Biography of Benjamin F. Reynolds
Benjamin F. Reynolds, a successful farmer and stock grower in Charles Mix County, South Dakota, was born on December 19, 1853, in Van Buren County, Michigan. His parents, Benjamin F. and Drusilla Reynolds, were Ohio natives and early settlers in Michigan. Benjamin moved to Minnesota at seventeen, worked in Wisconsin’s pine forests, and later relocated to South Dakota in 1876. He claimed a homestead near Wheeler, expanding his holdings to 500 acres. In 1888, he established a profitable ferry across the Missouri River, which he operated until 1902. Married to Martha Ecker Hill, Reynolds was a dedicated Republican and supported the Methodist Episcopal Church.