USA > Pennsylvania > Armstrong County > Armstrong County, Pennsylvania her people past and present, embracing a history of the county and a genealogical and biographical record of representative families, Volume I > Part 75
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The family is of English extraction, and the name is one of very ancient Saxon origin, in its early form a combination of two words -Rhein, meaning pure, and Hold, the Saxon for love. Arthur's Etymological Dictionary of Family Names says it signifies sincere and pure love, but may also signify strong or firm hold. The nanie appears as Reynold, Rey- nolds and Reynoldson (son of Reynolds). There are various Reynolds coats of arms and crests, that of George Reynolds, the first of his home, and Mr. Reynolds received him into this line in America, being : Azure, a chevron, his family, taking care of him until he was
JEDOR LENOX
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able to look after himself. George Reynolds poses in 1805, and the first court was held in was of the English type, having light hair and blue eyes, while his wife Margaretta had black hair and eyes, her son David favoring her in appearance and coloring. With the ex- ception of George (the eldest son and second child) all of the children of George and Mar- garetta Reynolds came to Kittanning, Pa. George lived and died at New Alexandria, Westmoreland county, Pa .; he was the father of Mrs. Nathanael Henry. Thomas, the sev- enth child, lived and died at Columbus, Ohio ; Richard, the eighth child (grandfather of Mrs. Maud Whitworth), lived and died at Red Bank, Armstrong county; William, born in 1783, a tanner, settled at Kittanning in the first decade of the nineteenth century. In an account of "The town of 1820" we find he had a leather store then on lot No. 93, later occu- pied by the widow of George Reynolds, his son. On July 4, 1846, at the home of George Reynolds on Water street, the young ladies of Kittanning presented to the military com- pany known as the Washington Blues, organ- ized about 1845, a beautiful silk flag. Wil- liam Reynolds acquired considerable property, married and had several children, one of whom was George W., born in 1808 in Kit- tanning. He passed all his life there and died in November, 1869. He was the father of Dr. Francis M. Reynolds, of Kittanning.
December of that year in a log house stand- ing on lot No. 121, the present site of the "Reynolds House." At that court David Reynolds was one of the petitioners for tav- ern licenses recommended, and he and Philip Mechling were the first hotelkeepers. Mr. Reynolds first built a small log house where the "Reynolds House" now stands, but so many strangers traveling asked for a night's lodging that he was induced to enlarge his house and make a charge for accommodations. He called it the "Kittanning Inn" and it was the principal hotel of the town in its day. It was a frame structure on the north side of Market street, near the corner of Jefferson, and its large front room was the chief social hall of the place and frequently used for pub- lic meetings in the early days. Many men of importance stopped there. Mr. Reynolds be- came wealthy for his day, acquiring the own- ership of large tracts of land outside the city, and there were few residents of Armstrong county held in such high esteem, for he was not only energetic in the prosecution of his own affairs but a leader in public life. For some years he was postmaster at Kittanning. He was a member (elected) of the first board of county commissioners and in 1818 was serving as county commissioner with Isaac Wagle and Joseph Rankin, as shown by a Ann, the sixth child in the family of George and Margaretta Reynolds, married James Pinks; she lived on the present site of St. Paul's Episcopal Church. document dated the 21st of that year. Other records remain to show that he was an enter- prising and energetic man, and interested in the most important activities designed to pro- DAVID REYNOLDS, fifth son of George and Margaretta Reynolds, was one of the most prominent citizens of Kittanning and Arm- strong county in his time. Born Jan. 17, 1785, in Huntingdon county, Pa., he was only in his twelfth year when his father died. When he was nineteen he was sent to Kittanning by his guardian, Alexander McConnell (after whom his son Alexander was named, his daughter Judith, Mrs. Dull, being named after Mrs. McConnell). He was with a trading post situated on land long since carried away by floods, nearly opposite where the Williams home now is, on the bank of the Allegheny river. Going back and forth to Huntingdon mote the general welfare. An act of Assem- bly approved April 2, 1821, provided for and authorized the "establishment of an academy or public school for the education of youth in English and other languages, in the useful arts, sciences and literature, by the name style and title of the 'Kittanning Academy,' under the direction and government of six trustees," of which David Reynolds was one. None was to serve as trustee longer than three years without being elected by the citizens of the county. The first meeting of the trustees was held the first Tuesday of September (the 4th), 1821, at the house of David Reynolds, who (when lots were cast as required to ascertain he always stopped at Absalom Woodward's, how long each member should serve) was
and falling in love with his second daughter, chosen with Samuel Matthews to serve until October, 1822; Mr. Reynolds was again cho- sen by appointment, April 2, 1824. He was a Whig in politics. Mary, usually called Polly, married her. His name appears on the first assessment list, dated Dec. 21, 1804, as storekeeper, lot 221. In 1820 his "inn" was one of the eight build- A paper dated Feb. 17, 1815, in Mr. Rey- nolds's handwriting, showing subscriptions to ings on Market street, on lot No. 121. Arm- strong county was organized for judicial pur- the amount of $76, states that "we, the sub- 25
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HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
scribers do hereby promise to pay the sums ried Mary Ann Leech, of Leechburg. (10) annexed to our respective names for the Franklin was the father of Ross Reynolds. yearly support of Rev. John Dickey, as a Mr. Reynolds married (second) Jane Ross, who was born June 1, 1801, daughter of Judge minister of the gospel, for the part of the Associate Presbytery denominate Kittanning." George Ross, and died April 23, 1888. Five This was practically the beginning of the As- children were born to this marriage. (I) sociate Reformed (now United Presbyterian) Church at Kittanning, which, however, was not organized until 1845. Mr. Reynolds died at Kittanning July 20, 1845.
On Nov. 7, 1805, Mr. Reynolds married Mary Woodward, daughter of Absalom Woodward. She was born in Huntingdon county, Jan. 13, 1788, and was but three months old when her parents moved to Plum Creek township, Armstrong county. Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds had their home in Huntingdon until after the birth of their three older chil- dren. Mrs. Reynolds died July 7, 1826, the mother of ten children, namely: (1) Alexan- der, at one time an iron manufacturer and banker of Pittsburgh, purchased the residence of Dr. John Gilpin, on the site of the old fort at Kittanning, and had his home there at
it the "Alexander Hotel," under which name it is now being conducted; Alexander, Sr., mar- ried Martha Denniston, who died Oct. 22, 1888, aged sixty-seven years, four months. (2) Isabella married George W. Smith and moved to Maryland. (3) Woodward married Amelia Ross and they lived at Reynoldsville, Jeffer- son county, Pa. (4) Margaretta, born in Kittanning April 25, 1813, married Peter (5) Mary married John Watson and they moved to California, where he died. Mrs. Watson returned to Kittanning, where she died. (6) Harriet married John Leech, of Leechburg, Armstrong county. (7) Absalom, born in 1818, died in 1881. His wife, Mar- garet H. Mechling, daughter of Sheriff John Mechling, was born in 1825, and died in 1908. He inherited the "Reynolds House" now con- ducted by his son, Harry Reynolds. The latter has in his possession the old grand- father clock of David Reynolds, and also a desk, in one drawer of which is written and signed: "This desk was the first piece of furniture made in Kittanning, and was made in the year 1804, by Isaac Townsend." (8) Eliza married David Patterson, a merchant of Kittanning. (9) Washington, M. D., a physician and surgeon of Kittanning, mar-
Ross, a farmer, never married. (2) Jeffer- son, an attorney at Kittanning, married Mary Gates. (3) Jane married Joseph Graff, a business man who came from Worthington, Armstrong county, where he was born (he was a brother of J. Frank Graff, State Sen- ator ). (4) Judith married A. J. Dull, of Harrisburg, a retired capitalist. (5) Sallie never married.
Franklin Reynolds, son of David, was born at Kittanning in November, 1823, and died April 11, 1900. By occupation he was a far- mer, and his son and daughter, Franklin and Lorena Reynolds, now live at his old home place, in the white house on the hill near the cemetery. He built the home and moved there in 1855 and was engaged in farming at this place. In May, 1853, Mr. Reynolds mar-
the time of his death, Oct. 7, 1881, when he ried Mary Jane Patterson, of Carrollton, was seventy-two years, ten months old. The Ohio, who was born there in 1832, and died place was inherited by his son Alexander, who July 13, 1905. They had a family of five made additions to the old mansion and called children: Ross is mentioned below ; Maggie died Nov. 25, 1897, unmarried; Franklin, a farmer, has never married; Isadora became the wife of A. C. Bailey, and died Jan. 18, 1906; Lorena, who never married, resides with her brother at the paternal home.
Ross Reynolds was born April 4. 1854, on in-lot No. 128, Kittanning borough, and re- ceived his literary education at Lambeth Col- lege, Kittanning. He read law with the late Weaver, of Freeport, Armstrong county, Pa. E. S. Golden, was admitted to the bar of Arm-
strong county Sept. 3, 1877, and was actively engaged in practice thereafter until his death. He was also connected with business as one of the officers of the Armstrong County Trust Company, of which he was vice president at the time of his death, which occurred sud- denly Oct. 1, 1908. Mr. Reynolds' great suc- cess in his chosen profession entitled him to be recognized as one of the foremost practi- tioners at the Armstrong county bar, and he was one of the most influential citizens of Kit- tanning, where he always made his home. His brother lawyers paid him the high com- pliment of consulting him frequently, appre- ciating his clearsightedness and excellent judgment as only members of the profession could. We quote from an article which ap- peared in the Kittanning Free Press at the time of his death: "Whatever he said, on any subject, was well worth listening to. His clear
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insight penetrated the most difficult and intri- CAMPBELL. The Campbell family to which Mrs. Harriett (Campbell) Reynolds, widow of Ross Reynolds, belonged is traced back to Robert Campbell of Scotland, as its first known ancestor. An interesting account of his descendants in this country, compiled and arranged by Hallock Campbell Sherrard, was published in 1894 under the title "The Campbells of Kishacoquillas," and contained an historical sketch and genealogical records of the posterity of Robert Campbell and John Campbell, who were related by marriage, Rob- ert Campbell having married John's sister Jane. The histories of the two families run cate problems very quickly and he had the fac- ulty of dissecting any legal question brought before him rapidly and ably. His legal acu- men was developed to a high degree. . . His learning extended beyond his own pro- fessional studies, as many who have conversed with him on theological and medical questions can attest. His mind was versatile, making him a rare conversationalist; his reading was broad, making him an casy speaker ; his studies were thorough, making him a user of choice language, pregnant with solid facts. He was a man who gained and held the love and es- teem of all, and in his passing away we deeply parallel, and "having lived as near neighbors feel the loss that all have sustained.
for a full half century in eastern and central Pennsylvania, the descendants. have always had a common interest in each other, and at the annual reunions their histories are blended together."
"When the news was flashed over the town and county. that he had died, there were few of those who knew him who did not feel that he had received a stunning blow. Right in the prime of his life, when his career "There is reason to believe that the family of John Campbell emigrated direct from Scot- land to America, not by way of Ireland, a gen- eration earlier than Robert Campbell, who married John Campbell's sister Jane. It is be- lieved that they first settled in Cecil county, Md., and afterwards moved to Chester county, Pa., where they were living when Robert and Jane Campbell were married. John Campbell seems always to have lived near his sister Jane never seemed brighter, when his great learn- ing and ripe experience in his profession had advanced him easily but naturally to the front rank, death came to him; and with his taking away there exists a vacant place that will be hard to fill. It seems incredible that we will see Ross Reynolds no more, that we will no longer have the sincere pleasure of his sociability ; for to his fellows no characteristic of his shone more brilliantly than this. His and her husband, and removed with them to keen shafts of wit, seasoned with sarcasm, only served to make him better loved by those with whom he associated."
Such was the high opinion of his profes- sional attainments and personal character held by the members of the Armstrong county bar and the citizens of the county generally. The funeral services were held at the residence, cor- ner of North Mckean street and Union ave- to celebrate the one hundred and twentieth an- nue, Rev. F. C. Hartshorne, the rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, officiating, and the remains were buried in the Kittanning ceme- tery. The court officers and members of the bar attended in a body.
On March 10, 1885, Mr. Reynolds was mar- ried to Harriett Hallock Campbell, daughter of Judge James and Nancy Jane (Hallock) Campbell, of Clarion, Pa., and they had two children, both of whom survive, namely, Emily Campbell (wife of Oliver W. Gilpin, of Kit- tanning) and Isadora Hallock. Mrs. Reynolds, who died March 17, 1909, was a Presbyterian in her early life, but after her marriage she became a member of the Episcopal Church, to which her husband belonged; he served as vestryman.
Delaware, where they were living in 1773, when they purchased the tract of 500 acres in Kishacoquillas Valley." John Campbell re- moved with his family, in company with the family of Robert Campbell, to Kishacoquillas valley in the spring of 1774, and on Aug. 22 and 23, 1894, the third of the family reunions was held at the old Campbell homestead there
niversary of their arrival. To the interest and efforts of the late Judge James Campbell, of Clarion, Pa., who devoted much time to gathering family history in his later years, the Campbells are largely indebted for genealogical records and historical chronicles, and the fol- lowing account of their early history is taken from the work previously referred to, com- piled principally from the material he gathered.
Robert Campbell, grandfather of the emi- grant of that name, according to tradition lived in Scotland, but possessed a castle on the Isle of Man. In the time of James II. he was an un- compromising Protestant ; on the accession of William organized a company of which he be- came captain, and fought at the battle of the Boyne; received as a reward of his services confiscated lands in County Down, northern
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Ireland, but continued to live in Scotland. Soon
three miles away. The nearest mill was the lit- after the Revolution of 1688 which seated Wil- tle mill of William Brown, who lived down liam and Mary upon the throne, he married Ellen Douglas, renowned for her beauty and charming manners, and their first child was called Dugald, an old family name.
Dugald Campbell, son of Robert, was born in Scotland and married there, and was sent to Ireland to occupy the land given his father.
` Robert Campbell, first child of Dugald, was born in 1728 in County Down, Ireland, and came to America in 1746, when eighteen years of age. Coming to what was then the Province of Pennsylvania, he settled near Oxford, in Chester county, but after a time returned to Ireland. He remained only a year, however, and again settled at his former home in Ches- ter county, near a Scotch family of the same name who had come to the country a genera- tion earlier, and whose only daughter, Jane, he married in 1759. They continued to live near Oxford about nine years longer, he and his brother-in-law, John Campbell, moving, with their families, to Delaware in 1768 and living on a rented farm near Wilmington for the next five years. This property was owned by a widow who lived near Philadelphia, but when she remarried about 1773 she wished to return to her Delaware property, though the Camp- bells' lease had not expired. So she told them of a Philadelphia man who owned a desirable tract of five hundred acres in the backwoods which could be bought for a dollar an acre, and as it offered a place to remove to and a chance to secure a permanent home they pur- chased the land, although neither of them had seen it. The deed, dated April 19, 1773, was given by the owner, Mr. Drinker, and these farms were always known as the Drinker tract. In August, 1773, Robert and John Campbell and two hired men started out on horseback for the land, which they located near Stone Mountain in Union township, Cumber- land (now Mifflin) county. They cut some small timber, built a log cabin, scratched the ground with a plow made from the crotch of a sapling, and sowed wheat on almost six acres, harrowing it with a thorn bush. Each man had ridden out with a bushel and a half of wheat under him, in lieu of a saddle. They returned to Delaware in the fall, and in the spring of 1774 started out with their families for the new home, each family having a wagon and team of horses, some cows, colts and hogs. The distance was about 170 miles, and they arrived at their cabin on the morning of the 4th of May. There was no church or school- house near, and the nearest neighbors were fever Jan. 31, 1781, unmarried. (3) Eliza-
near what is now known as Reedsville. John Campbell soon built a cabin at the south end of what was known as the "sink hole" (a deep part of the channel of the river near by), and selected his share of the tract along the west end, most of his farm being further from the mountains. Though the families experienced many of the privations and hardships common to life in a pioneer region, they worked to- gether so well and were so thoroughly self- reliant and thrifty that within a few years they had many comforts without depending upon the outside world. They raised flax to make their summer clothing. and had wool from their sheep for their winter clothing. Though they lived humbly they lived well, and were a sturdy and vigorous race of men and women.
Robert and Jane Campbell had a married life of over sixty years, Mrs. Campbell dying Jan. 21, 1821, at the age of eighty-five, Mr. Camp- bell on July 10, 1822, reaching the age of ninety-three years, nine months. The first cabin they occupied seems to have been suc- ceeded by a double story and a half log house, built some ten rods from the present stone mansion. Years afterward it was moved up near the foot of the mountain for a tenant house, and it was still standing in 1894, well preserved. The stone mansion house, erected in 1793, is still standing and occupied by de- scendants of Robert Campbell. At the time it was built it was the best house in the valley. When a Presbyterian Church, the Kishaco- quillas Church, was organized near Logan's spring (the early home of the celebrated In- dian chief Logan ), north of Brown's mill, Rob- ert Campbell became one of the first ruling elders, and though the distance was fully eight miles the young men of the family used to walk there to attend services. Afterward the West Kischacoquillas Church was organized, and a brick church ( which has long ago disappeared) was erected some three miles west of the pres- ent town of Belleville. Near the site of this old brick church is still found the old grave- yard, where Robert and John Campbell, with their wives and many of their children, are buried. We have the following record of the children born to Robert and Jane Campbell, six of whom came to the valley with them : (1) William, born in 1760, died in 1768, be- fore the family moved to Delaware, and was buried at Faggs' Manor, in Chester county. Pa. (2) Alexander, born in 1762. died of
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beth, born in 1764, married Thomas Fergu- barn raised in the valley without the usual son about the beginning of the nineteenth century, and spent all her married life near Pine Grove, in Center county, Pa., dying April 5, 1822. She had one daughter, Jane Camp- bell, born June 21, 1805, who married John Barron, and they had eight children, among them Rev. Dr. David Henry Barron, of Holli- daysburg. (4) John is mentioned below. (5) James, born in 1768, died unmarried in 1790. He was drowned in the Chemung river. (6) Robert, born in 1770, died Oct. 10, 1858. In 1798 he married Rebecca Robinson, of Mif- flin county, and their children were: William and Robert (twins), James, Alexander, John, Martha, Thomas Ferguson and Henry Harri- son. (7) Isabella (Aunt Ibby ), born in 1772, died June 10, 1864, unmarried. (8) William (2), born in 1774, died Aug. 3, 1795, in Georgetown, D. C., while at school. (9) Joseph, born in 1776, died Aug. 7, 1857. On April 17, 1813, he married Elizabeth Oliver, and they became the parents of eight children, Isabella, Margaret Jane, Joseph, Elizabeth Lyon, Hugh McCelland, Andrew William, Robert Douglas and Mary Rachel. (10) Sam- uel, born in January, 1779, died Sept. 19, 1841, in Delaware county, Ohio. In 1805 he mar- ried Nancy Oliver, sister of the wives of his brothers John and Joseph, and they had ten children, John Oliver, Joseph Ferguson, Jane, Margaret Ann, Mary Nancy, Robert, Eliza- beth Isabel, Samuel Franklin, Casadana Lyon and James Alexander.
It will be noted that of this family John, Jo- seph and Samuel married three sisters, daugh- ters of Hon. John and Margaret (Lyon) Oli- ver, of McVeytown, the latter a granddaughter of the John Lyon who emigrated from Ennis- killen, County Fermanagh, Ireland, and set- tled in the Tuscarora valley in Pensylvania in 1763. A fourth sister, Jane Oliver, mar- ried John Campbell, of Center county, Pa., a descendant of John Campbell.
John Campbell, son of Robert and Jane (Campbell) Campbell, was born Oct. 18, 1766, and died March 22, 1845. In the spring of 1807 he married Rachel Oliver, who was born Jan. 27, 1783, and died Nov. 29, 1871. They had a family of five children, Robert, Mar- garet, John Oliver, James and Rachel Jane, of whom more later. John Campbell farmed the old homestead, part of which was still in woodland. He and his wife commenced house- keeping in the log house before mentioned, but after his father's death moved into the old stone mansion. A new barn was built in 1830, and it is notable that it was the first
accompaniment of a liberal supply of whiskey for all hands. Mr. Campbell had become a teetotaler some time before, and there was considerable agitation on the subject started by Lyman Beccher's tract on Intemperance, but there were doubts as to whether the neighbors would consent to help without the customary treating; and there was some "growling." The mother and youngest daugh- ter, Rachel, who never married, were left a home in the old stone mansion, but after the death of Oliver Campbell's wife they went to live with him about a mile west of the old homestead, taking care of his two children. Later they lived in a small house near Oliver's. One of her sons, Judge James Campbell, wrote of her: "Our mother was a tall, rather slen- der woman, possessed of a good mind, and she was a fluent talker, a good reader and a ready letter writer. She was a singer and had a store of both hymns and old Scotch songs, and we soon learned to sing everything we heard." Of his father the Judge wrote: "My father, John Campbell, was a profound lover of nature, a thoughtful, sensible man, and a great reader, particularly of history. He had a good memory, a sound judgment, and was sincere and firm in his convictions, with a supreme contempt for a mean act." Of the five children born to John and Rachel ( Oliver) Campbell: Robert, born May 2, 1808, was alive in 1894, attending the family reunion pre- viously referred to. On Dec. 10, 1835. he married Margaret Jane Milliken, who died Nov. 5, 1840, the mother of three children, and on Nov. 1I, 1855, married (second) Ellen Montgomery, born Sept. 7, 1828, died March 17, 1871; there were no children by the sec- ond marriage. Those of the first union were : John Andrew, who married Sarah W. Wilson (no children) ; Ann McNitt, who married Charles Kyle and had five children ; and Eliza- beth Rachel, who married Alexander Clay Henderson and had one child, a daughter. (2) Margaret Oliver, born Dec. 24, 1809, died Oct. 6, 1880, at her home in Graysville, Hunt- ingdon Co., Pa. On June 25, 1841, she mar- ried James Oliver, born June 18, 1807, who settled at Graysville April 1, 1844, and died there March 5, 1891. He was a nephew of the Hon. John Oliver previously mentioned. Four children were born to this union: Sarah Rachel, who remained at the old homestead at Graysville; John Campbell, born Oct. 15, 1845, a Presbyterian minister, who married Jennie Elizabeth Kyle and had two children ; Andrew William, who married Jane Eliza
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