An American pioneer, editor and politician, Harrison Reed’s life transported him across the country and across multiple professions, including Wisconsin newspaper publisher.
Born in 1813 in Middlesex County, Mass., Reed relocated to the Wisconsin territory as a boy and took operation of the Milwaukee Sentinel in 1836. In 1843, Reed took possession of former reservation land on Lake Winnebago and constructed a cabin on the waterfront property. He relocated there with his family and subsequently established the Menasha Conservator newspaper nearby.
The cabin’s location, and the area surrounding it, was later christened as the town of Neenah; Reed is credited as the municipality’s founder. He is considered to be among the first white men to settle the densely forested locale – his daughter, Nina, is recorded as the first white child to be born there.
In 1846, Reed opened the Menasha Conservator. He became president of the Wisconsin Editorial Association in 1857.
The Civil War broke out and Reed took a federal Treasury Department appointment in Washington, D.C. in 1861. Two years later, 1863, Reed was commissioned to oversee the redistribution of former Confederate lands and property in Florida.
His political capital continued to grow. In the year 1868, Reed was elected as Florida’s governor and he went on to serve a single term. His tenure was marked by the struggles of reconstruction in the American South and he faced two separate impeachment proceedings.
Reed remained in Florida and died May 25, 1899, in Jacksonville. He was 86.
