John Painter Reynolds 1830-1900
2010
Among the inspiring stories surrounding our ancestors is the story of John Painter Reynolds. He was the youngest child of eleven born to his parents Henry Reynolds and Sarah Painter. He came to Illinois from his birthplace in Pennsylvania in 1836. His father Henry bought a farm two miles north of LaHarpe. After the death of his parents, John lived with our direct ancestors Jerome Timothy and Mary June Reynolds Watrous. Mary and John were siblings. He lived with them in the tiny farming community of Terre Haute at the time that our ancestor Henry Reynolds Watrous was growing up and also lived there to become well acquainted with his niece Sarah Rebecca Watrous.
In 1862 he enlisted in the Union Army and served well until his discharge in 1865. He returned to Terre Haute and lived once again with his sister, direct ancestor Mary June Reynolds Watrous. In 1873 he married Henrietta Tidball in Davenport, Iowa. They lived in Illinois until 1875 when he sold his farm and moved to Iowa. There he became affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal Church. From Iowa they went to Nebraska and from there to South Dakota. John and Henrietta became the parents of two children. Marie and Verne.
John received word that his beloved sister Rebecca Reynolds Genung was very ill. He traveled to her in Terre Haute, Henderson County, Illinois and faithfully cared for her by her bedside for many days. When she died, John had become ill himself and could not attend her funeral. It had only been weeks before that his own wife had died, leaving him a widower with two, young children. Nine days after his sister’s death, John died also. Prior to his death, he had been cared for by his niece, Sarah Rebecca Watrous Gittings who became a person who cared for many people in their last days. Sarah Rebecca had cared for her mother in her home until Mary’s death. She had cared for her husband in her home until his death. She cared for her father Jerome in her home until his death.
John Painter Reynolds was laid to rest in the Terre Haute City Cemetery in the county of Henderson in Illinois. We assume that other family members cared for his two children but do not know.
The migration of John Painter Reynolds
Pennsylvania to Illinois to Iowa to Nebraska to South Dakota to Illinois