From the research files of Jane A. Garoutte
Thank you for this file to Jane A. Garoutte who may be contacted at jagwire@verizon.net
1 Anthony James Reynolds b: in County Antrim, Ireland d: Unknown
.. +Margaret Mary Fleming d: Unknown
..... 2 George Reynolds d: Unknown
............. 3 Alzina Reynolds d: Unknown Burial: Buchanan, MI
................. +Treat d: Unknown
............. 3 Harriet Reynolds d: Unknown
............. 3 William Reynolds d: Unknown
............. 3 Anthony Reynolds d: Unknown
..... 2 Samuel Reynolds b: in VA d: 1854 Burial: Hamilton Cemetery, St. Joseph Co., IN
......... +Mary Tice d: Unknown m: in Macoupin Co., IL
............. 3 Virgil Reynolds d: Unknown
............. 3 Elizabeth Reynolds d: Unknown
................. +Shank d: Unknown
............. 3 Sarah Reynolds d: Unknown
................. +Arnold d: Unknown
..... 2 James Reynolds b: Nov 16, 1772 d: Unknown
..... 2 Susana Reynolds b: Sep 07, 1774 d: Unknown
......... +Thomas Jefferson Clendenin d: Unknown m: Jun 06, 1799 in Clark Co., KY
............. 3 Fleming Clendenen b: Mar 07, 1805 in Bourbon Co., KY d: Unknown
................. +Mahala Palmer d: Unknown m: Nov 06, 1828
..... 2 Margaret Reynolds b: Jan 19, 1777 d: Unknown
..... 2 Mary Reynolds b: Nov 29, 1779 in Fredrick or Frederick Co., VA d: Apr 1866
......... +George W Clendenin b: in Greenbrier Co., VA d: 1841 m: in Bourbon Co., KY
............. 3 Theodore Clendenin d: Unknown
............. 3 Hazard Perry Clendenin b: Oct 12, 1812 d: Unknown
................. +Maria Clark d: Dec 05, 1862 in Greene Co., IL
..... 2 Hannah Reynolds b: Apr 16, 1783 d: Unknown
..... 2 Joseph Fleming Reynolds b: Oct 05, 1785 in , Frederick, Virginia d: Apr 02, 1866 in , Laporte, Indiana Burial: Rolling Prairie Cemetery, Rolling Prairie, LaPorte Co., IN
......... +Mary Starry b: May 13, 1786 in Fredrick Co., VA d: Apr 13, 1837 in , Laporte, Indiana m: Aug 17, 1809 in Fairfield Co., OH Burial: Rolling Prairie Cemetery, Rolling Prairie, LaPorte Co., IN
............. 3 Minerva Reynolds b: Apr 14, 1810 in , Fairfield, Ohio d: Oct 27, 1884 in Hudson Lake, LaPorte Co., IN Burial: Rolling Prairie Cemetery, Rolling Prairie, LaPorte Co., IN
................. +William Sheridan b: Abt. 1812 in OH d: Unknown m: Sep 02, 1837 in LaPorte Co., IN Burial: Rolling Prairie Cemetery, Rolling Prairie, LaPorte Co., IN
.................... 4 William Reynolds Sheridan d: Unknown
........................ +Hannah Burden d: Unknown
............................ 5 Rhoda Sheridan d: Unknown
............................ 5 Stuart Sheridan d: Unknown
............................ 5 William Sheridan d: Unknown
.................... 4 John Sheridan b: Abt. 1845 in IN d: Unknown
........................ +Proud d: Unknown
............................ 5 William Sheridan d: Unknown
................................... 6 Malcolm Sheridan b: Private
................................... 6 Beatrice Sheridan b: Private
.................... 4 James Sheridan b: Abt. 1848 in IN d: Unknown
.................... 4 [1] Ann Eliza Sheridan b: Sep 25, 1850 in Hudson, LaPorte Co., IN d: Dec 16, 1898 in New Carlisle, St. Joseph Co., IN Burial: New Carlisle Cemetery, Olive Township, St. Joseph Co., IN
........................ +Fredrick Bailey d: Bef. 1895 m: Abt. 1880
............................ 5 Minerva Lucille Bailey d: Unknown
............................ 5 William Justice Bailey b: 1881 d: 1944 Burial: New Carlisle Cemetery, New Carlisle, Olive Township, Saint Joseph , Indiana
............................ 5 Charlotte L Bailey b: 1885 d: 1911 Burial: New Carlisle Cemetery, New Carlisle, Olive Township, Saint Joseph , Indiana
.................... *2nd Husband of [1] Ann Eliza Sheridan:
........................ +Major L Walker b: Apr 02, 1861 in Hudson Twp., LaPorte Co., IN d: 1924 m: Abt. 1894 Burial: New Carlisle Cemetery, New Carlisle, Olive Township, Saint Joseph , Indiana
............................ 5 Augusta Jane Walker b: Aug 21, 1895 in New Carlisle, Olive Township, St Joseph Co., IN d: Feb 14, 1958 in Bristol, Elkhart Co., IN Burial: Cremated; Ashes Spread US 20, Bristol, Elkhart Co., IN
................................ +Horace Ackley Garoutte b: Jan 24, 1895 in Fort Wayne, Allen Co., IN d: Apr 29, 1985 in Jones, Newburg Twp., Cass Co., MI m: Mar 12, 1927 in Chicago, Cook Co., IL Burial: Cremated Marcellus, Cass, MI; Ashes spread: Sidnaw, Houghton Co., MI
................................... 6 Joan Garoutte b: Dec 30, 1929 in Chicago, Cook Co., IL d: Jul 27, 1995 in Tucson, Pima Co., AZ
................................... 6 Horace Garoutte b: Apr 04, 1931 in Chicago, Cook Co., IL d: Jul 13, 1986 in Jones, Newburg Tp., Cass Co., MI Burial: Ashes spread: Sidnaw, Houghton Co., MI
....................................... +Colleen Elaine Farrell b: Private m: Private
............. 3 Stewart L Reynolds b: Jun 21, 1811 in , Fairfield Co., OH d: Dec 03, 1890 in New Carlisle, Olive Township, St. Joseph Co., IN Burial: Hamilton, St Joseph Co., IN
............. 3 Stuart L Reynolds b: Jun 21, 1811 d: 1890 in IA
................. +Cynthia Winkler b: Abt. 1822 in KY d: Unknown
.................... 4 Mary Ann Reynolds b: Abt. 1843 d: Unknown
........................ +Watts Wycoff b: in VA d: Unknown
............................ 5 Florence Wycoff d: Unknown
................................ +Davidson d: Unknown
............................ 5 Joseph Wycoff d: Unknown
............................ 5 Gladys Wycoff d: Unknown
................................ +Cole d: Unknown
............................ 5 Almer Wycoff d: Unknown
................................ +Louise Ranstead d: Unknown
................................... 6 Charles Wycoff b: Private
............................ 5 [3] James Edwin Wycoff d: Unknown
................................ +[2] Anna Laurie Sweeny d: Unknown
................................... 6 [4] Orson Wycoff b: Private
................................... 6 [5] Howard Wycoff b: Private
................................... 6 [6] Mary Ellen Wycoff b: Private
....................................... +[7] Bleasdale b: Private m: Private
................................... 6 [8] Inez Wycoff b: Private
....................................... +[9] Carr b: Private m: Private
............................ 5 John Wycoff d: Unknown
............................ 5 Frank Wycoff d: Unknown
............................ 5 Clarence Wycoff d: Unknown
............................ 5 Clara Wycoff d: Unknown
................................ +Ora Reddington d: Unknown
............................ 5 Arthur Wycoff d: Unknown
............................ 5 Elva Wycoff d: Unknown
................................ +Kelly d: Unknown
.................... 4 George Reynolds b: Abt. 1846 d: Unknown
.................... 4 Isabelle Reynolds b: Abt. 1847 d: Unknown
........................ +Weston d: Unknown
.................... 4 Permelia Reynolds b: Abt. 1848 d: Unknown
.................... 4 Joseph Reynolds b: Aft. 1850 d: Unknown
.................... 4 Viola Reynolds b: Aft. 1850 d: Unknown
........................ +Beck d: Unknown
.................... 4 William Reynolds b: Aft. 1850 d: Unknown
............. 3 Elizabeth Reynolds b: Apr 25, 1813 in , Fairfield Co., OH d: Dec 18, 1852 Burial: Rolling Prairie Cemetery, Rolling Prairie, LaPorte Co., IN
................. +Madore Cratee d: Unknown m: Dec 19, 1834 in St. Joseph Co., IN
.................... 4 Mary F Cratee b: Abt. 1836 in IN d: Unknown
.................... 4 Amanda Cratee b: Abt. 1839 in IN d: Unknown
........................ +Morton b: Unknown d: Unknown
.................... 4 Cynthia Cratee b: Abt. 1844 in IN d: Unknown
........................ +Johnson d: Unknown
............. 3 John Reynolds b: Jul 12, 1814 in Lancaster, Fairfield Co., OH d: Mar 31, 1890 in Hamilton, St. Joseph Co., IN Burial: Hamilton Cemetery, St. Joseph Co., IN
................. +Clarissa Egbert b: Abt. 1829 d: Unknown m: Apr 16, 1844 in Terre Coupee Prairie, St. Joseph Co., IN
.................... 4 James C Reynolds b: Abt. 1845 d: Unknown
.................... 4 Florence Reynolds b: Abt. 1849 d: Unknown in Hamilton, IN Burial: Hamilton Cemetery, Hamilton, IN
............. 3 George Wayne Reynolds b: Feb 29, 1816 in , Fairfield Co., OH d: Jan 04, 1855 in Rolling Prairie, LaPorte Co., IN Burial: Rolling Prairie Cemetery, LaPorte Co., IN
................. +Mary Folsom d: Unknown
.................... 4 Kate Reynolds d: Unknown
........................ +Abraham France d: Unknown
............................ 5 Edgar France d: Unknown
............................ 5 Earl France d: Unknown
.................... 4 Frank Reynolds d: Unknown
........................ +Jane France d: Unknown
.................... 4 George Reynolds d: Unknown
........................ +Harriet Knoblock d: Unknown
............................ 5 Horace Reynolds d: Unknown
................................ +Lorraine Temple d: Unknown
................................... 6 Temple Reynolds b: Private
............................ 5 Shirley Reynolds d: Unknown
............................ 5 Florence Reynolds d: Unknown
............................ 5 John Reynolds d: Unknown
............. 3 Fleming Wayne Reynolds b: May 25, 1817 in , Fairfield Co., OH d: Sep 19, 1891 in Rolling Prairie, LaPorte Co., IN Burial: Rolling Prairie Cemetery, Rolling Prairie, LaPorte Co., IN
................. +Elizabeth L Barnes b: Apr 12, 1824 in NY d: 1898 Burial: Rolling Prairie Cemetery, Rolling Prairie, LaPorte Co., IN
.................... 4 Emma Reynolds d: Unknown
........................ +Phoesus Hicks d: Unknown
............................ 5 Ray Hicks d: Unknown
............................ 5 James Hicks d: Unknown
............................ 5 Maude Hicks d: Unknown
.................... 4 James Reynolds d: Unknown
........................ +Theresa Elizabeth Spencer d: Unknown
............................ 5 Josephine Reynolds d: Unknown
................................ +George Denton d: Unknown
............................ 5 Florence Reynolds d: Unknown
............................ 5 Fleming Reynolds d: Unknown
.................... 4 Josephine Reynolds d: Unknown
........................ +John Corbin Hall d: Unknown
............................ 5 Ben Hall d: Unknown
.................... 4 Charles H Reynolds d: Jun in Hudson Lake, LaPorte Co., IN
.................... 4 Loran Reynolds b: Abt. 1846 d: Unknown
........................ +Florence Bowman d: Unknown
............................ 5 Clare Reynolds d: Unknown
................................ +Howard Chickering d: Unknown
............................ 5 John Reynolds d: Unknown
............................ 5 Joseph Reynolds d: Unknown
................................... 6 Constance Reynolds b: Private
....................................... +Wagner b: Private m: Private
.................... 4 Mary Eliza Reynolds b: Jul 14, 1848 d: Jan 10, 1885
........................ +Daniel White d: Unknown m: Dec 14, 1869
............................ 5 Mildred White d: Unknown
................................ +Benton d: Unknown
............................ 5 Charles White b: in MT d: Unknown
................................ +Dot France d: Unknown
............................ 5 Edward White d: Unknown
................................... 6 Mildred White b: Private
....................................... +Bunton b: Private m: Private
............. 3 Cynthia Reynolds b: Jun 19, 1819 in , Wayne, Indiana d: Jun 18, 1844 in Rolling Prairie, LaPorte Co., IN Burial: Rolling Prairie Cemetery, Rolling Prairie, LaPorte Co., IN
................. +[10] Andrew Foster b: in ?Fredricksburg, VA d: Unknown m: Feb 02, 1837 in LaPorte Co., IN
.................... 4 Foster d: Unknown
........................ +Mary Ellen d: Unknown
.................... 4 Mary Ellen Foster d: Unknown
........................ +James Sweeny d: Unknown
............................ 5 [2] Anna Laurie Sweeny d: Unknown
................................ +[3] James Edwin Wycoff d: Unknown
................................... 6 [4] Orson Wycoff b: Private
................................... 6 [5] Howard Wycoff b: Private
................................... 6 [6] Mary Ellen Wycoff b: Private
....................................... +[7] Bleasdale b: Private m: Private
................................... 6 [8] Inez Wycoff b: Private
....................................... +[9] Carr b: Private m: Private
.................... 4 John R Foster d: Unknown
........................ +Mary Milburn b: in South Bend, St. Joseph Co., IN d: Unknown
............................ 5 Charles Foster d: Unknown
............................ 5 Florence Foster d: Unknown
................................ +Hutson d: Unknown
.................... 4 Anna Eliza Foster d: Unknown
........................ +William Welch b: in LaPorte Co., IN d: Unknown
............................ 5 Belle Welch d: Unknown
................................ +Harter d: Unknown
................................... 6 Kenneth Harter b: Private
................................... 6 Irma Harter b: Private
............................ 5 Harry Welch d: Unknown
............................ 5 Maude Welch d: Unknown
................................ +Ford d: Unknown
............................ 5 William Welch d: Unknown
............................ 5 Joe Welch d: Unknown
............................ 5 Ethel Welch d: Unknown
............................ 5 Paul Barclay Welch d: Unknown
................................ +Willie-Belle Murphey d: Unknown
............. 3 Ethan Starry Reynolds b: Dec 12, 1820 in , Wayne Co., IN d: Apr 18, 1899 in South Bend, St. Joseph Co., IN Burial: South Bend, St. Joseph Co., IN
................. +Jeanette Briggs d: Unknown
.................... 4 Allen Reynolds d: Unknown
.................... 4 Edward Reynolds d: Unknown
............. 3 Margaret Reynolds b: Nov 02, 1822 in , Wayne, Indiana d: Dec 24, 1861 in Buchanan, Berrien Co., MI Burial: Rolling Prairie Cemetery, Rolling Prairie, LaPorte Co., IN
................. +[10] Andrew Foster b: in ?Fredricksburg, VA d: Unknown m: Mar 10, 1850 in St. Joseph Co., IN
.................... 4 Margaret Minerva Foster d: Unknown
........................ +William David Gish b: in South Bend, St. Joseph Co., IN d: Unknown
............................ 5 Walter Foster Gish d: 1940
............................ 5 John Reynolds Gish d: Unknown
................................ +Daisy Rowell b: in Beaver Dam, Dodge Co., WI d: Unknown
................................... 6 Marion Gish b: Private
....................................... +Howard Baird b: Private m: Private
................................... 6 Helen Gish b: Private
....................................... +Sibley b: Private m: Private
................................... 6 Margaret Gish b: Private
....................................... +Ed Lee b: Private m: Private
................................... 6 Phoebe Gish b: Private
....................................... +Peter Maher b: Private m: Private
................................... 6 William Reynolds Gish b: Private
............................ 5 Mabel Margaret Gish d: Unknown
................................ +Shirley D. Taylor d: Unknown
................................... 6 Marcia Taylor b: Private
....................................... +Mitchell b: Private m: Private
.................... 4 Clara Reynolds Foster d: Jan 17, 1935 in Denver, Denver Co., CO Burial: New Carlisle Cemetery, New Carlisle, Olive Township, Saint Joseph , Indiana
........................ +James Buchanan Garoutte b: Nov 13, 1855 in New Carlisle, Olive Township, St. Joseph Co., IN d: Jan 20, 1933 in Montrose, Montrose Co., CO m: Dec 22, 1880 in St. Joseph Co., IN Burial: New Carlisle Cemetery, New Carlisle, Olive Township, Saint Joseph , Indiana
............................ 5 Foster Thomas Garoutte b: Aug 25, 1884 in New Carlisle, Olive Township, Saint Joseph , Indiana d: Apr 01, 1966 in Memorial Hospital, South Bend, St. Joseph Co., IN Burial: Fairmount Cemetery, Denver, CO
................................ +Ruth Elizabeth Nice d: 1960 m: Jan 1943 in Denver, CO Burial: Fairmount Cemetery, Denver, CO
.................... 4 Frances Ella Foster b: Nov 04, 1852 d: Unknown
........................ +Orson Perry Clendenen b: Unknown d: Unknown m: Nov 04, 1875
............................ 5 Jane Clendenen d: Unknown
................................ +W C Ellis d: Unknown
............................ 5 Clara Foster Clendenen d: Unknown
................................ +Frederic Alvern Tippy d: Unknown
................................... 6 Marjorie Tippy b: Private
....................................... +Worth b: Private m: Private
................................... 6 Warren Tippy b: Private
................................... 6 Orson Frederic Tippy b: Private
................................... 6 James Oren Tippy b: Private
................................... 6 Clarimary Tippy b: Private
............................ 5 [11] Elizabeth Clendenen d: Unknown
................................ +Otto L Wild d: Unknown
............................ *2nd Husband of [11] Elizabeth Clendenen:
................................ +Julius F Wild d: Unknown
................................... 6 Gladys Wild b: Private
....................................... +Finkle b: Private m: Private
................................... 6 Jane Wild b: Private
....................................... +Roberts b: Private m: Private
............................ 5 Max Perry Clendenen d: Jan 22, 1951 Burial: Pine Lake Cemetery, LaPorte, IN
................................ +Grace M Condra d: Unknown Burial: Pine Lake Cemetery, LaPorte, IN
................................... 6 Roland Perry Clendenen b: Private
................................... 6 Kenneth Max Clendenen b: Private
................................... 6 Lowell Clendenen b: Private
................................... 6 Richard Clendenen b: Private
................................... 6 Dorothy Clendenen b: Private
................................... 6 Daniel Clendenen b: Private
............................ 5 Margaret Clendenen d: Unknown
................................ +Howard Jones d: Unknown
................................... 6 Maxine Jones b: Private
....................................... +Lauver b: Private m: Private
................................... 6 Betty Jones b: Private
....................................... +Danielson b: Private m: Private
................................... 6 Robert Jones b: Private
................................... 6 Mary Margaret Jones b: Private
....................................... +Marker b: Private m: Private
............. 3 James Reynolds b: Aug 12, 1824 in Richmond, Wayne Co., IN d: Jul 11, 1906 in Hamilton, St. Joseph Co., IN Burial: Hamilton Cemetery, St. Joseph Co., IN
................. +Nancy Howe b: in Berrien Co., MI d: Unknown Burial: Hamilton Cemetery, St. Joseph Co., IN
.................... 4 Zurelda Reynolds d: Unknown
........................ +VanRyper b: Unknown d: Unknown
............................ 5 Zurelda VanRyper d: Unknown
............................ 5 James VanRyper d: Unknown
............................ 5 Frances VanRyper d: Unknown
................................ +Day d: Unknown
.................... 4 Clara Reynolds d: Unknown
........................ +Scoffern b: Unknown d: Unknown
.................... 4 Estelle Reynolds d: Unknown
........................ +Baker b: Unknown d: Unknown
............................ 5 Nancy Baker d: Unknown
............................ 5 Elizabeth Baker d: Unknown
............................ 5 Carleto Baker d: Unknown
.................... 4 John Reynolds d: Unknown
........................ +Carrie Wells b: in MD d: Unknown
............................ 5 John Foster Reynolds d: Unknown
............................ 5 James Carroll Reynolds d: Unknown
............. 3 Pamela Reynolds b: Oct 29, 1826 in Richmond, Wayne Co., IN d: Jul 11, 1906 Burial: Rolling Prairie Cemetery, Rolling Prairie, LaPorte Co., IN
............. 3 William Reynolds b: 1832 in Richmond, Wayne Co., IN d: 1920
..... 2 John Reynolds b: Aug 19, 1792 in ? KY d: Unknown
THE REYNOLDS FAMILY –
MARY & ANTHONY AND SOME OF THEIR DESCENDANTS
By
ELIZABETH CLENDENEN WILD
The Reynolds Family -
Anthony and Mary and their Descendants
A Foreword
(Insert - See end of document for author and contact information)
I have been asked how I happened to start a story of the Reynolds Family. It may be that it is because I am sentimental and romantic, or that I love history, or possibly I’m a throwback to the days when family ties meant more than they do now. Whatever the reason one of my earliest recollections is of going to Uncle John's.
Sometime during the week we children would hear one of our parents say to the other "Uncle John will be looking for us over Saturday", and when Saturday came we would be scrubbed, curled, brushed and braided, and then start off for a visit with this best loved uncle.
Past the Boot Jack school, through Hudson and over across Terre Coupee Prairie the road ran. Then we came to Hamilton. Here we saw an old man leaning on a gate. He called "How are you Ella and Orson? Gem’ over for a square meal?" His name was "Tall" Faroutte, and the question always made me spunky as it sounded to me as if we did not have good meals at home, but Papa and Mamma would laugh and say they hoped so. There was a funny old store where I remember we bought peanut candy once - then the school and the Ranstead Place the old Foster House down the lane, and finally the big brick house with the cupola where Uncle John lived.
Different visits are confused now but various incidents are recalled such as making "spitcurls" of Uncle John’s white hair as he lay on the lounge. One time when we were there my sister, Clara, climbed out of the cupola window, went over the roof and down to the ground via the trumpet vine.
I remember lying on my back on the floor and tracing in the air the frieze that adorned the ceiling of the sitting room where we were all gathered. The library was a large room lined with black walnut shelves filled with books; Dickens, Waverly, Longfellow and Whittier, the favorites of that time.
There were comfortable chairs and a walnut table on which stood a fine stereopticon machine. I am the proud possessor of that table.
The only thing I remember about the parlors was the ostrich egg on the mantle which had been brought from California, but in the fire place room was a cherry table that had belonged to my Grandmother Foster, and on the mantle over the fire place were some lovely Staffordshire figures and a silver vase in which "spills" were kept. These Spills were rolls of newspaper about as large as a slender pencil. They were used to light lamps or candles from the fire place. I always had a great yen for one of the spills but I never got it though I was often given nickels and dimes but a spill was something else.
The hall was a great source of admiration for me. I loved the staircase and the colored glass panels which flanked the front doorway. What a thrill it was to see the cold winter scene when we looked through the blue glass the torrid effect the red glass gave and the Spring and Fall suggested by the green and amber.
One day Papa came home from New Carlisle and we heard him say to Mamma, "Van says Uncle John is sick and we had better go over". They went but we children stayed at home. When they came home they both looked very sober. Mamma went again the next day and took me with her. Aunt Margie was there. People moved about very quietly. In the afternoon a tall thin man came out of Uncle John’s room and said, "Ella, he wants to see Bess". This was Uncle Jim. He took me in and lifted me on to the bed, Uncle John kissed me and teased me about my teeth which at that time were so "few and far apart too" as sister Clara said.
Then I had to go out so Uncle John could rest. A few days later he died.
Though I did not know it then Uncle John had been very wealthy, and after his death, trouble arose about the distribution of his estate. We heard the elders talk of breaking the will, of law-suits and lawyers. The big house was kept closed. At last they said that our side had won the case.
I didn’t know what that meant but we built a new house and barn and the relatives did too or some thing equally interesting, but we did not go to see Uncle Jim any more or Uncle Eth in South Bend. I didn’t know Uncle Eth but I liked Uncle Jim and his grandson Jimmy VanRyper and was sorry I could not play with him. The only tie left was Uncle Van who came to see us when we were sick.
As I grew older one of my greatest enjoyments was listening to Mamma, Papa, Aunt Margie and Annie Wykoff tell of when they lived at Uncle John’s. Some of these I am going to relate, hoping others of the Reynolds clan may enjoy them too.
The Reynolds Family
Anthony and Mary and Their Descendants
Chapter I.
The First Known Generation
Family tradition has always said that our first ancestor to live in North America was Anthony James Reynolds who was born in County Antrim, Ireland and came to this continent before the Revolutionary War. It is positive that he was here before that time as his first child was born in Frederick County, Virginia November 16, 1772, and he was still in Frederick County in 1789 as he is listed as "Head of Family" in the Virginia Census of 1782 and in the first census of the United States in 1789.
His wife was Mary Fleming and on page 470 in Confession of Faith
"Agreed upon by the Assembly of Divines
at Westminster, with the assistance of
Commissioners from the
Church of Scotland
Printed in the Year MDCCLXVIII"
are written the names and birthdates of the following children:
James Reynolds was born November ye 16th , 1772
Susana Reynolds was born September ye 7th, 1774
Margaret Reynolds was born January ye 19, 1777
Mary Reynolds was born November ye 29, 1779
Hannah Reynolds was born April ye 16th, 1783
Joseph Fleming Reynolds was born October ye 5th,l785
There were at least three other children whose names do not appear George, Samuel and John. George was the father of Mrs. Alzina Treat, buried in the Buchanan, Michigan cemetery. Samuel was the father of Virgil Reynolds and Elizabeth Reynolds Shank. John was born August 19, 1792, probably in Kentucky and on October 15, 1806 his father Anthony Reynolds apprenticed him to Samuel Turner to learn to be a gunsmith. He was to serve until he was twenty years old, when he was to "Receive 12 lbs. in the coin of the realm, a suit of clothes and a good vise fit for the use of a gunsmith." The apprenticeship papers are recorded at the Bourbon County Courthouse, Paris, Kentucky.
There is no record of the exact time the Reynolds family left Virginia for Kentucky. In my early research of the family history, Mrs. Alzina Treat, a grand daughter of Anthony wrote me that he received a land grant during the administration of John Adams, for his services in the Revolution, and among the pre-emption titles in Paris, Bourbon County, Kentucky Anthony’s name appears on various papers. For instance one reads as follows: Anthony Reynolds bought from Aquilla Samson on February 12, 1806 in consideration of $450, a tract of 60 acres in Bourbon County on Strodes Creek being a part of a survey and pre-emption for Moses Thomas - Recorded Feb. 12, 1806; and on October 14, 1806 Anthony Reynolds sold to French Talbot in consideration of $500 a tract of 60 acres on Strodes Creek.
Samuel Reynolds was also born in Virginia and eventually reached Greene County, Illinois where he lived near his sister Polly Clendenen. He was married twice, one of his wives being Mary Tice. They were married in Macoupin County, Illinois. He was a soldier in the War of 1812. He left Illinois and came to Saint Joseph County, Indiana where he died in 1854 and is buried in the Hamilton Cemetery. Samuel had three known children - Virgil, Elizabeth Shank and (?) Sarah Arnold.
George Reynolds, son of Anthony, lived in South Bend at one time. He was the father of Alzina Treat (before mentioned), Harriet, William and Anthony.
Nothing is known of Margaret and Hannah, daughters of Anthony, though they are probably buried in the Clendenen burial lot in Greene County, Illinois.
In the cemetery at Rolling Prairie, Indiana on the Reynolds lot are two graves one marked
Jane Reynolds died April 14, 1849, age about 76 yrs.
The other is Julia Reynolds died April 16, 1848 age 47 yrs.
These must be the graves of Jane Clendenning who married James Reynolds, and a daughter. Authorities Old Settlers in Greene County, Illinois History. Copied by Ella F. Clendenen Virginia Census of l782-Newberry Library United States Census of 1789-Newberry Library Confessions of Faith-property of Anthony Reynolds,
Page 470
Records in Courthouse in Bourbon Co. Ky. Letter from Charles Clendenin, Eminence, Ky. A grandson of Thomas Clendenen and his wife Susana Reynolds.
Letter from Mrs. Ida Atchinson of Audrain, Mo. Granddaughter of Thomas and Susan Clendenin. Items dictated by Alzina Treat, granddaughter of Anthony, daughter of George Reynolds
Markers in Hamilton cemetery, St. Joseph Co. Ind. Markers in Rolling Prairie cemetery, LaPorte Co.Ind Clendenen Burial lot in Greene Co. Ill. Obituary of Fleming Clendenin at North Middletown, Ky.
Chapter II.
Some of the Second Generation
Susana, the second child of Anthony and Mary Fleming Reynolds was born in Frederick County, Virginia on September 7, 1774. Her name and birthdate is recorded in Anthony and Mary’s Confession of Faith and is also scribbled in a child’s handwriting on the inside of the binding of the book. A record of her marriage to Thomas Clendenning on June 6, 1799, by William Forman can be found at the Clark County, Kentucky Courthouse.
Tradition says that Thomas and Susana made more than one trip to Missouri, Westmoreland County being one of their sojourns. However, two of their sons were born in Kentucky, Fleming in Bourbon County on March 7, 1805.
Fleming was married twice and raised a large family. His first wife was Mahala Palmer to whom he was married on Nov. 6, 1828. Some of their descendants are Hazel Clendenen Lawrence and Maxine Clendenen Smith, daughters of Lewis and granddaughters of Samuel Clendenen. Also Clara Clendenen Davis, granddaughter of Charles Clendenin, daughter of Hugh and Josephine Detwiler Stroker.
In June, 1799 Thomas Clendenen bought a tract of land of 68 acres and two rods on Stoner Creek for $400.00. According to Silas Hedges Book 35 page 372.
Thomas Clendenin’s heirs on Jan. 8, 1827 filed same; Susana Clendenin (wife) Cynthia Clendenin, Margaret Clendenin, Mary Clendenin, Sophia Clendenin, William Clendenin and wife Sally, Fleming Clendenin and wife Mahala, Thomas Martin and wife Amanda, heirs of Thomas Clendenin, deceased, all of Bourbin County except Thomas Martin and wife who are of Harrison County, Kentucky, in consideration of $65 per acre, a tract on Stoner.
On several legal papers pertaining to the affairs of Thomas and Susana Reynolds Clendenen the name of George Clendenin appears as a witness, and a Statement I have which was dictated to my mother by Alzina Treat says that Mary Reynolds married George Clendenin and that Susan married George’s brother.
The apparent fact that George W. and Thomas Jefferson Clendenin were brothers who married Mary and Susana Reynolds, sisters, has always been acknowledged by descendants and relatives of both families.
Authorities
Confession of Faith
Records at Paris Courthouse, Bourbon Co. Kentucky Letter from Charles Clendenin of Eminence, Ky. -a son of Fleming and Grandson of Thomas and Susana Clendenin
Note: The spelling of the name Clendenen, Clendenin, Clendenning has varied during the different generations: also the spelling of Susana occurs as Susana (in Confession of Faith) Susan, Susanna
Mary (Folly) Reynolds Clendenin
Both Folly Reynolds and George Clendenin were born in Virginia - Folly in Frederick County and George in Greenbrier County, the son of Robert and Margaret Clendenin. Robert was a Revolutionary War soldier who took part in the Battle of Point Pleasant. The date of George’s birth is unknown but Folly was born on November 29, 1779, the daughter of Anthony and Mary Fleming Reynolds. Both families were among the early Trans-Allegheny pioneers, who settled in Bourbon County Kentucky. There George and Folly were married and there their sons were born. The elder son was named Theodore. He died when young leaving one piece of handwork, a valentine, which he made in May, 1819. It was beautifully written and artistically decorated with designs in pastels. The verse told about the type of maid he loved,
The other son was born October 12, 1812 and named Hazard Ferry. It is said there was a connection between the Perry family and the Clendenen. This has never been verified but as Hazard was born two years before the hero of the Battle of Lake Erie won fame it is probably true.
George and Folly owned a farm in Bourbon County but in 1817 they sold it to George Scott and moved to Saint Charles County, Missouri, remaining there until the Spring of 1820 when they removed to Greene County, Illinois. They settled on a tract of land near the point where the Nacoupin Creek breaks through the Illinois River Bluffs.
George died in 1841 and Folly lived until April 1866. She made her home with her son Hazard whose wife Maria Clark had passed away Dec. 5, 1862. They lived in the old Rock House which Hazard and his wife had planned, though never completely finished. It still stands there a memorial in the hearts and minds of the many descendants of George and Folly, who with Hazard and Maria are buried nearby on the bluff over looking the Illinois River Valley.
Authorities
Old Settlers in Greene County Illinois History Confession of Faith (Prayer Book) Records in Courthouse at Paris, Bourbon County,
Kentucky
Records in Greene County, Illinois Courthouse Burial lot on old Clendenen Farm three miles south of Eldred, Illinois
Joseph Fleming Reynolds
As said before Joseph Fleming Reynolds was born in Frederick County, Va., October 5, 1785, the son of Anthony and Mary Fleming Reynolds. He was still a boy when the Reynolds family moved from Virginia to Kentucky. When or why he found himself in Warren County, Ohio is not known but that is where he married Mary Starry, probably in 1809 as their first child, Minerva was born in 1810. One history says they lived in Bourbon County, in 1810, but soon went to Ohio, this time near Lancaster in Fairfield County where several of their children were born, among them Margaret, my grandmother, who was born November 2, 1822.
The children of Joseph Fleming and Mary Starry Reynolds were:
Minerva-born April 14, 1810:died Oct.27, 1884: buried Rolling Prairie, Ind,
Stuart L.-born June 21, 1811: died 1890
Elizabeth-born April 25, 1813: died 1856: Buried Rolling Prairie, Ind.
John-born July 12, 1814: died March, 1890: Buried Hamilton, St. Joseph Co. Ind.
George-born Feb. 29, 1816: died Jan. 1855: Buried Rolling Prairie, Ind.
Fleming Wayne, born May 25, 1817: died Sept. 1891:
Buried Rolling Prairie, Md.
Cynthia-born June 19, 1819: died June 1844: buried Rolling Prairie, Ind.
Ethan Starry-born Dec.l2, l820: died 1899: buried South Bend, Indiana
Margaret-born Nov. 2, 1822: Died Dec. 24, 1861: buried Rolling Prairie, Ind.
James-born Aug. 12, 1824: died 1906: buried Hamilton, St. Joseph Co. Ind.
Pamelia-born Oct. 29, 1826: died 1848: Buried Rolling Prairie, Ind.
The next move was to Saint Charles Co. Missouri but due to Indian attacks in which most of their belongings were lost they came to Wayne County, Ind., probably in 1824.
Here they went through a period of hardship and poverty. The older sons, Stuart and John worked for a neighbor who for some reason refused to pay them, so, much against their father’s wishes, they left home going to LaPorte County where they got work and in 1831 the rest of the family joined them. They settled on a site about eight miles northeast of LaPorte on the Chicago Trail. The farm was named "Plum Grove Farm" from the wild plum thickets which were there at that time. Plum Grove Farm remained in the Reynolds family until about 1925.
Minerva Reynolds married William Sheridan, said to be a near relative of General Philip Sheridan. Her husband was a very fine cabinet maker. They had a home at Hudson (Lakeport) close to the lake and the rear part of the Hudson Lake hotel had been the Sheridan front or sitting roomy. Minerva was thrown from a buggy in a run-away in 1884, suffering injuries from which she died Oct. 27, and is buried in Rolling Prairie Cemetery.
Elizabeth was born April 25, 1813. She married a Frenchman named Madore Cratee. They had two daughters, Amanda Morton and Cynthia Johnson. To Madore Cratee has been given the honor of preventing the city of LaPorte being named Doorburg or Doorville instead of its musical name LaPorte the door.
Stuart Reynolds married a lady from Kentucky, named Cynthia Winkler. They lived on the Foster place for a time but moved to Iowa where Stuart died in 1890.
John the next of Joseph Fleming Reynolds children was born July 12, 1814. His wife was Clara Egbert who died when they were quite young. He never remarried, living in the big brick house which he and his wife had planned. He was very successful and at the time of his death was said to be the richest man in Saint Joseph County, possibly in Indiana. He took an active interest in politics. He died in 1890 and is buried in Hamilton Cemetery.
George W. was born Feb. 29, 1816 and died at the age of thirty-nine, leaving his widow, Mary Folsom and three children, Frank, George and Kittie, who lived on the Plum Grove Farm with their mother who remarried to a Mr. John Zigler. George was buried at Rolling Prairie.
Fleming Wayne, the next of the family was born May 28, 1817 and died in 1891. His wife was Elizabeth Barnes. They lived in Hudson Township on a farm about one-half mile north of the Boot Jack School. They are buried in the Rolling Prairie cemetery.
The daughter Cynthia, born June 19, 1819 married Andrew Foster, a Virginian from Fredericksburg, who with John Reynolds owned a store in Hudson in 1836. Andrew Foster studied medicine and became a successful physician. They had three children. Cynthia died June 18, 1844 and is buried in Rolling Prairie.
Then comes Ethan Starry Reynolds who was born in 1820, Dec. 12, and died in 1899. His wife was Jeanette Briggs and they lived in South Bend where he was a successful merchant and banker. He is buried in South Bend.
Margaret, born November 2, 1822, became the wife of Andrew Foster after the death of her sister Cynthia. Margaret passed away Christmas Eve, 1861, in Buchanan, Michigan and as so many others of the family, is buried at Rolling Prairie. Dr. Foster is also buried there. They had three daughters.
James was born on August 12, 1824. He married Nancy Howe. James was a very prosperous farmer and business man. He died in 1906 and is buried in Hamilton Cemetery. There were four children in that family.
Pamelia, the youngest of Joseph’s family was born October 29, 1826 and died in 1848. She never married and is buried in Rolling Prairie.
Mary Starry, the wife and mother of the Joseph Fleming Reynolds family passed away in April of 1837 and her grave is at Rolling Prairie Cemetery near her husband and so many of their children.
Joseph lived until April 2, 1866. It became necessary to amputate one of his legs, which was done at home without the use of an anesthetic, though his death did not occur at that time.
He was an educated man for that time and the unsettled life he had lived. He taught school in Hudson in the winter of 1833-1834.
He must have been something of a Tartar as none of his children ventured to cross him even after they were grown. It is said that during the Civil War when he lived with his son John that "Pap" read the papers through before anyone else had a glance at them.
One history says regarding Joseph Reynolds - "He took a keen interest in politics, and had decided and intelligent views on all subjects and freely, eloquently and unhesitatingly expressed those views". (I am sure this trait was passed along the line to many of his descendants).
Authorities
Reynolds Family Bib1e
Markers in Hamilton, St. Joseph County, Indiana
Markers in Rolling Prairie, LaPorte County, Indiana
Newspaper files in South Bend Public Library, South Bend Museum, St. Joseph County Courthouse, South Bend Tribune files.
Obituaries of James, John, Ethan and Fleming Reynolds Old copy Chicago Tribune
CHAPTER III
Concerning the Clendenen Family
It is impossible to write an account of one of these families without bringing in the other as their lines crossed in so many different ways. They were both early settlers of Virginia, the Reynolds in Frederick County and the Clendenens in Greenbrier. It is certain the Clendenens came to America from Scotland by the way of Ireland, in 1746. The Reynolds are said to have come from County Antrim, Ireland before the Revolution. Just when the two families came together is uncertain but we know they were Trans Allegheny Pioneers and there is no record of Robert Clendenen being in Virginia after 1791. Soon after that year the big exodus from Virginia to Bourbon and Clark Counties, Kentucky began. It was by boat down the Ohio to Maysville, Kentucky, and then across those counties to the neighborhood of the present city of Paris.
There are records that both families owned land on Strode or Stoner Creeks.
In a copy of West Virginia Historical Magazine, July 1904 is an article on the first generation Clendenins. It states that the Clendenins were Charles, the father; George (born in Scotland); William; Robert, born in 1750; Alexander; and Mary Ellen (married Major John Cantrell). The article says, "They were quiet, sober-sided men; thoughtful, good, true, kind, generous, able, educated, well-trained". We are descended from Robert.
Charles, our immigrant ancestor was born in Dumfrieshire, Scotland. He was a supporter of the Stuarts, a Jacobite, who fled to America in 1746.
In May 1881, Ella Foster Clendenen copied from "Old Settlers of Greene County, Illinois" in a Greene County Atlas an account of the Clendenens who came to that county in 1820.
The subject of the account was Hazard Perry Clendenen who was born October 12, 1812, in Bourbon County, Kentucky. According to the date given, Hazzard was about five years old when his parents George W. Clendenen and Polly Reynolds Clendenen left Kentucky going to Saint Charles County, Missouri, where they remained until the Spring of 1820, going to Greene Co. Ill. (I asked my father if he knew why they left Missouri and he said he believed it was because of the slavery question as the Missouri Compromise of 1820 had thrown that state open to slavery).
The account says that "When the family settled in Greene Co. there was scarcely a settlement between their place and the prairies to the eastward near where Kane is now situated, and wild deer and Indians still were roaming over their accustomed haunts. The famous Indian Chief Blackhawk and his family spent one winter on Diamond Island in the Illinois River about three miles from the Clendenen home. The old warrior frequently visited the whites along the Bluff with whom he was peaceable and friendly. They always considered Blackhawk a man of the strictest honor and his word could ever be relied upon".
Hazard was married on the 20th day of December, 1842 to Miss Maria A. Clark, daughter of Absolom and Lydia Anne Wallingford Clark, who was born in Ohio Dec. 16, 1823.
Quoting again "When about the age of twenty Hazard made several trips to New Orleans on flatboats loaded with produce and livestock and after making his sales would return on a steamer. He was employed in this capacity for about fourteen years. He would build the flatboats on Macoupin Creek or the Illinois River".
Hazard and Maria Clendenen had six children, four of whom grew to adulthood. The eldest one was Mary A. who married Robert King, a Civil War soldier. They settled in Missouri and their children were Manie, Orson, Jennie, Fred, Joe, Mary and Foster. Orson had two daughters, Mattie-Joe King, and Edith Johnson. Mattie-Joe is a teacher in North Kansas City and Edith is a business woman there. Foster married Mary Low, a Chicago teacher and they have two sons, Robert and William. Both eons were in World War II. Bob was an aviator who was shot down at the Normandy Beach-head. He was taken prisoner for the duration of the war but came home safely. Both sons are married and have families.
The next child of the Clendenens was Oscar who married Rosina (?) Bradley. Oscar enlisted in the Northern army at the beginning of the Civil War when he was only fifteen. He was wounded and sent home but he soon recovered and returned to service. He had two children Janette and Reuben, Oscar and his wife died within a few hours of one another, leaving their small children who were raised by their Bradley grandparents. Reuben, the father of one son, Oscar, has passed away but Janette (Nettie) is living in Eldred, Illinois.
She married Jack Borman who died several years ago. Their children are Bea (Mrs. Charles Smith); Clyde, Leo, Ada (Mrs. Paul Aderton) and Janie (Mrs. Fred Wyle).
Orson Perry Clendenen was the third child of Hazard’s family. He spent much of his boyhood after his mother’s death in the home of John Reynolds who was a cousin of Hazard. Here he became acquainted with Ella Foster, daughter of Andrew Foster and his wife Margaret Reynolds who was a daughter of Joseph Reynolds, hence descended from Anthony and Mary Fleming Reynolds. This was the fourth instance of the marriage of members of the two families. They had five children.
Jane (Jennie) the youngest married James Ellis. There were two children in that family, Ella and Elmer.
A more intimate acquaintance with Hazard Perry Clendenen is gained through an excerpt from an article in a newspaper printed before 1880, entitled, "The Fishing Excursion" - a tale of a group of nine gentlemen on a fishing trip on the Illinois River. "The next objective point was the residence of our old friend Perry Clendenen under the Bluff where we arrived about 10 P.M. The old gentleman greeted us heartily and assigned us a vacant house near by for our quarters. Mr. Clendenen accompanied us each day in our perigrinations through the river bottoms and proved himself a valuable accession to the party. We examined a very fine collection of Indian relics - the samples are highly valued by the owner. On Tuesday we left our amiable host, homeward bound, and a more hospitable one or a more courteous genial gentleman does not live than Perry Clendenen".
Authorities
Old settlers of Greene Co., Ill.
Trans-Allegheny Pioneers by John P. Hale
West Virginia Magazine, July 1904
Annals of Fort Lee, by Roy Bird Cook
Newspaper clippings owned by Mrs. Charles Smith, Eldred, Ill.
Loved family traditions.
CHAPTER IV
Unto the Fifth and Some of the Sixth Generation
When this chapter is read, some will say "We read this before". This is true in part, but in order to connect various links there has to be some repetition, so please bear with me in my attempt to chronicle the story of our line.
An old Reynolds Bible is in my possession and the "Family Record" page, part of which is in Great-grandfather Joseph’s handwriting, bears the following names and dates of the birth of his children. The incidents and later information given were gleaned from listening to parents, aunts, and uncles tell about the family. "Aunt Betsy" Shank, daughter of Samuel Reynolds often stayed in our home and some of the data came from her.
Minerva, the eldest daughter of Joseph’s family was born April 14, 1810 in Fairfield County, Ohio, and died at Hudson Lake Oct. 27, i884. Her death was caused by injuries, which she received in a runaway. I can just remember her funeral mostly because I walked under the casket.
Her husband was William Sheridan who was a fine cabinet-maker, and I have been told that he was a near relative of General Philip Sheridan of Civil War fame. The Sheridan children were John who married a Miss Proud and had one son William, whose son Malcolm and daughter Beatrice live in LaPorte; James, who died unmarried; and a daughter, Ann Eliza, who was born Sept. 25, 1850 and died Dec. 16, 1898. She was Ie~1dt~ married first to Frederick Bailey, a nephew of Aunt Nancy Reynolds (Nancy Jim). Their family were William J., Minerva Lucille (Gyp), and Charlotte (Lattu). Ann Eliza’s second husband was Major Walker by whom she had one child, Jane, who married Horace Garoutte. The Baileys have all passed away, but Jane lives in Goshen, Indiana.
William Reynolds (Billy) was also Aunt Minerva’s son, who married Hannah Burden. They had three children, Rhoda, Stuart and William.
Aunt Minerva’s home was at Hudson Lake where the hotel afterward stood.
After Minerva came Stuart, born June 21, 1811. He married a Kentucky lady named Cynthia Winkler, and in their family George, Joseph and William none of whom had a fami1y and Mary Anne, Viola and Isabelle. Viola was Mrs. Beck; Isabelle, Mrs. Weston; and Mary Anne, Mrs. Watts Wykoff; a Virginian. Their children of whom only three are living, Florence Wykoff Davidson, Joseph Wykoff and Gladys Wykoff Cole.
The others were Almer who married Louise Ranstead, has one son Charles living. James Edwin’s wife was Anna Laurie Sweeny. Anna Laurie was the grand daughter of Cynthia Reynolds Foster. Her mother was Mary Ellen Foster. She and Ed had four children, Orson who died when a baby, Howard, Mary Ellen Bleasdale, and Inez Carr. Mary Ellen has passed away leaving two Sons. Howard lives in Mariana, Florida and Inez in New Carlisle. Then came John and Frank followed by the twins, Clarence and Clara, who was the wife of Ora Redington. The next was Arthur, then Joseph and Elva Wykoff Kelly. The youngest is Gladys Cole who with Florence resides in South Bend. The Wykoffs were clever, witty, musical and loyal to each other to the nth degree. Woe be to any one who offended one of the clan.
Elizabeth, Joseph’s third child married a Frenchman named Madore Cratee. They had two daughters Amanda Morton and Cynthia Johnson. To Madore Cratee according to an article published in the Chicago Tribune, belongs the credit f or LaPorte being so-named, instead of Doorburg as was first suggested. Elizabeth is buried in Rolling Prairie.
John was the fourth child of Joseph and Mary. His wife was Clara Egbert a daughter of one of the early Terre Coupee families. They had several children but the only daughter Florence was the only one to reach adulthood and she left no children. They are buried in Hamilton Cemetery.
George followed John. He was born February 29, 1816. He was married to Mary Folsom. Their family were Kate (Kitty) Frank and another George. Kitty became the wife of Abraham France, one of the Adam France family who lived at Boot Jack near the Plum Grove Farm. Their children were Edgar and Earl, both deceased. Frank Reynolds also married one of the France family, Jane.
George W’s son George married Harriet Knoblock of South Bend. Their family consisted of Horace, Shirley, Florence and John. Horace and Shirley are passed away. John lives in Goshen, Indiana and Florence in Atlanta, Georgia. Horace has a son named Temple, the mother’s maiden name, Lorraine Temple. I believe they reside in California.
Fleming Wayne Reynolds was born May 28, 1817. He was the grand uncle whom I best remember. When we lived at Boot Jack where our parents had bought the old Joseph Reese farm Uncle Flem and Aunt Betsy lived about half a mile north of the Boot Jack School. We Clendenen children went there very often and few days passed that we did not see Uncle Flem. He used to sing "Jim Crack Corn" and something about "Buy me the Lins-woolsyBrandywine, Jimmy Jenkins". His wife was
Elizabeth Barnes and she was a dear old lady. Fine-looking, quick and snappy in her conversation, and very stylish. I remember she wore a dainty bit of lace on her head after her hair was thin.
Mary, Emma, James, Loran, Josephine and Charles were their family. Charles, their youngest son was drowned in Hudson Lake when about twelve years of age. That was the great sorrow of their lives from which they never recovered. The daughter, Mary, married Daniel White. They went to Montana where their son Charles was born but they returned to New Carlisle where Mr. White had a grocery store for many years. They had another son Edward. Nary died when her sons were small and they spent much of their time with their grandparents. Both attended the Boot Jack School. I remember my mother telling of Mary White’s beautiful eyes. Edward White had one daughter, Mrs. Mildred Bunton. Charles married Dot France (another instance of Reynolds-France marriage). Both Ed and Charles have passed away. Mrs. White resides in South Bend.
Emma Reynolds husband was Phoesus Hicks. They lived in Chicago and had two sons, Ray and James and a daughter, Maude.
Uncle Flem’s son Loran became a successful lawyer in Boone, Iowa. His wife was Florence Bowman a very beautiful woman. They had three children, Clare, John, and Joseph. Clare (Mrs. Howard Chickering) was also fine looking. So far as I know Joe was the only one who left any children, a daughter, Mrs. Constance Wagner. I never knew John but one summer Joe came with his mother and spent sometime at Uncle Flem’s.
The Welch family were at our House and such fun we had. When Clara and Maude were about, Joe was very patronizing to the young fry but most of the time he was as willing to play that the "old Ridgway barn" was anything from a wrecked vessel on the high seas to a castle in Spain, as we younger children were. On the last night of the vacation Uncle Flem had to come down to our house after him with a switch but I don’t imagine Joe felt much of it. We never saw him again as Uncle Flem died that fall and Joe never came back.
Uncle Flem’s son James lived for a time in McCook, Nebraska. His wife was Theresa Elizabeth Spencer. Their children were Josephine, Florence and Fleming who died at the age of eight. Josephine became Mrs.George Denton. Her husband was a prominent gentleman of Deer Lodge, Montana, and they have a fine worthwhile family. Florence was a business woman in Deer Lodge. She did newspaper work and other writing. Josephine and Florence spent one winter with their grandparents at Boot Jack and went to school there. I liked both girls very much and wished that I might have known them after we were grown. Uncle Flem’s daughter Josephine was Mrs. John Corbin Hall. They had one son, Ben, and resided in Kansas City.
Uncle Flem died in September, 1891 and Aunt Betsy in 1898. They are buried in the Rolling Prairie Cemetery.
The seventh child in Joseph Reynolds family was Cynthia. She was born June 19, 1819 and died June 18, 1844. She and her husband Andrew Foster had three children, Mary Ellen, John R. and Anne Eliza.
John Foster, whose wife was Mary Milburn of South Bend moved to Kansas City or Merriam, Kansas. Their two children were Charles and Florence Foster Hutson. Florence lives in Ardmore, Oklahoma. John Foster died past the age of eighty.
Mary Ellen Foster married a man from Virginia named James Sweeny and their one child was a lovely girl who was named Anna Laurie. Mary Ellen was a very handsome girl, vivacious and quick-tempered. I have heard my mother tell of Mary Ellen throwing an open pair of scissors at her. I was shocked but mamma said she supposed she had it coming to her but I was of a different opinion. Mary Ellen died when Anna Laurie was a small child. Anna lived part of the time with her father and grandmother Sweeny, then with a stepmother and finally at Uncle John’s. She married Edwin Wykoff and their children are mentioned under Ed’s name.
Anna Eliza Foster married a druggist, William Welch who was connected with the Cathcart and Lemon families of LaPorte County. Their family were Belle Harter, Harry, Maude Ford, William, Joe, Ethel, and Paul. Belle spent much of her life in Europe as her husband’s lumber business kept them there months or years at a time. She died soon after the end of the first World War. Her son Kenneth served first with the English army and after the United States entered the war he served with the American Forces. Belle’s daughter Irma is a very fine pianist, who lives at Rockville Center, Long Island.
Harry, William, and Ethel died when young but Maude lived to be eighty years of age. The Fords lived in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where Mr. Ford was connected with one of the banks there for many years. Maude was a very handsome woman and her husband was a gentleman of the true Southern type. Paul Barclay Welch lives in Memphis, Tenn. where he is employed by a book-binding firm. His wife was Willie-Belle Murphey and they have two daughters.
The Welch family lived in Buchanan, Michigan at first but moved to Chattanooga, Tenn. where they became as truly southern as any of their Virginia ancestors. After her husband’s death, Anne Eliza Welch lived with her daughter, Maude but she frequently came back north and visited in "dear old Buchanan and Indiana". To her half-sisters’ children and to Anna Laurie she was "Aunt Annie" and her vista were always a joy. She was a beautiful woman until the day she died in Chattanooga at the age of ninety-three.
After Cynthia Reynolds came Ethan Starry. He was born Dec. 12, 1820. His wife was Jeanette Briggs. They lived in South Bend on the northeast corner of Washington and LaFayette Streets. Their two sons were Allen and Edward. Neither married and both were comparatively young when they passed away. Ed Reynolds was a great traveler and was with the first group of white people to go down the Colorado River. Ethan Reynolds was a handsome man and was a major in the Civil War. The first telegram to be sent to South Bend was addressed to Aunt Jeanette then Miss Briggs.
Following Ethan came Margaret, who was my grandmother. She was born Nov. 2, 1822, and after the death of her sister Cynthia she married her sister’s husband, Dr. Andrew Foster. Dr. Foster was born in Fredericksburg, Virginia and was descended from the Foster and Grigsby Families who played an important role in the settlement of that state. He owned a general store at Hudson and at Hamilton in partnership with his brother-in-law, John Reynolds; then he studied medicine and practiced in Westville, Hamilton and later in Buchanan besides which his country practice was large. Much of his travel on his rounds was on horseback.
Besides being a kind loving mother-aunt to her sister’s three children John, Mary Ellen and Anne Eliza, Margaret had three daughters of her own. They were Frances Ella, Margaret Minerva and Clara. Sad to say she died on Christmas Eve 1861, when her children were small but they learned much about her from her half-sister Annie and from Uncle John.
My grandmother had blue-black hair and black eyes. All of her children and grandchildren had blue eyes. I always wished I might have resembled her. Both our grandparents are buried in Rolling Prairie with so many others of the family.
My mother, the eldest of Margaret’s children was married on November 4, 1875 on her twenty-second birthday to Orson Perry Clendenen and they had five children. CJara Foster Clenclenen was the first of our family. She married Frederic Alvern Tippy, son of Mr. and Mrs. Oren Tippy. Their children were Marjorie Worth, Warren Clendenen, Orson Frederic, John Oren and Clarimary. After Fred’s death she lived with Marjorie in Gary where Marjorie is a business woman. Clara was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Eastern Star, and other local organizations in Gary. She was much talented in art and wrote clever and lovely poetry. She passed away in April 1956 and is buried in New Carlisle Cemetery by her husband son Warren, and a baby girl. Elizabeth (Bess- myself~ who am Mrs. Julius F. Wild is the next in the family. My first husband was Otto L. Wild, a brother of my present husband. We each had a daughter when we were married and are very proud of our two girls, Gladys Finkle and Jane Roberts. Jane has a son John Lenox Roberts.
I taught school in Chicago for thirty-two years and my husband was with the DuPont Co. there.
Max Perry, the one son of the Clendenens worked for the New York Central railroad for many years. His wife was Grace N. Condra. Their children are Roland Perry, Kenneth Max, Lowell, Richard, Dorothy and Daniel. Max and Grace have passed away but their family are all living. All but Richard and Dorothy are married and we are more than proud and fond of their wives and children.
Max died Jan. 22, 1951; he and Grace are buried in Pine Lake Cemetery in LaPorte.
Margaret is Mrs. Howard Jones of New Carlisle. Her children are Maxine Lauver, Betty Danielson, Robert Jones and Mary Margaret Marker. As of Max’s family we are proud and fond of the in-laws and their fine families.
Jane is a widow, Mrs. W. C. Ellis. She has no children but says with some truth that she is the "favorite aunt" of the many nieces and nephews. She has lately retired from the Allis-Chalmers Co. in LaPorte where she was employed quite a number of years. As said before, we Clendenens feel that we doubly belong to the Reynolds family as our Great-Grandmother Polly Reynolds Clendenen and Great-Grandfather Joseph Fleming Reynolds were both children of Anthony James Reynolds and Mary Fleming.
The second child of Margaret and Andrew Foster was Margaret Minerva. The things I could write in praise of "Aunt Margie" would fill a book. Her husband William David Gish was a member of one of the old South Bend families. His father was Christian Pike Gish who had come to St. Joseph Co. in 1836.
The three children of William and Margaret Gish were Walter Foster, John Reynolds and Mabel Margaret. Mabel married Shirley D. Taylor but she died when a young woman leaving one little girl, Marcia, who is Mrs. Mitchell and lives in Bay City, Michigan. Walter never married and died in 1940.
John R. Gish married Daisy Rowell of Beaver Dam, Wisc. Their family are Marion (Mrs. Howard Baird), Helen (Mrs. Sibley), Margaret or Pete (Mrs. Ed. Lee), of South Bend, Phoebe (Mrs. Peter Maher) of Hinsdale, Ill. and William Reynolds Gish of Arlington, Ill. John and Daisy live in South Bend.
The youngest of the Foster girls was Clara, who lived with Uncle Jim and Aunt Nancy when she was small, though I think after she was grown she also stayed at Uncle John’s. She married James B. Garoutte, the son of Thomas Garoutte, a prosperous farmer and merchant in New Carlisle. They went to Denver, Colorado, for James Garoutte’s health. He did regain it, and they lived the rest of their lives in Colorado, though they came back to Indiana to visit every few years.
They anticipated the Uncompaghre Irrigation Project and invested heavily in the rich though semi-arid land in that region. The project went through and the Garouttes became very prosperous through the proceeds of the land - part of which they sold and the rest which was farmed by Mexicans and Japs under Mr. Garoutte’s supervision.
They have one son Foster Thomas who lives in Denver. His wife was Beth Nice, who indeed is as "nice" as her name would indicate.
The Garouttes were brought back to New Carlisle for burial.
James Reynolds came after Margaret. He was born August 12, 1824, His home on Terre Coupee Prairie not far from Uncle John’s place was another of the estates which always reminded me of the places mentioned in English novels. His wife was Nancy Howe, I believe of an old Berrien County, Michigan family. Their children were Zurelda Van Ryper, Clara Scoffern, Estelle Baker, and John. John’s wife was Carrie Wells who came of a Maryland family. There were two Sons in John’s family, John Foster Reynolds and James Carroll. Both Sons have passed away, James unmarried but John’s wife lives in South Bend.
Uncle Jim’s other grand children are, Zurelda VanRyper II, James Van Ryper, and Frances Van Ryper Day, of the VanRyper Family; and Nancy, Elizabeth and Carleto who were Estelle Baker’s children.
I have heard my mother tell how every one liked to go to Uncle Jim’s. He and Aunt Nancy were especially kind and gracious to children, taking part in their games and receiving and understanding their confidences in later years. I recall as a very little girl of sitting on one of Uncle Jim’s knees while Jim Van Ryper occupied the other one. He sang to us and pinched my decidedly pug nose.
After Aunt Nancy’s death the Van Rypers lived with Uncle Jim and at his death Zurelda inherited the home place. After passing through several hands it is now the possession of Lowell and Mary Clendenen.
The feud in the Reynolds family was forgotten and on Uncle Jim ‘s 82nd birthday a reunion was held at Hudson Lake. There was a large attendance and Uncle Jim was very happy over the affair.
He and Aunt Nancy are buried in the Hamilton Cemetery.
Pamelia the last of Joseph’s children died unmarried at the age of twenty-two in 1848 and is buried in Rolling Prairie.
The Reynolds men were keen, shrewd, hard-headed businessmen. They were descended from the best of pioneer stock which helped to make this country what it was before we began to hear so much of the New Deal, Fair Deal, Communism, etc. etc. etc.
CHAPTER V.
Some of Uncle John’s Household
Although a widower for many years and the father of only one child who lived to maturity Uncle John had a large family of young people to whom he was father, mother, uncle, and guardian. These were the nieces and nephews who lived under his roof.
Tempestous and sometimes tyrannical though he was, he was always generous, loving and kind.
After the death of his sister Cynthia, her son John Foster made his home with Uncle John until he went to college at Hillsdale, Michigan, and after that was married. Uncle John’s daughter Florence was about the same age as John Foster and they were very close friends.
After the death of her own mother Florence sometimes lived with her Aunt Margaret Foster or with Uncle Ethan and Aunt Jeanette in South Bend where she attended school. The house where they lived was at the northeast corner of Washington and LaFayette Street. The house at that time belonged to Uncle John, which Florence knew. Like some of the rest of the Reynolds clan Florence sometimes needed a scolding which Aunt Jeanette would administer, and in return Florence would remind her aunt that they were living in her father’s house. This got to be a habit that did not set well with Aunt Jeanette, so one day when her father and Uncle Ethan were having a long talk Florence grew tired of waiting and asked Aunt Jeanette what they were talking about. Here was a chance for the aunt to put a quietus on an unpleasant subject so she said, "Why, your uncle is buying the house". The answer had the desired effect as Florence took her at her word, though the house remained in Uncle John’s name for many years after.
After completing the schooling available at that time in South Bend, Florence went to Maplewood Female Seminary at Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Maplewood was one of the most "select" schools for young ladies of that time and while there Florence formed a deep friendship with Alyda Marshall a very attractive young woman from St. Louis, Alyda or "Lyde" as she was called often spent her vacations with Florence at Terre Coupee. At such times the brick house was a gay place with Florence, Lyde, and John Foster at home, and their many friends from South Bend, whom they entertained.
Florence hoped that John Foster would fall in love with Lyde and marry her. John did like Lyde very much but he said he just could not stand the untidy way she had of always having a safety-pin showing or a cuff unfastened, or a shoe button off. So that romance was off and John married Mary Milburn; and Lyde did not marry for many years.
One time when Lyde was at Uncle John’s Mary Reynolds (Tute), then a little girl was there, and Lyde was giving her a "ride to Boston" on her foot. This was great fun for Tute but not so for Lyde so she told Tute she couldn’t ride her any more as she had a bone in her leg. That made a deep impression on Mary and later when a group of young people came in she threw them all into confusion by announcing that "poor Lyde had a bone in her leg". At that time girls were not supposed to have legs (limbs was the word), much less have them mentioned in mixed company.
While on a visit down East Florence met a young lawyer, Walter Howland, from Rye, New Hampshire who came to Chicago to practice law. A romance ensued and they were married. There was a beautiful wedding and the Howlands established a home in Chicago. But in less than a year Florence became ill and returned home where she died that Fall. This was a tragedy for the whole relationship as they all adored her.
Walter Howland remarried after a time and became the father of a little girl whom he named Florence Reynolds Howland. Mr. Howland kept up a friendly contact with the Reynolds family as long as he lived, In his later years he was Dean of Amherst College, in Massachusetts.
After Margaret Foster died leaving three little girls, Dr. Foster married a Buchanan woman, who he thought would be a kind mother to his children. The woman had been a neighbor when they lived in Buchanan but instead of giving them the care he had hoped for, this Mrs. Foster turned out to be the typical cruel step-mother of the story-books.
Dr. Foster had a large country practice and often was away from home for days at a time and during his absences the children were cruelly treated. They never told their father as they had been threatened dire punishment if they did. This went on for sometime until their half brother John came to see them. He saw enough to make him curious so by questioning the little sisters he learned something about the true conditions. His father was not at home so he went back and told Uncle John what he had found. The next day Uncle John drove into Buchanan, gave the woman a piece of his mind, then bundled up his nieces and took them home with him. Clara was a mere baby so she was taken to Uncle Jim’s where Aunt Nancy cared for as her own. After a conference between their father and Uncle John it was decided that Ella and Margie should live with Uncle John permanently.
Thus Ella and Margie Foster became a part of Uncle John’s household, both living there until after they were married. They went to school at Hamilton with Uncle Jim’s children, the Hubbards, the Ammermans, Egberts and others in the neighborhood. Margie afterward attended school in both South Bend and LaPorte. While in South Bend she became acquainted with Will Gish whom she married.
Mr. Morgan Weir, one of Indiana’s outstanding lawyers once told me, "Margie Gish is the brainiest woman I ever knew. She would have made a great lawyer", and that was in the days when the public was slow to recognize brains in a woman.
I adored her. She was sympathetic, understanding and generous, but a little pepper-pot when her temper was roused. As a child she was teased unmercifully by her uncles and brother who delighted in her snappy come-backs. They teased her about being so thin, having a pointed nose, and straight brown hair (Ella’s golden and curly), and one day her mother found her in front of a mirror. Her mother said nothing but watched her. Margie studied her face for some minutes and then said aloud to herself, "Well, I don’t think I’m so homely". And she wasn’t as character and intelligence were written all over her.
She took up the study of Christian Science and became a devoted Christian Science practitioner.
Ella did not go away to school as Margie did. She had a nervous condition of the eyes, which at times bothered her terribly, but she gained a very liberal education as she read whenever able in the library, and her association with Florence, Uncle John, her father, and brother John gave her a training she would not have had from school. When she was older she did most of Uncle John’s secretarial work both in attending to his business and while he was in Congress.
One summer Uncle John took the Foster girls and Relda and Clara Reynolds on a boat trip on the Great Lakes. They had a dressmaker come out from Chicago to make their wardrobe. Her name was Jennie Biddle and she stayed a month. At last the dresses were finished and the trunks packed when Uncle John got cold feet at the prospect of escorting four lively girls on a month boat trip, so he offered each one a hundred dollars to give up the trip - but no~ they wanted the trip and they got it. Another summer they went "Down East’1 and spent some time on the coast at Rye, New Hampshire.
Ella was considered very beautiful and John Foster’s wife, Mary thought she should make a wealthy marriage so she endeavored to make a match between Ella and an oldish man in South Bend, a Mr. Chapin. Ella had a mind of her own and had already decided whom she would marry. Mary was determined and was unpleasant about it and the up-shot of it was Ella told Mary to mind her own business in no uncertain, nor polite terms. This fracas had unfortunate results as it separated the girls from their brother, although they always had a deep affection for him.
Ella’s choice for a husband was Orson Clendenen who from the time he was fourteen had been one of the Reynolds household. As stated before, his father Hazard Perry Clendenen, the son of George W. and Mary Reynolds Clendenen, hence was a cousin of Uncle John. Orson’s mother died when he was quite young.
The schools of Illinois were not good so his father brought him to Uncle John’s mainly for that reason. He attended the country school at Hamilton one year and then went to South Bend to High School where he graduated. At times he returned to Illinois where his father was the owner of 1700 acres of land, but he was afraid to have him remain there long as malaria and ague were prevalent, and there was a fear of tuberculosis.
He and Ella were married very quietly November 4, 1875, the Fall after Florence died. They lived at Uncle John’s for several years and then as Grandfather Clendenen was growing old they went to Greene County, staying until Grandfather passed away. After the settlement of the Clendenen estate Ella and Orson with their first daughter Clara, came back to Terre Coupee and lived in a house on the Reynolds place which had been remodeled from a private school which Uncle John had built and supported mtil the public schools were improved.
In the meantime Anna Laurie Sweeney (Mary Ellen Foster’s daughter) had come there to live.
The housekeeper at Uncle John’s while the Foster girls were there was Rhoda Brewster. She was not related to the Reynolds but I believe Uncle John was her guardian. She was made one of the family and when she married George Hochkiss the wedding was a brilliant affair. She did not get along well with Ella and Margie Foster as she was bossy and Jealous as well. One day Ella dressed in a new black silk dress and started to make a call on a girl from Chicago who was visiting friends on Terre Coupee. Rhoda made her take the silk dress off and so Ella did not make the call. When Florence came home Ella told the tale to her. She replied, "You put that dress on and wear it to the backhouse if you want to".
When Rhoda was an old lady she forgot all that and was so glad if she could just see some of "Uncle John’s folks" as she called them.
Another frequent visitor at the Reynolds home was Ida De Armand whose home was in Buchanan. She was a relative of the Fosters on their father’s side, I believe her grandmother was a sister of Grandfather as they called her "Aunt Nellie". Ida was a little cripple and they were fond of her and she was often with them. She was a good reader and spent hours reading aloud to the family on winter evenings.
There were probably others who had a turn at being part of the family but I do not know enough about them to tell their story.
CHAPTER VI
Anecdotes Mostly of Uncle John
Probably every descendant of the Reynolds family, certainly those who remember Uncle John can tell interesting facts concerning that most interesting man. As both my parents lived with Uncle John I have heard many tales, some of which I’ll try to relate.
He was born July 12, 1814. His wife was Miss Clara Egbert and they had several children but only one, Florence, lived beyond childhood.
The Reynolds family had a hard struggle after they came to Indiana, and John said, "the girls did not want to buss him at the bussing bees because he was poor" so he determined to get rich - and rich he got.
I am not at all sure as to the sequence of his business ventures, but an article in a history of St. Joseph County, Indiana, states that John Reynolds threw the first shovel of earth in the digging of the Wabash-Erie Canal in 1840.
He and his brother George took some railroad contracts for the laying of ties and rails on the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad, at which they made considerable money. Later Uncle John took a contract for laying ties, putting in culverts, bridges etc. on that stretch of the LS & MS between Toledo and the Indiana State-Line. The work was about ready to be turned over to the stockholders when something went wrong with the finances of the company, and as the saying is, Uncle John was left holding the bag. He either had to finish the work on his own capital or lose what he had already put into it, so finish it was Just what he did.
The Westward Movement of that era was in full swing and business was clamoring for the road to be put into operation, so forthwith, Uncle John operated that section of the present New York Central Lines as a private enterprise. After three years the company got out of its financial straits and settled - at Uncle John’s price. He also had extensive contracts with the C.B. & Q.
He understood the welding of plow points by the use of borax. When Illinois was out west he took up a claim of government land near the present city of Galena, and while proving it he worked at the blacksmith trade as well as f arming, and when other settlers came to him with plow points to be welded he did it while the customer plowed for him; and likewise paid for the work.
There were also mercantile ventures. At one time he and his brother George had a store at Dayton, Michigan. That doesn’t seem much now but it was a good paying business then and they would go to New York to buy stock. I remember my mother telling about a pair of bronze shoes her mother bought her there which had come from New York.
When the Reynolds estate was settled it included Iowa land and a sizable area of property in the Stockyards district of Chicago. It also included much real estate in South Bend, besides controlling interest in one of the banks there and the Terre Coupee farm had grown to an acreage of a thousand acres.
It was said that at the time of Uncle John’s death he was the richest man in St. Joseph County, possibly in Indiana.
It seems that Uncle John had certain fears (phobias we would call them now). One was of snakes and the other was of high places. I have heard my father and Ed Wykoff tell and laugh over some of these. One summer evening the family were sitting on the side porch, and Uncle John went down to the well which was an open one operated by a windlass and bucket. He took hold of the rope to lower the bucket, and also a snake that was lying along the rope. He threw the snake as far as possible and got over his desire for a drink. He came back and sat down and every little while would rub his hand on his trouser leg and ejaculate, "Damm the snake".
Another time he was in the hay-barn with my father and Ed and he slipped through an open place in the floor. Without realizing what was below him he hung on frantically calling the boys to save him. Just as they reached him he lost his grip and plunged - about a foot into a full wheat-bin, which was below. He said he felt as if he was going to fall at least a hundred feet.
"Lucky" Baldwin was a native of Terre Coupee, who came to the Reynolds home occasionally. I think Uncle John did not especially care for the gentleman but they got on peaceably enough and after the Baldwins moved to California they had a baby girl and Mr. Baldwin sent a telegram to Uncle John announcing the event. It came to New Carlisle and finally over to the Reynolds home marked "Collect". The fee was five dollars and from the remarks he was said to have made evidently Uncle John did not think the news was worth it.
Uncle John was very fond of children and had some of them with him as much as possible. He was staying at the Fosters once when my mother was a small child. The family were visiting and she was watching a lighted candle. She thought any so pretty must have a nice odor and leaned over and took a big sniff at it right in the candle flame. It burned terribly and nothing seemed to alleviate the pain so at last Uncle John took her in his arms and gently blew on the poor little nose until nearly morning.
He also took comfort from children once there was a bank failure in Chicago by which he lost a large amount of money. Frank Anderson was a little boy and Uncle John had him come sleep with him.
I was only nine when he died but I remember several times when he asked me to come live with him.
Uncle John wore fine white linen shirts, the ironing of which was the bane of the girls lives. My mother has said he would be dressed to go to South Bend or Chicago but would just go down where the boys were clearing up a swamp or burning hedge until time to go to the train" and long after the train had gone he would appear looking worse than a steam-boat stoker. Once when he was working in the swamp with my father and Ed he lost a beautiful diamond stud.
Several prominent families on Terre Coupee as emigrants to America first worked for Uncle John, then were tenants on some of the farms, and then owning their own homes. Among them were Theodore Rittenger, John Anderson, John Benjamin, and John Smith. The association of these people with Uncle John’s family was very cordial and has continued to this generation.
A coolness seemed to have existed for a time between Uncle John and the family of Uncle George, who had passed away and his widow had married Mr. John Zigler. What it was all about I never heard but the end of it came when Aunt Margie (Margaret Foster) went to South Bend to school. The children of Uncle George went there also and it was not long before the cousins formed a friendship, which lasted as long as they lived. The Reynolds cousins were Frank, George and Kittie, and when Aunt Margie was to be married, without asking the consent of any one she invited the South Bend cousins, including Aunt Mary Zigler and I presume Mr. Zigler. They all came, to the great consternation of Aunt Jeanette (Uncle Eth’s wife) who was certain the roof would fly off when he learned of Margie’s mistake (?). Not so, however. He was graciousness itself and was mighty glad the breach was healed without having to do it himself.
When the Civil War broke out Uncle John was forty-seven years of age so he did not take an active part but he helped to support the families of several men who did go.
He was much interested in politics and served as State Senator. When the Whig party was organized in LaPorte County he was a delegate from Hudson Township and when the Democratic Convention was held his brother-in-law, Andrew Foster, represented the same township. The men were the closest of friends but they did not agree on politics at all. Grandfather was a strong states rights believer and also a Southerner in his sympathies as well as by birth and I have heard my mother say the air would be fairly blue during their arguments but they would calm down and peace would reign until the next time.
When James G. Blame ran for the presidency Uncle John was one of his staunch supporters, but he felt that Blame made a mistake on the big "Blame Day" celebration held in South Bend, which lost the election for him. Uncle John was a member of the Electoral College at that campaign.
At this point I will insert a copy of a letter Grandfather Foster wrote to our mother and Aunt Margie:
Adams Decatur Co. Iowa
Oct. 25th 1867
Ella & Marga.
My Dear Girls.
Though I dont often write it is not because I dont often think of you. I am real home sick to see you -- My health is bad -- suffering great pain -- not able to do anything if I had it to do, which I have not. I have not been able to make the exertion necessary to obtain business. My mind as well as body is in a state of lethergy which wont let go.
I would come home but I want to wait to see what turn the complaint will take -- as I am with friends who interest themselves in my welfare.
Girls I feel great confidence in you - as well as pride from what Uncle John has said to me in your favor. I do hope you will continue to merit his approbation. There is one thing I wish to impress on you most earnestly - and that is to be kind to each other. Let no petty jealousies or imaginary wrongs tempt you to indulge in harsh or unladylike expressions towards each other, Learn to govern your passions & to bridle the tongue -- both signal triumphs of refinement over vulgarity -- You should consider -- as I have confidence you will that uncle John’s kindness in assuming the care and responsibility of your raising to respectable womanhood should not be repaid by such conduct as will annoy or worry his mind but you should do all you can to merit his approbation. Dont slight the counsel and advice of Florence or whomsoever you are expected to look to for those offices of kindness.
I know how natural it is for young girls to manifest contempt for the admonitions of any but their own mothers -- now this error you should be careful to avoid -- you must consider that your judgments are not sufficiently matured to be a safe guide for you -- and being left without any parental authority you should receive the instructions of those who assume that office or supply that want with kindness and docility -- such a disposition will command the respect of all who know you; while an opposite course -- a disposition to flout or treat with contempt such advice merely because the one offering it has no legal authority - is regarded with disapprobation or sorrow by every true friend.
And Marga -- I want you when there is no older friend at hand to be influenced by Ella -- She is older and of course a better judge of right and wrong- and I feel sure she will counsel you for the best- and it will be greatly to your credit to do so instead of detracting from your dignity and if I am not mistaken in my estimate of your disposition you stand a good deal on Dignity--but there is a false or counterfeit dignity and I fear you mistake the one for the other--I assure you that which I have advised will sustain the true Dignity. I am too tired to say more now--this is the result of three days work--my head aches.
Tell Clara not to feel slighted for I shall send her the next, and farewell for the present. Oh, I expect I shall be here for several days or more so write to me as soon as you can and it will come in time-- You dont know how it would cheer me up to get a letter from you.
From
Your Father
This is evidence of the respect and affection those men felt for one another.
In my research I frequently found mention made of the wealth amassed by the Reynolds men and you remember the saying "Three generations from shirt sleeves to shirt sleeves". Here is hoping it will be from wealth to wealth. If so it should be our turn soon--but there is the income tax so perhaps it is just as well as it is.
The things about them that seem important to me are the courage and stamina they manifested and above all their loyalty. Raising and educating the Foster Girls, all the things parents would supply, gifts to them, a gold thimble, an ebony writing case inscribed on a silver plate "Ella from Uncle Jim", a silver fruit knife, a garnet set, etc. showing care beyond the call of duty. And then in the Rolling Prairie cemetery the two graves marked Jane and Julia Reynolds, a relative by marriage and a cousin, brought by the family from Kentucky. I wonder why. And how I wish I could have known them all.
A POSTSCRIPT
If some of the families have not received much attention it is because I have not been able to glean much about them. There are many things I would like to learn
(a) Much about great-great grandmother Mary Fleming.
(b) Much about great grandmother Mary Starry.
(c) Where Anthony and Mary are buried.
(d) Who Julia Reynolds daughter Zurelda was.
(e) Where the Reynolds home in Frederick County, Virginia was located.
Can’t some of you help?
ECIW