Biographies of people buried between 1890 & 99
Rev. John Reid MA (1819 - 1898)
The Reverend John Reid was for 46 years a Minister of the Presbyterian Church of England serving 25 year in Salford.
He was born at Peterculter, Aberdeenshire in 1819. He studied at the Marischal College, Aberdeen and received his MA in 1847. Then he studied theology at the Presbyterian College in London. His first post was Assistant at St George's Church, Sunderland. In 1852 he was ordained at Blyth, Northumberland where he spent 20 years. In 1872 he came to Salford and spent 25 years at the Presbyterian Church on Chapel Street.
His wife Mary Ann was also born in Aberdeen. Their children were all born at Blyth and were Mary Taylor (born 1856 and died on 16th August 1897 aged 40), a 2nd daughter (born 1857 who became a Governess), Allen (born 1858), Charlotte Thom (born 1859 and died 15th January 1900 aged 40), Robert Thom (born 1861, who became a Merchants Clerk and died 8th July 1899 in *Texas, USA), William (born 1864 who also became a Merchants Clerk), Sarah Jane (born 1869) and James (born 1871). The 1881 census reveals that the family was living at 1, Mount Pleasant Square, Salford.
During his career, John Reid was for 16 years clerk to the Newcastle Presbytery, 25 years secretary of the Board of Examination of the college and examiner in Latin; Clerk to the business committee of the Synod; member of the Salford School Board and Governor of Manchester Grammar School. He associated himself with the Liberal Party up to Gladstone's Home Rule Bill, then he became a Unionist.
In early 1898 he became unwell and it was on Friday 11th March that he passed away at his home in Mount Pleasant Square. He was 78 years of age. The funeral was held on Tuesday 15th March when he was interred in Square 32 of the Dissenters portion of Weaste Cemetery.
* The family gravestone reveals that John's son Robert died of sunstroke whilst saving life during the floods near Galveston Texas on 8th July 1899. From 17th to 28th June 1899, between 10 and 20 inches of rainfall poured onto the area from Temple to Palestine and south to Victoria and Houston, with approximately 30 inches falling in Hearne. The Brazos River overflowed its banks and inundated 12,000 square miles. Damage to crops, farm equipment and homes was estimated to be over $9 million. 284 people died and thousands made homeless, with African-American tenant farmers especially hard hit. At some point the waters rose above available flood guages.
The local mayor John Phillips appealed to the Governor of Texas, Joseph Draper Sayers. The Western Union telegram says "We have a thousand sufferers from the Brazon Flood, five hundred in immediate need of food and clothing, starving. Help us. We have done and are doing all we can, but our resources have all been swept away".
