Person:Lydia Reynolds (7)

Lydia REYNOLDS was born in the little community of Redstone in Chester County, Pennsylvania and at 23 years of age, wed Joseph Townsend, Jr. In keeping with the Quaker faith of both families, the vows were solemnized in May 1739 at the Concordville Monthly Meeting of the Society of Friends.

    Her new husband lived in East Bradford, a township in eastern Chester County. He was a weaver. His forebearers had lived in Cloucestershire and Berkshire in England for several generations before his father came to America in 1712.
    Joseph later bought land in East Bradford township and probably grew corn and wheat, the latter a particularly profitable cash crop. Pennsylvania and the other middle colonies exported so much wheat and flour that they became known as the "bread colonies."
    Lydia was the first of the REYNOLDS family for several generations to have a moderate sized family of five children. The six ancestors before her were more prolific propagators, producing 7, 9, 10+, 10, 10 and 8 offspring. But her inability to attain a similar number of progeny was unavoidable -- Joseph died when only 33 years old, shortly after the birth of their last child Elizabeth in 1749. All of the children were 9 years old or under at the time. Lydia lived for about another 25 years. (Taken from: A Family History, by Donovan Faust)

1. ↑ A. Donovan Faust (Foust). A Family History: The Ancestors of Thomas Wilson Faust. (1997).