Reid, Rufus, 1797-1854.

Rufus Reid (1797-1854) of Rowan and Iredell counties, N.C., was a planter and merchant and also served in the North Carolina House of Commons in the late 1840s.

Rufus Reid (1797-1854) was the son of Sara and Captain John Reid of Catawba Springs, Lincoln County, N.C. John Reid received a commission during the Revolution and owned much land at the Springs, renowned locally for their healing properties.

Rufus Reid spent much of his early adulthood in Rowan County, N.C., where he established himself as a merchant and planter. By 1831, he moved to Iredell County, N.C., where he hired craftsmen to build an impressive plantation house that he named Mount Mourne. He spent most of the rest of his life supervising his merchant and planting activities from this location.

Rufus Reid was a leading social and political figure in southern Iredell County from his arrival in the 1830s until his death in 1854. He was a prominent member of the county court, and his neighbors twice elected him to represent them in the North Carolina House of Commons (1842 and 1844). He was probably a Whig. Although he never officially joined a church, he was a regular contributor to the minister's stipend at Centre Presbyterian Church, located near Mount Mourne.

Rufus Reid's plantation was one of the largest and most diversified in Iredell County. In 1850, Reid owned 84 slaves, making him the second largest slaveholder in the county. Reid's slaves worked hundreds of acres of land and grew substantial crops of corn, wheat, and cotton.

Rufus Reid married three times. He and his first wife, Nancy Latta Reid of Mecklenburg County, N.C., had three daughters: Mary Jane, Sallie, and Nannie. After Nancy's death, Reid married Betsy Latta Davidson, sister of his first wife and widow of Benjamin Davidson. He and Betsy Latta Davidson Reid had one daughter, Betty. After Betsy's death, Reid married Isabella Torrance Smith, widow of Franklin C. Smith. He and Isabella had six children: Emma Catherine, James Rufus, Addie Isabella, John Hugh, Lucy Andrews, and Franklin Samuel. His oldest son, James Rufus, died in 1861 while serving in the Confederate Army in Virginia.

Rufus Reid died in 1854 and is buried near Mount Mourne. His estate was administered by George F. Davidson.

(Source: Homer M. Keever, Iredell: Piedmont County, 1976.)