WI BIO - Dodge Co - REED, Andrus A.

History of Dodge County, Wisconsin. Chicago: Western Historical, 1880, p 693

Rev. Andrus A. REED, pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Randolph 
[Westford Township, Dodge County, Wisconsin], was born in 1819 in Brookfield, 
Orange County, Vermont, son of Andrus and Mary REED, where he spent most of 
his time until 1849. He received his early education in the public schools, 
after which for a short time he attended the Newbury Seminary, of Orange 
County, Vermont.

In the fall of 1849, on account of his health, he started on board a steamer 
for a trip around Cape Horn to California, spending about six months on the 
water. He visited San Francisco and other ports of California, and went as 
far north as Oregon. He then returned by the steamer to Panama, which he 
crossed on foot to the Chagris River, passing down the stream in a boat to 
Prometheus, where he took the steamer for New York, reaching home in early 
January 1851.

He [Andrus A. REED] then devoted his time as before to various kinds of 
merchandising until 1854, when he immigrated to Winnebago County, Wisconsin, 
and settled on a farm in the Town of Omro. Here he followed farming for 
three or four years, and began his preparations for ministerial work, which 
he afterward completed while in the Conference. His first charge was that of 
the Town of Empire, Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, in 1858. In 1859 and 1860 
he served the Methodist Episcopal Church of the Town of Lamartine, and from 
1861 to 1863 served that of the Town of Byron, all in Fond du Lac County, 
Wisconsin. ["Town" and "township" are used interchangeably in Wisconsin 
histories, but occasionally "town" is used (instead of a term such as 
village, settlement, or community) to denote a populated place in a township.]

In 1844 he [Andrus A. REED] had married Miss Asenath D. [BUCK], daughter of 
Walter and Jerusha BUCK, of Brookfield [Orange County], Vermont. They 
[Andrus A. and Asenath D. (BUCK) REED] had one son. It was here [Fond du 
Lac County, Wisconsin] they buried their oldest [child] and only son, Azro De 
Estang [REED], who was a Lieutenant in Daniel's 1st Cavalry, and was taken 
with the diphtheria at Ripon [Fond du Lac County]. He was brought home [to 
Fond du Lac] and died 04 December 1861.

In 1863 he [Andrus A. REED] went to Greenbush [Greenbush Township, Sheboygan 
County], Wisconsin, for one year; thence to Brandon [Metomen Township, Fond 
du Lac County] for three years; thence to Sheboygan Falls [Sheboygan Falls 
Township, Sheboygan County] for three years, and in 1870 to Beaver Dam 
[Beaver Dam Township, Dodge County], where under his care the church was 
greatly revived and so strengthened that the present brick church was 
erected, and where for three years he preached to one of the largest 
congregations of the city. After this, from 1873 to 1875, he was at Appleton 
[Grand Chute Township, Outagamie County], Wisconsin, as Financial Agent for 
Lawrence University. In 1877 he was sent by the Conference to the church at 
Sharon [Sharon Township, Walworth County], Wisconsin, for two years, and then 
in the fall of 1879 to the village of Randolph [Dodge County], Wisconsin.

Submitted by Cathy Kubly