Taylor County, West Virginia Biography of Hon. Francis Marion REYNOLDS ************************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: Material may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is obtained from the contributor of the file. These pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor. Submitted by Valerie Crook, , July 1999 ************************************************************************** The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 189-190 HON. FRANCIS MARION REYNOLDS. A youthful attorney, with a certificate of proficiency signed by three judges at Morgantown, came to the Village of New Creek a few weeks after the close of the Civil war, and with a brief exception there has been no break in his career as lawyer, judge and man of affairs in this community. Considering the aggre- gate of his activities and achievements it is remarkable that even in such a period of years so much real work and usefulness could be credited one man. Undoubtedly, both now and for years past, Judge Reynolds has been one of the eminent men of his section of West Virginia. Judge Reynolds was born in Taylor County, West Vir- ginia, September 18, 1843. His grandfather, Cornelius Reynolds, was one of the first settlers in that part of the state, going there when Taylor was still a part of Harrison County. He came either from Fauquier or Londoun County, Virginia. His brother John settled on West Fork in Harri- son County about the same time, and the brothers probably made the journey over the mountains together with their families. This settlement was made about 1798. John Reynolds married Catherine Phillips, and, for his second wife, Frances Rogers. As a pioneer Cornelius Reynolds made available for cultivation some of the first wooded lands of the locality around Pruntytown, his home being a mile west of that old village. He lived there until his death in 1869, at the age of ninety-four. His father was in all probability a soldier of the Revoluntionary war. Cornelius possessed a fair education. He married a Miss Ehart, and their two children were Cornelius Ehart and William. Wil- liam later became sheriff of Taylor County and finally settled near St. Louis, Missouri. Cornelius Ehart Reynolds, father of Judge Reynolds, was born on the old farm near Pruntytown in January, 1811. He had the opportunities afforded by the common schools of his day, and his life was devoted to his farm and his live stock, and with such energy and good judgment that lie accumulated a substantial competence before his death. For a number of years he was justice of the peace, was president of the County Court under the old regime, and in every way a valuable citizen of his community. He was a member of the Methodist Protestant Church. Cornelius Ehart Reynolds, who died in January, 1885, married Phoebe Ellen Smith, and her father, Rev. John Smith, was a minister of the Methodist Protestant Church, and died and is buried in the Pruntytown locality. Phoebe Reynolds died in 1890. She was always deeply interested in her church. Her children were: George W., who spent his life in Taylor County, represented the county one time in the West Vir- ginia Legislature as a democrat, and died when about eighty-one; Lemuel E., was a farmer near Pruntytown, where he died aged about seventy-one years; Delia A. lives near Pruntytown, wife of James Burnside, a farmer and stock dealer; Charles W., was a farmer and stock man- at Pruntytown and a member of the Board of Education there; and Judge Francis M. Francis M. Reynolds' youth was passed in the rural conditions that prevailed in the '40s and '60s, and the first school he attended was held in an old log cabin. Later he attended school at Pruntytown, and in 1862 entered the old academy at Morgantown. He remained there two years, and on two occasions was called out with other members of the militia to defend New Creek, now Keyser. One time the troops got about six miles from Morgantown and the other time went as far as Grafton. While at Morgantown Judge Reynolds studied law in the office of Judge Bunker, of the firm Bunker & Brown, and after completing his studies he presented himself before the three judges, Ralph Berkshire, John A. Dilley and Thomas Harrison, who examined him and signed his certificate. It was in June, 1865, that Judge Reynolds moved to what was still known as New Creek, then in Hampshire County, with county seat at Romney. He tried his first case at New Creek before Justice of the Peace Joseph Ritzell. Shortly afterward he removed to Romney and practiced there until Mineral County was formed by the Legislature in 1866. He then returned to New Creek, the county seat of the new county, and began practice with William Welch as a part- ner. This firm was soon dissolved, and Judge Reynolds practiced alone for a number of years, then for a time was with Judge J. T. Hoke as Reynolds & Hoke, and after that he continued his legal work alone until he went on the bench. Judge Reynolds had the privilege of casting his first presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln in 1864. He is now one of the oldest republican voters in the state, and has done a great deal of work in behalf of the party during many campaigns. He served two terms as prosecuting at- torney of Mineral County, being elected in 1872 and again in 1888, each term being for four years. At the same time and for twelve years altogether he was prosecuting attorney for Grant County, and while in that office he took a promi- nent part in the county seat fight which terminated in favor of Petersburg. In 1894 he was elected a member of the House of Delegates, and in 1900 was again sent to the House and re-elected in 1902. In each term he was chairman of the finance committee and a member of the judiciary committee and was designated floor leader of the House of his party. He twice voted for Stephen B. Elkins for United States Senator. As chairman of the finance com- mittee he devoted much of his time in study to the new tax laws enacted while he was in the Legislature. A long and active association as a lawyer and its public service admirably qualified him for his next important post of duty, as judge of the Sixteenth Judicial Circuit. This was a new district recently formed, comprising the counties of Mineral, Tucker and Grant. He was elected judge of this court in 1904, and in 1912 was re-elected in spite of the sweeping democratic victory of that year. His service on the bench covered a period of sixteen years, and when he retired in December, 1920, he at once resumed his law practice, and though now in the shadow of his eightieth year, his intellectual vigor is apparently undimmed. Judge Reynolds has been a member of the council and mayor of Keyser, and while he was on the Board of Educa- tion the first school house was erected in Keyser. He was once nominated for Congress, and made the campaign against William L. Wilson, the father of the Wilson tariff bill. He was republican nominee for judge of the Supreme Court of Appeals in 1890, when the republicans were in the minority. He served one term as a member of the Repub- lican State Executive Committee, and was a delegate to the national convention of 1896 when Major McKinley was nominated at St. Louis. He was a member of the platform committee and was one of the seven members of that com- mittee of more than fifty who voted in favor of the gold standard. Judge Reynolds has been a member of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church since 1870, for half a century has held the post of steward and for fifty-one years continuously has been superintendent of the Sunday school. His only fraternity is the National Union. His business enterprise, directed always on a high plane of public spirit, is an important addition to his record as a lawyer and public servant. The old Town of New Creek was renamed Keyser in 1873 in honor of William Keyser, of Baltimore, then a vice president of the Baltimore & Ohio Railway. Judge Reynolds was one of the promoters of the original Keyser Bank, opened in 1887, served as its presi- dent, and in 1902 became president of the First National Bank, which succeeded the old institution. He has been president of this national bank for twenty years. In 1894 he helped organize the Keyser Electric Light Company and became its president; was one of the promoters of the Potomac Milling and Ice Company; helped organize the Piedmont Grocery Company in 1903, and is president and director; was an organizer of the Siever Hardware Com- pany and became one of its directors. He built the Rey- nolds Hotel, the leading public house in Keyser, also the Post Office Building and several other business sections and a number of residences. His home is one of the more substantial residences of the city and occupies a conspicuous site. Judge Reynolds had some part in the coal develop- ment of this region, for many years has owned and operated farming lands, and from his farm has supplied some of the high class Hereford and Holstein blood to the cattle herds of the county. On October 27, 1866, at Morgantown, Judge Reynolds married Miss Belle R. Hennen. She was born at Fairmont in 1845, daughter of Washington and Justina (Shay) Hen- nen, is a graduate of the old female college in Morgantown, and was a teacher for a brief time before her marriage. The three surviving children of Judge Eeynolds are: Edward Bunker, of Keyser, George H., of the same city, and Nina B., widow of the late L. T. Carskadon, of Keyser.