Reeseville, Dodge County, Wisconsin

Adam Reese b.1819 was a true frontiersman, according to one history book.  He was the son of Samuel Reese b.1796, and Elizabeth Bell b.1797, both of New York state.  In 1846 Adam followed his father Samuel Reese Sr. to the nearly unbroken wilderness of Wisconsin.  Adam, his wife Mary Ann Bass b.1824, and 2 children, Rosetta b.1842 and Charles Henry b.1844 were all born in New York.  Adam was a farmer like his father and brother Samuel Reese Jr. Adam tilled his land in Wisconsin, taught school in winters, and as the county became more settled was elected supervisor.  Aware that the Milwaukie and St. Paul Railroad wanted to find a way around the Mud Lakes, Adam hired a surveyor to lay out a plat of land which he purchased in Sept 1858.  After the railroad was built through his farm, a station was built of which he took charge.  Adam also became express agent and postmaster.  Later the station was named for Adam and his father, Reeseville.  Samual Reese Sr. died in 1875 at his daughter's home and is buried in Reeseville cemetery, in the village of Reeseville, near Lowell township, Dodge County, Wisconsin.

Adam and his wife Mary Ann, had 2 more children born in Reeseville, Ella b.1846 and May Bell b.1862.  In 1869 Adam and his family moved to Sycamore, Illinois where they settled on a farm.

The bible we are researching was published in 1863.  Adam seems to have been an educated man who would be interested in books, and had the means to purchase a large, fancy bible.  So it seems that Adam Reese and Mary Ann were the original owners of this bible.

This leaves me to wonder why the birth and death dates of Mary Ann's father (or who I am assuming is her father) Lovell Bass are retroactively recorded in the bible, but not Adam's parents, who lived near them in Reeseville.  Makes me think that Adam didn't make any entries into the bible.  This practice was apparently started by Mary Ann, or perhaps years later by one of their daughters; Rosetta, May Bell, or Ella.