JOHN R. REYNOLDS
Among the prominent business men of Atlantic, perhaps there is none that has had a wider range of experience or a larger circle of friends, than John R. Reynolds, the genial landlord of the Reynolds House. A son of Elisha P. and Betsy (Stewart) Reynolds, he was born in Washington county, Vermont, on the 28th day of December, 1825. His parents were natives of New York State, but who had removed to the "Green Mountain State." They had a family of twelve children, six of whom were boys. Mr. Reynolds, the elder, was an officer in the American army during the war of 1812-15, and commanded a company at the battle of Plattsburgh, and was of the prominent men of his day, and a staunch Jefferson and Jackson Democrat. He was elected to the office of sheriff of his county, and to other local offices. He died in December, 1837, and his wife in 1843. John R. Reynolds was reared upon a farm, receiving his education at the district schools of his native county, and three years spent at the seminary, at Montpelier. When he had attained the age of twenty-one, he removed to Hopkinton, Massachusetts, where he remained six years, engaged in the boot and shoe business. But being of a roving turn of mind, this was too tame for him, so in 1852, he started for California, going by way of Central America and up San Juan River. In the Golden State he remained some three years, engaged in mining for the auriferous metal. He then returned to the States by way of New Orleans, and thence up the river to Alton, Springfield and Rock Island, locating in the latter town, where he lived for fourteen years. While this was his home, however, the old roving spirit would come over him and he made another trip to California and Oregon, traveling over a large amount of country in the latter Territory. He came home and has had a large share in the construction of railroads throughout this section of the country. At the time of the construction of the bridge at Davenport, and the building of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific railroad from the Mississippi to Des Moines he furnished a large amount of material. He was also a contractor on the Racine and Mississippi railroad, and a large contractor on the Union Pacific, building a hundred miles of that road from Omaha out, and employing as high as 2,000 men. In 1862, he made another trip to the West, and led a train through from Omaha to Oregon. He took the train through unexplored country more than 480 miles of which was unknown ground, being the first white man to traverse the wild region. In 1867, he again was contracting, in company with his brother, Elisha P. Reynolds. In 1869 he came to Atlantic, and entered into the lumber business, in which he remained one year, when he entered upon his present business. He built the Griswold branch of the C., R. I. and P. railroad. He has [been] largely instrumental in building up the town of Atlantic and has been a member of the city council and of the school board of the Independent district. He was married in Rock Island on the 20th of September, 1853, to Caroline E. Bennett, a daughter of Hazard E. Bennett, one of the first settlers of Rock Island, but now a resident of Atlantic. By this union there has been four children, two boys and two girls. Mr. Reynolds is a member of Trio Masonic lodge, Rock Island.
Contributed by Lisa Varnes-Rex from "History of Cass County, Iowa. Together With Sketches of its Towns, Villages and Townships, Educational, Civil, Military and Political History: Portraits of Prominent Persons, and Biographies of Old Settlers and Representative Citizens." Springfield, Ill.: Continental Historical Company, 1884, pp. 882-883.
