Reid, Robert Raymond, 1789-1841

Robert Reid was born in Prince William Parish, S.C., on September 8, 1789. He was educated in Augusta, Ga., and practiced law there. Reid began public service at age 27 as a judge and later served Georgia in the U.S. Congress. In May 1832, he was appointed U.S. Judge of East Florida by President Andrew Jackson. President Martin Van Buren appointed Reid governor of Florida in December 1839. Reid presided at the convention that drafted Florida's first constitution and advocated a vigorous prosecution of the Second Seminole War. He died at his home near Tallahassee on July 1, 1841, a victim of a yellow fever epidemic. -- "Florida Governors' Portraits - Robert Raymond Reid." Museum of Florida History. http://www.museumoffloridahistory.com/ (Retrieved March 24, 2009)

After a political and judicial career in Georgia, Robert Raymond Reid (1789-1841) was appointed judge of the Superior Court in the Eastern District of Florida in 1832. He was a member of the Florida Constitutional Convention of 1838 and was territorial governor from 1839 to 1841.

Robert Raymond Reid was born in Beauford District, South Carolina in 1789. He represented Georgia in the United States House of Representatives, 1818-1823. After his retirement from the House he served in Georgia as Mayor of Augusta and Judge of the Superior Court of Georgia. In 1832 he was appointed by President Andrew Jackson to be the District Judge for Eastern Florida and later appointed by President Van Buren to be Governor of the Territory of Florida. He married Mary Martha Smith Reid, 1812-1984.

In 1836 in St. Augustine. Governor Reid died in Florida in 1841. After his death, Mrs. Reid developed schools in St. Augustine and Jacksonville. During the Civil War she opened a hospital in Richmond, Virginia to care for Florida sick and wounded. Her son, Raymond was killed in the battle of the Wilderness, May 6, 1864, at 23 years old. In 1866, the Florida Legislature recognized Mrs. Reid's dedication in nursing Florida soldiers by awarding her an annuity of six hundred dollars.