[or-roots] James Boyd Reed

Harguess, Dale dharguess at coastline.edu
Mon Jul 20 15:11:20 PDT 2009


It was Della Street in Perry Mason and Paul Drake was his assistant.  So
you might me on to something about getting things mixed up.
Dale


I find that sometimes the informant information is not accurate, they're

just repeating info they've maybe heard.

Della and Etta sound similar  -- maybe he remembered the Della from the 
Perry Mason show and got confused.  Though it seems that whoever was the

mother of Edna May Reed who was  born in 1886 was long before he was
married 
to Etta and who he was with in 1930 census.
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Hi all,

Maybe it's been a bit quiet out there as everyone was on vacation? I
have a 
dilemma if anyone has some time. PLEASE? I have been researching my 
husband's great grandfather James Boyd Reed who was born in Mexico, Ohio
in 
1856 and died in Seattle, Washington in Sept. of 1941 (WA State Digital 
Archives). He was a railroad engineer for the Northern Pacific Railway.
He 
also worked in Washington D.C. to get federal pensions for railroad
workers 
in the 1930s. There's a monument to him in Auburn, WA.

My husband's mother's mother was JB's daughter Edna May Reed Edwards.
She 
was born April 12, 1886 in Washington as per her CA death certificate
that 
we have a copy of. Her son Dwyer Reed Edwards was the informant. He says

Edna's father was James Boyd Reed; he names Edna's mother as "Della
Drake." 
We can't seem to find anything about Della Drake at all. (Wasn't "Della 
Drake" Perry Mason's secretary on TV?) There is a family rumor that she
may 
have killed herself.

In a 1935 newspaper article from the Lock Haven Express, Lock Haven,
Clinton 
Co., PA where JB was visiting in order to research his ancestors from
there, 
he mentions he has been married twice and has 4 children. The other kids

that I can find are all younger than Edna May Reed. Another researcher
that 
I just met online has worked on this family for many years and did not
have 
Della Drake and Edna May Reed in her work. She has two wives listed:
Viola 
V. (Combs) Best and Etta A. We know for sure now that Etta A. was JB's
widow 
at his death in 1941 - I can trace that. This other researcher thinks
Etta 
A. and Della are the same person, at least she has Etta A. Drake as a
wife 
of JB's. So, Edna May Reed was born in 1886 to JB and someone named
Drake. 
JB's and Viola Best kids are all younger than Edna May. In the 1880
census 
JB is single. In the 1920 census he's with Viola; in the 1930 census
he's 
with Etta. I cannot see how that all fits.

I know there's very little of the 1890 census, but I guess I need to
look 
more closely in the 1900 and 1910 census records to see where James Boyd

Reed is and with whom?!

Thanks for any help anyone can provide,

Paulette

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