San Joaquin County
Biographies
GILBERT C. REYNOLDS
GILBERT C. REYNOLDS was born
in Kingston, Rhode
Island, January
12, 1816, his parents being Daniel and Sarah A. (Cooper) Reynolds. Daniel
Reynolds was a seafaring man and died on the Island of Batavia as he was out on a three years’ voyage.
Gilbert was almost raised aboard ship. The
first wages he ever received, however, was on land for driving cattle to
plough, for which he received 3 cents per day, which he took out in potatoes,
as there was no money in that country. He went to sea when very young, taking
the position of cook at $3 a month. After the father’s death there was a family
of five to be maintained with their poor earnings. Nothing daunted, however,
they put their shoulders to the wheel, and, by their steady and industrious
habits, were never at a loss for a situation. In 1832 he sailed on the
full-rigged ship Echo, from New York. On reaching New Orleans he met a friend, who persuaded him to run away from
the vessel, promising to give him more lucrative employment. He did so, earning
the first year he spent in New Orleans
$800, the largest sum of money he had ever seen before. In 1849 he started for California, sailing from New
Orleans to Vera
Cruz, where they purchased wagon and mules and started across the plains. They
passed through old Mexico and all the prominent cities of Mexico. They took passage on the steamer Dolphin from Mazatlan for San
Francisco. The
captain, Captain Winslow, was a dissipated man and had neglected to provide the
ship with a stock of provisions and water. Their supplies soon ran low and they
were obliged to put into an island and get fresh water, and they procured some
food from a South Sea island. When within two or three hundred miles of “Frisco
the vessel sprung a leak, and for eight or ten days they were forced to work
constantly at the pumps in order to keep the ship from sinking; and for sixty
days they were on short allowance,--half a pint of water and one ounce of bread
per day. Many of the crew died of starvation. They at last reached San Diego in a very destitute condition. After leaving the
ship, she sank an hour after the pumps were stopped, with all the baggage on
board. They were fed by the Government. In two months’ time he sailed with a
friend on a brig, as seaman, for San Francisco, where they landed after a voyage of twenty-five
days. There he met a companion of his youth, from his native town, who was then
running a bark from San
Francisco to Stockton, and invited Mr. Reynolds to take the trip with him,
which he did. On arriving in Stockton he met some more friends, one of whom had met with an
accident. He had been engaged in freighting, and wished Mr. Reynolds to take
one of his teams and mules and go to teaming, which he did. He made three
trips, at the end of which time his friend proposed that he should buy the
team. The money earned on these trips more than paid the purchase money. He
afterward purchased eight mules and outfit for $5,000, which was at that time a
good bargain. He continued the business with the two outfits until the
following spring, by which time he had cleared $60,000. In 1851 he entered into
partnership with Eugene Kelty; they started a stage line, put on good coaches,
and they were soon running a first-class line from Stockton to Sonora. In the meantime they had purchased land and raised a
crop of barley in 1850. They lost $75,000 from indorsing a paper, which
crippled them for some time. They gave up staging when Kelty died, and went to
farming, which Mr. Reynolds has followed ever since. He had eighty acres of
choice farming land on which there is a very comfortable home. He also had land
in Yolo County.
He was married in 1853 to Mrs. Ann Ransom,
who died leaving one child, Gilbert M. In 1879 he married Mrs. A. Truett, a
native daughter of Stockton. Mr. Reynolds was one of the oldest stage drivers in
this county. He died on the 4th of February, 1890. Having been
thrown from a buggy, he received injuries which caused his death four months
after.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
An Illustrated History of San Joaquin County,
California, Pages 340-341. Lewis Pub.
Co. Chicago, Illinois 1890.
© 2009 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
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