Gary was born in downtown Oklahoma City, at the old Mercy Hospital. He is an architectural draftsman, having been in that line of work since 1977. He also has a B.A. in graphic design from the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond. Gary is an artist, as well as an amateur musician, writer and genealogist.
In August 2002, Gary founded the Rea Surname DNA Project, which has since grown to over one hundred members (as of 2009) in five countries (the U.S., the UK, Canada, Ireland and Australia) and has had many DNA matches, including matches between Reas and MacRaes, proving the Rea "sept" (allied family or surname) of the Clan MacRae is more than just a fraternal relationship.
Russell was a civil engineer. After completing his B.S. in civil engineering at the University of Minnesota in 1948, he worked, briefly, for the Minnesota State Highway Dept.
June 28 in probably 1944 or 1945, he graduated from Advanced Bombardier School while in the U.S. Army Air Force at Big Spring, Texas. His graduation photo was taken at Iowa City, Iowa.
Russell was working in St. Louis, Missouri as an engineer, and this is where a friend and co-worker introduced him to Mary Alice Cannon. The two were married and moved to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1950. There, Russell worked, first, for Guy Treat at Treat Engineering Company, which has long since been defunct. He left after Mr. Treat died of a heart attack and the office folded. In May 1956, he began working for Benham Engineering Company (today known as The Benham Companies), from which he retired in 1986. In between, from October 1963 to March 1968, he worked for Glendening & Associates, another Oklahoma City engineering firm which has long since gone out of business. It was in March of 1968 that he returned to work at Benham, which, by then, had changed its named to Benham-Blair & Affiliates.Dad had our first house built in the then-new Village of Oklahoma City, at 9521 Ridgeview Drive. The house was completed in February of 1954 and on March 7, 1954, we moved in, Mom, Dad and myself, age 17 months. Prior to this, we had been living at Rancho Village Apartments, 1342 S.W. 38th Street in Oklahoma City, where Mom and Dad were living when I was born.
Among my father's several interests was model railroading and photographing and cataloging actual deisel locomotives. This was a life-long interest of his, precipitated by his boyhood in Tracy, Minnesota, a town which grew up around a rail stop. Russell also had an intense interest in history and had many books dealing with American history, in particular, WWII.
During the war, his college days were interrupted by a breif period of service in the Army Air Force, in which he was first trained as a bombardier, then changed to meteorology, just as the war was coming to a close.
Dad was a meticuluous record keeper, right up until his death. In 1996, found a small notebook he kept of some of his expenses, from the early 1950s. In this I found that my baby crib cost $28 in 1952. This is in a list of all the furniture I so well remember living with as a child. He had the cost of every piece, including sales tax. My high chair cost $12.75, and my stroller was $15.95 ($16.27 with tax). Being the engineer that he was, he even drew detail drawings of some of the parts of the appliances in the kitchen. I was surprised to see an entry that said, "sale of shotgun, Jan. 1, '54, $75.00." I had never known my father to possess a gun in his life. No doubt Mom had convinced him to sell it. In fact, Dad was never a sportsman, to speak of. I recall him fishing with his father at Lake Shetek, in Minnesota, when I was about five or six, but that was the only time I recall seeing him fish. There are photos of he and my mother, taken before I was born, camping at Mt. Scott, in Oklahoma, so, apparently, he did engage in some outdoorsmanship in his younger years.
Some other items of interest in Dad's notebook: his Oklahoma state income tax was a whopping $25 in 1954. His income, as a civil engineer in 1954, was $521.50 per month, or about $137.30 per week, which was pretty good in those days. It supported us in our new home, which Dad had built the same year. Of course, there were only three of us at that time. Two years later, my sister came along, and my brother the year after that.
Dad's car (described only as "automobile") in December 1957 had 20,667 miles on it and it cost $11.89 to lube the chassis, change the oil, check the transmission fluid, the differential, the air cleaner, and install a new oil filter. The same thing Jiffy Lube does now for about $30.
Dad kept detailed records of his daily expenses on the road when we took our longest vacation ever, in 1957. For example, the turnpike toll from Oklahoma City to Tulsa was $1.30. He stopped for gas in Miami, Oklahoma and that cost $5.21. Lunch was $5.40 for our family of five. His gas mileage wasn't bad, for the fifties: 18.2 mpg. He bought tobacco and cigars in St. Louis, Missouri for $1.20, and while he was at it, he bought souvenirs for Cynthia, Bruce and I that cost $5.60 total. Beer was $1.09 and our motel room that night cost $11.50. Our motel room in Bowling Green, Kentucky cost $13.62 for the night. We had lunch the next day at Mammoth Cave for $2.15.
From The Oklahoma City Journal Record, April 1, 1997:
NOTICE OF HEARING:
PETITION FOR DISTRIBUTION, DETERMINATION OF HEIRS AT LAW AND DISCHARGE OF CO-PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVES Case No. P-96-907-46 In the District Court of Oklahoma County, State of Oklahoma. In the Matter of the Estate of Russell A. Rea, Deceased. NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that Gary S. Rea and Cynthia A. Rea, Co- Personal Representatives of the Estate of Russell A. Rea, Deceased, having filed in this Court their Petition for Distribution, Determination of Heirs at Law and Discharge of Co-Personal Representatives, the hearing of same has been set by the Judge of the District Court on the 21st day of April, 1997, at 9:00 o'clock A.M. before The Honorable James H. Paddleford, Judge of the District Court, and all persons interested in said Estate are notified to then and there appear and show cause, if any they have, why the said account should not be settled and allowed, the heirs of said Deceased determined and the Estate distributed. Dated this 31st day of March, 1997. THOMAS S. BALA
Mary was a secretary, as a young woman, and became a homemaker after marrying Russell Allen Rea in the late 1940s. Mary sang in the choir at United Covenant Presbyterian Church, located on Ridgeview Drive in the Village (in Oklahoma City). One of Mary's hobbies was oil painting.
Noel was a postal worker in Tracy, Minnesota. His father had been a prominent Tracy businessman and postmaster of Tracy. Noel was a rockhound and spent many hours in his basement grinding and polishing stones, which he then used to make jewelry. He and Luella lived at 124 Emory Street, in Tracy, and owned a small cabin at Lake Shetek, known as Rea's Red Shed. The 1920 census shows Noel was living at home with his parents at 19, working as a printer for the Tracy Headlight-Herald. This was just before he and Luella Larson married.
Noel served in the U.S. Army during WWI, in 1918, as a motor pool chauffeur and auto mechanic. He was trained at Fort Monroe, Virginia and served in France, keeping army vehicles in operation.
The following is my transcription of a letter from Noel to his grandmother, Mary (Wheelock) Bates, written when he was serving in the army during WWI. The letter, as I have it, was published in the Tracy Weekly Trumpet (four months later, it changed to the Tracy Headlight-Herald, following the death - from influenza - of Noel's older brother Elgin, who had been managing the paper for their father, in November 1918. The paper was sold, first, to J. T. Johnsrud who failed to make it profitable, then it was arranged by O.J. Rea - Noel's father and the publisher of the Weekly Trumpet - for J. D. Gilpin to assume Johnsrud's debts, and the paper) :
Fortress Monroe, Virginia
July 28, 1918Dear Grandma:
I received your letter tonight. I didn't get any mail yesterday. Today has been a little cooler than usual and it tried to rain several times but always cleared off. I suppose you know I have moved for a month to take this course. I think I was quite lucky in getting it as it will probably save a lot of walking and sleeping in the mud of France and I can also see a lot more of the country. But, I can't tell until I get there. We will be on most anything, from a tractor to a motorcycle. I think we will be driving some kind of a machine, though, and pretty soon. I mean within a few months at the most. Because the instructor says that they are in need of a lot of chauffeurs who can drive and make the small repairs. This month will be to learn all the parts and what they are for and how to fix them. It cost the government quite a lot to put us here and will be worth something when we get out, too. We haven't any Oldsmobile here but use the Paige as a model in the instruction room. Some of the tractors are 150 horse power and have those caterpillar wheels. This is a pretty place. Maybe Grandpa [Allen Bates] has been here before. The old stone wall with the moat around it is still here. It was built in 1803 and the cell where Jefferson Davis was imprisoned is here. Probably this place is on the map as it guards the entrance to the harbor. Norfolk is up the bay a ways and there are a lot of sailors around. There are a lot of battleships here. I saw a submarine chaser with a captive balloon going out today. I suppose it was hunting for German submarines. The airplanes and biplanes are as thick here as autos. I sent Nona [Noel's older sister] a post card of one of the gates out of the fort looking across the moat up the street by the Y.M.C.A. The last two weeks we are here we drive. They put cars in the ditch and we have to get them out and we also have night driving without any lights. The worst roads in Minnesota don't compare with the roads here. When we came down in trucks from camp Eustis, it took six or seven hours. The trucks drive and steer from all four wheels and several times we got stuck. They have men with mules all along the road to pull cars out when they get stuck. I will quit now.
With love,
Noel B. Rea,
Chauffeurs Barracks C.A.S.D.
Fortress Monroe, Virginia
Luella was a quiet woman who never had very much to say about herself, as I recall, hence, I don't know much about her. The few times I remember seeing my grandparents, neither of them really left any memorable impression, other than Noel's rock collecting. My grandparents lived so far away and, when we went on vacations, we'd usually go to St. Louis to see my mother's folks, since they were closer. The last time I saw my father's parents was when I was 14 and Dad and I took a drive up to Tracy from St. Louis, leaving Mom, Cynthia and Bruce with Mom's parents. Then we came back to St. Louis.
Elmer was born at Hickory Plains, Arkansas, where his father owned a saw mill from 1903 to 1906. Elmer graduated from Moberly High School in Moberly, Missouri in 1924. He worked for Kroger Grocery Store in Moberly in 1925 and was promoted to manager of the store in Salisbury, Missouri. This store closed ten months later and Elmer returned to the main store in Moberly, where he worked as a clerk until September 1926. He then went to St. Louis to work for Stix Baer & Fuller in the Clothing department. He made weekend trips to Moberly and met an old school friend who told him there was a vacany in the Passenger Department of the Wabash Railroad in St. Louis. Upon his return to St. Louis, Elmer applied for the job and was accepted as a clerk on September 15, 1926. On August 1, 1928 he was promoted to Secretary to the General Baggage Agent in St. Louis. In this position, Elmer became familiar with mail and express handling and in March of 1929, he was promoted to Supervisor of Mail, Baggage and Express Traffic for the Wabash System. When the Wabash merged with the Norfolk & Western Railway, October 1, 1964, Elmer's title was changed to Manager of Mail, Baggage and Express Traffic, Western Region. He was transferred to Roanoke, Virginia February 1, 1968. He retired December 31, 1970 after forty-four years of service. At this point, he and Irma moved back to St. Louis, where he lived out the remainder of his life. Elmer's hobbies included oil painting and photography, and, of course, he was a Cardinals fan. Elmer's funeral was on the occasion of my 38th birthday.
Elmer had been sent to the home of his paternal grandmother, with his sister Ethel, when he was two years old, following the death of his mother, Mary Charlestonia Rollins. He and Ethel were raised by Sarah Catherine Lewis until their father remarried, at which time they returned to live with him and their new stepmother. I recall my parents telling me that Elmer had grown up hating his stepmother.
Orvin James Rea was a prominent businessman in the small Southwestern Minnesota town of Tracy. O. J.'s father, James A. Rea, born in 1827 in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, moved to the Akron, Ohio area sometime around the late 1840s. Here he met Lucinda Barbour, and the two were married. In 1853, Lela, the first of their seven children, was born. It was during the 1850s that the Reas settled in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. In 1855, their eldest son, Alfred, was born, followed, two years later, by a second daughter, Lulilia. By 1860, James had become a hotel keeper in Oshkosh, and another son, Merchant, had been born.
In 1870, the Reas moved to Sparta, Wisconsin, where they opened another hotel. Why this occurred is not known, and neither is their reason for relocating again, in 1877, to Marshall, in Lyon County, Minnesota. O.J. went to Sparta High School.
In June of 1880, the census tells us that James A. Rea had changed occupations after moving to Minnesota, and was now a miller. The Reas' second eldest son, Merchant, who went by "Merch", was an apprentice harness maker and 20 years old by now. O. J. was now a young man of 18 (though, again, the census reports his age as being a year younger than it should have been at this time), and was already an apprentice printer, working for the Monroe County Republican. When the Lyon County News was established in Marshall by Todd & Edes in the spring of 1879 he became the first printer on that paper, and a little later he went to Currie, then to the county seat of Murray county, and accepted a position on the Currie Pioneer. He removed to Marshall in the winter of 1881 and for the next three and one-half years worked for C. F. Case on the Marshall Messenger. He had charge of the Temperance Review job office at Minneapolis for a time, worked over a year for C. C. Whitney on the Marshall News-Messenger, and spent one summer in Chicago, working in printing offices and as a substitute printer on the Times when Story was the editor.
The 1880 census shows that O.J.'s little brothers Clyde and Pearl were sent to live with their older siblings Alfred and Ida, respectively, apparently because their mother was suffering from a long illness that ended her life three years later. Evidently, their father, James was unable to raise the younger children himself. Lucinda probably was sent to a hospital in Minneapolis, which is where she died in 1883.
In 1885, as a young man of 23, O. J. left home and moved to nearby Tracy, where he would become one of that town's leading citizens. Three years later, he married Clara Isabel Bates, the second of the two daughters of Allen Bates and Mary C. Wheelock. The Bates family had come from Dudley, Massachusetts in 1875, had returned to Massachusetts for a time, and moved back to Tracy again in 1880.
The marriage of O. J. Rea and Clara bates produced six children: Elgin, Nona (born in 1890), Doris (born in 1895), Lois, Noel (my grandfather; born in 1900), and Leon (born in 1905). Things were looking good for the Reas, and for the Bates's, as well. Clara's father opened a store and restaurant in downtown Tracy in 1887. Tragedy would strike, however, four years later, when the downtown fire of 1891 claimed every building within a one block area, including Allen Bates' store on Front Street. It was a total loss, but Allen rebuilt the store and sold it in 1904, retiring at 59.
The oldest newspaper in Tracy was the Tracy Republican-Trumpet, founded prior to 1880 by W. D. Kutchlin as the Tracy Gazette. The paper was later purchased by W. M. Todd, who then sold it, in 1894 to O. J. Rea and H. C. Buckingham, who changed the name to the Tracy Weekly Herald. O. J. was now 32, and had been a reporter and writer for several years. Having been elected as an alderman to the first ward of the newly incorporated City of Tracy, in 1893, O. J. Rea was fast becoming a successful businessman and a respected member of the community. Allen Bates had been elected as an alderman to the second ward at the same time. On August 3rd, 1897, O. J. Rea was elected President of the 1st Common Council of the City of Tracy.At 46, in 1908, owning several buildings in downtown Tracy, as well as the city's only newspaper, O. J. bought an interest in the newly incorporated Houston Pen Company, the first company to manufacture fountain pens, and he became its Vice President. In 1910, the company was cited as one of the four industries to have most benefitted Tracy. The company's building would barely escape destruction, though, in the fire of July 6, 1911.
O. J.'s business interests continued to grow as he became President of the newly formed Tracy Savings & Loan in 1910. In 1911, in order to keep up with increasing demand for it's products, the Houston Pen Company was faced with the need to expand its facilities. Other cities offered to finance the expansion, but with the stipulation that the growing company would move its facilities to the city offering the financial aid. Although O. J. tried to compromise so the Houston Pen Company might remain in Tracy, it was eventually decided that the company would be moved to Sioux City, Iowa, and so Tracy lost one of its major enterprises in 1912.
By 1918, many young men from Tracy had lost their lives in muddy trenches on the battlefields of France. O. J., fearful of losing his son, Elgin, had made the young man President and publisher of the Tracy Weekly Herald in 1914, and O. J. himself became Postmaster of Tracy. He was shown as Postmaster in the 1920 census. Elgin was beginning to show signs of being as good a businessman as his father, when his life was cut tragically short on November 8th by the great influenza pandemic of 1918. The flu had circled the earth in only ten months, killing millions worldwide. O. J. was shattered by the loss and sold the Herald to J. T. Johnsrud. Johnsrud wasn't half the businessman that Elgin had been, though, and failed to make a profit from the paper. O. J. arranged for J. D. Gilpin, the publisher of the competing Tracy Headlight, to assume Johnsrud's debts, and so ownership of the Tracy Weekly Herald passed to J. D. Gilpin, who changed its name to the Tracy Headlight-Herald, which it is still called today.
As though the loss of Elgin hadn't been enough, O. J.'s son, Leon, the "baby" of the family, had taken off for Chicago, where he had fallen in with the wrong crowd and was living the life of a gangster, probably working for Irish-American gangster "Buggs" Moran. At 28, he was murdered by Al Capone's gang.
At 60, in 1922, O. J. Rea retired from his position as Postmaster and he and Clara moved to sunny Lakeland, Florida. Here, O. J. and Clara lived out the remainder of their lives, far from the harsh cold of the Minnesota winters. On Saturday, June 8, 1940, O. J. Rea died. He was buried in Tracy Cemetery, and on December 27, 1950, Clara joined him in death. The two lay side-by-side in Tracy Cemetery today, with their son Elgin at their feet.
Noel Bates Rea went on to become a postal service employee in Tracy. He married Luella Larson on August 17, 1920, after a surprise wedding announcement. The couple had three children: Loren, June, and my father, Russell Allen Rea.Here is a photo of O.J. and his family, circa 1907. http://www.familyoldphotos.com/4c/2o/orvin_james_rea_and_family.htm
Left to right front row: Nona Rea (1890-1990), Elgin Rea (1893-1918), Doris Rea (1894-1973), Noel Bates Rea (1900-1974), Lois Rea, and Leon D. Rea (1905-1933). Back row, Clara Isabel Bates Rea (1870-1950) and Orvin James Rea (1862-1940).Here is another photo, of (L-R) O.J.'s brother-in-law's son, Arthur Healy, O.J. himself, and O.J's brother, Merchant Creighton Rea, probably taken at O.J.'s home in Florida sometime in the 1930s: http://www.familyoldphotos.com/4c/2a/arthur_healy_o_j_rea_and_merchan.htm
The following is a biography from "An Illustrated History of Lyon County":
ORVIN J. REA (1877) is editor and proprietor of the Tracy Weekly Herald and a former postmaster of that city. He is an old-time newspaper man of Lyon county and has devoted his entire life to the printing and publishing business. He has taken a leading part in the affairs of his county and city and is rated one of Tracy's most progressive citizens. In Oshkosh, Wisconsin, on March 7, 1862, occurred the nativity of Orvin J. Rea. He is one of a family of eight children, the others being Ida (deceased), Art A., Lilly (deceased), Merch C., Clyde W. (deceased), Pearl E. and Jesse G. The parents of these children were James A. and Lucinda (Barber) Rea, the former born in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, and the latter near Akron, Ohio. They were pioneers of Oshkosh, having settled there in the fifties. The father died March 31, 1894; the mother August 20, 1883. In the spring of 1870 Orvin accompanied his parents from Oshkosh to Sparta, Wisconsin, and there he spent his boyhood days. He was educated in the Sparta High School and among his classmates were John J. Esch, now a congressman; James Gillette, later governor of California; Judge Bunn and other men distinguished later in life. After his school days young Rea worked at the printer's trade for-a time in the office of the Monroe County Republican and in 1877 he accompanied his parents to Lyon county and located with them in Marshall. When the Lyon County News was established in Marshall by Todd & Edes in the spring of 1879 he became the first printer on that paper, and a little later he went to Carrie, then the county seat of Murray county, and accepted a position on the Currie Pioneer. He removed to Marshall in the winter of 1881 and for the next three and one-half years worked for C. F. Case on the Marshall Messenger. He had charge of the Temperance Review job office at Minneapolis for a time, worked over a year for C. C. Whitney on the Marshall News-Messenger, and spent one summer in Chicago, working in printing offices and as a substitute printer on the Times when Story was the editor. It was in February, 1885, that Mr. Rea located in Tracy and first became a publisher. At that time he bought the Tracy Trumpet in partnership with Harry C. Buckingham. Six months later the firm was dissolved and Mr. Rea became sole proprietor, continuing the publication until 1892, when he sold to V. W. Lothrop. In September, 1894, Mr. Rea founded the Tracy Weekly Herald and has ever since conducted it. During his long residence in Tracy Mr. Rea has been identified with many local enterprises. He was made postmaster during the second administration of President Cleveland and served a four-year term, and he was president of the City Council in 1892. He was one of the organizers of the Tracy Saving and Loan Association, was elected its first president, and has ever since held that office. He was also one of the incorporators of the Houston Pen Company, formed to manufacture the fountain pen invented by W. H. Houston, of Tracy. Mr. Rea is a man of family. He was married at Tracy on May 19, 1888, to Clara I. Bates. She was born in Dudley, Massachusetts, and is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Alien Bates, who homesteaded land in Monroe township in 1876. Six children—three boys and three girls—have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Rea, as follows: Nona, Elgin A., Doris, Noel B., Lois and Leon D.
O.J. was a second Lieutenant in the Sons of Veterans, Phil Kearney Camp, No. 21, Marshall, Lyon County, Minnesota, as of November 1885.
According to my grandmother's records, Otis came to America with his parents from Malmo, Sweden. However, subsequent evidencehas proven this to erroneous. Instead, it appears the family came from Norway. Also, my grandmother's notes do not mention Otis' several other siblings, nor did she know the name of Lars Stole's second wife, Betsey Thompson.
Otis' mother, Ann Sjursdatr, died off the coast of New York, during a 2 week quarantine, and was buried at sea. Otis settled in Grundy County, Illinois with his father, but was placed in the home of a John O. Larson later. Otis was found on the 1880 census of John O. Larson, of Norway, as a boarder. His age is given as 22, though he'd have been only 17 at the time, according to my grandmother's data.
In 1905, Otis moved to Lyon County, Minnesota, 2 miles north of Tracy. He retired in Tracy in 1922 at 200 Craig Avenue, just five blocks away from the house (at 124 Emory St.) where Noel Bates Rea and Luella Larson lived (and where my father, Russell Allen Rea, was born).
Given the surname of Otis' siblings (Stole or Stolle), as well as the Norse tradition of using a patronym as the middle name when the surname was not a patronym, I believe Otis' true name would have been Otis Larson Stole or Stolle. Emma's would have been Emma Larssdotter Stole or Stolle, most likely.
Otis' real name is unknown. He called himself Otis Larson, but no record I know of gives his real name.
Johanna ("Josie") Christina Lee (Lier)
Went by the Americanized name "Josie" Lee.
The Social Security Death Index lists an Edward L. Larson who was born in Minnesota April 5, 1898 and died in Minneapolis January 15, 1974. Could it be the birth year I have for Edward (1895) is wrong?
During the 1930's, as a teenager, while in Boy Scout Troop 31 (Tracy, Minnesota), Loren was awarded the Eagle Scout badge. Later in life, during WWII and afterward, he was a pilot, flying cargo and supplies in and out of Syria. Loren was a pilot and captain with Pan American Airways for 30 years, from the pioneering days of commercial aviation, until his retirement in 1972. During his time with Pan Am, he flew with the ATC Group of the Army Air Corps, during World War II; navigated on the original flying boats; and was involved with the engineering of the first generation of jet liners. He piloted and captained international jet liners. He received his bachelors degree in 1956 from Adelphi College, Garden City, New York and received his master's degree in 1960 from the same institution. Following his retirement from Pan Am, he worked as a real estate developer in Boonton Township. Loren served on the Boonton Township Planning Board and was active in environmental affairs in the Township. He was a member of the Sheep Hill Astronomical Society in Boonton and was a member and longtime secretary of the Boonton Rotary Club.
Loren N. Rea passed away Sunday, February 23, 2003 at Sarah Frances Nursing Home, Boonton Township, New Jersey, following a long illness at the age of 81 years. He is survived by his children Susan R. Jones of Mountain Lakes, New Jersey, Lorna R. Gallanter of Tyler, Minnesota and Allen B. Rea of Boonton Township, New Jersey; one sister June Sandell of Katy, Texas and his two cherished grandchildren Christopher and Larissa Rea.
He is preceded in death by his parents, wife Geraldine, who died in 1965 and a brother Russell who died in 1996. Funeral Services were held Saturday 11:00 a.m. at the Tyler Area Funeral Home. Burial in Danebod Lutheran Cemetery.From the Tracy Headlight-Herald: Loren Rea, 81 Loren N. Rea was born April 24, 1921 in Tracy, MN to Noel Bates and Luella (Larson) Rea. He married Geraldine Jorgensen in 1942 in Florida. He was a pilot and captain with Pan American Airways for 30 years, from the pioneering days of commercial aviation, until his retirement in 1972. During his time with Pan Am, he flew with the ATC Group of the Army Air Corps, during World War II; navigated on the original flying boats; and was involved with the engineering of the first generation of jet liners. He piloted and captained international jet liners. He received his bachelors degree in 1956 from Adelphi College, Garden City, New York and received his master's degree in 1960 from the same institution. Following his retirement from Pan Am, he worked as a real estate developer in Boonton Township. Loren served on the Boonton Township Planning Board and was active in environmental affairs in the Township. He was a member of the Sheep Hill Astronomical Society in Boonton and was a member and longtime secretary of the Boonton Rotary Club. Loren N. Rea passed away Sunday, February 23, 2003 at Sarah Frances Nursing Home, Boonton Township, New Jersey, following a long illness at the age of 81 years. He is survived by his children Susan R. Jones of Mountain Lakes, New Jersey, Lorna R. Gallanter of Tyler, Minnesota and Allen B. Rea of Boonton Township, New Jersey; one sister June Sandell of Katy, Texas and his two cherished grandchildren Christopher and Larissa Rea. He is preceded in death by his parents, wife Geraldine, who died in 1965 and a brother Russell who died in 1996. Funeral Services were held Saturday 11:00 a.m. at the Tyler Area Funeral Home. Burial in Danebod Lutheran Cemetery.
Went to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin in 1840 with his father. They would have travelled the newly completed Pennsylvania & Ohio Canal, which ran north, through Akron and connected with the Erie Canal.
After his father's death, from a riding accident, in 1844, when James was 17, he went back to Pennsylvania for the burial there and lived with his brother Robert, Jr. at the family homestead in the Amberson Valley (according to Book E, Orphans Court, which says that James, John, Robert, Jr., Sidney Jane, Thomas and Joseph were all living in the Amberson Valley in 1845).
James returned to Akron, prior to 1852. There, in Akron, he met and married Lucinda Barber, who was born in Summit County. near Akron. They were married in Summit County on April 11, 1852.
It was only eight years between his father's death and the time at which James married Lucinda, at age 25. There is no way of knowing when he may have left Pennsylvania for Ohio, but it would most likely have been when he was about 21, in 1848. Assuming this is true, James must have lived among Rea relatives in Ohio from about 1848 until 1852. Also living near Akron, during that period, was the family of Henry A. Rea, who lived in the Akron area. It is not known whether this Henry A. Rea was related to James or not, nor is it known who Henry's parents were. If there was a relationship, then Henry would most likely have been a cousin of James' and James may have been staying with Henry's parents. According to the 1900 Ohio census, taken when Henry was almost 50, he was a painter who was born in Canada to a father born in New York and a mother born in Canada. He married Mary H. Parmelee on December 24, 1872 in Akron. He and Mary then moved to Kent, nearby, and had three children, Minnie, Luther and George.
Another possible answer to James' whereabouts is provided, in part, by David A. Langkau's book, "Civil War Veterans of Winnebago County, Wisconsin, Volume 2." According to Langkau's sources, James settled in Oshkosh in 1848. He makes no mention of James and Lucinda's marriage in Summit County, Ohio on April 11, 1852, however. In considering the date of James' settling in Oshkosh, I have concluded that James may have met and courted in Lucinda in Oshkosh and that they went to her parent's home in Summit County, Ohio in 1852 for the wedding, then came back to Oshkosh.
At the time Robert Scott Rea's estate was settled (1845), James' sister, Nancy, 25, was umarried and living in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. This further suggests a connection to Henry A. Rea. If there were Rea cousins living in Toronto, this would explain how Nancy, a young single woman, was living in Toronto.James was slender, five feet eight inches tall, 140 pounds, with brown hair and hazel colored eyes. He had eight years of schooling.
James lived for a time in Fond du Lac, probably from after 1844 (when his father died) until 1848, then moved to Oshkosh, where they owned a livery stable at 104 Kansas Street in 1856 (according to the Oshkosh Public Museum). It must have been in either Fond du Lac or Oshjosh that James met Lucinda Barber and they went to her parents’ home in Summit County, Ohio in April 1852 for their wedding. In 1867, they built the Empire House Hotel, at 107 Main Street (Main & Algoma Blvd.), which they ran until it burned in 1863. It was promptly rebuilt and the Reas owned and ran the hotel until October of 1873, when the Empire House was purchased by Sanford Beckwith and thereafter the Empire House was known as the Beckwith House. The former site of James' livery stable is now a private residence. The lot is at the dead end intersection of Kansas Street with a railroad track, probably much as it's been since 1856, when the livery stable would have served customers who had just got off the train, perhaps.
The following is from an 1869 business directory of Oshkosh: "JAMES A. REA, PROPRIETOR EMPIRE HOUSE. In our travels it has not escaped our notice that many second rate hotels advertise themselves as first-class, and the public only find out the opposite by stopping at such hotels once. Therefore we feel it uncumbent upon us in a work of this character, to point out to the public a thoroughly good house, one which can be recommended in every way, and this we shall do by naming the "Empire House," kept by that popular landlord and prince of hosts, James A. Rea. The house is large and convenient,-the leading and best one in the city, and is centrally located, being adjacent to all the business places, post office, &c. It was erected in 1867 by its present proprietor, and is a fine imposing brick structure, 88 by 106 feet, four stories high, and each room is fitted with a bell attached to an annunicator in the office, Most of the rooms are furnished with black walnut furniture, marble top wash stands, &c., in fine the house is fitted with every convenience necessary for the comfort of guests. The first floor is used for stores, offices, billiard hall, &c., the second as sitting, reading and dining hall, together with several large and convenient sample rooms for commercial travelers. The house will comfortably accommodate about one hundred guests. All the rooms are light and airy. The table is spread with a great variety of eatables, which are well cooked and served in a clean, tasty manner. The charges at this hotel are reasonable considering its convenience and comforts, while Mr. Rea, the proprietor, who has had nearly twenty years hotel experience in this city, is one of those wholesouled and obliging gentlemen in whose company the traveler cannot but be highly satisfied and almost forget he is away from home. The hotel is located on the corner of Main and Algoma streets."
The 1872 Oshkosh City Directory does include the Empire House, but James is not listed as its proprietor, so, evidently, he was no longer in Oshkosh, or he was, at any rate, no longer the proprietor of the Empire House, even though it was not purchased by Beckwith until 1873. [ADDENDUM, MARCH 11, 2006: I have confirmed, via “Civil War Veterans of Winnebago County, Wisconsin, Volume 2,” by David A. Langkau, that James moved to Sparta in 1872. Also, according to Langkau, the Empire House burned in 1878] James is not listed in the residents index, either, proving that he and the family had moved to Sparta by 1872. The Empire House, though it was still listed in the 1872 directory, does not have a proprietor's name listed with it, nor was there any advertising for the Empire House in this directory. This seems to indicate that it was during the year 1872, not 1873, that the Empire House was actually in the process of changing hands, from James to Beckwith, and that the transition hadn't yet been completed by the time the directory was printed. No Reas appear in any subsequent Oshkosh directories. In the 1876 directory, the hotel is listed as the Beckwith House and there is an illustration of it, as well as much data, which includes mention of it being ..."the largest among the elegant structures of rebuilt Oshkosh," which verifies that there was, indeed, a fire that destroyed the Empire House, as well as many other buildings throughout Oshkosh, apparently. The new Beckwith House is described as being 132 feet by 110 feet in footprint, with 75 rooms, "...which are high, airy and well ventilated." The ad says "Beckwith & Fargo, Proprietors." The index lists a Sanford Beckwith and S. A. Fargo as the proprietors. According to the directory of 1879, the Great Fire of Oshkosh had occurred in April of 1875. Unlike the Empire House, which was a wood structure, the Beckwith House was a more modern brick structure. According to the 1879-1882 directory, "The first fire of any note occurred on the 10th of May, 1859, when the whole business portion portion of the city was destroyed. In May, 1866, another great fire desolated more than half the business portion of the city..." It goes on to say that "The third conflagration we have to name took place on the 9th of May, 1874, which destroyed considerable property, and was followed in July of the same year by a much more serious loss. During the year 1874 over 700 structures were erected in the city, so that Oshkosh assumed a much better appearance than ever before. Just as the citizens were congratulating themselves on their thrift and what they had so speedily accomplished in re-building, and when they were busily engaged in their various vocations to retrieve their consumed savings and wealth, they were doomed to another calamity, and this time greater than they had ever before experienced. This was in the memorable fire of April 8th, 1875, which swept from the earth the entire business portion of the city and hundreds of residences, many of them the finest in the city." It goes on to say that the damage totalled "nearly three million dollars" and that this property was insured to only "about half that amount." This phenomenon was quite common throughout the country, indeed, the world, at the time, as most structures were built of wood. The same kind of "Great Fire" occurred in cities like Chicago and Spokane, as well. Spokane's last "Great Fire" occurred as late as 1889. After many such instances, the leadership of these cities finally started mandating that new buildings be constructed with brick from then on. See my notes on Merchant Creighton Rea (Jame's second son) for his role in the rebuilding of Spokane in 1889. Today, the former site of the Empire House is a parking lot for an adjacent building (according to an aerial photo, taken May 5, 1992). The curious thing is that they apparently did some rerouting of the streets at the intersection of Main and Algoma at some point, because the 1876 rendering of Beckwith House, built on the same lot, shows a triangular building, built on a corner, much like the famous Flat Iron Building in New York City. Today, however, the aerial photo shows the same lot as being at a normal ninety-degree right angle intersection. Even more curious is that, just a block northwest of Main & Algoma is a triangular corner lot, at the intersection of what is now Pearl Avenue and Commerce Street.
April 5, 1853 James was elected first constable (listed as "Marshall" in an 1879 historical sketch) of Oshkosh when it was incorporated as a village. He served in this office for one year. The population at that time was 480. In 1857, he was an alderman to the City of Oshkosh.After Lucinda died in 1883, James remarried, to his Housekeeper, a widow, Mrs. Hannah Marsh, on September 16, 1889. Hannah was 45 at the time, the daughter of Henry Jackson and Elizabeth Story. James and Hannah had no children together. Apparently, Lucinda died from a long illness, as the 1880 census shows that two of their youngest children were living with other relatives when Lucinda was still alive. Clyde was living with his older brother Alfred and Pearl was living with his older sister, Ida and her husband Charles William Graves. Evidently, James was unable to care for them while Lucinda was sick. Also, it's possible Lucinda was in a hospital in Minneapolis, as that is where she died.
James was commissioned as a first lieutenant, February 22, 1865 in Company F, 46th Wisconsin Infantry, which drilled at Camp Randall in Madison, Wisconsin. The unit was sent, via train, to guard the Nashville & Decatur Railroad at Athens, Alabama, a U.S. military line that had been under attack by Confederate geurillas. Along the way, James acted as Captain of Company F while the head officers, including Company F's commanding officer, Captain Henry B. Williams attended the proceedings of a court martial, which took about a month. September 27, 1865, the unit started back to Madison, arriving October 2nd, 1865. The 46th was then mustered out and disbanded and James returned to Oshkosh. James' headstone at Riverside Cemtery in Oshkosh bears a Civil War Star and gives his rank as 1st Lieutenant.
From a dispatch from Company F, printed in the Wisconsin State Journal (Madison, 1865): "Company F, known as the Milwaukee Company, is conceded to be the healthiest and best drilled company in the regiment. The Captain, H.B. Williams, of Janesville being on detached service on Gen. Grainger's staff, the company is in the command of 1st Lieut. James A. Rea - a good soldier and first-class officer well liked by every member of the company, and esteemed by his brother officers. One would scarcely recognize in his bronzed features and soldierly bearing, 'mine host" of the 'Phoenix' of Oshkosh [a reference to the rebuilt Empire House Hotel]. His friends know how well he can 'keep hotel,' and we can assure them that he knows how to command a company."
James received a pension of $8 per month for disability of "one-half" caused by rheumatism which he contracted while on duty in the 46th Wisconsin Infantry. His widow, Hannah Marsh recieved the pension until her death.
James built a flour mill in Marshall, Minnesota when the family moved there in 1878, and he sold it in 1888 and moved to Alaska, Michigan (today a suburb of Grand Rapids), where he built another mill on the Thornapple River. Floods destroyed the mill dam in 1892, but James and his sons repaired the damage and James continued to operate the mill until 1893, when floods completely washed it away.
In later years, James suffered from accumulated flour dust in his lungs. He made a trip by river boat with his youngest son, Jesse who had recently married, to help Jesse set up a butter and egg business. James caught a cold on the trip and complications from the flour dust in his lungs, along with pneumonia caused his death. The butter and egg business never materialized.James and Lucinda are buried in the Rea family plot at Riverside Cemetery, Main & Algoma, Oshkosh, Wisconsin, along with James' older brother Thomas Elial Rea (1826-1852, who apparently died either on the way to Oshkosh from Ohio, or shortly after arrival in Oshkosh) and James and Lucinda's third child, Lula, who died at 9 of diptheria. There were three more burials in the Rea plot, but, apparently, the employees of Riverside Cemetery failed to get their names and dates of birth and death, somehow. A check with the current management revealed that the original card catalog, since replaced by a computer database, did not contain any names or dates for the three persons buried, nor do the stones for these three burials. All that was noted was that there were burials made there.
Here is a photo I have of James Azel Rea: http://www.familyoldphotos.com/4c/2j/james_azel_rea.htm
The following biographical sketch is from "History of the Minnesota Valley, including the Explorers and pioneers of Minnesota":Captain J. A. Rea was born in 1827 in Franklin county Pennsylvania, and at twenty years of age went to Fond du Lac. Wisconsin, where he learned cabinet making. He lived twenty-five years in Oshkosh; was in the cabinet aud hotel business; he engaged in milling six years in Sparta and in 1878 came here and erected the Marshall mill. Mr. Rea enlisted in January, 1865, in Company F, 46th Wisconsin; served through the remainder of the war. Miss L. A. Barber was married to him in 1852, and has borne him eight children: seven are living. Note that the bio says his place of birth was Franklin County, not Cumberland.
According to the 1884 directory of Lake Marshall, Lyon County, Minnesota, James was no longer living there at that time. This coincides with Lucinda's death in Minneapolis in 1883, so, apparently, James had moved to Minneapolis (or Viroqua) sometime prior to 1883.
A death notice for Lucinda was published in the Oshkosh Daily Northwestern on August 23, 1883:
"Death of Mrs. James Rea. James Rea, one of the old settlers of this city, and formerly proprietor of the Empire House, where the Beckwith Block now stands, arrived here last eveing with the remains of his wife for burial. Of late years Mr. Rea has resided in Minnesota, latterly in Minneapolis, where Mrs. Rea died two days ago of cancer. Having family relatives buried here the remains were brought here for internment. They were placed in the vault overnight and the burial took place this forenoon, quite a number of old friends and acquaintances attending. The funeral services having been held in Minneapolis, only the committal services were held at the grave."According to gravestone inscriptions at the Rea plot at Riverside Cemetery in Oshkosh, James was born in 1828, which contradicts all other records.
There was an elderly man, John Barbour, living with James and Lucinda at the Empire House Hotel in June of 1870, and he was from Maryland. It could be this was Lucinda's father. There was also a John Barber living in Bath Township, Summit County, Ohio in 1840, according to the 1840 census. The 1840 census says he was 50 to 60 years old (if he was 52, then he'd have been 82 in 1870) and he had a daughter who was 10 to 15 years old (Lucinda was 11 in 1840).
In her obituary, Lucinda is described as "stout built, five feet two inches tall, brown hair, steel gray colored eyes."
When Lucinda died in Viroqua in 1883, she had probably been suffering in a hospital for several years with a long illness. This is evident in the 1880 census, which shows at least two of her youngest children living with their older siblings during the last few years of Lucinda's life. She was buried in the Rea plot at Riverside Cemetery in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where her husband James joined her eleven years later, along with James' older brother Thomas, who had accompanied them to Oshkosh from Ohio in 1852, and their third child Lula, who died of diptheria at age 9. The 1880 census, however, shows Lucinda herself living in Marshall, Minneosta with her husband James, so she either wasn't sick yet at this time, and, perhaps, once she became ill, she moved to Viroqua, Wisconsin with Clyde and Pearl.[ADDENDUM, MARCH 11, 2006: According to “Civil War Veterans of Winnebago County, Wisconsin, Vol. 2,” by David A. Langkau, Lucinda died of cancer on August 28, 1883 at Minneapolis. That’s two sources I’ve seen that say she died at Minneapolis and one that says she died in Viroqua. In either case, according to Langkau, James took Lucinda’s body back to Oshkosh for burial in Riverside Cemetery, “as other relatives were already buried there.”]
A death notice for Lucinda was published in the Oshkosh Daily Northwestern on August 23, 1883:
"Death of Mrs. James Rea. James Rea, one of the old settlers of this city, and formerly proprietor of the Empire House, where the Beckwith Block now stands, arrived here last eveing with the remains of his wife for burial. Of late years Mr. Rea has resided in Minnesota, latterly in Minneapolis, where Mrs. Rea died two days ago of cancer. Having family relatives buried here the remains were brought here for internment. They were placed in the vault overnight and the burial took place this forenoon, quite a number of old friends and acquaintances attending. The funeral services having been held in Minneapolis, only the committal services were held at the grave."Here is a photo I have of Lucinda Barber: http://www.familyoldphotos.com/4c/2l/lucinda_a_barber_rea.htm
Died of diptheria at age 9.
October 27, 1864, Allen enlisted in the 1st Massachusetts Heavy Artillery, Union Volunteers. It was on October 27th that his unit was engaged at the battle of Hatcher's Run. After training at Gallop's Island, in Boston Harbor, Allen was assigned to Company F, which had been formed in August 1864 and was assigned to protect Fort Warren, in Boston Harbor, so Allen never saw any combat during his brief tour of duty. According to records in the National Archives, Allen was reported AWOL (Absent Without Leave) on November 13, 1864, however, he was in a hospital at the time, suffering from "rheumatism and inflammation of the lungs", a condition he no doubt acquired from exposure to others in his unit who had fallen ill. The 1st Massachusetts had a total of two officers and 241 enlisted men who died of disease during the unit's Civil War activity. While in the hospital, Allen paid a physician to deliver a note to his commanding officer, explaining his whereabouts and condition. However, somehow, the note was never delivered, and subsequently, Allen was charged with desertion, the penalty for which was death. Fortunately, on April 10th of 1865, Allen was found innocent by a hearing. His health still poor, he was prematurely discharged on April 28, 1865. There were several men of the 1st Massachusetts Heavy Artillery who were hanged for desertion, so Allen Bates was a very lucky man.
On September 30, 1866, Allen was married to Mary C. WHEELOCK, of Mendon, Massachusetts in a ceremony held at Dudley. The couple moved to Ames, Iowa for about eight months, where Allen worked at a depot of the C & NW Railroad.
In 1868, Mary gave birth to the first of two daughters, Esther. About this time, prior to 1870, the family moved back to Massachusetts, where Allen worked in a shoe factory in Webster, not far from Dudley. On April 4, 1870, when the couple's second child, Clara Isabel was born, they were living in Dudley again.
Five years later, the family moved to Lyon County, Minnesota. At some point thereafter, they moved back to Massachusetts, where Allen worked at the New Home Sewing Machine Company, on the banks of Millers River in Orange, Massachusetts. In 1892, New Home produced 1,200,000 sewing machines. In 1880, the family moved again, back to Minnesota, settling in the town of Tracy, in Lyon County, where Allen made a living selling firewood, for a time. Apparently, he did well, as in 1887, he opened a restaurant and store on Front Street, in downtown Tracy, at the age of 42.
On or about December 3, 1891, a great fire consumed 39 buildings within a one-block area of downtown Tracy, including Allen's store. He rebuilt, though, and later sold the store in 1904, retiring at the age of 59.
In 1893, Allen was elected as an alderman to the Second Ward of the newly incorporated City of Tracy, along with his son-in-law, O. J. Rea, who had been elected as an alderman to the First Ward.
On Friday, October 25, 1923 Mary died at age 72. After retiring, Allen continued to live in Tracy, where, on November 28, 1927, he died at the age of 82.The following is a biography of Allen, from "An Illustrated History of Lyon County":
ALLEN BATES (1875). Of the few people who were living in the little village of Tracy when Allen Bates and his family located there in 1875, not one is now a resident of the city and they are the oldest settlers. Mr. Bates was engaged in business for many years but during the past eight years has been retired from active pursuits. The gentleman whose name heads this review was born July 15, 1845, at Dudley, Massachusetts, the son of John and Mary Ann (Jacobs) Bates. The former died April 15, 1873, and the latter in January, 1871. Allen Bates spent his boyhood days attending school and made his home in his native town until nineteen years of age. At that age, in October, 1864, he enlisted as a member of Company M, First Massachusetts Heavy Artillery, and fought for the Union cause during the closing days of the Civil War. He participated in the battle of Petersburg and several skirmishes. At the time of the assassination of President Lincoln he was in Washington, and he was on the detail that paraded at the president's funeral. Mr. Bates was mustered out at Philadelphia June 16, 1865. After the war Mr. Bates returned to his old home and in the fall of 1866 he was married. After engaging in the shoe manufacturing business for a short time, he moved to Ames, Iowa, where for eight months he was employed at the Northwestern Railroad Company's depot; then he returned to the Bay State and engaged in his former occupation until moving to Lyon county. In the spring of 1875 Mr. Bates became a resident of the village of Tracy, then being founded, and until the fall of 1880 he was engaged in business there. During the next seven years he lived at Orange, Massachusetts, employed as an engineer by the New-Home Sewing Machine Company. Returning to Tracy in the spring of 1887, Mr. Bates engaged in the restaurant, confectionery and notion business. He discontinued the restaurant the following year, but conducted the store until 1904, when he retired. In the fire of 1893 he was burned out, but he rebuilt and continued the business. At Dudley, Massachusetts, en September 30, 1866, Mr. Bates was united in marriage to Mary C. Wheelock, who was born in Mendon, Massachusetts, July 28, 1851. Her parents were Henry and Mary (Thornton) Wheelock. Her mother died January 9, 1861; her father December 8. 1882. Mr. and Mrs. Bates have two children, both residents of Tracy. They are Esther M., the wife of Charles G. Porter, and Clara I., the wife of O. J. Rea. Mr. and Mrs. Bates are members of the Methodist church of Tracy and he holds membership in Joe Hooker Post, G. A. R., and the Modern Woodmen lodge.