Elizabeth McCormick Reese (Mrs. Percy Meredith) (1849-1918)
Elizabeth (“Lizzie”) McCormick Reese became a member of the WLCB in the first few years of its existence and was the longtime chair of the Committee on Fiction. She was born in Virginia in 1849 and married Percy Meredith Reese in 1872; the couple had two sons. Reese’s grocery (initially Percy M. Reese, Grocer, and later Percy M. Reese & Son), stood for many years at 1201 N. Charles St., one of Baltimore’s main thoroughfares. The store was originally established in 1835 and was, at the time of its closing in 1913, “the oldest grocery in Baltimore” catering to “the best families in Baltimore.” Her membership in the WLCB is notable in that she was one of the members who would not have been considered one of Baltimore’s social elite. A pamphlet published by the WLCB commemorating its fifth anniversary in 1895 listed nearly a dozen publications by Reese in magazines including the Youth’s Companion, a highly repected family magazine of the era, the Sower, the Messenger, and The People’s Weekly. These publications have proved elusive. Reese died in 1918.
Relation
Percy Meredith Reese
Sources
“For Sale!” Baltimore Sun, Apr. 29, 1913
Findagrave.com
US Census, 1900 and 1910