Background
Reed was born in Waldoboro on August 22, 1809, and was the oldest son of Colonel Isaac G. Reed.
Reed was born in Waldoboro on August 22, 1809, and was the oldest son of Colonel Isaac G. Reed.
He prepared for college at Bloomfield Academy, but chose to became a merchant-ship builder, rather than attending college, and became the senior partner in the shipbuilding company of Reed, Welt and Company He also engaged in banking as the "..president of Waldoboro State and National Bank during its entire existence of thirty-two years.".
Reed was town clerk of Waldoboro from 1836 to 1838. He served in the Maine State Senate in 1839, 1840, 1850 and 1863. He was an unsuccessful candidate for election in 1850 to the Thirty-second Congress, but subsequently was elected as a Whig to the Thirty-second Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Charles Andrews and served from June 25, 1852 to March 3, 1853.
He was an unsuccessful candidate for Governor of Maine in 1854 and 1855.
Reed resumed shipbuilding. He served as Maine State Treasurer in 1856.
Upon the dissolution of the Whig Party, he became a Democrat. In 1811 Reed"s father purchased a house under construction begun in 1808 by the congregational reverend John R. Cutting.
Known at the time as "Cuttings folly" the house is now known as the and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
In this house was designed and sketched the Seal of Maine. Reed died in Waldoboro on September 19, 1887, and is interred at Waldoboro Cemetery.
Whig Party, Democratic Party.
He was a member of the Maine House of Representatives in 1842, 1843 and 1846. He was appointed as a member of the State board of agriculture and a trustee of the Maine Insane Hospital. Reed was again elected a member of the Maine House of Representatives in 1870 and 1871.