William Reynolds & Sons Greenbrier County

 We have seen a few William Reynold's rifles and have always enjoyed seeing his unique patchboxes & the cheekpiece with the mirror.  Most of his rifles we viewed had his name engraved onto the patchbox lid. Some also have his name engraved into the barrel flat between the rear sight and breech, as most signed American Longrifles do. We have seen "Wm Reynolds, Wm Reynolds & Co., and on this one pictured below, we find engraved on the patchbox lid, Wm Reynolds & Sons.

                                                                             

Circa 1840

Who were the sons? We know William had a son-in-law Benjamin Franklin Brown who was a gunsmith from previous research.  While researching to find his sons, we recalled a few years back, we took some photos of an old collection of West Virginia rifles. In those photos, we found the image below. The rifle had a Reynolds-style patchbox and incised carving on the cheek side.  The picture is poor but reads F H Reynolds. There may be another letter or letters behind the name, maybe Jr.  Hopefully, someone will have a rifle signed by F H Reynolds and share better photos with us. 

                                                                          F H Reynolds

                                                                                  

                                                          1850 Monroe County Census

Francis H Reynolds was born in 1822 in North Carolina. In the 1850 census, he is listed as a gunsmith in Monroe County, Virginia, present-day WV.  On at least one genealogy site, they indicate he is the son of William, but another site suggests his father was named Francis. This could confirm the "Jr" behind his name on the rifle barrel.  In the 1870 & 1880 census, Francis is listed as a blacksmith in Putnam County. He died in 1900 at age 78.  He is buried in the Old Hurricane Baptist Church Cemetery. 

We are looking forward to more information on William Reynolds and sons.  We need more clarity on this one. Thanks, BMS & JDM

Earlier Post on William Reynolds

                                                                           FB