Charles A. Reynolds – South Jersey: A History

This passage is excerpted from South Jersey: A History, 1624-1924

Charles Augustus Reynolds was born at Portsmouth, Virginia May 18, 1870, the son of George C. Washington and Augusta Ann Reynolds. When he was eleven years of age his family moved to Philadelphia. His first work was in a shoe store in that city, and it was here that he became interested in the shoe and leather business which was to occupy him for the remainder of his life. Later he was employed by Burk Brothers, Philadelphia tanners; here he remained for five years, rising in their employ to the position of plant superintendent.

In 1894, in company with Herman Buchborn, he began independent business as a tanner under the firm name of Buchborn and Reynolds. Soon after beginning this business, the partners moved to Camden, New Jersey, taking possession of an old factory at Sixteenth and Mickle street. In 1895, the company was reorganized as The Keystone Leather Company, and a period of expansion and prosperity began. Of this company Mr. Reynolds was president until 1922, when he resigned and founded the C. A. Reynolds Leather Company, located on Pine Street, Camden. Here he conducted business until his death on June 23, 1924. Mr. Reynolds was one of the founders of of one the the Merchants’ Trust Company and its first president. He was president of the West Jersey Homeopathic Hospital from 1908 to the time of his death, and vice-president of the Camden Young Men’s Christian Association from 1913. He belonged to Trimble Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons of Camden; was a thirty-second degree Mason, being a member of Excelsior Consistory, of Camden: and the Knights Templar; he also was a member of Crescent Temple Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine; he belonged also to the Union League and the Manufacturers’ Club of Philadelphia, the Camden Club and Tavistock Country Club. He was a member and a trustee of the First Baptist Church, and superintendent of the Sunday School for ten years.

Charles A. Reynolds was married in Philadelphia, on June 3, 1891, to Emma Elizabeth Wagner, born in Philadelphia, the daughter of Theodore and Katherine Wagner. To this couple were born four children:

• Elizabeth Louise, now Mrs. E. W. G. Boogher of Merchantville, New Jersey.
• Emma Katherine, who died in childhood.
• George Washington, who married Jane Elizabeth Havey, and lives in Cynwyd, Pennsylvania: he is connected with the Keystone Leather Company.
• Gertrude Christine.