Family and personal life
There are rumors within both black and white Winston families' oral traditions that Reynolds was the father of numerous illegitimate children.[9] Some of the company brands such as Annie, Lula, and Lottie were purportedly named for Reynolds' girlfriends during his lifetime. Reynolds did in fact have at least one illegitimate child before his marriage late in life, named John Neal (1887-1920). Neal was white and grew up at an orphanage in Oxford, North Carolina. Reynolds had some amount of involvement with Neal, spending time with him and supporting him financially during his life; RJR's extant account books show purchases for clothing and education expenses for Neal. In the 1900 census, RJR's brother and sister-in-law, William Neal and Kate Bitting, are listed as the twelve year-old John Neal's adoptive parents, and he lived with for an undetermined time after leaving the orphanage. Additionally[10] Neal died of pneumonia in 1920 while living in Omaha, Nebraska and working as division managing salesman for the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. Neal is buried in the William Neal and Kate Bitting plot in Salem Cemetery, Winston-Salem.
Reynolds was the most eligible bachelor for many years in Winston-Salem[4] and married Katharine Smith (November 17, 1880 – May 23, 1923), who was 30 years his junior, on February 27, 1905, in Mount Airy, North Carolina. She was the daughter of Zachary Taylor Smith (February 19, 1847 – June 13, 1938) and Mary Susan Jackson (January 21, 1855 – April 17, 1926).
Reynolds and Katharine's father, Zachary, were first cousins, and Reynolds had known Katharine since she was a young girl.[4] She earned a degree in English literature and went to work as a Reynolds secretary, at one point winning $1,000 in a company-sponsored contest.[4] Reynolds joked that he married Katharine to get his money back.[4] Their marriage was very happy, and Reynolds wrote to Katharine saying he was very glad he waited so long to marry.[11] Katharine Reynolds urged her husband to shorten employees' work hours and provide a lunchroom, schools and nursery services for them.[4]
The Reynolds' children were: RJ Jr and Blitz had four sons, Richard Joshua "Josh" Reynolds III, John Dillard Reynolds, Zachary Taylor Reynolds, and William Neal Reynolds II. RJ Jr. and Marianne had two sons, Michael Randolph Reynolds (July 13, 1947 – November 3, 2004) and Patrick Reynolds, who publicly took a stand as a tobaccofree advocate (b. December 2, 1948 – ). RJ Jr and Annemarie had one daughter two days after RJ Jr died, Irene Sabine Reynolds (b. December 16, 1964 – )
Reynolds lived above the factory floor for many years. When he married, he lived with his family alongside other R. J. Reynolds executives on Fifth Street in Winston-Salem until 1917, when they moved to Reynolda House, a 1000 acre estate on the outskirts of town that also housed a village where Reynolds workers could live.[4] The grounds featured a post office, schools, a chapel, a blacksmith shop and a greenhouse.[4] At Reynolda House, Katharine brought farmers together to learn the latest scientific advances in farming.[4] Katharine offered evening literacy classes to workers.[4] She also commissioned construction of a nine-hole golf course.
Reynolds died in 1918, and his wife, although 30 years younger, died six years later. They are buried in Salem Cemetery in Winston-Salem. Their children were then raised by their uncle, Reynolds' brother William Neal Reynolds, and his wife Kate Bitting Reynolds.[4] Dick Reynolds became a Democratic politician, mayor of Winston-Salem, and treasurer of the Democratic National Committee.[12]
Reynolds's grandson, Patrick Reynolds, became an anti-smoking activist following several family deaths from smoking and began the Foundation for a Smoke-Free America.[13]
- Richard Joshua Reynolds, Jr. (April 4, 1906 – December 14, 1964) who married Elizabeth McCaw "Blitz" Dillard (1909 – Dec. 1961), Marianne O'Brien (d. 1985), Muriel Maud Marston Laurence Greenough (December 28, 1915 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada – 1980), and Annemarie Schmitt (b. 1932 – ).
- Mary Katharine Reynolds (August 8, 1908 – July 17, 1953) who married Charles Henry Babcock (September 22, 1899 – December 13, 1967)
- Nancy Susan Reynolds (February 5, 1910 – January 1985) who married Henry Walker Bagley (August 6, 1900 in Atlanta, Georgia – April 19, 1983) and Gilbert Verney. Nancy and Henry had three daughters, Jane Bagley Lehman (married to Orin Lehman), Susan Bagley Bloom, and Anne Bagley Grant, and one son, Smith Bagley, cell phone business executive and social activist.
- Zachary Smith Reynolds (November 5, 1911 – July 6, 1932) who married Anne Ludlow Cannon (August 31, 1901 – June 21, 1961) in York, South Carolina, November 16, 1929, and Libby Holman in Monroe, Michigan, on Sunday, November 29, 1931.
