Alameda County Biographies

CHARLES G. REED

Transcribed by Kathy Sedler

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

 

	Charles G. Reed, who from 1907 to 1909 served with credit and ability as national bank 
examiner for the northern district of California, is a member of a family which has been well 
represented in Oakland and vicinity; first by the father, Captain William Reed, and his wife 
Hannah; and also by their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren to the number of forty.
	Mr. Reed, of this review, has spent practically his entire life in California, for he 
came to this state with the family when he was only twelve years of age. He was born in 
Vassalboro, Maine, December 24, 1844, and in November, 1856, was brought to Oakland. He attended 
the old Carpentier school, beginning in the winter of 1856-7, and circulated a petition for the 
building of the second schoolhouse, the Lafayette primary, at Twelfth and Grove streets. He 
afterward entered the Oakland College school, taking a business course. Following the completion 
of his studies he obtained a position in a wholesale clothing house in San Francisco, with which 
he was connected for four years. At the end of that time he came to Oakland and conducted a 
hardware store at the northwest corner of Twelfth and Broadway. When he disposed of this 
enterprise he entered the office of the county clerk as deputy under J. V. B. Goodrich and after 
four years in this service was elected to the office of county clerk in 1875. He won reelection 
in 1877 and served two terms, after which he was made deputy under C. E. Palmer, county treasurer. 
At the end of four years in this office he entered the Union National Bank and was soon advanced 
to the position of paying teller. He was later made exchange teller and held this position until 
October, 1907, when he received the appointment as national bank examiner for the northern 
district of California. He held this position until 1909 and discharged its important duties in a 
painstaking, conscientious and efficient manner.
	In Oakland on the 8th of January, 1868, Mr. Reed married Miss Flora A. Moore, a daughter 
of Gorham H. and Mary A. ( Jenkins) Moore. Mr. and Mrs. Reed became the parents of four children: 
Olive, the wife of S. W. Cushman of Oakland; Elmer, who is engaged in the United States marshal's 
office in Nome, Alaska; Aimee, the wife of Harwood D. Swales of the Firemens Fund Insurance 
Company; and Eva, who became the wife of H. D. Danforth and died June 28, 1904, at the age of 
twenty-nine years. There are seven grandchildren, four boys and three girls. All the children and 
grandchildren have exceptional musical ability and find music the source of much enjoyment.
	Mr. Reed is connected fraternally with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which he 
is past grand, and he has also filled all of the chairs in the Ancient Order of United Workmen, 
representing his lodge in the grand lodge at various sessions and serving also as grand trustee. 
He is at present grand receiver. He is also affiliated with the Fraternal Brotherhood and is a 
member of the First Baptist church, in which he officiated as trustee for a number of years. He 
has always taken a keen interest in movements looking toward the benefit of general conditions and 
has been found ready to lend his aid for the promotion of all progressive public projects. He was 
a member of the old Oakland Guard, serving as private in 1862 and being later promoted to the rank 
of first lieutenant. He was also a member of the Oakland light cavalry. From 1893 until 1897 he  
served on the board of education of Oakland, acting as chairman of the finance committee and the 
high school committee. Being a great lover of his native state he founded the State of Maine 
Association of California and was its first secretary and later its president. He can truthfully 
say that he has never taken a drink of liquor, a record that few who have lived in California as 
long as he has can equal. He signed a pledge during the great Maine campaign in 1855 and has never 
broken it. During the long period of his residence in this city he has attained a wide reputation 
as a broad-minded, liberal and public-spirited citizen, and by his strict integrity of character, 
business ability and excellent qualities of mind has won the confidence and esteem of all who know 
him.

Past & Present of Alameda County, California � Vol II, S. J. Clarke Publ. Co., 1914, p. 112