James Allen Reed ( – June, 1873) was an American fur trader, businessman, veteran, and frontiersman who founded the cities of Trempealeau, Wisconsin and Winona, Minnesota.
Biography Reed was born in 1798 in Kentucky to a Scotch-Irish family.136107 Reed fought in the War of 1812 before enlisting in the regular army and being sent to Fort Crawford in modern-day Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin.136 While at Fort Crawford Reed worked as an interpreter, military scout, fur trader, and carpenter.136-137 Reed later served as a guide for the United States Army in campaigns against various Indigenous people in Wisconsin.136 While in Prairie du Chien Reed met a Potawatomi woman whom he married and had a total of five children with, she eventually died in 1830.136-137
Following his discharge from the military Reed began working for the American Fur Company out of Red Cedar, Wisconsin, then part of Wisconsin Territory, where he established a trading post and exchanged furs for goods with the Meskwaki, the Sauk people, the Dakota people, and the Ho-Chunk.137107 During the Black Hawk War Reed assisted the United States Government in the Battle of Bad Axe as a dispatch rider.137 Following the Black Hawk War Reed continued to work for the U.S. government as a trader for the government and later owned a tavern and inn.111 Reed eventually abandoned his business prospects in 1838 and continued to work for the American Fur Company.111
Beginning in the summer 1840 Reed and his son-in-law, James Douville, settled what would become the city of Trempealeau, Wisconsin, Reed's log cabin settlement in Trempealeau along the Mississippi River was originally referred to as "Reed's Place", "Reed's Landing", or "Reed's Town" by early settlers of the region.73111 Trempealeau would not be formally incorporated until 1851 when it came under the jurisdiction of La Crosse County, Wisconsin.
Reed married his second wife while in Trempealeau, a French and Ho-Chunk woman named Archange La Bathe-Grignon, the mother of the translator and fur trader Antoine Grignon. La Bathe was the widow of Amable Grignon, another fur trader from Prairie du Chien. She was also the cousin of Chief Wabasha III of Winona.129 Reed was later appointed as a government farmer in order to establish a government store across the Mississippi River in what is now southern Minnesota and to assist Wabasha's band of the Dakota in farming.13953
Reed first settled what is now modern day Winona, Minnesota in October 1842.139 With the help of Lafayette Bunnell, Reed was able to erect Winona's first storefront and trading post which Reed operated.139 In April, 1851 Reed was elected as Trempealeau's first justice of the peace.139
After the death of his third wife Reed lived in the nearby settlement of Little Tamarack, Reed died in June 1873 in Trempealeau.142
Legacy Reed is remembered today as the founder of both Trempealeau and Winona, a memorial of Reed was dedicated in Trempealeau in 2019 honoring Reed as Trempealeau and Winona's "founding father".
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