James L. Reid, son of Robert and Anne (Moore) Drake Reid, was born in the Red Oak settlement, near Russellville, Ohio. No middle name was given him, but early in life he adopted the letter "L" to distinguish himself from other James Reids among his relatives. In the spring of 1846 the family moved to a rented farm in the vicinity of Delavan, Illinois; four years later they bought a farm nearer the town, which remained the family homestead for over half a century. Because of Robert Reid's ill health, the son early assumed responsibilities, and his father's exacting guidance was a potent factor in the formation of his character.
Education
He attended the district school and James Kellogg's academy at Tremont.
Career
During 1865, while recovering from typhoid fever, he taught school, and later began farming for himself near Boynton Center.
For his first corn planting in Illinois, Robert Reid used a late-maturing Ohio variety, the Gordon Hopkins. The crop, although good, ripened imperfectly, probably because of non-acclimatization, the rawness of the soil, and the slightly shorter growing season. Although only the best ears were selected as seed for the following year, their immaturity caused a poor stand and the missing hills were replanted with Little Yellow, an early flint corn then widely used locally and held to be a direct legacy from the Indians. The purely accidental cross of the two varieties resulted in a corn with wide diversity of type, which was the foundation of the variety known as Reid's Yellow Dent. To the development of this corn James Reid gave special attention, raising it exclusively and endeavoring to induce his neighbors to do likewise.
In 1880, because of low prices, he moved to Osage County, Kansas, where he tried farming by Illinois methods, but failed because of the hot winds. Returning to the family homestead in Illinois in 1888, he continued corn breeding.
To meet the demands for seed corn, Reid established a retail mail-order trade, which, after 1902, was conducted from a larger farm near East Lynn in Vermillion County. In 1908 he attended the National Corn Exposition at Omaha, where he was rightfully heralded as the man who had put more millions of dollars into the pockets of cornbelt farmers than had any other.
Achievements
His main objective was a hardy, large-yielding corn with a high protein content.
He was not a scientific corn breeder from the standpoint of plant pathology, but he noted the results that followed natural conditions and was guided by his observations. Every step of corn growing received his thought and attention. As a show corn, Reid's Yellow Dent began its career in the seventies and eighties at local fairs. The Illinois State Fair at Peoria in 1891 introduced it to growers in neighboring states, but it remained for the World's Columbian Exposition to bring it the wide recognition that resulted in its becoming the leading variety in the Corn Belt.
Personality
He was quiet and reserved in manner, and had somewhat the temperament of an artist and mystic.
Connections
In April 1870 he married Marietta, daughter of George and Henrietta Jenks of Tremont, by whom he had three children.
