Author: William C. Schrader
One of my ancestors with a peculiar name is Zealy Reno. The first thing which comes to mind when seeing that name is where did such an unusual name come from. As to the family name, it is documented that the Renos of Virginia were of French descent, belonging to the Huguenot (French Reformed Church) religion, who were assisted by the English government when they fled the dragoons of intolerant France. On 18 August 1688 a bill of denization (naturalization) was issued by King James II on behalf of Peter Reynaud, Sarah his wife, and Peter, Lewis, Esther, and Francisca, their children. In the next generation, we find a grant of eight pounds from the Royal Bounty to “Lewis Reynaud of Angoumois, his wife & eight children for tools & other Necessaries [sic] things to goe [sic] to Virginia.” This Lewis appears in Stafford County, Virginia in 1700 with land on Austin’s Run. In 1712 he and Philemon Waters patented a track a bit further north on the Quantico creek, which is now part of the US Marine base. By this time, the French name Reynaud was been Anglicized to Reno or Renoe. This accounts for the family name of my ancestor. As to his given name, it is found in various forms, including Zealy, Zealey, Zela, and Zila. While I have found no documentation of this possibility, I suggest that, with his French background, this may be a version of the name Basile, in English Basil, a name which appears among several relatives.
Zealy was born on 3 April 1757 in Prince William County, Virginia, a younger son of Lewis Reno and Elizabeth Whitledge, and a grandson of the immigrant. He married, according to a bond dated 26 July 1775 of Fauquier County, Miss Mary Chinn, who was four years older than he. Mary was a daughter of Charles Chinn, who was a cousin of George Washington through his mother, Margaret Ball. On 1 April 1839 Mary Reno swore in court that she was then 86 years old, which would make her born in 1753. Her brother, John Chinn likewise swore on an affidavit that he attended the marriage of Zealy and Mary when Zealy was “about 19 years old.”
Shortly before marriage, Zealy became a member of the Prince William County militia. According to his sworn statement given in 1833, this was in March, 1775. Zealy had an adventuresome history during the War for American Independence. First, serving as a sergeant, he marched with the militia to Williamsburg to oppose the actions of the Royal Governor, John Murray, Lord Dunmore, who attempted to seize the munitions in the arsenal there. In June, Dunmore was forced to flee to the protection of an armed British ship. Zealy declared that his “uniform” consisted of a purple hunting shirt marked on the breast with the words “Liberty or Death” in large letters, and a maccaroni hat with a buck tail. His captain was Cuthbert Harrison, a relative of his mother; his lieutenant was George Madden, and his ensign was his older brother Lewis. They were in a regiment commanded by Col. Jesse Ewell. All this took two months. Later in 1775 he was stationed at Newgate in Fairfax County, at Dumfries, at Little York, and at Williamsburg until the British drove them out and they retreated to Richmond, all in 1775 and 1776. Thereafter he spent his time serving short three week tours guarding the crossing of the Potomac at Triplett’s Landing until 1781. In the spring of 1781, under Captain Simon Hancock, Zealy marched to several locations, ending at what he called Little York (now Yorktown). During the siege of Yorktown, he was under the command of Lieutenant Marks, Captain Hancock, and Major Sam’l Cox in Col. Matthew’s Regiment, under General Weeden. After the surrender of Cornwallis, he was employed in guarding British troops at Fredericksburg.
In this declaration, given in Harrison County, Kentucky on 13 February 1833 as Zealy’s pension application, he also states that he was christened in the Church of England in Prince William County. After the Revolution, he lived in Prince William and Loudon Counties until 1784, at which time he moved to Fayette County, Kentucky [then Virginia, near present day Cynthiana, Harrison County]. Church records indicate that Zealy was baptized at the Cooper’s Run Baptist Church in 1790, and was later a member of the Silas Run Baptist Church in 1819. His wife, Mary, was admitted to Silas Run Baptist Church by letter from Cooper’s Run in 1802.
According to the Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Kentucky: Soldiers of the War of 1812, Zealy also served in that conflict in Captain Moses Demmitt’s Company of Kentucky Mounted Volunteers under the command of Col. John Pooge.
The will of Zealy Reno, dated 10 June 1834, was accepted for probate in Harrison County on 17 February 1837. In her affidavit for a widow’s pension, Mary Reno says her husband died on 31 January 1837. In his will, Zealy names his wife, Mary, and children Christopher, Charles, Lewis, Sytha [Cynthia] Jones, Polly Jones, Penelope Calvert, and Margaret Lewis. Family histories indicate the possibility of other children, including Lucy, Benjamin, James, John, and Mary, but these are uncertain.
Zealy Reno must have been an interesting character.