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John Reynolds Home
| Historic Site #: | 14-076 (Exists) Type: F2 | Town: | Williamson | ||
| Site Name: | John Reynolds Home | GPS Coordinates: | 43.28195, -77.18243 | ||
| Address: | 4181 Lake Road Pultneyville New York | ||||
| Description: | |||||
Significance: A strong local tradition connects this family to the Underground Railroad. | |||||
| 🔊Audio: Tour Sound Bite |
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| John Reynolds Home looking north April 2008 | Hold On YouTube Video |
| Historic narrative: | |||||
Description: The Reynolds’ house is a gable-and-wing stuccoed structure, with three bays on both the main block and the east wing. The Reynolds home stands on the shore of Lake Ontario, facing Lake Road in Pultneyville, just across the street from the H.N. Throop, John Palmer, and Washington Throop homes. Significance: John Reynolds, born in 1803, came to Pultneyville in 1829 to work as a merchant. He married Mary Moses, born about 1806 in Connecticut. Mary Moses Reynolds had two sisters, both of whom lived in Pultneyville. One married Randolph Reynolds (her husband’s brother), and the other married Washington S. Troop and lived just across the road from the Reynolds house. Her brothers, Rufus and Hiram, lived in Sodus. John Reynolds was probably a Democrat, since he served as postmaster under President John Tyler. Although President Tyler was certainly no friend to abolitionists, George W. Cowles, in his 1895 Landmarks of Wayne County, noted that Reynolds was “an active operator of the ‘underground railroad.’” While no primary source documents have been found to substantiate this claim, Reynolds was involved with abolitionists and reformers, and his house stands in a convenient place along Lake Road, directly across from the homes of Captain Horatio N. Throop, Captain John Palmer, and Washington S. Throop, all of whom were involved with the Underground Railroad. In 1849, Reynolds signed the call to a “General Reform Convention to discuss the evils of slavery,” to be held in Walworth on February 27, 1849. “Believing that agitation or righteous discussion is the usual law of progress,” they invited people to consider “some of the vital, radical questions which are now disturbing the great deep of the public mind.” The call noted that “Gerrit Smith, Wm. Goodell, Thomas McClintock, Frederick Douglass, and other prominent reformers, are expected to be present,” but no report of the meeting has so far been found.John Reynolds died October 15, 1882. Mary Reynolds died December 25,1891. Both are buried in Lakeview Cemetery. Primary Source North Star, February 23, 1849 Courtesy Accessible Archives Call for a Reform Convention. We, the undersigned, believing that agitation or righteous discussion is the usual law of progress, both in political and moral reforms, unanimously agree in issuing this call for a GENERAL REFORM CONVENTION, to be held at Walworth, Wayne County, N.Y., on Tuesday, the 27th day of February, 1849, for the purpose of discussing some of the vital, radical questions which are now disturbing the great deep of the public mind. It is expected and intended that persons of all classes and denominations will attend and participate in the discussion, if they shall choose to do so. Among the questions to be discussed on that occasion, we would respectfully suggest the following: 1st. Are human governments of Divine appointment? 2d. What are the relations of Christians to such governments? 3d. Is any kind of war right? 4th. What is a gospel or Christian church? 5th. What is Christian fellowship? 6th. Is the Christian ministry of Divine appointment? 7th. Have all men an inalienable right to so much of the earth's surface as shall secure to them a comfortable homestead? 8th. Does an equality of rights exist between men and women in respect to all their social, political and religious relations? 9th. Are man's abilities coextensive with his obligations? 10th. do Christians at the present day differ from primitive Christians, as it respects their gifts, privileges and obligations? 11th. Is slavery always and everywhere a sin? It is desirous that all who can will come well prepared to discuss and elucidate at least ONE of the above-named questions. Gerrit Smith, Wm. Goodell, Thomas McClintock, Frederick Douglass, and other prominent reformers, are expected to be present. We want a general rally of speakers and hearers, for we believe it the cause of God and humanity. WALTER LASHER, Walworth. JEREMIAH LASHER, " LEVI J. HICKS, " H.S. SIMMONS, " J. MELVIN " DANIEL POPINO " ASAHEL HOYT, " R.R. RICHMOND, " JOHN LAWRENCE, " JOHN ABBOTT, " PHILIP LAWRENCE, " JOSEPH JACKSON, " JOHN R. WILLIAMS, " EZRA BROWN, " DAVID GORDON, " JOSEPH E. HILLMAN, " B.B. ADAMS, " STEPHEN HOWELL, " ABRAHAM PEER, " HIRAM HARDING, " SAMUEL C. PATRICK, " JOHN STRETCH, " ROBERT SMITH, " B.S. BUSH, " E.G. GREENFIELD, " JOHN COLE, " WILLIAM POLLER, " G.M. COOPER, " MARY H. COOPER, " SAMUEL SMITH, Marion. JOHN REYNOLDS, Pultneyville . E.W. CAPRON, Auburn. REBECCA M. CAPRON, " | |||||
Uncovering the Underground Railroad, Abolitionism, and African American Life in Wayne County, New York, 1820-1880 pp 409-410
Hold On YouTube Video