Sirus Reed, Zion Lutheran Cemetery, Van Wert County, Ohio. (2012 photo by Karen)
This is the tombstone of Sirus Reed, located in row 5 of Zion Lutheran Cemetery, Schumm, Van Wert County, Ohio. The marker is inscribed:
Sirus Reed
Died May 6, 1857
Aged
15y, 15m, 2d
The records of Zion Lutheran Church, Schumm, mention Sirus Reed only once, in his death and burial record. That record spells his name as Cyrus Reid, probably the correct spelling, but I will use the Sirus Reed spelling as is on his tombstone. The church record indicates that he was the foster son of Mr. Brenner. Sirus died 6 May 1857, after being chilled and developing pneumonia. He was 15 years, 10 months, and 2 days old and was buried on the 7th.
Sirus was born in Ohio on 4 July 1841, as calculated from his tombstone and the church records.
Sirus’ foster father was probably George Johann Brenner (1797-1879) who was married to Elisabeth Herzog (1805-1875). George Johann Brenner was born in Wuerttemberg and Elisabeth Herzog was born in Pennsylvania. They attended church at Zion Schumm and both are buried in Zion Schumm’s cemetery.
Sirus, enumerated as Cyrus, was enumerated with the John Brenner family in 1850: John Brenner, 51, Germany; Elisabeth Brenner, 46, Pennsylvania; Godfried Brenner, 5, Ohio; and Cyrus Reed, 8, Ohio. John Brenner was a farmer. [1]
Who were Sirus’ parents? I do not know. One Daniel Reed (1796-1848) died before 1850 and is buried in Venedocia Cemetery. However, Daniel’s wife died in 1888, so Sirus would not have been orphaned if they were his parents. There is always the possibility that Sirus’ parents were living but could not care for him, and he grew up with another family. There may be other possibilities and we may never know who his parents were.
[1] 1850 U.S. Census, Willshire, Van Wert, Ohio, p.171B, dwelling 354, family 373, John Brenner; digital image by subscription, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/8054/ : viewed 9 Nov 2020).
