John D. Reese - Early Life and Career

Early Life and Career

Reese was born in Rhymney, Wales, to a coal miner who died while Reese was still an infant. He was orphaned by the death of his mother a decade later and went to work at the Welsh ironworks. Reese was taken in by an ironworker named Tom Jones, who taught him the trade of "bonesetting", a term the Welsh used for treatment of strains of muscle and tendon, not the setting of broken bones. Reese remained under Jones' tutelage until his departure for the United States in January 1887, at age 32.

Reese became a coal miner and then roller's helper at Jones & Laughlin Steel in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He later moved to Youngstown, Ohio, where he took a job at the Brown-Bonnell Mills. Within a few years, he assumed the skilled position of "roller" at the Mahoning Valley Iron Company. There, his skills as a healer came to the attention of one of the mill's administrators, James A. Campbell, who later became chairman of the board of the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company. Campbell encouraged Reese to pursue his medical career full-time. Reese attended Case University (now Case Western Reserve University) in Cleveland for three weeks before discontinuing his formal studies in medicine. Despite his lack of formal credentials, Reese's practice continued to grow.