BIOGRAPHY: Rynerson, Robert Ashurst
From the A.T. Andreas Illustrated Historical Atlas of the State of Iowa, 1875

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	ROBERT ASHURST RYNERSON WAS BORN IN Mercer County, 
Kentucky,  December 28, 1823.
	Of his ancestors, the first emigrant to America came from Holland, and 
settled in New Jersey, before the Revolution, and some of his descendents 
participated in that war.
	His grandfather's name was Barney Rynerson, who married Anna Banta 
and had twelve children. He left New Jersey and was among the early pioneers 
who followed Daniel Boone into Kentucky, and settled in the same vicinity.
	Mr. Rynerson's grandfather, Ashurst, on his mother's side, came from 
Virginia to Kentucky, and settled at Bryant's Station, near Lexington, a place 
rendered memorable by the siege which its inhabitants sustained in August 1782, 
by the Indians under the outlaw and renegade, Girty. A large number in the 
stockade were members of this family.

Second Generation.


	Barney Rynerson (or Reynerson --- German spelling, Aeynerson), had the 
following family:
I.	Abraham married a Miss Dommaree
II.	Isaac, twin with Abraham, married and had a family.
III.	Jacob, born Aug 11, 1788, in Kentucky, married Mary (or Polly) 
Ashurst about 1809 or '10, and had thirteen children. He was a farmer 
and Baptist preacher, and preached in Kentucky, having the charge of 
several churches; and when he moved to Indiana he had continued his 
labors in various churches. He was an acceptable speaker, and a man 
of power and great natural eloquence in the pulpit, and always 
attracted large audiences. He never received a salary, nor any 
compensation for his services.
He was drafted in the war of 1812, and participated in the battle of New 
Orleans under General Jackson. He died at New Winchester, Indiana, 
May 16, 1857, greatly beloved and lamented by the community. His 
wife survived him. She was a devoted mother, and performed well her 
duties amid the trials of pioneer life. Her constant labors and 
exposures induced a disease that made her an invalid for fourteen 
years, and she finally died in Kansas and is buried in Osage County, at 
Burlingame.
IV.	Anna, married a Boswell.
V.	Rachel, married a Mr. Tarhoon. 
VI.	Samuel, married and had a family. 
VII.	Jane, married a Millegan. 
VIII.	Henry, unmarried. 
IX.	Charity, married a Keller. 
X.	John, married a Cunningham. 
XI.	Peter, married a Lilliard. 
XII.	Christopher, married a Wasley. 
Here were probably two more in this family, names not remembered.
 

Third Generation.

Jacob Rynerson, the third son of Barney and father of the subject of this sketch, 
had the following family:
I.	Jacob, born May 11, 1811, married Mary Miles and had two children: 
resides in Kansas and experienced some hard times in the early 
settlement.
II.	Joel. H., born Nov. 18, 1812, married first Nancy Dunlap second, Mrs. 
Lane; resides in Missouri. He was in the union army during the 
Rebellion. 
III.	Isaac N., born Oct 4, 1814, married Mary Harrison and had one child, 
Ellen. He was a physician, and graduated at the Medical College at 
Indianapolis, Indiana.  He was also a member of the Legislature of 
Indiana, and held other offices. As a member of the Baptist church he 
was a great worker in the Sunday school, and his essays and 
addresses were of a high order. Some of them were published in the 
Associational Minutes in Illinois, whither he moved, and where he died 
April 14, 1873. In an essay on "The Effect of Sunday School Training 
of Children on the Character of a Nation," some of his sentences are 
worthy of preservation. That "the laws of a nation are but reflections 
from the national conscience;" that "they can not rise superior to its 
theology;" that "the national conscience is but aggregated, fixed ideas 
of the people," are thoughts worthy of our noblest orators. 
IV.	Sarah, born Nov. 5 1816, married Larkin Campbell; has two children; 
resides in Kansas. 
V.	Jane, born Aug. 16, 1818, married Peter Lon; has two children; resides 
in Kansas.
VI.	Eliza, born July 29, 1820,  died young.  
VII.	Mary E., born April 4, 1822, died age 17. 
VIII.	Robert A.. born Dec. 28, 1823, married Oct. 27, 1853, Rachel J. 
McVay, who was born Sept. 25, 1837. They have had seven children. 
At the age of nine he moved with his parents from Kentucky to Indiana, 
(1832), where he remained until he attained his majority, and then 
migrated to Jones County, Iowa, and located on Bowen's Prairie in 
1845. At that time the country was new, and he took up several tracts 
of land---one where the town was laid out---but sold them again. His 
design was to establish a nursery in Iowa and to introduce choice fruit, 
and he opened the first nursery of grafted fruit north of Davenport in 
that state. At present he has about 100,000 trees of the best varieties. 
He also carried on farming---is a friend of eduction, President of the 
School Board, and an advocate of political and religious freedom. His 
family is given below. 
IX.	James H., born Feb. 7, 1826, married Charlotte T. Duckworth; has six 
children. He was in the Union army during the Rebellion. 
X.	Henry, born Jan. &, 1828, died young. 
XI.	William H., born Oct. 9, 1829, married Ellen Tichnor; has five children; 
resides in Illinois. 
XII.	Martha L., born April 11, 1832, married Ruben Johnson; has two 
children' resides in Kansas. Her filial devotion to her mother, and her 
watchful care over her during a protracted illness, is worthy of all 
praise. 
XIII.	Francis Marion, born Feb. 8, 1835, was in the Union army, and died at 
Memphis, June 28, 1863.


Fourth Generation.

Robert A. Rynerson married Rachel J. McVay.

Children
I.	Isaac F., born Sept 27, 1854, died young.
II.	Thomas J., born March 27, 1856. 
III.	Frances A., born Nov. 6, 1857. 
IV.	Laura C., born March 8, 1860. 
V.	Cassius C., born Oct. 8, 1861. 
VI.	Mary J., Oct 19, 1863. 
VII.	Edith A., born Oct. 19, 1869.