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Compiled by John H. Wheeler Published in 1903 by B. F. Bowen Biography Page 217 - 218 |
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NORMAN A. REYNOLDS
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The two most strongly marked characteristics of the east and the west are combined in the residents of the section of country of which this volume treats. The enthusiastic enterprise which overleaps all obstacles and makes possible almost any undertaking in the comparatively new and vigorous western states, is here tempered by the stable and more conservative policy that we borrow from our eastern neighbors and the combination is one of peculiar force and power. It has been the means of placing this section of country on a par with the oldest east, at the same time producing a reliability and certainty in business affairs which is frequently lacking in the west. This happy combination of characteristics is possessed in a marked degree by the subject of this review, Norman A. Reynolds, of Cedar Creek township, present member of the county board of supervisors. In Wellsville, Allegany county, New York, on the 23rd of February, 185I, Norman A. Reynolds was born. He was the oldest of two children born to his parents, Norman and Phoebe A. (Abbott) Reynolds, whose life of domestic tranquility was remarkable only for its brevity, the young mother dying in 1853, when the subject was only two years old. The care and rearing of the child being thus left to strangers, it may well be imagined that the life of the boy was by no means a happy one. Up to the time that he was eighteen years old he lived mostly in Steuben county, though a portion of the time was spent in Wayne county. Had he been a boy with little aptitude or taste for learning he might have grown up in ignorance of letters and books, but the natural tendency of the youth was toward the acquisition of knowledge, to which he is indebted for the satisfactory common school education which he received. His father was by occupation a cabinetmaker and followed his calling until the breaking out of the Rebellion, when he enlisted in the Eighty-sixth Regiment, New York Volunteer Infantry, and served until the close of the war. He is still living, a resident of Steuben county, New York, where the greater part of his long and useful life has been spent. In April, 1869, Norman A. Reynolds left his native state and went into northern Michigan. He remained for a time in Wexford county, before it was organized, then sought and secured employment in various sections of the northern part of the state, continuing at such work as he was able to procure until 1872, when he returned to Wexford county. Having attained his majority about the time of his return to Wexford county, he took up a homestead in Greenwood township, upon which he erected a residence, established his home, resided upon and cultivated the place until 1895, when he settled in Manton to take charge of and manage the store of the Patrons' Business Association. While living in Greenwood he represented that township on the county board of supervisors for ten years, served a number of years as justice of the peace and was much of the time one of the school officers of the district. When the township was organized he was one of those who voted at the first election ever held in the township, in the spring of 1873, being then less than twenty-two years old. July 4, 1877, Norman A. Reynolds was united in marriage to Miss Linda K. Wood, a native of Michigan, born in Allegan county in 1857. Her parents were William W. and Phoeba A. (Richey) Wood, old settlers of Antioch township, Wexford county. Both are now deceased. To the union of Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds one son, Estavan D., has been born, who is now in the twenty-first year of his age. The political affiliations of Mr. Reynolds are with the Republican party and he is a man of recognized ability and influence in the party in the locality where he resides. He is at present supervisor of Cedar Creek township and is also justice of the peace, filling each position to the satisfaction of his constituents. He is a member of Cedar Creek Lodge No. 147, Knights of Pythias. For about a year after serving his connection with the Patrons Business Association, which closed up its affairs and quit business, he suffered from ill health, but has since fully recovered. He takes an active interest in all public matters, and his opinions on various questions arising in the community are frequently sought. He is a typical man of the people, the unselfishness of whose nature is the secret of his popularity. |