The next vintage gifting project for December is finding a home for this photo of the “Whit” Reynolds family, originally from Pike county, Illinois, but who eventually migrated to Texas, via Ness and Rice Counties, Kansas.

Often, my main difficulty in choosing a photograph to send home to a descendant is finding someone living today. I’ve frequently discovered that beautiful portraits found for sale online are of persons who have no descendants.

The family of Whit and Katherine Reynolds didn’t present that problem at all. In fact, it was just the opposite. Although they were the parents of only three children, they were the grandparents of twenty!

John Whitfield Reynolds was born 22 January 1855, likely in Warren County, Illinois, where his family had lived for decades. Katherine Meisen was born 25 March 1859 in Perry, Pike, Illinois, which is four counties south of the Reynolds home. How the couple met is not known, but they married on 28 February 1883 in Pike County.

They were the parents of two daughters and one son:

1. Anna Lucille, born 28 November 1883, Pike County, Illinois; died 11 May 1953, Hidalgo County, Texas; married Francis George Cook
2. Fatina Olive, born 12 February 1886, Illinois; died 18 July 1970, Kansas City, Jackson, Missouri; married Ira Reeves Allen, c1911
3. Glenn Lee, born 30 June 1889, Utica, Ness, Kansas; died 26 July 1958, Madison county, Texas; married Dema Genevieve Ball, c1915

Now for the grandchildren of Whit and Katie, as they were known:

Francis George and Anna Lucille (Lucy) Cook were the parents of six children, all born in Lyons, Rice, Kansas:

1. Robert John, born 4 December 1913; died 5 March 1993, Boone County, Arkansas; married Esther Hill, 5 July 1937, Howard County, Arkansas. They were the parents of two daughters.
2. Frances Anna, born 27 February 1916; died 20 February 1943; married Jack Replogle. It appears they had no children.
3. Ruth Lucielle; born 22 November 1917; died 30 January 2009, McAllen, Hidalgo, Texas; married (1) Jeff William Glenn (2) Robert Lubeck
4. Charles Everett, born 7 August 1919; died 18 March 2009, New Braunfels, Comal, Texas; married Kitty Rae Earhart, 1942
5. Byron Lee, born 19 September 1921; died 25 August 1994; married Janie Ellis, 15 May 1946, Jim Wells County, Texas
6. Ruby Catherine, born 19 July 1925; died 20 July 2002; married Donald M. Thurman, 10 September 1942, Hidalgo County, Texas

Ira Reeves and Fatina Live (Reynolds) Cook were the parent of six children:

1. Edna Lucille, born 9 October 1911, Wyandotte County, Kansas; died 7 February 1994, Travis, Fayette, Texas; married Russell Fairclough Whittemore, 14 August 1955, Galveston, Texas
2. Marjory Fay, born 8 March 1913, Wyandotte County, Kansas; died 6 August 1988, Kansas City, Jackson, Missouri; married Herbert Bailey Wardin, 8 February 1945, Jackson County, Missouri
3. Ira Russell, born 21 February 1915, Kansas City, Jackson, Missouri; died 13 December 2002, Saginaw, Saginaw, Michigan; married Leone M. Webber, 15 April 1944, Detroit, Wayne, Michigan
4. Kathryn Lucinda, born 12 August 1917, Kansas city, Jackson, Missouri; died 2 March 1988, Jackson County, Missouri; married Wilber Pershing Minor, c1950
5. Warren Reynolds, born 4 November 1920, Kansas City, Jackson, Missouri; died 31 March 1963, Ann Arbor, Washtenaw, Michigan; married Ann Frances McKee, 5 December 1945, Detroit, Wayne, Michigan
6. Anna Winifred/Winona, born 7 May 1923, Missouri; died 31 July 1981, Wichita Falls, Wichita, Texas; married Francis A. Walter, 20 May 1951, Jackson County, Missouri

Glenn Lee and Dema Genevieve (Ball) Reynolds were the parents of eight children:

1. Selma Fay, born 5 June 1916, Lyons, Rice, Kansas; died 23 September 2003, Albuquerque, Bernalillo, New Mexico; married Paul Susumu Seto, 9 July 1965, Hidalgo County, Texas. She married her sister Genevieve’s widower.
2. Genevieve 22 July 1917, Rice County, Kansas; died 22 September 1964; married Paul Susumu Seto, c1944
3. Dorothy Lou, born 22 July 1919, Rice County, Kansas; died 22 October 2001, Wellsville, Franklin, Kansas; married Orion Neely Lewis, 10 October 1942, San Antonio, Texas
4. Aaron Glendon, born 5 July 1921, Lyons, Rice, Kansas; died 29 December 1968, McAllen, Hidalgo, Texas; married Mildred Lillian Bost, c1950
5. Harold Whitfield, born 12 April 1925, Brownsville, Cameron, Texas; died 27 February 2019, Garland, Bowie, Texas; married Thelma Jeane Peace, 11 December 1946, Williamson County, Texas
6. Albert Leroy, born 27 December 1927, McAllen, Hidalgo, Texas; died 19 June 1998; married Nohemi Lopez, 19 May 1956, Mexico City, Mexico
7. Eugene Ray, born 4 May 1930, McAllen, Hidalgo, Texas; died 6 May 194, McAllen, Hidalgo, Texas; married Jo Anne Lois Tancre, 26 May 1952, Lubbock, Texas
8. Child, born 1934

Here will end the descendants of Whit and Katherine (Meisen) Reynolds. Suffice it to say that this photo has gone home to one of their many descendants!