Isaac Reynolds

ISAAC REYNOLDS. In Isaac Reynolds, a highly respected citizen of Moscow, is found a retired farmer of Stevens County and one of the early settlers. For forty years Mr. Reynolds has been a resident of Kansas, but he was born in Indiana, April 8, 1831, and has the distinction of being the first white child born in White County. The parents of Mr. Reynolds were Benjamin and Julia Ann (Collier) Reynolds.

Benjamin Reynolds settled in White County, Indiana, in 1829, but there is reason to believe that he was born in Muffin County, Pennsylvania, in 1796. His parents were James and Nancy (Cole) Reynolds, natives of Pennsylvania, who lived in Perry County, Ohio, prior to moving to Indiana. James Reynolds and wife had the following children: Levi, Benjamin, Isaac, Sarah, who married George Spencer, Culberson and Ebenezer, both of whom passed their lives in Ohio, and Polly, who married William Wright. Benjamin Reynolds moved from Perry County, Ohio, when he went to Indiana, in which state he spent his subsequent years as a farmer and stockraiser, his death occurring in 1869. Pursuing peaceful pursuits all his life and quietly accepting the responsibilities that life imposed on him, he made no great reputation, but in his own community was held in the highest esteem as an honest man and upright citizen. He was married in Pennsylvania to Julia Ann Collier, who died during the childhood of her second youngest son, Isaac, the other children of his marriage being: Mary, who died in South Dakota, the wife of Henry Ash; William, who died at Wichita, Kansas; and Matilda and Maria, twins, who became the first and second wife of Joseph Cowden, and all died in Indiana. The second marriage of Benjamin Reynolds was to Lydia J. Gardner, and five children were born to them, namely: John; Benjamin; Levi, who lives at Chalmers, Indiana; Nancy, who is the wife of George Wilburton, also of Chalmers; and Sallie, who died in Indiana as the wife of Jacob Robb.

Isaac Reynolds retains a vivid recollection of his boyhood and youth on his father's Indiana farm and of attending school in a little log structure not far from the homestead. As he grew older he assumed more and more farm responsibilities and remained with his father until 1878, when he came to Kansas, driving his own team the entire distance to Sedgwick County. At that time Wichita, the present busy and beautiful city was only a small place, this being before the noted historic boom started which won it the name of "the windy wonder of the prairies."

When Mr. Reynolds reached Wichita he had $100 in cash, three horses and a wagon. His only working experience had been on a farm, but at first he saw his wisest plan would be to accept employment in a grist mill, and later found paying work in the material yard of the A. T. & S. F. Railroad, and continued there until through the favorable representations of his son Benjamin, he set out for Stevens County to complete his original intention of securing a homestead. He filed on the northeast quarter section 10, township 31, range 37, but this he abandoned after two years and took a homestead in Grant County. While living there he suffered a great domestic trial, in the loss of his wife, nevertheless he remained on the place until he had proved up and finished his contract with the government. During this time Mr. Reynolds, like other settlers, lived in rather a primitive dwelling. It was a sod house of two rooms, 14 by 28 feet in dimensions. It was a warm and cosy home in winter as the whole was covered with boards and tar paper, and on top was a dressing of sod. He remained on the farm for a number of years, realizing a confortable[sic] support from the same and engaged in raising broom corn, kaffir, maize and cane for feed for both horses and cattle. When effort was no longer necessary Mr. Reynolds decided to retire from the farm and then came to Moscow, and this place has been his home ever since.

Mr. Reynolds was married May 15, 1861, to Mary Catherine Herron. She was a daughter of Henry Herron and was born July 23, 1841, in Tippecanoe County, Indiana. She died August 4, 1904, and her burial was near Ulysses, Kansas. They had the following children: Benjamin, whose accidental death by a train at Wichita, Kansas, was greatly deplored, left a wife and two children; Charles, who is a trader and lives in Colorado; Walter Russell, who is familiarly known as "Judge," is a banker at Moscow, Kansas; Levi, who is a farmer in Stevens County; Hettie, who is the wife of James C. Gerron, of Stevens County; George, of Grant County, Kansas; Nellie who married Austin Kepley, of Grant County; and May, who married Oliver Gay, of Kearney County, Kansas. Politically Mr. Reynolds is a democrat. He is a Presbyterian.

Pages 2205-2206.