Bio-Sawyers
SURNAMES: PENNELL,
Within the past few years the poultry business has become a great industry, requiring a specialized and accurate knowledge of the work undertaken if one would win success. Among those who have gained prominence in this field, of activity is Charles Pennell Reed, a well-known poultryman of San Jose, who is associated in business with his sister, Alice H. Reed. A native of the East, he was born in Honeoye, N. Y., December 29, 1877, a son of Thomas R. and Elmyra (Pennell) Reed. In young manhood the father took up the occupation of farming, afterward engaging in the meat business, while later he became postmaster of Honeoye, N. Y.
In
the public schools of his native city Charles P. Reed acquired his
early education, while later he was graduated from the Ohio Wesleyan
University of Delaware, Ohio, entering that institution in 1896. In
1900 he came to the West, settling at Hoquiam, Wash., where he spent a
few years in learning the lumber business. Going to Nevada, he opened a
lumber yard at Goldfield, which he afterward sold, and opened another
yard at Tonopah, Nev. Subsequently he established a third yard at
Fallon, Nev., which he conducted until 1910, when he sold out and came
to San Jose, where he started in the chicken business on a small scale.
From the beginning the venture proved a success and as time passed he
gradually enlarged his interests, now devoting his attention to the
hatching and selling of baby chicks. He has made a thorough study of
the business, which he conducts according to the most modern and
progressive methods, and has added a new hatching house 60x80 feet in
dimensions with a capacity of sixty incubators, utilizing only
electrical machines. He keeps about 2,000 breeding fowls and produces
all of the eggs used for hatching, having a capacity for hatching
30,000 eggs at one time. His chicken ranch, which comprises two and
one-quarter acres, or fourteen city lots, is located on South Fifteenth
Street, in San Jose. He has built up a large business, shipping to many
points in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Utah and Wyoming, and
during the season of 1920-21 he operated twenty-two incubators at their
full capacity and sold 50,000 baby chicks. In the conduct of the
business he is assisted by his sister, Miss Alice H. Reed, who is an
equal partner with him in the enterprise. She was also born in Honeoye,
N. Y., where she acquired her education, and is a most capable business
woman, much of the success of the undertaking being attributable to her
able cooperation and excellent judgment. Since coming to San Jose Mr.
Reed's intelligently directed efforts and initiative have been strong
elements in his success and he ranks with the leading poultrymen of the
state.
SANTA CLARA COUNTY The Valley of Heart's Delight