My Ancestors and Their Progeny - Reynolds - Paternal
My paternal Grandparents were John and Elizabeth (Betsy) Stephens Reynolds. Grandpa John Reynolds was born in Goshen, Orange County, New York, in 1798. He died in Atlanta Georgia, Dec. 15, 1874. He used to play along the banks of the Schuylkill River in N.Y. as a boy. He was apprenticed to a Chair maker to learn the trade. He was raised on Staten Island, N.Y.
The Reynolds family had two Coat of Arms; the Elk and the Renard (French for Fox). His father Silas Reynolds, had a brother, John Reynolds (for whom grandpa was named). Old Uncle John was a pet of King George III of England and was appointed by him to be the first Colonial Governor of Georgia. The people did not like him and ruled him out; and for his loyalty to the crown King George issued him two land grants in America, one in N.Y. City on which Grace Church was erected; the other grant is in Philadelphia Penn. And one of the Trinity Churches is erected on it, whether the Catholic or Episcopalian I don’t know. As old Uncle John was never married and had no heirs, he told his brothers, the first nephew he had to reach the age of 21 years of age and was named John Reynolds for him, would inherit the grants. All the brothers named sons John, some named more than one but my grandpa who was named for him was the first to live to be 21 years old, but he was not there to claim it. When he was 15 years old, Robert Fulton, the inventor came to New York with his model steamboat to test it. He launched it and looked around for someone to propel it (grandpa said he thought Fulton was afraid of it.) He saw Grandpa playing around and asked him to hop in and try it out and if he did alright that he (Fulton) would give him a ride on a bigger boat when he built it. Of course it ran alright and two years later Fulton kept his word. When Grandpa was 17, Robt. Fulton came back with his big Steamboat (I think the Clermont) ready for his maiden voyage South. Grandpa ran away and came as far as Savannah Georgia and stayed, and his poor parents thought he was dead and died thinking so. He never went back to claim his inheritance. He went on up into North Georgia and met and married Miss Elizabeth (Betsy) Stephens. They settled in Athens Georgia and raised 7 boys and one girl. Their children were Thomas, John, Silas, William, Joshua, Charles, Samuel, and Eveline. Uncle Thomas, married Mary King; their children (four in number) were Martha who married Judge Edgar Orr, Gertrude who married Crawford Summers, Edwin (Eddie) who never married, Charlie D. (L.L.D) who married miss Willie Burts of Texas. Their children were James, Gertrude, Marjorie and Thomas. Martha and Judge Orr, raised three girls and one boy, viz, Dorothy (Dollie), Nellie, Edgar and Mary Gertrude (Sing).