The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1883-02-08

OF the enterprises connected with the
establishing of the now city of Manitowoc.
When the village, little hamlet situated
IT. the midst of swamps bordering on the
Manitowoc River, surrounded by the
dense forest that clustered on these hills
that we now look upon all bare and snow
clad, was first organic ed. the man that
was the first presiding officer was our
departed brother. 1t was organized un-
der its charter on the 18th day of May,
1851, with our departed brother as its
President and another member of the
bar, s. A. Wood, since retired from act
i've practice, as its clerk. In June of the
same year the first church organization
established in the county of Manitowoc
was founded. and among the original
members of the first Presbyterian church
and every church founded within the
county so far as known, 1 found the
name OF the respected and bareaved
widow of our departed brother. Com
ing to this city two years after that, at
tending the same congregation, could
but notice with what regularity Judge
Reed attended upon the ministrations of
that little chapel. He has stamped his
name upon one of the outlying villages
of our county, and now that he has gone
to the grave the village of Reedsville
will perpetuate and carry down to sue
ceeding generations his honored name.
| He held the Office of Senator. the high
est Legislative Office in the gift of the
people of Manitowoc county, for three
consecutive terms. In aiding the ma
terial prosperity of this state, We find
that one of the great main l;:nes of rail
road, reaching into y; nat was but three or
tour years ago, the great northern wilder
ness, was built largely through his in
| fiueuce and through his exertions.
Now, rs to the mental characteristics
| OF our deceased brother, all who were
brought in contact with him felt instinct
lively, even before they had conversed
with him, that they We're in the presence
of man of culture, a man of wide read.
ing, man of deep thought. AS they
| conversed with him and were brought
INTO more intimate contact with him, they
became more and more convinced of the
| fact. 1t was patent to all. He was a
man that was we'll informed upon a great
variety of subjects, man deeply read
IN the higher as well as the more com
mon walks of literature. He was ready
writer. He has sent forth among the
people of the state Of Wisconsin at var
lods times political pamphlets that have
attracted attention, not only within the
borders of this state and by the people
OF this stata, but within the borders and
by the people of other states. He was
perhaps little prolix, little diffuse.
but he was polished and smooth in his
style. He had wide grasp Of mind,
broad and comprehensive views. A man
IN truth, of vast foresight, who could see
the end from small beginning, see it
clearly and grasp it firmly; perceiving
the manner, the ways and means by
which 1t could be wrought out. This
very wide mental grasp of his was at once
a great element of strength in his charac
ter and an element of weakness.
He could, as l have said before see
tue end from the beginning. and see it
clearly; he could grasp the great outlines
OF pro..cct, and grasp them with such
foresight and such keenness of vision
that to him they were clear and plain,
but he had, l think no taste for matters
of detail. In my Judgment. and from
my recollections of what he has said to
me in conversations, this was the one
reason why he discontinued the active
practice of the law. He had but little
desire and little taste for the dry labors
of the law Office, and for working up the
many small details that enter into the
successful management and preparations
OF law suits. But that he was capable of
forming large projects, no one, 1 think,
that knew him, no one that knows his
history can deny. When he came here
In the early days as pioneer in THE will
derness, the situation of Manitowoc VII,
Its magnificent natural harh;1r reaching
out into the bosom 90 the wide lake the
vast forest Of valuable timber living inland.
eho .arge tracts of magnificent farming
land in close proximity, filed his mind
with plans for the future, with prospects
| to make Manitowoc large city, and he
Immediately set to work with an energy
and an industry that was characteristic
of him to realize those projects. Had it
not been for the terrible financial crash
of 1856 and 1857, some of those projects
would no doubt have been realized and
Manitowoc to-day would have been, per-
haps not an equal, but formidable rival
of the city of Milwaukee. Had the iron
horse once gone westward along toe
embankment which he had been the
means of having erected along the Dor
ders of our river, back through the for
ests to Menasha, had but that distance
of railroad at that time been erected, who
can fell what future would have been
secured for this city.
When partial failure came still he was
not discouraged, his mind was still filled
with great projects and we find him be-
ginning further west, interesting eastern
capitalists and laboring himself to get a
great trunk line of r1.iiway built into the
wilderness NORM of the Fox and Wiscon