MARTHA MARIA (WARNER) REYNOLDS - On February 15, 1837 there was born in to the pioneer home of Levi and Martha Warner a daughter, Martha Maria. On June 14, 1930, she passed on to the Great Beyond, having been a part of this community for over 93 years, with the exception of about a year in Tennessee. She was the first white child born in Elkhorn Grove, Carroll County. Her birthplace was what is known as the old John Hawes farm, one half mile east of the South Elkhorn church. On September 7, 1854 she was married to Louis Reynolds. Two children, Leonard and Harry L. Were born to them. Leonard died of black diphtheria at the age of seven. When Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds retired from their farm six miles northwest of Polo where they had lived since about 1856 they built a fine home in Polo on West Dixon street now occupied by the Kenney family. They also made their home in Milledgeville, Illinois, for a few years. Since the death of her husband in 1918 Mrs. Reynolds has made her home with her son and his family on the farm at the Polo residence from which the funeral services were held Monday, June 16, at two o’clock, the Reverend John E. Robeson of the Methodist Episcopal church officiating. He chose as his text Zechariah 1:5. In his address he emphasized the point that the early pioneers in the building the foundations of our present communities and institutions put their dependence in God. They were not guilty of the sins of ingratitude and indifference as so often the case today. They placed first of kingdom of God and His righteousness. Thus the pioneer fathers are not forgotten. Because of the righteous lives and deeds the results of their labors are living monuments, to indispensable institutions of present everyday life. In reading the well known poem he characterized "Grandma" Reynolds as a real neighbor who lived in the "house by the side of the road and was a friend to man." Mrs. Charles Joiner, accompanied by Miss Ina Reed at the piano, sang beautifully "Still, Still with Thee", and "Crossing the Bar." The pall bearers were William Acker, Thomas Duffy, Howard Irvin, Joseph Rae, Frank Reed, and Walter Sammons. Burial was in the family lot in Fairmount cemetery. The sympathy of all goes out to her family who remain, especially to her son who has been most devoted in his care of her for over three years since the death of the wife and daughter-in-law. Mother and son "teamed" together to make a home for each other. Wherever she lived "Grandma" or "Aunt Martha" as she was known to everyone, was a friend and neighbor in the broadest and most unselfish meaning of those words. In return she was beloved by young and old without exception. All her life she was famed for her jolly good nature, for her love of good times, and for her hospitality and sociability. She did not allow the increasing deafness of her years to shut her off from her friends nor to make her withdraw within herself. Hers was a great mind. She thought clearly and judged fairly and kindly. Her memory was keen and exceedingly accurate, not only for events of the remote past but also for even inconsequential happenings of the past few months or years. Although bedfast and suffering much for sic weeks preceding her death she kept track until the last day or two of the day and date, of the season relative to the garden and her flowers, of the household activities, of the news of the world, and of her grandchildren from Virginia to California. She was up-to-date in her thinking and she lived accordingly. Only two days before her death she told of having read an article from the medical department of a Chicago paper and of following its suggesting faithfully up to the time of her last illness. She was a woman of great poise. No matter what happened, she made the best of it and lived each day as it came the best that she could. None will forget....

(Note: The rest of this obituary is missing.) -- Contributed by Alice Horner