First, a note. I apologize for not keeping up with my blog in recent weeks. Other matters intervened. I'm going to post the current 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks and I am also going to try to catch up on the past 8 weeks of this series, as there are some topics Amy Johnson Crow had selected for those "lost" weeks of mine that interest me quite a bit.
Trains also interest me, as my great-grandfather Francis Harvey "Frank" Reed and a few of his 8 sons were railroad men, including my grandfather Benjamin Franklin Reed and my granduncle Perry Wilmer Reed.
Francis Harvey Reed was a conductor for the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago, and St. Louis Railway Line. That name was such a mouthful, apparently, that most people referred to it as the Panhandle Line. This line was part of the Pennsylvania Railroad, handling the bulk of Pennsy traffic to the west of Pennsylvania. The name Panhandle was used by the Pennsylvania Railroad to identify a group of its smaller lines, including the one currently under discussion.(1)
Perry Wilmer Reed worked also for the Pennsylvania Railroad, on their Union Line, based in Chicago as a freight agent from about 1907 to about 1920. He was enrolled to argue cases before the Interstate Commerce Commission, representing his railroad in these matters.(2) By 1920 he and his wife and their children Robert, Elizabeth, and Martha, had relocated to Pensacola, Florida, where he worked for the Gulf, Florida, and Alabama Railway.(3)
Benjamin Franklin Reed, also known as "Frank," was a switchman on the Wabash Railroad, working in the yard at Detroit, Michigan.(4) He was killed by being hit by a rail yard donkey engine. His death certificate cites the cause of death as "crushing injuries to head." (5)
My husband's family also has a railroad connection. His grandfather, Andrew Lewis Rhodes, was a Pullman conductor. Andrew Rhodes started his railroad career in 1903 as a clerk-messenger for the United States Express Company.(6) He worked for them in various offices in the upper Midwest until 1912, when he became a conductor for the Pullman Company. He relocated to Jacksonville, Florida and worked as a Pullman conductor until he retired in 1952.(7)
(1) Burns, Adam. "Pennsylvania, Cincinnati, Chicago, and St. Louis Line: 'The Panhandle Route.'" Online: American Rails.com
(2) Robert Reed, "Little Man," Pensacola History Illustrated, Vol. 1, No. 4 (Winter, 1985), 27-32.
(3) Letter from Perry Reed to his wife Mary, written on Gulf, Florida, and Alabama Railway letterhead with "Perry Reed, General Freight Agent" on it. Private Papers of M. K. and K.L. Rhodes.
(4) "Engine Kills a Switchman," Logansport (Indiana) Pharos-Reporter, 22 October 1917, 3.
(5) State of Michigan, Department of State, Division of Vital Statistics. Death Certificate, Benjamin Franklin Reed, Registered Number 10695.
(6) "Record of Employee's Prior Service," (Form AA-2P), filed 27 May 1941. Andrew Lewis Rhodes pension file; Social Security Number [redacted]. National Archives Record Group 184: Records of the Railroad Retirement Board, 1934--; RRB Congressional Inquiry Service, Chicago, Illinois.
(7) "Application for Employee Annuity Under the Railroad Retirement Act," (Form AA-1), filed 25 July 1952. Andrew Lewis Rhodes pension file; Social Security Number [redacted]. National Archives Record Group 184: Records of the Railroad Retirement Board, 1934--; RRB Congressional Inquiry Service, Chicago, Illinois.
3 comments:
Very interesting connections to trains! Sad about the guy who died of head injuries, though.
Very interesting. I appreciate the way you site the evidence to support your conclusions.
Very interesting. Love the family history connection to trains. Sorry about your grandfather. I don't know a lot about trains, so I had to look up "Donkey engine", to see what it was exactly and how he could have had his skull crushed by it. Thanks for providing a new term to look up! Love learning anything and everything! :)
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