GEORGE EDWARD REED – Laundry interests in Western Massachusetts have a most satisfactory representative in the Amherst Laundry Company, of which George Edward Reed is the president, and whose prominent place in Amherst industry he was the means of securing, through a far-sighted and successful endeavor to establish an up-to-date plant. Mr. Reed is an expert man in his calling; he has spent practically all his career in the one line of business; and he is highly regarded by his associates and by the general public. He is of Vermont parentage and ancestry, his grandfather, David Swan Reed, a farmer, having spent his entire life in that State, and who had children: Frank; Fred; Clark; and Edward D., of whom further.
Edward D. Reed, father of George Edward Reed, who was born in Dummerston, Vermont, kept a hotel for some time in West Gardner, Massachusetts, but he disappeared while Mr. Reed was a small boy, and his whereabouts had not since been reported. He married Ida S. Norcross, who was born in West Dummerston, Vermont; she married (second) Lorenzo McCrillis. Edward D. and Ida S. (Norcross) Reed had one son, George Edward, of whom further.
George Edward Reed was born January 10, 1880, in Brattleboro, Vermont, and with the removal , of his parents to Massachusetts, he attended the public schools in West Gardner. For awhile he was employed in a meat market, but he soon afterwards went to work in a Brattleboro laundry, and from there he removed to Springfield, Vermont, where he began to engage in the laundry business on his own account. After three years there he disposed of his property and business, and came to Greenfield, Massachusetts, where he again engaged for six or seven years in the laundry business. From Greenfield, he removed to Amherst, where he took over the Amherst cooperative laundry, and in January, 1921, the business was incorporated under the name of the Amherst Laundry Company, of which Mr. Reed is president, and Henry G. Ives, treasurer. Originally, this concern occupied a wooden building, which within recent years was replaced with a fine brick structure, equipped with modern and up-to-date machinery, the plant being reputed as among the finest in this part of the State. The business covers a wide area, and some thirty-five people are employed. Fraternally, Mr. Reed is affiliated with Wantastiquet Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and its Oasis Encampment, at Brattleboro; and he is a member of the Amherst Business Men’s Association. His religious faith is that of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
George Edward Reed married, July 31, 1902, Maud Allian Crosier, of Brattleboro, Vermont, daughter of Timothy and Emily (Johnson) Crosier. Their children are: Roger Edward, born February 12, 1907; and Ivan George, born May 12, 1908.