Writing my family history has been a soul-searching event and has
      certainly made me more aware of all the blessings of my heritage here
      in Barber County.
        I am thankful that my pioneer grandparents, Frank and Anna McReynolds,
      chose to stake their claims in Cedar Twonship and that my parents, Toss
      and Bertie McReynolds, continued to live and care for the homestead where
      I have lived my entire life.
        My grade school days were spent at Cedar Hill. I begged to go to school
      so my father spoke to Miss Josephine HOlman, the teacher, and she agreed
      that I could started even though I was five years old and she had students
      and all eight grades in the one room school. When I reached the eighth
      grade, I went to school in Hazelton where I remained until high school
      graduation. Then, I attended Southwestern College in Winfield where I
      received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Business Administration with other
      majors in Speech and English.
        My husband, Harvey Mathews, was born in Knowles, Oklahoma, and lived
      there until his family moved to a farm near Sharon in 1936. After
      graduation from Sharon High School he attended college at Northwestern
      in Alva, and later came to work for my father.
        We were married June 7, 1946. I continued teaching at Southwestern College
      until May, 1947, when my father died suddenly and we returned to the farm.
      I taught in Sharon until 1950. Our children are Harva Leigh, 1950; Kristi
      Lou, 1952; Mark Randall, 1955; Michael Scott, 1958; and Stephen Brent was
      stillborn in 1964. Jeffrey Lynn Kraus made his home with us and attended
      school  in Kiowa for four years. I taught at Hazelton and Kiowa before
      retiring to full-time work on the farm.
        Through the years, we have continued to raise Angus cattle. Harvey became
      interested in Quarter Horses and through the encouragement of Otto Bower,
      he now has a fine registered herd.
        We have made many improvements to the ranch - an all-electric brick home
      which includes two rooms built by my grandfather, terraces, ponds, irrigation,
      hay barn, and a horse barn with individual waterers in each stall. Much
      new equipment has been added to improve the farming operation as it has
      expanded with the purchase of additional acres.
        We have been busy with community affairs as well. Harvey as president,
      and I as a director, serve on the Board of the Sharon Valley State Bank
      having retained the original shares owned by my grandfather. Harvey also
      serves on the Farmer's Co-operative Business Association Board, Barber 
      County Rural Water District #2 Board, and Township Board. We have been 
      active as 4-H leaders, FFA advisor, in Rainbow, Order of the Eastern Star,
      Masonic Lodge, United Methodist Church, and other organizations.
        We hope that we have helped to make our community a better place in
      which to live, and we are grateful for the opportunity of having lived
      among the good people of Barber County.  
                
     Source:Chosen Land - Barber County, Kansas, pg. 320 
     Submitted by: Wilda McReynolds Mathews