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REID, ARCHIBALD (deceased) - Every year the Grim Reaper calls for his own a number of members of the Grand Army of the Republic, thinning the ranks of what was at one time one of the largest organizations the world has ever known, the institution that bound together for all time the boys in blue who had fought side by side through one of the greatest struggles mankind has seen. Each year finds its ranks growing thinner, and for that reason if no other we should honor and respect the veterans while they are with us to remind us of the nation's great struggle to free the slave and uphold the Union. The late Archibald Reid, who was a retired stationary engineer and veteran of the Civil War, and who lived at No. 1146 North Fourth Street, Springfield, was born three miles from Edinburgh, Scotland, November 21, 1834, son of Walter and Jean (Stuart) Reid, and a descendant of the royal family in Scotland. His father was a miner and mine contractor, furnishing horses and mules for mine work, and both he and his wife died in Scotland.

Archibald Reid went to school until ten years of age, when he was put to work in the mines helping his father, and when seventeen years of age he had charge of a hoisting engine, which he operated until leaving for the United States in 1854. He sailed from Liverpool to New York, whence he went to Pottsville, Pa., where one of his brothers, Thomas, had charge of a junction shaft. He worked there in the mines for a few years, at the end of which time he and a brother engaged in the grocery business in Springfield, but later operated the Co-Operative engine for two years and then took charge of the engine at the old North Shaft. He enlisted at Alton, Ill., in 1864, in Company G, One Hundred Thirty-third Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and after receiving his honorable discharge went to Florida, but eventually returned to Springfield, where he has resided ever since. He was formerly a member of the Baptist Church, and his politics are those of the Republican party.

On April 26, 1860, Mr. Reid was united in marriage with Miss Hannah Jones, a native of Wales. In 1873 Mr. Reid and his wife moved to New Athens, Ill., where he was superintendent of mines, and during their stay there they adopted a little girl about six weeks old, naming her Ella May. She married William Worthington, of Springfield, by whom she has had two children, Isabelle and Edward Bruce.