Alfred Reid is a native of Aberdeen, Scotland, where he was born on the 16th of January, 1870, being a son of Alexander and Sarah Reid, both representatives of staunch and honored Scottish ancestry. The father of the subject is a stone contractor by vocation; both he and his wife are now residents of Aberdeen, Scotland.
They became the parents of ten children, of whom nine are living. The subject was reared in his native city, in whose public schools he received his preliminary educational discipline, after which he was for two years a student in Gordon’s College, a prominent educational institution in Aberdeen. In 1887, at the age of seventeen years, Mr. Reid came to America, whither two of his brothers had preceded him, and he made his way directly from New York to Sioux Falls, where he was employed as a hotel clerk for some time, and thereafter followed various vocations until 1890, when he located in Rowena, where he engaged in the general merchandise business, conducting the enterprise individually until 1899, when he admitted his brothers James R. and Alexander to partnership, and they have since continued the business, in connection with their other important industrial enterprise. From 1894 to 1897 Mr. Reid was the local manager of the Minnehaha Granite Company, of Chicago, said company operating the quarries at Rowena, and he then entered into partnership with his two brothers and acquired the quarries, which they have since successfully operated, controlling a large and profitable business. The products of the fine quarries include granite paving blocks, building and dimension stones, broken ashlar, range rock, and crushed granite, and the firm makes a specialty of contracting on all kinds of street improvements in their line.
Mr. Reid is a staunch adherent of the Republican party and has been a most active worker in its cause for a number of years past, while he has been a frequent delegate to the County and state conventions of the party. He has been incumbent of the office of postmaster at Rowena since 1897, served for nine years as treasurer of Split Rock township, and was for seven years a valued member of the board of education, having at all times given a ready support to all measures and enterprises tending to conserve the general welfare and progress. Fraternally, he is identified with Sioux Falls Lodge, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, at Sioux Falls.
On the 27th of May, 1896, Mr. Reid was united in marriage to Miss Nellie M. Davidson, a daughter of James F. Davidson, a well-known and influential citizen of Rowena. She was born in the state of Iowa and has been a resident of South Dakota for the past fifteen years. Mr. and Mrs. Reid have four children, namely: Emma Ray, Alfred Nelson, Alexander Davidson, and Nellie May. Mr. Reid is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America at Rowena and the Ancient Order of United Workmen, at Sioux Falls. Mrs. Reid is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and a prominent worker in the same.
Source: Robinson, Doane, History of South Dakota: together with mention of Citizens of South Dakota, [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen, 1904.