Francis H. Reynolds Jr. (1810-1878) & Anice Freeman (1806-1893)

Francis H. Reynolds Jr. was born on October 7, 1810, in Saratoga County, New York, the son of Francis H. Reynolds Sr. and Abigail Jolls. His early years were shaped by the movement of his family westward, part of the larger migration of New England families into central and western New York, and later into the new farming country of Michigan.

Anice Freeman, known to family and neighbors as “Anna”, was born on December 31, 1806, in Genesee County, New York, the daughter of Elkanah Freeman and Hannah Dunham. Like Francis, her family roots were in early New England, and her childhood in western New York likely gave her both the resilience and self-sufficiency that would serve her well as a farmer’s wife in Michigan.

By the late 1830s, Francis and Anice had married and begun their family. Their first child, Charles Elkani Reynolds, was born on February 27, 1841, though later records sometimes give 1842 as his birth year. A daughter, Mary Etta Reynolds, followed on September 27, 1845, born in Ionia County, Michigan—evidence that the young family had already joined Francis’s parents in the move west. Their third child, Almira Anice Reynolds, was born on November 18, 1847. Tragically, Almira’s life was short; she died at the age of eighteen, leaving behind grieving parents and siblings.

The 1850 U.S. Census shows Francis and Anice in Lyons Township, Ionia County, Michigan, with their three children. Like many in that frontier farming community, Francis worked as a farmer, an occupation he would pursue faithfully between 1850 and 1870. Census records over those decades continue to show him living in Lyons with Anice, raising their family and cultivating their land.

By 1860, the couple was still in Lyons, their children growing into adulthood. A decade later, in 1870, they remained there, with Francis still working the farm and Anice keeping the household. Farming was both labor and livelihood, and together they endured the challenges of pioneer agriculture—hard winters, uncertain harvests, and the ever-present work of maintaining both land and family.

In July 1878, Francis died in Lyons. No death record survives at the Ionia County Clerk’s office, and despite efforts to locate it, no tombstone has been found in Ionia or Mason County. His passing left Anice a widow after nearly four decades of marriage.

Anice’s later years saw her living with family. The 1880 census lists her in Lyons Township, living with her son Charles in the household of Nelson De Lavergne. Eventually, she moved northward to Mason County, where her daughter Mary had settled with her husband, Cornelius Smith. It was there, in Victory Township, that Anice spent her final days.

On March 2, 1893, Anice died in Victory Township, Mason County, Michigan. Her death return, dated May 18, 1894, notes her occupation as “housekeeper” and records her passing from old age. She was buried in North Victory Cemetery, alongside her daughter Mary Reynolds Smith and son-in-law Cornelius Smith, a quiet resting place that keeps her near family in death, just as she had devoted her life to them in life.

Together, Francis and Anice lived lives that reflected the pioneer spirit of their time leaving New York for the Michigan frontier, raising children on new farmland, enduring hardship and loss, and building the foundation for future generations. Though Francis’s grave remains unmarked, the legacy of the couple endures through their children and the many descendants who carried the Reynolds and Freeman names into the next century.

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