R. J. Reynolds - Family and Personal Life

Family and Personal Life

Reynolds was the most eligible bachelor for many years in Winston-Salem and married Mary Katherine Smith (November 17, 1880 - May 23, 1923), who was 30 years his junior, on February 27, 1905 in Mount Airy, North Carolina. She was the daughter of Zachary Taylor Smith (February 19, 1847 - June 13, 1938) and Mary Susan Jackson (January 21, 1855 - April 17, 1926). She was born in Stokes County, North Carolina and died in New York City.

Reynolds and Katherine's father Zachary were cousins, and Reynolds had known Katherine since she was a young girl. She earned a degree in English literature and went to work as a Reynolds secretary, at one point winning $1,000 in a company-sponsored contest. Reynolds joked that he married Katherine to get his money back. Their marriage was very happy, and Reynolds wrote to Katherine saying he was very glad he waited so long to marry. Katherine Reynolds urged her husband to shorten employees' work hours and provide a lunchroom, schools and nursery services for them.

The Reynolds' children were:

• Richard Joshua Reynolds, Jr. (April 4, 1906 - December 14, 1964) who married Elizabeth McCaw "Blitz" Dillard (1909 - Dec. 1961), Marianne O'Brien (d. 1985), Muriel Maud Marston Laurence Greenough (December 28, 1915 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada - 1980), and Annemarie Schmitt (b. 1932 - ) RJ Jr and Blitz had four sons, Richard Joshua "Josh" Reynolds III, John Dillard Reynolds, Zachary Taylor Reynolds, and William Neal Reynolds II. RJ Jr. and Marianne had two sons, Michael Randolph Reynolds (July 13, 1947 - November 3, 2004) and Patrick Reynolds, who publicly took a stand as a tobaccofree advocate (b. December 2, 1948 - ). RJ Jr and Annemarie had one daughter two days after RJ Jr died, Irene Sabine Reynolds (b. December 16, 1964 - )
• Mary Katherine Reynolds (August 8, 1908 - July 17, 1953) who married Charles Henry Babcock (September 22, 1899 - December 13, 1967)
• Nancy Susan Reynolds (February 5, 1910 - January 1985) who married Henry Walker Bagley (August 6, 1900 in Atlanta, Georgia - April 19, 1983) and Gilbert Verney. Nancy and Henry had three daughters, Jane Bagley Lehman,Susan Bagley Bloom, and Anne Bagley Grant, and one son, Smith Bagley, cell phone business executive and social activist.
• Zachary Smith Reynolds (November 5, 1911 - July 6, 1932) who married Anne Ludlow Cannon (August 31, 1901 - June 21, 1961) in York, South Carolina November 16, 1929 and Libby Holman in Monroe, Michigan on Sunday November 29, 1931.

Reynolds lived above the factory floor for many years. When he married, he lived with his family alongside other R.J. Reynolds executives on Fifth Street in Winston-Salem until 1917, when they moved to Reynolda House, a 1,000-acre (4 km2) estate on the outskirts of town that also housed a village where Reynolds workers could live. The grounds featured a post office, schools, a chapel, a blacksmith shop and a greenhouse. At Reynolda House, Katherine brought farmers together to learn the latest scientific advances in farming. Katherine offered evening literacy classes to workers. She also commissioned construction of a nine-hole golf course.

Reynolds died in 1918, and his wife, although 30 years younger, died six years later. They are buried in the Salem Cemetery in Winston-Salem. Their children were then raised by their uncle, Reynolds' brother William Neal Reynolds, and his wife Kate Bitting Reynolds. Dick Reynolds became a Democratic politician, mayor of Winston-Salem, and treasurer of the Democratic National Committee.

Reynolds's grandson Patrick Reynolds became an anti-smoking activist following several family deaths from smoking and began the Foundation for a Smoke-Free America.