This is an old revision of this page.
Additions made by Nicole Blackwell on 06 Jan 2011 11:28am are shown in orange.
John and the Steamboat
John's father, Silas Reynolds, had a brother John Reynolds (for whom this John Reynolds was named.) Old Uncle John was a pet of King George III of England and was appointed by him to be the first Provincial/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, PA and one of the Trinity Churches is erected on it (not sure if Catholic or Episcopalian.) 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 and was named John Reynolds for him, would inherit the grants. All the brothers named sons John, some named more than one, but grandpa (this John Reynolds) was 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 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, Robert Fulton came back with his big steamboat (thought to be 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.