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biography from Portrait & Biographical Album of Mahaska Co., Iowa, 1887
BENJAMIN REAM, deceased, was born in Pennsylvania in 1823, and was a son of John and Lydia (Cling) Ream, natives of Pennsylvania. John Ream, who was horn in 1800, was a tinner by trade, and worked many years at that business in Reading, Lancaster and Newcastle. He also owned and operated a farm in that State, which he sold in 1855. He then came to this county and purchased a farm in Garfield township, which he afterward sold, and removed to Beacon, and there died in 1873, at the age of seventy-three years. His widow, who was born July 1, 1800, still survives, and resides at Beacon The subject of this sketch was married, in 1845, to Elizabeth Simpson, who died in the spring of 1855. He afterward married Charlotte Strang. He was a carpenter by trade, and a contractor and builder, and came with his parents to this county in September, 1855, settling in Scott Township, where he lived until the late war began, when he enlisted, July 22, 1861, in Co. C, 7th Iowa Vol. laf., of which he became Second Lieutenant. He was severely wounded in the battle at Belmont, Mo., and died in hospital at Cairo, Ill., Nov. 22, 1861, and his remains were brought home and buried in the cemetery near Olivet. Mr. Ream was a man of good ability, undaunted courage, and unflinching loyalty to his country, and was among the first of those who volunteered from this county to lay down his life in its defense.
Portrait & Biographical Album of Mahaska Co., Iowa, 1887
Mahaska County, Iowa Genealogy