Col. William P. Reid
Col. William P. Reid was born in Oxford Township, Delaware County, Ohio, on the eighth day of January, A. D., 1825. His advantages in early life for an education were very meager. During his boyhood Oxford Township was new and the schools were few and far between, so that Mr. Reid's early education was limited and during all his life he felt the loss of an early education. Though he labored under this disadvantage, he was not by any means an uneducated man. He became a close student of human nature and was one of the most careful lawyers in the selection of a jury that Delaware County ever produced. What he lacked in early education and training he overcame by arduous study and industry. He was admitted to the Bar in the year 1849, and he immediately located in Delaware. He served as a Justice of the Peace, but through his perseverance and industry he soon rose to distinction in his profession. His greatest success was in the management of a case before a jury. He prepared his case with great care; he saw the witnesses and knew what they would say; he knew the jury and all their surroundings, and when he came to argue the facts and testimony to the jury, his good common sense enabled him to select the strongest points in his favor and to pass by the weak ones, so that the jury was apt to see the case as he saw it. Early in his practice he made the trial of personal injury cases a specialty, and he became an expert in that particular branch of the practice, so that for many years before his death he had a reputation for being one of the best jury lawyers in the State and his services were sought in important cases, not only in his own but in many other counties of the State, and many of his cases were carried to the courts of last resort and became leading authorities in personal injury cases.
During the second year of the Civil war Mr. Reid organized the One Hundred and Twenty-first Regiment of Ohio Volunteer Infantry and was made its Colonel, and it was this fact which gave him the title of Colonel. He was compelled to resign by reason of sickness and after recuperating for a time he again took up the practice of his profession. He became the law partner of Henry J. Eaton with whom he was associated in the practice for many years, the style of the firm being Reid and Eaton. He afterward formed a partnership with Hon. Thomas E. Powell, which continued to the time of Colonel Reid's death, the style of this firm being Reid & Powell.
Colonel Reid was an ardent Democrat in his political views, and was called to fill several important positions by his party, yet he never devoted his time and talents to politics; his time and energy was principally devoted to his chosen profession. He was elected State Senator by his party, for the Sixteenth District, composed of Delaware and Licking Counties, serving in the Fifty-third General Assembly during the years 1874 and 1875. These positions he filled with his usual perseverance and industry and he soon became a leader in the Senate. But his greatest success in life was in his professional career, and in this he had few equals and in his management of jury cases he had no superiors. He died in the prime of his manhood, on the
twenty-second day of January. A. D. 1879, at the age of fifty-four years, having worn out his life by ardent work devoted to his profession.
From 20th Century History of Delaware County, Ohio, and Representative Citizens, Edited and compiled by James R. Lytle, Delaware, Ohio, Biographical Publishing Co., Chicago, 1908