Sedgwick County KSGenWeb

Portrait And Biographical Album of Sedgwick County, Kan.

Chapman Brothers 1888

Pages 534 - 535 

WILLIAM W. REYNOLDS, capitalist, and a leader among the substantial men of Wichita, came to this city in the spring of 1879, and made his first business venture as "mine host" of the Pacific Hotel. This, however, not being entirely suited to his tastes and capacities, he abandoned it after five months, and became an employe in the City Flouring Mills, where he continued for a period of six and one-half years. From his somewhat moderate salary he saved a snug little sum of money, which he wisely invested in a lot at the corner of Second and Mosley streets, paying for it $300 down. He held this property until 1887, when he disposed of it for the round sum of $13,000.

            The prosperity of Mr. Reynolds now began in earnest. Soon afterward he purchased the ground upon which his present residence stands—fifty feet front—and put up the beautiful dwelling and convenient barn at a cost of $3,000. It is located at No. 323 North Wabash avenue. For the last year he has not been engaged in any business.

            A native of White County, Ind., Mr. Reynolds was born Jan. 20, 1837, and is the son of Benjamin and Julia (Colyer) Reynolds, natives of Pennsylvania. His paternal grandfather, Isaac Reynolds, also a native of the Keystone State, followed the occupation of a farmer, and emigrated with his family to Indiana at an early day. He settled upon a tract of land near the present site of the city of Monticello, where he built up a good homestead and spent the remainder of his days.

            Benjamin Reynolds was but a boy at the time his parents removed from Pennsylvania to Indiana, where he was reared to farm pursuits, carried on agriculture extensively on his own account later, and finally developed into a successful speculator in lands. He became the owner of a whole section in White County, which is now known as the Mt. Jackson Farm, and became a man prominent and highly respected. His decease was made the occasion of a notice in the Monticello Democrat, which we subjoin as follows:

            "On June 6, 1869, in Big Creek Township, White Co., Ind., Benjamin Reynolds, Esq., aged seventy years and thirty-four days, died amidst a devoted family, attended by his physician and numbers of sympathetic neighbors and friends. He was born on the 3d of May, 1799, in Mifflin County, Pa., and was the first and oldest settler in White County, Ind. His first neighbors there were the Indians. In disposition he was gentle and kind; in activity and energy he had no superior. He possessed a large frame, capable of great endurance, and a mind which bent to no adversity. No man possessed a kinder heart, and as husband and father he was ever faithful in the important relations of life. In his intercourse with men he aimed at a line of integrity, and but a few days before his death he ordered the cancellation of all unsettled accounts, that no difficulties might afterward arise. He left a wife and nine children, and a large landed estate of rare fertility and beauty. He was a Presbyterian, and his funeral discourse was preached by the Rev. Mr. Seawright. He was popularly known as 'Uncle Ben,' and was gathered to his rest in the fulness of years."

            The mother of our subject had preceded her husband to the silent land thirty years. He subsequently married Lydia Jane Gardner. By the first wife were born six children, viz: John G., Benjamin, Levi, Nancy, Sarah and Ellen; the latter is dead, and the others are all residing in White County, Ind., all married except Benjamin. By the second marriage are Isaac, a resident of Stevens County, Kan., and engaged in farming; Mary C., Mrs. Ash, of Sturgiss City, among the Black Hills, Dak.; Matilda is deceased, and Maria, Mrs. Cowden, is a resident of Huron, Dak.

            William W., of this sketch, spent his boyhood and youth in the agricultural districts, remaining a member of the parental household until twenty-five years of age. In the meantime he acquired a good education, completing his studies in the school at Notre Dame, St. Joseph County. Then in making the arrangement for the establishment of a home and domestic ties of his own, he was united in marriage, on the 1st of October, 1863, to Miss Kate Fox, who was born Dec. 29, 1839, in Lafayette, Ind., and is the daughter of Jonathan and Margaret (Hawk) Fox, natives of Ohio, both of whom are deceased.

            The paternal grandfather of Mrs. Reynolds was Absalom Fox, who married Miss Temperance Dickerson, and they were both natives of New Jersey. Her great-grandparents, Jonathan and Christina (Thompson) Fox, were natives of Maine, whence they emigrated to Ohio in its territorial days and settled in Butler County. They built up a cabin home in the wilderness, where Jonathan Fox carried on farming and spent the remainder of his days. Absalom took up the mantle of his father after the latter had rested from his earthly labors, and he too spent his last days at the same homestead where he had settled after marriage, and became the father of a large family. The children of Absalom and Temperance Fox were six in number.

            The maternal grandparents of Mrs. Reynolds, Philip and Catherine (Stonebreaker) Hawk, were also natives of Pennsylvania, and removed to Ohio during its pioneer days, settling on Indian Creek in Butler County. The maternal great-grandparents were Benjamin and Ruth (Campbell) Hawk, natives of New Jersey, who spent their entire lives in farming pursuits. The family of Jonathan Hawk included six children, of whom but five are living, namely: Catherine, the wife of our subject; Abner, of Stevens County, this State; Bonaham, of Athens, Tenn.; Eliza, Mrs. Godman, of Muncie, Ind., and Vincent T., of Stevens County, Kan.

            Mr. Reynolds, after his marriage, proceeded to Yankton, Dak., where he kept a hotel five years, and in the meantime officiated as Deputy United States Marshal two years. He visited Topeka, Kan., in 1869, cultivating a tract of land in that vicinity one year. Thence he returned to Indiana and engaged in farming in White County until his removal to Wichita. His family includes five interesting children, the eldest of whom, Harry A., married Miss Lizzie Wroghton, in 1885, and is the father of one child, a daughter, Mabel. The others are Frank P., Frederick F. and Robert C., at home, and Maggie M., who married July 7, 1887, Henry S. Kirkpatrick; they reside in Wichita.

            Mrs. Reynolds received an excellent education, completing her studies in Cincinnati, Ohio, and later engaged as a teacher, mostly in White County, Ind. She is a lady of kind and generous impulses, very charitable to the poor and needy, an affectionate mother and devoted wife. In their pleasant home they often meet with the friends who have learned to respect them for their sterling worth, and being among the older citizens of Wichita, are regarded with more than ordinary interest. Our subject, politically, is a Democrat, and socially a member of the Masonic fraternity and of the Order of United Workmen.

[ Home ]