Timeline of George and Sarah [Curtis] Reynolds Family

• 1856 Sarah Ellenor Curtis was born in Georgetown, Ottawa Co., Michigan
• 1860 Census -
• 1863 George Robert Reynolds was born in Grand Rapids, Kent Co., Michigan
• What happened during this 20 year time span?
• 1870 Census -
• 1880 Census -
• 1883 George Reynolds and Sarah Curtis were married in Renville County, Minnesota
• What happened during this 4 year time span? Other children???
• 1887 Leila Belle Reynolds, daughter of George and Sarah was born at Bird Island, Renville Co., Minnesota
• Another 4 year time span. When did they move to Idaho? Why?
• 1891 George Benjamin Reynolds, son of George and Sarah, was born at Preston, Oneida Co., Idaho
• Another 4 year time span. We are seeing a pattern here with 4 years between major events.
• 1895 Card Lee Reynolds, son of George and Sarah, was born at Preston, Oneida Co., Idaho
• Sometime during this two year time span, the Reynolds family moved to Big Timber, Montana
• 1897 Villa Philena Reynolds, daughter of George and Sarah, was born at Big Timber, Sweet Grass Co., Montana.
• 1898 Wiley Bradley Reynolds, son of George and Sarah, was born at Big Timber, Sweet Grass Co., Montana
• 1900 Census
• 1905 Leila Belle Reynolds married Thomas Penny Muir (1881-1954), place unknown. Sometime after Thomas' death, Leila married Arthur E. Collinge (1883-1974), date and place unknown.
• 1910 Census
• 1917 Villa Philena Reynolds and Harry Raymond Rosevear (1896-1952) were married in Billings, Montana
• 1920 Census
• 1923 George Benjamin Reynolds married Frey, last name unknown.
• 1930 Census
• 1932 Card Lee Reynolds married Ethel Bonnell French (1897-1958) in Los Angeles, California. Previous marriage was to Gladys Whitcher, date unknown.
• 1933 Sarah Ellenor Curtis Reynolds died in Los Angeles, California and was buried at the Forest Lawn Sunnyside Cemetery in Long Beach, Los Angeles Co., California.
• 1948 George Robert Reynolds died in Calder, Shoshone Co., Idaho and was buried at Bakersfield, Kern Co., California. (Note that the father and mother, George and Sarah, were buried in different cemeteries.)
• 1953 Wiley Bradley Reynolds died at Bakersfield, Kern Co., California
• 1958 George Benjamin Reynolds married June, last name unknown.
• 1958 Card Lee Reynolds died at Los Angeles Co., California and was buried at the Valhalla Cemetery in Burbank, Los Angeles Co., California
• 1981 Leila Belle Reynolds Muir Collinge died in San Jose, Santa Clara Co., California and was buried at the Alta Mesa Cemetery in Palo Alto, Santa Clara Co., California
• 1989 Villa Philena Reynolds Rosevear Redshaw died at Big Pine, Inyo Co., California and was buried at Forest Lawn Sunnyside Cemetery in Long Beach, Los Angeles Co., California. (When did Villa marry Al Redshaw?)
• Villa kept a diary in a booklet titled, "Progress Order Book." Entries began in 1931 and ended in 1989. The contents of Villa's diary entries included items about her many moves, health problems, and records of birth, marriage, death, and burial for many of her extended family members.

Research Notes for Sarah Ellenor Curtis' family

I was recently contacted by someone looking for information about George Robert Reynolds and his family. The person contacted me through the records I had uploaded to the Ancestry.com site. To make a long story short, we discovered that the Reynolds family (a collateral line) in my records was the same family in her direct ancestry. Turns out that she has been looking for this George Reynolds family for many years and finding my submission was a break-through for her. As a result of the discovery of our common ancestry, today I reviewed the research notes I have on this Reynolds-Curtis family. I have decided to add a summary of the research I have done on this family to this blog. Hopefully, my notes will be of benefit to others who are searching for the George Robert Reynolds and Sarah Ellenor Curtis family. I probably won't get all my notes into this one message in a single sitting. Therefore, come back often to see updates.

In 1992 when I started the research on this family, I knew next to nothing. In fact, the only thing I knew was that Sarah Curtis had married a man name George Reynolds, but I didn't know where. I also didn't know if they had any children, or where they died and were buried. I mentioned in earlier posts to this blog that a photograph someone shared with me was the key to cracking this research block wall. (Please see my other posts for details about this photograph and how it solved the mystery.)

George Robert Reynolds

• Born 24 Oct 1863 in Grand Rapids, Kent Co., Michigan
• Married to Sarah Ellenor Curtis on 22 Feb 1883 in Renville Co., Minnesota
• Died 17 Jun 1948 in Calder, Shoshone Co., Idaho
• Buried 23 Jun 1948 at the Sunneyside Mausoleum and Cemetery in Long Beach, California

Sarah Ellenor Curtis

• Born 28 Nov 1856 in Georgetown, Ottawa Co., Michigan
• Died 6 Oct 1933 in Los Angeles, Los Angeles Co., California
• Buried at the Sunnyside Mausoleum and Cemetery in Long Beach, California

George and Sarah lived in Preston, Franklin Co., Idaho and later moved to Big Timber, Sweet Grass Co., Montana, where they were enumerated in the 1900 and 1910 census. By the 1920 census, George and Sarah [Curtis] Reynolds had moved to California and were enumerated at San Antonio Township, Monterey Park City, Los Angeles County, California. Just three years prior to Sarah's death, both George and Sarah were listed in the 1930 census living in Montibello, Los Angeles Co., California at 310 North Maple Street. Located at 310 1/2 Maple Street was their daughter and her family, Lelia B. and Thomas P. Muir. (Note that during the early years of research on this family, the census records were more difficult to find. Today, each census record is easily found on Ancestry.com or other websites that have indexed the records.)

I've run out of time ... more details will be added later.

The Reynolds family

This was the 13th page in the Curtis family antique photograph album. All the pages in the album were very similar in design. This picture was already added to this blog, so instead of adding it again, I chose to add the scanned image of the page itself. Neither the front or the back of the picture included a photographer's imprint so the name of the photographer or the place where the picture was taken is unknown. The family is that of George Robert Reynolds, his wife Sarah Ellenor Curtis, and their oldest child Leila Belle Reynolds.

Leila Belle Reynolds

Several years ago I met a second-cousin who was related to me through Benjamin Kingman Curtis. Her ancestor and mine were brother and sister, William Rushmer Curtis and Mary Lavantia Curtis Hobbs. This cousin let me borrow the antique photograph album that originally belonged to her ancestor Mary Lavantia. The album contained 30 Cabinet Card photographs and 21 Carte de Visite style photographs, the kind that were taken during the late 1800's and early 1900's. The antique album was a true goldmine. This is one of the Cabinet Cards that was in the album.

The child in the photo is Leila Belle Reynolds (1887-1981), daughter of George Robert Reynolds and Sarah Ellenor Curtis. She was the oldest child in the family and had four brothers and one sister:

• George Benjamin 1891-1973
• Card Lee 1895-1958
• Villa Philena 1897-1989
• Wiley Bradley 1898-1953
• Bennie 1899-?
  

Before I saw this photograph I didn't know anything about Sarah Ellenor's marriage or who her children were. I also did not know where the family ended up and where they were buried. The only thing I knew was that Sarah Ellenor Curtis married George Reynolds. This picture gave me the clue that I needed to solve the mysteries about this side of the Curtis family. You are probably asking what was so special about this picture that it helped solve several genealogical mysteries? The answer is simple. The bottom of the picture is known as the photographer's imprint, his name and location of his studio. The bottom right corner of the imprint says, "Bird Island, Minn." This told me that Leila Reynolds was actually in Bird Island, Minnesota when this picture was taken of her. I had no idea the family left Idaho and went back east, all the way to Minnesota. That was all I needed, the right location to go looking for records. The records I found and the living descendants that I eventually found was the result of this discovery. All I needed was knowing the right location to go looking for records - in Minnesota no less! Now we know the names George and Sarah's children, grandchildren, and also some living descendants. Plus we have a ton of pictures and documents for this entire branch of the Curtis family. And it all started with this single picture.

Sarah Ellenor Curtis and family

George Reynolds (1863-1948) and his wife, Sarah Ellenor Curtis. Their daughter Leila Belle Reynolds (1887-1981) is seated on her father's lap. Sarah was the daughter of Benjamin Kingman Curtis and Sarah Lavantia Card. George's father was Robert Reynolds.