Charles was Martin and Christina's first son, and second child (his older sister, Bertha Emeline Reagan was called "Betsey" when she was a small girl, later "Ella").

The Reagans were living in Illlinois, in Naperville (DuPage County), in 1860, at the time the census was taken there. The name is spelled "Ragan" on that census, not that it necessarily means they spelled their name that way (it also says on the census that Martin was born in Pennsylvania, but he was not - He had lived there a while with his parents, and brothers and sisters, but he was not born there). The census taker wrote down their ages as: Martin, 27; Christina, 24; Betsey, 3; and "Chas. H.," 1.

They were still in Illinois when Charles' brother Daniel A. Reagan was born in Earlville (La Salle County) in July of 1862. But by July of 1865 they had moved to Mitchell County, in far northern Iowa, where their son Paul Martin Reagan was born. Mitchell County is where our step (along with actual "blood") relatives the Jensens settled in the late 1850s. You can read more about the settlement of our family in northern Iowa/southern Minnesota in the section about Martin and Christina Reagan.

Suffice it to say here that those were early days of settlement in that part of Iowa and the people who homesteaded there were pioneers and were roughing it, but it was the kind of life they were used to. We do not come from pampered stock.

Our extended family lived not only in Mitchell County, Iowa, but in nearby counties, including to the north in Minnesota, some later moving to areas where there was more work or living was better in some way, but until the twentieth century few moved from the area and there are still many people who live in those parts of the country to whom we're related.

Below are three of the five pictures we have of Charles Reagan. (The other two are on pages where Christina Reagan is shown with her adult children -- All of the children are identified on those pages: .One page .The other page

The three pictures are on other pages, too. The first two are cropped from larger pictures (the larger pictures are on the other pages). The first, at the left, is from Charles and Alice's wedding picture. It looks like kids have drawn on it, and so this probably doesn't look much like he really looked back then, but at least we have an idea of his general physique, and his nose and his mouth. Did his ears really stick out that much? They're not as noticeable in the other two photos.

The middle picture is part of a family portrait which was taken in about 1896 or '97. The baby is his youngest son, John Vincent Reagan.

At the time Charles married Mary Alice ("Alice") Gilchrist in Leland, Iowa, on April 18, 1887 he was a school teacher. During his life he also worked as a farmer, merchant, and railroad supplyman (for the Illinois Central Railroad). He was listed as a farmer on September 21, 1895 on his son John Vincent Reagan's record of birth.

In 1900 or 1901 Charles and Alice and their children moved from Leland to Fort Dodge, Iowa. That's not so far away, about 125 miles by road, and the family remained in close contact with those who stayed in northern Iowa and those who moved further away. It was apparently at the time they moved to Fort Dodge that they changed the spelling of their name from Reagan to Regan.

Some Fort Dodge family addresses and map

Photographs of the family taken in studios show this Reagan family (mostly not including Charles) through the years. You'll find them in the pages in this section showing all of those photographs that still remain (as far as we know). There are also many pages of (recent, in color) photographs of Alice Reagan's belongings that meant a lot to her that were rescued by her oldest son Thomas Leroy ("Roy") after she died.

You can also read more about Alice Gilchrist Reagan.

When the Depression hit, Charles lost his job and had nothing for his retirement. They probably owned their home, though, and may have rented out another. Also, Roy and Allan helped out.

There's not a lot to say about Charles Reagan/Regan, as there are few stories that have come down in our line, at least, about him and he wasn't much photographed. He worked hard, he came home, ate, and slept, and went back to work again. There's nothing wrong with that.

...OUR IOWA FAMILY
...Preface
...Introduction
...Table of Contents
...Links to All Maps
...Questions & Answers