A prominent Lake Geneva resident whose legacy has disappeared in the mists of time

In 1866 a doctor and his wife moved to Geneva. The doctor had been a surgeon in the 3rd Wisconsin Cavalry during the Civil War. The newcomers to Geneva were Dr. Benoni O. Reynolds and his wife Mary Smith Reynolds. They became the progenitors of a family dynasty in Geneva/Lake Geneva that would extend well into the 20th Century.

Benoni O. Reynolds was born in Cayuga County, New York on July 26, 1824. At the age of 13 he became an apprentice in a cooper’s shop. He than taught school for two years. He enlisted in the Army during the Mexican-American War (April 25, 1846-February 2, 1848) but saw no service. After the war he moved to Chicago where he studied medicine at the Rush Medical College, graduating in 1851. In 1854 he moved to Elkhorn where he practiced medicine. He took time out to study at the Opthalmic College of New York City from which he graduated in 1861. When the Civil War broke out in 1861 Reynolds became a surgeon in the 3rd Wisconsin Cavalry of which he was a member between 1861 and 1865. After the Civil War ended he returned to Elkhorn. In 1866 he moved to Geneva and opened a practice there which quickly flourished.

Dr. Benoni O. Reynolds not only became the leading physician in Geneva but achieved prominence as a politician and as a leader of professional organizations. He was a member of the National Medical Association and of the National Board of Health, and became the President of the State Medical Society of Wisconsin. He was elected as a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly and as a State Senator.

Dr. Benoni O. Reynolds passed away on January 10, 1911. He was 86 years old.

Dr. Benoni O. Reynolds, son of Dr. James C. Reynolds, was born in Exeter, Green County Wisconsin on July 17, 1899. As noted above his family had moved to Elkhorn in 1854. James Reynolds attended Beloit College and Racine College and graduated from the Rush Medical College in Chicago in 1870. He then spent five years as a doctor in South Dakota and a year at Bellevue Hospital in New York City. In 1876 he came to Geneva where he became a partner in a medical practice with his father Dr. Benoni O. Reynolds.

Very much as his father, Dr. Benoni O. Reynolds had been, Dr. James C. Reynolds became active in political, civic, and community affairs. He was a member of the Geneva Board of Supervisors and the Geneva School Board and in 1884 and 1886 was elected as a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly. In 1886 he was elected as a State Senator.

Over the next three decades after the Civil War Dr. Benoni O. Reynolds would play a key leadership role in the Village of Geneva.

Dr. James C. Reynolds was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia in 1900. During World War I, Dr. James C. Reynolds was a member of the Walworth County Draft Board. He was also a member of the Geneva Lodge #44 of the Royal Arch Masons and the Military Order of the Loyal Legion.

Dr. James C. Reynolds passed away on September 4, 1933 at his home in Lake Geneva at the age of 84. He was buried in the Oak Hill Cemetery.

Dr. James C. Reynolds’ son, Benoni O. Reynolds, was named after his grandfather, Dr. Benoni O. Reynolds. B.O. Reynolds was born on December 27, 1890 in Lake Geneva. He attended Lake Geneva public schools until he was 13 and then attended the Racine College Military Academy before returning to Lake Geneva High School. He then attended the University of Wisconsin in Madison for two years before enrolling in and graduating from the University of South Caroline Law School in 1914.

He was admitted to the bar in Sidney, Montana in 1915 and began practicing law in Sidney. In Montana he organized an Infantry Company in the Montana National Guard and was commissioned a Captain. In 1916 he and Company L of the Montana National Guard were ordered to serve on the U. S. border with Mexico. On February 3, 1917 he purchased and edited the Lake Geneva News. After the U.S. entered World War I in April 1917 B. O. Reynolds organized a National Guard Cavalry Troop in Lake Geneva and was appointed Captain of the Troop. In February 1917 Captain Reynolds was ordered to France where he commanded Battery A of the 121st Field Artillery which was part of the famed 32nd Division. He participated in battles from that of the Marne to that of Argonne Forest. Two days before the signing of the Armistice on November 11, 1918 he was wounded and suffered “shell shock.”

In 1928 B. O. Reynolds was admitted to the Wisconsin State Bar. He was elected Justice of the Peace in Lake Geneva and was a member of the Lake Geneva School Board. In 1932 he was elected as the Walworth County District Attorney. On September 18, 1933 while discussing legal business with his colleagues in his office at the Walworth County Courthouse in Elkhorn B. O. Reynolds suffered a fatal heart attack. He was only 42 years old.

A family dynasty that had existed in Lake Geneva for almost seven decades and three generations had come to a close.