Family:William Rea and Elizabeth Campbell (1)

WILLIAM M. REA is a descendant of one of the oldest families of Cross Creek township whose ancestors have long been identified with the history of northwestern Washington county. The first member of the family to locate in Washington county was William Rea, of whom it is only known that his life was passed among the early settlers of Cross Creek township, this county, where his children were born and reared. William Rea was born on the home farm in Cross Creek township, and in early manhood was married to a Miss Campbell, a member of a pioneer family. Their children were John C., William (who became blind at the age of seventeen years, but lived to old age, spending most of his time with a brother Charles), Joseph V. (a farmer of Mt. Pleasant township), Jane (deceased wife of Cyrus Wells), Elizabeth (married to William T. Kerr, and died in Canonsburg, this county), Samuel (deceased in youth) and Charles C. (a farmer of Cross Creek township). The father of these children was a successful farmer, and in politics first an Old-line Whig, then a Republican. He died in 1865, being followed a few years later by his widow.