Rees moved to Kansas in 1857, settling near Lane in Franklin County, after growing up in Ohio. He had volunteered to serve in the Mexican War, but returned to Ohio in 1847 to publish the Greenville (Ohio) Journal. In 1858 he was a member of the Leavenworth Constitutional Convention, and in 1861 he was elected to the State Legislature, serving as senator from Franklin, Anderson, and Allen counties. In 1862 Rees was commissioned captained in the 11th Kansas. He then recruited Company F, which he commanded. Rees' military activities included service at battles of Prairie Grove, Arkansas (1862) and Fort Wayne, I.T. (1862), commandant and provost marshal of Independence, Missouri, and Inspector-General on the staff of General McKean. Rees resigned from the service in 1865 for reasons of health. Later that year he was elected to the House of Representatives of the State Legislature. In 1879 Rees was a director of the Paola and Fall River Railroad.
From the guide to the Papers, 1862-1912, (University of Kansas Kenneth Spencer Research Library Kansas Collection)
