Will, Tommy and Billy Reed

Thomas William (Will) Reed, born in Brazos County, Texas on April 27, 1892, was a "Junior" according to family tradition. His father was called "Tommy", but he was also named Thomas William Reed, and was born January 21, 1861 in Brazos County. Tommy's father was called "Billy", and hailed from Tennessee according to the memory of his living grandchildren. Some have said that Billy's full name was also Thomas William Reed.

In our research we found 1860 Census Records showing Billy living in Brazos County with wife Margaret A. and four children. Billy's place of birth on this census was listed as Kentucky, and his age as 35. Margaret was listed as 34 years of age, born in Alabama. The children were all born in Texas. Also in the household was a man named James Riley, born in Kentucky, occupation "artist" (no, this was not the author James Whitcomb Riley - the age does not match). So why is Billy's place of birth shown as Kentucky and not Tennessee? Perhaps he moved to Tennessee from Kentucky at an early age, and thence to Texas. Census records we have found between 1850 and 1880 consistently show his birthplace as Kentucky.

Tradition has it that he ran away from home at age 9 (1833), and witnessed an immense meteor shower while on the trail to Texas. The Leonid meteor shower on the night of November 12-13, 1833 was the most intense in recorded history.

Of the four children shown on the 1860 census, only one bore the surname Reed (the youngest, Mary V. Reed, age 1 year). The other children were F.E. Langston (Frances), age 10, and twins Martha H. and Margaret Langston, age 9. Margaret had been married previously, to Jacob Langston. We found them on the 1850 Leon County, Texas Census, with daughter Frances E., age 8 months, son Moses, age 2, and another set of twin daughters, Sarah A. and Mary A., aged 7. Jacob Langston was 22 years older than Margaret. In the same household were Margaret's mother, Elizabeth Yarborough, age 47, and Margaret's younger sister Elizabeth. We don't know what happened to Moses between 1850 and 1860. We assume that the twins Sarah and Mary were married by 1860.

We find Billy again on the 1870 Brazos County Census , with Margaret, sons William (Tommy, age 9) and James (age 5), and daughters Mary (age 11) and Martha (age 3).

Finally, we found Billy and Margaret on the 1880 Brazos County Census. William (Tommy, age 19), James (15) and Martha (13) lived with them. The younger William's name is shown on this census as "William T.", a discrepancy not uncommon in the 19th century. On this census, Billy stated that both of his parents were born in North Carolina.

The US Federal Census for 1890 was destroyed by fire in Washington, D.C. Billy died on June 10, 1896. We have not located any other conclusive information about him, but we did find a possible clue in the same 1850 Leon County Census where we found Margaret and Jacob Langston. Leon County borders Brazos County on the northeast. A "William Reed", born in Kentucky, age 25, lived in the household of Richard B. King. Nearby lived Billy's future wife Margaret, married to Jacob Langston, along with their daughters and Margaret's mother and sister. And on the same 1850 Leon County Census we find the family of Thomas Reed, age 48, and Louisa, age 40, both born in North Carolina. Could they have been Billy's parents? Perhaps. To have any sense of certainty, we would have to find pre-1850 records showing Billy living with this family. 1850 was the first complete Federal Census undertaken. Before 1850, federal censuses only showed the names of heads-of-household, but the states conducted their own censuses before this date, and of course there are other types of records as well. Thomas and Louisa had children born in North Carolina, Alabama and Texas on this 1850 Leon County census. And Billy was born in Kentucky by his own account, and may have lived in Tennessee as well. That leaves a lot of places to look, but it's not an impossible task, especially in the modern information age.