. This was one of
the three original circuits of the State.
The bench had been occupied by the best
and ablest lawyers of the State. The term
was then three years. Just before the ex-
piration OF his term, in the latter part of
1918, he was elected to the Congress of the
United States. Thus he literally stepped
from the bench into Congress. In 1920 he
was reelected to Congress. Just as his last
Congressional term expired, in 1891, he wss
replaced on the bench of the Middle Circuit,
continuing there until the expiration of his
term in 1925. His retirement from the
bench at that time was due to his being a
Troup man, for while the Troup men elected
their Governor, the Clark men carried the
Legislature. The majority took care that
opposition should be made to every Circuit
Judge who was for Troup, and their places
supplied with Clark men. AS a consequence
Judges Reid, Longstreet, Clayton, Shorter
and Thaddeus Goode Holt, were retired.
l think this was the first instance in the
history OF the State where party politics
entered into the election Of the Judges. The
precedent, with very few exceptions, has
been followed ever since. Two years there
after, in 1927, and before the expiration of
the term of Judge William Schley, the
incumbent Of the Circuit Bench, Judge
Reid was elected by the Legislature Judge
of the City Court of Augusta, and was re-
elected in 1929. That court was then very
little inferior in dignity to the Superior, and
its Bench before aud since has been filled by
men OF equal worth and ability. For one
or more terms he was Mayor of the city OF
AUGUSTA.
While the occupant Of the bench of the
City Court he in 1923 was elected one of the
Presidential electors OF the State. aud aided
in casting the vote of Georgia for General
Jackson for his first term. In January, 1881,
Judge Reid had the misfortune to lose his
second wife. By this calamity 1t is said sshis
day of happiness was gone. His house
was sad and place of misery-the presence
of old objects-even old friends-gave him
pain, all reviving the memory of the past
and his own desolation." To change the
scene his friends applied to President Jack
son, and on the oath of May, 1882, he was
commissioned Judge OF the United States
Court for the Eastern district of Florida.
He continued in that Office uHtil 1899.
when he was appointed by President Van
Buren Territorial Governor of Florida, This
necessitated his removal to Tallahassee the
seat of government. By the election of
General Harrison to the Presidency. a change
took place In the politics OF the Federal adj.
ministration, and in April, 1S41, Judge Reid
was superseded as Governor of Florida. He
then retired to his plantation home, called
BlackWood, seven miles from Tallahassee.
ana there, as have stated, died on the sue
ceeding lst Of July, before he had attained
MS hfty-second year. This chronology of
Judge Reid's political and official life sug-
gests a prodigious personal and political
popularity. From the beginning OF his ca
reer as Judge in 1915, to within few
months of his death. he was almost CON
tinuously in high official position. When
ever his constituency of city, county or
State had the opportunity, they put him
In offlce. Out of a manhood life of
thirty years, he was twenty-five years in
office, and this leaves as blank the five or
six years from the time he became Of age,
until he first became Judge, during which
he was likely sent to the State Legislature
The personal worth and magnetism of such
man must have been beyond description.
During the time that Judge Reid was thus
In popular favor and held these dignifed
official positions, he was doomed to much
SORROW In the sickness and death Of wife
and children. He was three times married
He was first married to Miss Anna NJ. Nc
Laws, OF Augusta, Ca, in 1911. She died
In 1925. In 1929 he married Miss Elizabeth
Virginia Randolph, of Columbia county,
Ca, and she died on the 22d Of January,
1881. In 1887 he married Mary Martha
Smith, of Camden county, Ga, who sur
viVed him, and is probably yet living.
Her residence was Fernandina, Fla.
bis first wife was the sister Of Jas.
McLaws, of Augusta, and the aunt of
General Lafayette McLsws. From his first
marriage until bis death is just thirty wears.
and yet he was widower at one time four
years, and at another six years, reducing
his whole married life to twenty wears
There were five children OF the irst mar
riage, none Of the second, and one Surviving
of the last--a son named Raymond Jenclxes
The Oldest daughter married her cousia
Charles Black. who removed to Florida and