REYNOLDS GRAVE ON ROAD NO. 3.

Remains of Man Long Buried on Waubonsie Must Be Moved.
The federal aid system of road improvement applied to the Waubonsie Trail in Page county is responsible for considerable local interest in regard to a grave in Tarkio township that will have to be disturbed by the grading. The grave is that of a John Reynolds. Steps have been taken to secure the removal of his remains to the Polsley cemetery in Lincoln township. Preliminary to the removal a permit for it must be obtained from the Iowa state board of health at Des Moines. This, Roy B. Harmon, undertaker, of Clarinda, applied for last week in behalf of parties most interested.
Ellsworth Miller of Clarinda, formerly of Tarkio township, who knew of Mr. Reynolds through conversation with his father, the late Wolf Miller of that township, has had considerable difficulty in learning what Mr. Reynolds' first name was. He says that he always heard him referred to as "Granddaddy" Reynolds. The Journal made diligent inquiry to learn what Reynolds he was, but not until yesterday morning were we able to, and then it was through Ellsworth Miller, who had just found out from James Irvin of Shenandoah, a grandson of the late Mr. Reynolds.
Ellsworth Miller reports that Mr. Reynolds came to Page county in 1852 and died in 1854. Mr. Reynolds at the time of his death made his home with Bass Harrell, across the road from the Wolf Miller farm, on land that Mr. Harrell had pre-empted. Bass Harrell and Mrs. Wolf Miller were brother and sister.
According to the information which Ellsworth Miller had from his father, Mr. Reynolds, a short time before his death requested that he be buried at a certain spot in the pasture of the Bass Harrell farm. This was before there was any road nearby. Mr. Reynolds' request was complied with. Ellsworth Miller says that many a time he has heard his father speak of there having been a box elder tree planted by the grave of Mr. Reynolds. The site where the box elder tree grew is well known to Ellsworth Miller, although the tree has been cut down, and for some time only its stump has been left.
When it was learned that the grading of the Waubonsie Trail (primary road No. 3) would interfere with the Reynolds grave, Ellsworth Miller talked with a man who was looking after the contractor's work, and with the Page county board of supervisors, concerning the burial and the removal of the remains. The request for the permit from the state board of health followed. Under the Iowa law it is mandatory that a legal permit must be obtained for the removal of a body from one burial place to another.

Indian Graves on Old H. and S.
The matter of the grave of Mr. Reynolds in connection with the garding of the Waubonsie Trail reminds J. W. Barchus of Clarinda of the time the grading was done for the Humeston and Shenandoah railroad in Ringgold county. Indian graves were disturbed by the graders, Indian bones being bared by the work, but no attention was paid to their preservation. CLARINDA JOURNAL, Clarinda, Iowa, Jul 14, 1921

The remains of John Reynolds, was buried on what is now the Waubonsie Trail in Tarkio township, Page county, were taken up yesterday, and buried in the Polsley cemetery, a permit to remove them having been obtained from the state board of health. Other particulars concerning the late Mr. Reynolds will be found on the first page of The Journal. When Mr. Reynolds was buried first, interment was in the pasture on the farm of Bass Harrell. The removal was necessary on account of the grading of the Waubonsie: Roy E. Harmon had charge of the removal of the remains. When the grave was opened the coffin crumbled to pieces, exposing the skeleton. It could noticed that Mr. Reynolds was partially bald, from the hair that was left on the skull. There also was hair on the breast. There is a difference in the reports as to the date of the death of Mr. Reynolds, one expression being that it was in 1854, and, another in 1859. It is said that Mr. Reynolds was 90 years of age at the time of his death. Besides the undertaker at the new burial yesterday, there were Mr. and Mrs. Ellsworth Miller of Clarinda and James Irvin of Shenandoah. CLARINDA JOURNAL, Clarinda, Iowa, Jul 14, 1921

Buried in Pasture in 1854

"I have just buried a man over 150 years old, the oldest man I ever buried", said R. E. Harmon last week, after returning from the removal of the body of John Reynolds from the pasture of the Miller farm east of Norwich to Polsley Cemetery near Yorktown.     This was another removal   caused by   widening the roadway, and it makes an interesting   story.   Away back in the fifties this John Reynolds, "Granddaddy" Reynolds  they called him, lived with the grandfather of Ellsworth Miller, on the Miller farm. The end of his years were approaching, so "Granddaddy" made the request that when it came time to lay his mortal remains in mother earth, he be buried in the corner of the pasture on the farm, a place which took his fancy.     At his death his request was granted.     His   wife died also, and was laid to rest in Polsley Cemetery, near Yorktown.
Years rolled  by.      The pasture was encroached on to lay out a road east and west.     At that   time the main road across the county went a half mile north of   there,   and the hack between Clarinda and Sidney transported passengers twice a week over the nearby highway.      But to make the east and west road straight the southern route was chosen.which came close to the pasture where old "Granddaddy"        Reynolds had been buried.   Now it is called Federal Roadway No. 3, and has to be still further widened. The widening of the road meant encroachment upon the grave of the old settler of the fifties. Relatives were approached to see what they thot. All agreed that the old gentleman's remains rightly should be beside those of his wife in Polsley Cemetery. A permit for removal of the body was granted, and the removal took place. Undertaker Harmon, who is also county Coroner was able to distinguish the coffin as having been made of walnut lumber. Only the skeleton remained of the former Page County citizen, and whose remains were removed and given decent interment in the cemetery which will be kept for all time. CLARINDA HERALD, Clarinda, Iowa, Jul 21, 1921