Historical Summary of our Family over the last 400 Years...
From the Anglican Church in England to the Congregationalist Church in Connecticut - thru the American Revolution to the Baptist Church of Christ in Pittstown - to the Avon Baptist Church in Livingston County - to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by way of Nauvoo and baptism in the Mississippi River -- that is the story of my Reynolds family in America.....
Our Reynolds ancestral line serves very well to tell the god-fearing story of our forebears from the time of the Puritan Era in Europe, 400 years ago, until the mid-1800s when the migration to Utah took place commensurate with the establishment of the Mormon Church. We can tell their story without mentioning their spiritual beliefs and actions, but if we do we will never know who they were, nor will we know most of the interesting things they did!
Six generations of our Reynolds family made their presence on American soil before the birth of great-grandfather Warren Ford Reynolds.
Click on the links below to read about each forebear.
First Generation -- John Reynolds "The Emigrant"
John and Sarah Arrive at Watertown
The Story of John "The Emigrant"
Partial Genealogy of John Reynolds as compiled and published by Alvah Reynolds, September 1916
Historic Images
Second Generation -- John Reynolds 2nd
John Reynolds -- The Second Generation...
John Reynolds 2nd -- Will of 1701, Probated at Fairfield, Connecticut...
Abstract of probate records at Fairfield, County of Fairfield, State of Connecticut for John Reynolds, son of John the Emigrant...
Third Generation -- Capt. James Reynolds Esq.
Fourth Generation -- Jeremiah Reynolds Sr.
Fifth Generation -- Jeremiah Reynolds Jr.
Sixth Generation -- Asa Douglas Reynolds
"Westward Ho" -- the cry of the Mormon Pioneer
Warren Ford Reynolds to the Rescue
In this Historic Summary we have traveled from Watertown, Mass. in 1634, to Wethersfield, Connecticut, to Stamford and Greenwich, Connecticut, to Amenia, Dutchess County, New York in 1767, to Pittstown in 1800, to Avon in the Genesee Valley, where we stayed until 1836, then on to Oakland County, Michigan, then to Nauvoo followed by a trek across Iowa. Now we are treking to Utah, with some examination of how that came to be. We will see the ancestors and learn where they came from and when.
The collage on the left depicts Warren Ford Reynolds serving on the rescue team that was sent to help the forlorn members of the Willey Handcart Company where he met my great-grandmother, Christina McNeal, who later became his second wife. She was a 24 year old convert from Scotland traveling with the Caldwell family.
The collage may seem a little crowded but I had to cram a lot of stuff in a small space. A selfish note of interest here: When I was a working field biologist in Wyoming I worked this very spot on the Sun Ranch on the Sweetwater River. I knew the Sun family before they turned this precious property over to the Mormon Church and I worked and played on this property. Once when doing research I crawled under an overhanging rock in the bottom of the split and scratching in the dirt I found a silver spoon that had been left by one of the pioneers who passed this way years ago. No biggee, but a thrill for me -- and it sure did create a silver spoon memory to cherish forever!
The collage on the left depicts Warren Ford Reynolds serving on the rescue team that was sent to help the forlorn members of the Willey Handcart Company where he met my great-grandmother, Christina McNeal, who later became his second wife. She was a 24 year old convert from Scotland traveling with the Caldwell family.
The collage may seem a little crowded but I had to cram a lot of stuff in a small space. A selfish note of interest here: When I was a working field biologist in Wyoming I worked this very spot on the Sun Ranch on the Sweetwater River. I knew the Sun family before they turned this precious property over to the Mormon Church and I worked and played on this property. Once when doing research I crawled under an overhanging rock in the bottom of the split and scratching in the dirt I found a silver spoon that had been left by one of the pioneers who passed this way years ago. No biggee, but a thrill for me -- and it sure did create a silver spoon memory to cherish forever!