Reed, Joseph F. Letters, 1829-43 | Illinois History and Lincoln Collections

Scope and Contents: Joseph F. Reed was a publisher and farmer in Ohio and Illinois.  He published the Jackson Sentinel in Mansfield, Ohio, from 1829 to 1833, and the Tiffin Gazette in Tiffin, Ohio, from 1836 to 1837.  In 1839, Reed moved to Prairieton, Lawrence County, Ill., and later, to Olney, Richland County, where he farmed and served as the county's School Commissioner. These letters, from Reed to his brother-in-law, William W. Billing of Washington, D.C., mainly discuss personal and business news, such as local prices and living conditions, land speculation, the scarcity of cash, slavery, and the division of the nation.  Reed also describes the difficulties of publishing a partisan newspaper and writes about the political climate in Ohio, discussing local, state, and national elections. The Illinois Historical Survey acquired these letters in 1951.