Jersey-Macoupin County IL Archives Biographies.....RENO, Granville Giles February 3, 1855 - 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
J. Robison normadeplume@wmconnect.com February 7, 2009, 2:39 am

Author: Elizabeth Pegram Lumpkin

From 'History of Macoupin County, Illinois' by Elizabeth Pegram Lumpkin 1911

                           GRANVILLE GILES RENO
     One of Shipman township's well known citizens, who has long been 
successfully identified with stock-raising and agricultural pursuits, is 
Granville Giles RENO.  He was born on his father's homestead, a portion of 
which is now included in his own farm, on the 3rd of February, 1855, and is a 
son of the late William S. and Martha (HAYCRAFT) RENO.
     The RENO family is of French extraction, the name originally having been 
spelled RENAULT, and numbers among its members some of America's famous 
citizens.  A great uncle of our subject, Philip RENO, was a captain in the 
Revolutionary war and was awarded a grant of one thousand acres of land for his 
services.  This tract embraced the present site of the city of Peoria, 
Illinois.  General RENO, who was killed at the battle of Antietam during the 
Civil war was also a distant relative.  William S. RENO, whose birth occurred 
in Bourbon county, Kentucky, on the 10th of November, 1810, was a son of 
Charles and Lucy (SMITH) RENO.  The father, who was a planter originally came 
from Hardin county, Kentucky, whence he removed to Bourbon, locating on a large 
estate where his son William S. was born and reared.  When old enough to begin 
his business career, the latter operated a tannery and at one time he also 
owned a distillery.  About 1844 he came to Illinois, locating in the vicinity 
of Medora, where he bought a farm that he cultivated during the remainder of 
his life.  Before leaving the Blue Grass state he was united in marriage to 
Miss HAYCRAFT, who was a native of Hardin county, that state, her birth having 
occurred on the 29th of September, 1815.  Mrs. RENO was a daughter of the Rev. 
James and Frances (VAN METRE) HAYCRAFT, who were the parents of nine children.  
In the paternal line the family was of English extraction, but the mother was 
of Dutch descent as the name would suggest.  The Rev. James HAYCRAFT removed 
from Kentucky with his family about 1832.  Mr. and Mrs. RENO's family consisted 
of six children:  Bluford, who passed away at Medora at the age of seventy-six 
years; Lucy, the deceased wife of Madison DARR; Samuel, who was living in 
Cherokee county, Kansas, when he died; Mary Elizabeth, the widow of William 
FORWOOD, of Springfield, Illinois; James William, who is living near Medora, 
Illinois; and Granville G., our subject.
     In the immediate vicinity in which he is now residing Granville Giles RENO 
was reared to manhood, the district schools in the neighborhood having afforded 
him his educational advantages.  When he was a youth of seventeen years he and 
his brother James W. purchased their father's farm, consisting of one hundred 
acres of land located on section 19, Shipman township.  This they cultivated in 
partnership, extending their holdings, as they were able to until they had 
acquired four hundred and forty acres of tillable land.  In 1892 they divided 
their property equally, each receiving with his share a portion of the old 
family homestead.....
     On the 16th of December, 1877, Mr. RENO and Miss Ellen RHOADS were united 
in marriage.  Mrs. RENO is a daughter of the Rev. John D. and Mary (JOLLY) 
RHOADS.  Her paternal grandfather was Jacob V. RHOADS, a Baptist minister, who 
came to Illinois from Kentucky in 1831.  With his family he located at Medora, 
North Chesterfield township, formerly called Rhoads' Point.........  Mrs. RENO 
is the second in order of birth in a family of six, the other members being:  
Margaret, the wife of Thomas STOVER, of Medora; George W., who is living in 
Bird township, this county; Stroud K., a resident of Brighton township; Willis 
M., who lives in Shipman township: and Jacob V., who makes his home in the 
vicinity of Ainslee, Custer county, Nebraska.
     To Mr. and Mrs. RENO the following children have been born, one of whom 
died in infancy; Effie May, the wife of Benjamin BURR, who owns and operates a 
coal mine at Carterville; Edward, a newspaper man of St. Paul, who married 
Esther ODELL and has one child, Jerome; Rollin Ray, in the civil service 
commission, Washington, D. C., who is married and has three children, Wendell, 
Carl and George; and Guy and Mary, both of whom are unmarried and living at 
home......

                   Exerpt from same book for JAMES W. RENO
     .....He was born in that township on the 3d of January, 1850, and is a 
member of one of its pioneer families....
     On the 18th of December, 1877, Mr. RENO was united in marriage to Miss 
Mary Jane MITCHELL, a daughter of William Wilson and Matilda (NIX) MITCHELL.  
Her father was a member of an old Kentucky family and from that state he came 
to Illinois, locating in Greene county, where he resided until 1862, when he 
removed to Macoupin county, settling on a farm near Medora, which continued to 
be his home up to the time of his death.  Four of his children reached years of 
maturity, namely:  Robert, who is now a resident of Cowlitz county, Washington, 
where he is engaged in farming; Ephraim, who made his home in Kingman county, 
Kansas, but is now deceased; Mrs. RENO; and Newton, who is engaged in the 
lumber business in Cowlitz county, Washington.
     Unto Mr. and Mrs. RENO were born seven children:  Sankey, now a resident 
of Piasa, who married Elizabeth TRAVERS and has one child, Ralph R.; Fred, who 
died at the age of six years; Eulalie, now the wife of Charles W. BLACK, of 
Shipman township; Rose, the wife of Charles BARTOW, a farmer living near Piasa; 
William S., who is unmarried and lives at home; Newton, who married Phoebe 
WHITAKER, of Piasa; and Paul, who is also at home......

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