Bonesetter Reese

Reese was born in Rhymney May 6th 1855. He was orphaned by the death of his mother. A decade later he went to work in the Bute Ironworks.  He lived in No.1 Jerusalem Street Rhymney. Fortuitously his next door neighbour was Thomas ‘Rocyn’ Jones who taught him the trade of “Bonesetting”, a term the Welsh used for treatment of strains of muscle and tendon. Jones trained Reese until Reece left for the USA in 1887.

At the time of his death, Reese was regarded as a national figure and his death was marked by The New York Times, which printed his obituary.

He died in November 1931 in Ohio.