Governor Harrison Reed and Fernandina: 1868-1873
By Ariel Patterson • Images courtesy of the Florida State Archives

Throughout its diverse and sometimes tumultuous history, Amelia Island has welcomed many intriguing and influential people. Native Americans, Scottish conquerors, politicians, and military officials have all been part of Amelia’s eclectic history. Among this impressive collection is a northern-born newspaper editor turned government worker. His ties to Fernandina were a unique blend of business, personal, and political at a time when the island community’s struggle mirrored that of the larger nation – striving to repair the deep divisions of the Civil War. Although his time on Amelia was brief, his connections lingered, creating an undeniable link between his life’s work and the Fernandina community.

Born in 1813 in Littleton, Massachusetts, Harrison Reed could not have envisioned the path his life would take, or that it would ultimately lead him to Amelia Island. Reed’s early career as a businessman was not particularly outstanding, and the depression of 1837 resulted in a decision to try his hand at the newspaper business. He was an early editor of the Milwaukee Sentinel in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and later co-founded the Madison State Journal in Madison, Wisconsin. During this time, his interest in politics grew, and in 1861 he began working in Washington D.C. for the Treasury Department. He came to Florida in 1863 at the age of fifty as the newly appointed Direct Tax Commissioner of Florida in the Republican administration.

Harrison Reed was Governor of Florida from 1869-1873.
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While working as Tax Commissioner, Reed traveled to Fernandina on several occasions. One of his earliest documented visits was in May, 1864, when he attended the first graduation ceremony of a freedmen school in Fernandina. Freedmen schools were started by people from the north and staffed by northern schoolteachers in order to help with the education of the many freed children left in the wake of Union occupation and the island’s evacuation. After observing the school in Fernandina and seeing the progress of the students, Reed described the school as “the best… in all of the military district.”

Reed was so impressed by the school and its teacher, Chloe Merrick, that in June he facilitated the expansion of aid to freedmen children on Amelia Island. Reed used his political position to help Merrick purchase General Finegan’s abandoned island home in a tax sale. The house was purchased to serve as an orphanage for the homeless freedmen children on the island. Reed described the home as standing in a grove in the middle of an eighteen acre estate, “about sixty feet square, three stories high, containing four large rooms and a wide hall on each floor; a large attic and observatory; and a fine kitchen and out buildings.” Reed continued to assist in the project by assuring other financial supporters of the orphanage that Merrick’s “executive and administrative ability” would “guaranty success.” His work was rewarded when the orphanage opened and served as home for some of Amelia’s most needy children.

Chloe Merrick (left) was more than just a wife to Harrison Reed.
Her record of social work aided Reed's campaign for governor.
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A year later, Reed resigned from his position as Tax Commissioner but was adamantly determined to remain in Florida. “I have embarked on schemes for the benefit of the freedmen,” he urged, “and I want to live in Florida to assist in bringing it in as a free state and in regenerating the slavery cursed territory.” Through assistance from former colleagues in Wisconsin, Reed’s hope was fulfilled, and he remained in Florida as the postal agent for Florida under President Andrew Johnson.

Reed’s commitment to life as a Floridian was to take an unexpected turn. The state government shifted considerably with the First and Second Reconstruction Amendments – presenting an opportunity for Republican leadership. Reed succeeded in heading a loose alliance of freed slaves, northerners who had moved to Florida, and Floridians who had supported the Union during the war. In 1868, just five years after his arrival in Florida, Reed was elected as the state’s first Republican governor and its first governor since the war.

Although the war had ended, Florida remained under a military occupation, and the political climate was heated. Not only were Democrats and Republicans fighting, but there was conflict within the parties as well. Reed had to fight to survive two attempts to impeach him – attempts made by members of the Republican party. Despite the problems, Reed continued to work for positive change in Florida. He supported and implemented a public school system within all areas of the state, created facilities for the infirm, and established a state university that addressed a broad array of education interests. Under his leadership, schools in Florida expanded dramatically, and the students progressed significantly. He appointed Jonathan Clarkson Gibbs as the first African American Secretary of State in 1868; Gibbs went on to serve as the Superintendent of Public Instruction in 1873.

As Florida’s new governor, in 1869 Reed made official the relationship that had been developing between himself and Chloe Merrick. Merrick, who had left Fernandina following the close of the orphanage which Reed had helped start, was now teaching freedchildren in North Carolina. Reed traveled to North Carolina, proposed, and they were married at Merrick’s home in Syracuse, New York on August 10, 1869.

Merrick was more than a wife for Reed – she was a political asset. Her role in his political work did more than focus attention on social issues, it also attracted support for Reed as governor during this politically unstable time.

Harrison Reed's home in Tallahasse.
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When Reed’s governorship ended in 1873, the couple and their son, Harrison Merrick Reed, were drawn back towards Fernandina, settling this time in nearby Jacksonville. In his later years, Reed once again turned to the press, this time editing a local magazine, The Semi-Tropical. His final public service was to represent Duval County in Florida’s House of Representatives in 1899 until his death in May.

Reed’s life was a fascinating blend of choice and circumstance considerably affected by the purposeful collision of business and private life. When his work as the Tax Commissioner brought him to Fernandina, he took the opportunity to aid the children of the island. This work in turn connected him with a woman whose own work on the island would ensure that she was remembered within Fernandina’s history. With his experiences in Fernandina as a guide, Reed used his governorship to extend his influence beyond the shores of Amelia Island throughout the rest of Florida.