By Jared L. Olar
January 2019
Updated December 2020
Our Reynolds ancestry traces back to the New England colonist John Reynolds (c.1606-c.1645), one of the founding settlers of Stamford, Connecticut. The parentage and ancestry of John Reynolds is unknown -- he certainly was NOT a son of George and Thomasyn (Church) Reynolds of London, England, as many online family trees falsely claim. The children of George and Thomasyn went to Virginia, not Massachusetts or Connecticut. As for the family name of "Reynolds," that is a patronymic surname indicating male-line descent from a man named "Renauld" or "Renaud," which is the French form of "Reginald." The given name itself is quite common among the Germanic peoples of Europe. Besides the French or Anglo-Norman form already mentioned, not to mention the English forms "Reginald" and "Ronald," in Scotland it is usually "Ranald," in Scandinavia it is "Rognvald" or "Ragnald," and in Italy it is "Reinaldo" or "Rinaldo." The Anglo-Saxon form was Raegnwald, though the name is rare in England prior to the Norman Conquest. Whatever the spelling, it has the meaning of "Wise Ruler," from the roots ragin ("counsel," "judgment," "advice") and walda ("ruler"). In all likelihood our Reynolds family derives its name from an Englishman of Norman French origin. But since we cannot tell where in England our Reynolds ancestors came from, we will turn now to an account of our known Reynolds ancestors.
1. JOHN REYNOLDS, ancestry unknown, born circa 1606 in England, died after 7 Jan. 1643 but before 1650 in Stamford, Fairfield County, Connecticut. John's date of birth is an estimate based on the probable date of his marriage. John probably immigrated to New England in 1634 or before. He first appears on record on 6 May 1635, when he was made a Freeman of Watertown, Massachusetts. His house in Watertown was on a three-and-a-half acre plot on High Street, the third lot from the Meeting House. He also owned at least 150 acres elsewhere. The following year, 1636, he moved to Wethersfield, Hartford County, Connecticut, and by 1641 he had moved to Stamford (at first called Toquams), Connecticut.
The identity of John's wife is uncertain, but she was probably the SARAH REYNOLDS, born circa 1614 in England, who emigrated from England at the age of 20, taking the oath of allegiance on 30 April 1635 at Ipswich, England, in preparation for her voyage aboard the Elizabeth. If Sarah was John's wife, they would have married by 1631 in England. Sarah's death is recorded twice at Stamford -- first as "Sarrah Reanolds died 31:6:1657" (i.e. 31 Aug. 1657, counting March as the first month of the year as Puritans often did) and again as "Sarra Reanols died the 31 August 1657." Robert Charles Anderson is skeptical that this Sarah was John's wife, because it would mean that Sarah would have been no older than 17 when she married John. That consideration is hardly of any force, however, since maidens marrying at age 16 and 17 is not unheard of in that period. Admittedly the death records do not specify that Sarah was a wife or widow, but that is not unheard of in early colonial records, whereas if she were underage and unmarried the record would have identified her father. Thus, though our available records do not directly affirm that Sarah was John's wife, there is no good reason to believe she couldn't have been his wife -- and there was no other Reynolds family in Stamford at the time, so Sarah was obviously a member of John's family, and it is unlikely that she was anyone else but John's wife. As for Sarah's maiden name, George E. McCracken suggested in his article "Rebecca, Wife of Angel Husted of Greenwich," in The American Genealogist (1953), Vol. 30, pages 127-128, that Sarah was a Cheserton or Chesterfield, but McCracken's suggestion is now held to be incorrect.
On 14 Nov. 1635, John was chosen as lotlayer at Watertown, Massachusetts. By 1636 he had sold his "homestall of 5 acres and a half" at Watertown to Miles Nutt, and had moved to Wethersfield Connecticut. In the land inventory of 11 Feb. 1640[/1?], "John Raynolds" held seven parcels of property at Wethersfield, but he moved to Stamford either that year or the next, and by 20 May 1644 all seven parcels had been sold to John Hollister. In 1640-1641, "Jo. Renoulds" made contributions, including three bushels and two pecks of corn, toward the original purchase of the land for settlement of the town of Stamford.
The date of John's death is unknown. He appeared on the Stamford rate list on 7 Jan. 1643, but he is not mentioned in the 1650 Stamford land inventory, indicating that he had died between those dates. His probable wife Sarah died seven years after the land inventory.
The known children of John Reynolds were:
-- JONATHAN REYNOLDS, born circa 1631 probably in England, married Rebecca (NN), who after Jonathan's death remarried to Angell Hustis.
-- ELIZABETH REYNOLDS, born circa 1634 probably in England, married Peter Ferris.
2. JOHN REYNOLDS, born circa 1636 in Wethersfield, Connecticut.
2. JOHN REYNOLDS JR., son of John Reynolds, born circa 1636 in Wethersfield, Hartford County, Connecticut, died between 8 Nov. and 17 Dec. 1701 at Greenwich, Fairfield County, Connecticut. John married circa 1668 in Greenwich, Connecticut, to JUDITH PALMER ("Judah"), born circa 1646 in Yarmouth, Massachusetts, died 1702, daughter of William and Judith (Feake) Palmer. John and Judith had five sons and two daughters. John made his will on 8 Nov. 1701 in Greenwich, Connecticut, and an inventory was taken of his estate on 17 Dec. 1701, showing that he had died between those dates, probably in November.
Information on John and Judith and their children is recorded at Reynolds Annex: Maud Elise (Reynolds) Bryant Pedigree. The same source provides these comments on John's mother-in-law Judith (Feake) Palmer and a series of marriages that created one of the tangled webs of interconnected families that are so common in the Founding Families of Connecticut:
"After the death of her father, William Palmer, Judith and her siblings moved with her mother to Greenwich, Connecticut, where she had relatives. Judith (Feake) Palmer eventually married (2nd), as his 3rd wife, Jeffrey Ferris (d. 1666). She married (3rd) John Bowers about 1667. After Judith (Feake)(Palmer)(Ferris) Bowers died, John Bowers married Hannah [Close] Knapp, widow of Joshua Knapp, whose daughter, Ruth Knapp, married Deacon John Reynolds (son of Jonathan Reynolds) and whose son, Joshua Knapp, Jr., married Elizabeth Reynolds on 16 March 1687. So, John Bowers had three step children who married into the Reynolds family."
The families of two of John and Judith Reynolds' sons, Joshua and David, were also entangled in marriages of close relatives, as is noted below.
The children of John and Judith Reynolds were:
-- JOHN REYNOLDS III, a cooper, born circa 1670, died Dec. 1732.
-- JUDITH REYNOLDS, born circa 1672, died after 1734, married Samuel Betts.
-- JAMES REYNOLDS, born 1674, died 14 Feb. 1767, married Sarah Holmes.
-- MARY REYNOLDS, born circa 1679, married Peter Palmer.
-- JONATHAN REYNOLDS, born circa 1682, died 1708, married Mary Mead.
-- JOSHUA REYNOLDS, born circa 1685, died 1765 in Greenwich, Connecticut, married Abigail Pennoyer, older sister of Reuben Pennoyer (below).
-- DAVID REYNOLDS, born circa 1687 in Stamford, Connecticut.
3. DAVID REYNOLDS, son of John and Judith Reynolds, born circa 1687 in Stamford, Fairfield County, Connecticut, died in the autumn of 1750 in Greenwich, Fairfield County, Connecticut. Details and records on the life of David Reynolds and his family are found on pages 53-55 of Marion H. Reynolds' 1924 The History and Descendants of John and Sarah Reynolds. David married before 11 Oct. 1671 in Oyster Bay, Long Island, New York, to PENELOPE WRIGHT, born circa 1689, died perhaps circa 1710, daughter of Caleb and Elisabeth Wright of Oyster Bay, New York. David and Penelope had two children, a son named after his father and a daughter named after her mother. David remarried after the death of his wife Penelope, and his second wife is believed to be MARY (MEAD) REYNOLDS, widow of David's older brother Jonathan Reynolds who had died in 1709. David apparently had no child by his second wife, for only the two children of his first wife are mentioned in his will.
David evidently served in the Connecticut Colonial Militia, attaining the rank of Lieutenant. Reynolds Annex: Maud Elise (Reynolds) Bryant Pedigree mentions "Lieutenant David Reynolds: (37) Born about 1687. Died in the fall of 1750. Married (1st) Penelope Wright. Married (2nd) (perhaps) Mary (Mead) Reynolds, widow of his older brother, Jonathan Reynolds."
David made his will at Greenwich, Connecticut, on 4 May 1750, and died a few months later, for his will was probated on 6 Nov. 1750. "Abstract of Probate Records of the District of Stamford, County of Fairfield, and State of Connecticut, 1729-1802," by Spencer P. Mead, 1919, shows the following:
"Reynolds, David, late of Greenwich, will dated May 4, 1750, probated Nov. 6, 1750, mentions his wife _____, and children David and Penelope, wife of Reuben Pennoyer, and her children Thomas and David Pennoyer. Executor Ephraim Bostwick. Witnesses Ephraim Bostwick, Samuel Ferris, and Timothy Knapp, page 219. Inventory taken Nov. 1750, by Joseph Husted and Samuel Lockwood, and filed Feb. 5, 1751, page 220."
David Reynolds had two known children by his first wife:
-- DAVID REYNOLDS JR., born circa 1690 in Oyster Bay, Long Island, New York.
4. PENELOPE REYNOLDS, born circa 1708 in Oyster Bay, Long Island, New York.
4. PENELOPE REYNOLDS, daughter of David and Penelope Reynolds, born circa 1708 in Oyster Bay, Long Island, Queens, New York, died post 1754. Penelope married on 6 Nov. 1728 in Stamford, Connecticut, to her aunt Abigail's younger brother REUBEN PENNOYER SR., born 1702 in Stamford, Fairfield County, Connecticut, died post 1763 in Stamford, Connecticut, son of Thomas and Lydia (Knapp) Pennoyer. The marriage of Reuben and Penelope is recorded in Stamford in the Barbour Collection of Connecticut Town Vital Records. Reynolds Annex: Maud Elise (Reynolds) Bryant Pedigree also mentions "Thomas and Lydia (Knapp) Pennoyer of Stamford, Connecticut, who also had son Reuben Pennoyer, who married Penelope Reynolds, daughter of David Reynolds." Reuben and Penelope and their two eldest sons Thomas and David are named in the 4 May 1750 will of Penelope's father David Reynolds, late of Greenwich, Connecticut, which was probated 6 Nov. 1750 (See "Abstract of Probate Records of the District of Stamford, County of Fairfield, and State of Connecticut, 1729-1802," by Spencer P. Mead, 1919). Reuben and Penelope had seven sons and four daughters, all born in Fairfield County, Connecticut, most if not all born in Greenwich in Stamford District.
Marion Hobart Reynolds' The History and Descendants of John and Sarah Reynolds -- 1630?-1923 -- Of Watertown, Mass., and Wethersfield, Stamford and Greenwich, Conn. (1924), pages 76-77, provides the following details about Penelope and her husband Reuben Pennoyer:
PENELOPE REYNOLDS: (David 3; John 2; John 1) b. Greenwich. Conn., or Oyster Bay, L. I., about 1709. See p. 331, Powell's Long Island Genealogies, Caleb Wright, grandfather of Penelope and father-in-law of David Reynolds, was b. 1645, son of Nicholas & Ann; he m. Elizabeth --; lived at Oyster Bay, L. I. m. Reuben Pennoyer of Stamford, there on Nov. 6, 1728; he was b. there 1702, son of Thomas & Lydia (Knapp) Pennoyer of Stamford: "Rubon Ponioyre and Ponoliphy Renals were maryed ye 6th Day of November 1728 by ye worshipfull Samuel Peck esquier one of his majesties Just. of ye peace for ye County of Fairfield." Reuben's sister Abigail m. a Reynolds before 1724; she was b. Oct. 13, 1686. Reuben and Penelope lived only a few miles from David Reynolds' homelot in Sound Beach until the birth of Lydia 1747. Her son Wright was born in that old home in 1750; baptized Stamford, St. Johns Ch., July 29, 1750, and the parents still called "of Stamford," so perhaps the removal from Stamford to Sound Beach was only temporary. It is possible they later lived in Mamaroneck. David gave his home in Old Greenwich by will to his daughter, Penelope, but also further land to David Jr. who then lived in Peekskill. Reuben and Penelope seem later to have gone to Peekskill and perhaps north or northwest of there; had large family which scattered. This information by Mrs. Caroleen B. Sheppard, Box 194 Mad. Sq. Sta., N. Y. City. David's will June 2, 1750, mention children Thomas and David. First eight ch. b. Stamford; 9th in Old Greenwich.
Marion Hobart Reynolds then proceeds to list the children of Penelope and Reuben.
-- ELIZABETH PENNOYER ("Betty"), born 27 Oct. 1729, died 1803 of consumption (tuberculosis), never married.
-- THOMAS PENNOYER, born 24 July 1732.
-- DAVID PENNOYER, born 24 May 1734/5, died 1761/6 Dutchess Co., N.Y., md. Margaret Birdsell.
-- PENELOPE PENNOYER, born 10 July 1737, md. Cornelius Turner.
-- ZIPPORAH PENNOYER, born 27 Jan. 1739, probably md. (NN) Haws.
-- REUBEN PENNOYER JR., born 22 Sept. 1742.
-- WILLIAM PENNOYER, born 15 Feb. 1743.
-- LYDIA PENNOYER, born 2 June 1747, died 6 Dec. 1820, married four times.
-- WRIGHT PENOYER, born 31 May 1750, died 6 June 1807.
-- ISAAC PENNOYER, born 10 Aug. 1754, died 9 Dec. 1809, md. Catherine Hyatt.
-- JACOB PENNOYER, born 10 Aug. 1754, twin brother of Isaac.
Reynolds Genealogy Resources:
Reynolds Annex: Maud Elise (Reynolds) Bryant Pedigree Stamford, CT, Families (1641-1935) (Pennoyer, Knapp, Reynolds, etc.)