History of the Reed family in Europe and America

INTRODUCTION. 5
few are willing to devote to it that time and expense which
its importance demands.
The question has been often asked me, and doubtless has
been put to others, What do you expect to gain by it ? By
some I have been asked, if I was induced to devote so much
of my time and money to the subject, from the expectation
of being able to distribute an English fortune among the
Reeds of this country. In answer to all such inquiries, I
can say, that though there are large estates in England,
which, if they could prove heirship, would go to the Reeds
of America, yet, for the want of such proof, none of it will
ever be obtained. But I feel compensated, from day to day,
by the information which I obtain, and by the satisfaction
which it affords me. Though laughed at, and called a
monomaniac on the subject, I have received a constant re-
muneration in the new discoveries which I have made.
It is the sincere desire of the author, that those of his
name and blood may experience as much satisfaction in the
perusal of the work as he has had in preparing it ; and that
they will regard it, on his part, as a labor of love. He is
confident that all who have the blood of the Reeds flow-
ing in their veins will feel interested in perusing these
pages.
He congratulates his friends that he has been able to
demonstrate that the Reeds are of no mean origin ; that,
though their connection with thrones and empires has long
since ceased to exist, they have been, and are at the present
day, a powerful race, and, as a body, have acted well their
part on the stage on which they have been placed.
I have learned, by the investigations I have made, the
peculiar mould and cast of mind which has shown itself in
my ancestors, in different ages and under different circum-
stances, for several hundred years ; also their physical
strength and developments, the adaptedness of my race to