THE REIDS OF GRIFFIN, GEORGIA
The Griffin, Georgia Roots of the Reid Family
Letters from Jesse Douglas Allen-Taylor to his mother, Maybelle Reid Allen, during his 1978 visit to Griffin, Georgia to explore the Reid family roots
Letters written to and from Muriel Reid Kranson while she was researching the Reid family history in Griffin, Georgia
The Kitty Reid Family In The Griffin, Georgia Census
Records from 1870 and 1880
THE GRIFFIN LETTERS
In 1978 and 1979, I spent several months living in Griffin, Georgia, meeting family members in the town where my grandfather, Thomas Reid Sr., was born. In my travels in the years afterwards, unfortunately, I lost all of the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of the Reid family members I contacted, and forgot much of the information I had learned. Shortly after the death of my mother, Maybelle Reid Allen, in December of 2005, however, I discovered among her papers two letters which I had sent to her while I was living in Griffin, and which gave some details on the Reid family history in Griffin. Those two letters are copied below. Some of the information is contradictory, as I stated at the time, as memories had faded and all of the data was in hand-me-down form. But for family members trying to uncover the roots of the Reid family in Griffin, Georgia and beyond and to connect the severed ties, I am hoping that these letters can provide some valuable clues.
Jesse Douglas Allen-Taylor
Oakland, California
May, 2010
July 4, 1978
Griffin, Georgia
Jesse Douglas Allen-Taylor to Maybelle Reid Allen[Note: at the time of this writing, I was living in the home of Cheryl Reid in Griffin. Cheryl was a descendant of one of Thomas Reid Sr.'s two brothers, who the Reid family members identify as Dick Reid. In the census records of 1870 and 1880, one of Thomas Reid Sr.'s brothers is identified as Jack Reid, and there is no brother named Dick listed. I am guessing that Dick and Jack refer to the same person. The Bob and Betty referred to in the letter are Bob Reid, one of the 13 children of Thomas and Virginia Reid, and Bob's wife, Betty. They visited Griffin in the 1970's. The Muriel referred to is Muriel Reid Kranson, the daughter of Tom and Reba Reid Jr.. The Cud referred to is Paul Reid, one of the 13 children of Thomas and Virginia Reid Sr. In this letter, I tell my mother I was told that Dick Reid was the first Reid to come to Griffin. We know now that this almost certainly is not true, as Dick was probably Thomas Sr.'s younger brother, and is listed as being four years old in the 1870 census of the family of Kitty Reid, Thomas Sr. and Dick's mother. In the letter, I said that Dick had a sister, but did not know her name at the time. We now know that this sister, the oldest of Kitty Reid's four children, was named Lela, for whom Tom Sr. and Virginia Reid's oldest daughter was named. In the letter, I broached the possibility that Dick's sister never lived in Griffin. From the census records, we now know that this was not true, and Lela lived in Griffin for some time.]
May,
As I said on the phone, it's going to be difficult getting information about your father. He left so many years ago, and none of the old folks were around here at the time. There's quite a bit about Edith's side of the family, though, and I guess after a while I'll be able to put more of it together.
From what I've heard, Dick Reid was the first Reid to come to Griffin. Nobody seems to know where he came from, except that it was from somewhere "up North." He was very light-skinned, and was supposed to have been mixed with Irish and Indian. The old folks who remember him call him an Irishman. He was supposed to have been an incredible brick mason, and is famous for having built many of the oldest and sturdiest structures in Griffin.
I am not certain what kin Dick Reid was to your father [Thomas Reid Sr.], though they seem to have been roughly the same age. Perhaps they were brothers, or cousins.
Apparently, your father never lived in the "family house" that Bob and Betty saw when they came to Griffin. This house was built by Dick Reid about 70 years ago, after your father left Georgia. It is a beautiful old house, with high Victorian ceilings, and is sturdier now than most of the buildings they're putting up today.
Dick Reid died of sunstroke while building a house in Griffin. The old folks all describe him as a "funny type of fellow." He seemed to be a pleasant man during the weekend, when he would buy a bottle of liquor and a tub of peanuts and joke and talk with all the people. But on Monday morning he stopped drinking--wouldn't touch a drop all week--and refused to do anything but grunt orders or greetings until Friday night. And he never talked about himself, his family, or where he was from.
Dick had a sister, but I haven't found out her name yet. She is buried next to he and his wife here in Griffin. There is a possibility that he sent for her body after she died, and that she never lived here.
I don't know if this was the David Reid that you heard about. Nobody here talks about anyone named David Reid.
Dick had at least one son, named Doug. This was Edith's father. He also had a daughter. This daughter (I don't know her name off hand), was the woman who raised Cheryl and all of Edith's older children. She is also the woman who was living in the "family house," and who answered Muriel's letter. She is the last of the "old-time" Reids in Griffin, and the only one who could have told us a lot about Dick, and where he came from, but she died three years ago. The shame of it is, as I just found out, that she was at the house the day Bob and Betty came there. But she sent the kids to the door, and pretended she was not home, because she wasn't "dressed right."
I've seen pictures of Doug Reid, and he looks a lot like Cud. People say that he and I look alike, though I can't see the resemblance myself. If you can, send a copy of your father's picture. I'd like to show it to some of the people, especially the ones who knew Dick.
It stays hot night and day, and it's difficult to sleep. But I figure I'll get used to it after a while, since it's about the same as it was in Moncks Corner. Cheryl is very nice, and has made me feel very much at home. I'm still resting up from the trip, but I spend some time walking the hilly streets of Griffin.
I'm not certain how long I'll stay here. But you can send mail to Cheryl's address, and if I move I'll have her forward it. Y'all take care, and tell everybody I said hi.
Love
Doug
July 7, 1978
Griffin, Georgia
Jesse Douglas Allen-Taylor to Maybelle Reid Allen[Note: This letter was sent shortly after I had a telephone conversation from Griffin with Margaret Burden, who was living in Minneappolis (misspelled "Burton" by me in the letter). Ms. Burden was the daughter of Thomas Reid Sr.'s older sister, Lela Reid Simmons. Ms. Burden's identification of Thomas Reid Sr.'s father as a "slavery-time" man named Tom Reid is one of the more interesting parts of this letter. In the 1870 and 1880 census records, Kitty Reid (Thomas Reid Sr.'s mother) is listed both times without a husband, but with the last name "Reid." Marriage between whites and African-Americans in middle Georgia in the years during and immediately after slavery was almost non-existent. However, enslaved Africans often took the last name of the slavemaster following Emancipation, so it is possible that Kitty Reid had at least some of her children by a man who had been her slavemaster, Tom Reid, and gave them all his last name (Lela, the oldest, was born in 1864, while slavery was still in existence; the three sons were born after slavery ended). However, this is only one possible explanation. It is also possible that Ms. Burden, who was 90 years old at the time I talked with her, simply got the name of Thomas Reid Sr.'s father wrong. In her conversation, Ms. Burden named the four children of Kitty Reid as Lela, Tom, Dick, and Franco (or Frank). The census records list the four children as Lela, Tom, Jack, and Edward. Unless Jack and Edward both passed away sometime after the 1880 census and Kitty Reid had two more sons, Dick and Frank, we should make the assumption that the Dick and Frank mentioned by Ms. Burden were the same sons as the Jack and Edward listed in the census records, and may have been nicknames.]
Margaret Burden (possible)
(This picture is tentatively identified as that of Ms. Burden as a young woman. The photograph is identified on the back only as "Thomas Reid Sr. niece." From records we have to date in California, Thomas Reid Sr. had one other niece, Annie Atkins, who was the daughter of Dick Reid.)
May,
I talked with Mrs. Burton [Burden] in Minneapolis this afternoon. She's very alert to be 90, and the only problem I could detect was that she had a slight hearing deficiency.
She told me that your grandfather's name was Tom Reid. She said that he was a plantation owner; no, I guess she didn't. She said it was back in slavery-time, so I assumed that he was a plantation owner. Anyhow, she said he was white, and she didn't seem to know much else about it. Your grandmother was Black, of course, and was named Kitty Reid. I don't know where the Seminole Indian part came in, though it was probably with Kitty. That's just a guess, as Mrs. Burton [Burden] could only remember the broadest of details while we talked over the phone.
Mrs. Burton [Burden] named four children of Kitty and Tom Reid. These were Tom (your father), Dick, Lela, and Franco (or Frank), who died in his early teens. She said that Lela was her mother (was this the Lela you used to talk about?). [2010 Note: I now do not believe that my mother, Maybelle Allen, was talking to me in earlier conversations about Lela Reid Simmons, Thomas Reid Sr.'s older sister, but had been talking about her own older sister, Lela, who was named for Thomas Reid Sr.'s older sister.]
You must remember that none of this was really clear. I was asking her questions two and three times and it was difficult because of her hearing problem. Sometimes she answered different ways on the same question (for example: she said that Dick and Lela were the only children when I first asked; she later told me about your father and Franco). I really think that you should call and talk to her, rather than me, because most of the names mean absolutely nothing to me, and so I really don't know what to ask her.
She did say one thing that the folks here have contradicted. She said that old Tom Reid and Kitty Reid were both from Griffin, and that all four of their children were born in Griffin. The folks here said that Dick Reid definitely wasn't from Griffin, though none of them were old enough to remember back to the time when he came.
All of this will be very difficult to piece together, as the old folks' memories are very slim, and there may not be any physical evidence. Cheryl did tell me about a Bible at her aunt's house that may have some names on it, and I'll probably go down to the courthouse and look up the old census records. Since I'm down here, it's starting to prick my interest. And it has been very important for me to finally trace down the names and some of the circumstances of the pople in our family who came out of slavery. I have no illusions that I will ever be able to trace any of us back to Africa; that's too much of a dream. But before this, slavery has seemed to be something that happened to some other people. It is sort of haunting and eery to see it among our own kin.
Cheryl and Donna send their love. I'm fine, though I haven't found a job yet.
Love
Doug
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