KERR FAMILY CHRONICLES

© Christopher Earls Brennen

Appendix 7A. McREYNOLDS FAMILIES

The following Kilsally McReynolds family is probably connected with our McReynolds family but we have not, as yet, been able to establish the connection.

  1. Joseph McReynolds of Kilsally married a woman named Margaret and joined the Royal Irish Constabulary. They moved to Belfast to give their children a better education. The children of Joseph and Margaret McReynolds:
    1. John Joseph McReynolds was born on Feb.8, 1858, and married Mary Jane Carmichael who was born on Mar.6, 1866. They lived at 2 Chlorine Gardens, Belfast. Their children:
      1. Jane D.C. McReynolds was born on Oct.5, 1888.
      2. Joseph William McReynolds was born on Jul.22, 1890.
      3. Margaret McReynolds was born on Jun.5, 1892.
      4. John Archibald McReynolds was born on Jan.19, 1895. He became a serjeant in the Royal Irish Rifles and was killed in WWI on Dec.22, 1915. He is buried in the Sucrerie Military Cemetery, Colincamps.
      5. James Carmichael McReynolds was born on Jul.20, 1900.
      6. Frederick George McReynolds was born on Oct.11, 1903.
      7. David Scott McReynolds was born on Nov.11, 1906.
      8. Thomas Stewart McReynolds was born on Jan.31, 1908, and still lives in Belfast.
    2. Thomas McReynolds had three children that we know of:
      1. William McReynolds was born in Belfast in 1890. After his schooldays he became an apprentice in the shipyards of Harland and Wolff, Ltd., in Belfast. On Mar.25, 1912, he joined the White Star Line as an engineer and left Southampton on his first voyage on Apr.10, 1912, aboard the Titanic. He died when the Titanic sank on Apr.15, 1912. His name is inscribed on the Titanic Memorial in Belfast City Hall.
      2. Martina McReynolds (Martha?).
      3. Margaret McReynolds.
    3. Samuel McReynolds had two children that we know of:
      1. Frederick McReynolds.
      2. Joseph McReynolds.

Below we list a McReynolds family which we have not been able to connect with the genealogies in Chapter 6 or Appendix 6A:

  1. John Bernard McReynolds moved to Leicester, England, from County Leitrim, Ireland, about 1884 with his wife and four children. Very soon thereafter he was killed in a street accident and his wife also died shortly thereafter. The four orphaned children were split up and dispersed:
    1. John Bernard McReynolds lied about his age and, with his brother William, joined the army to avoid the orphanage or adoption. He lived in Scarborough, Yorkshire. He rejoined the British Army at the outbreak of WWI in 1914 and was killed in action. He is buried in Coue, France, and his name is inscribed on the War Memorial in Scarborough. He was the grandfather of Barbara Bird. Another granddaughter, Ann McReynolds, lived in Vancouver, Canada.
    2. Henry McReynolds is believed to have been adopted by a Catholic family in Leicester. He is reputed to have had 10 children, 6 sons, Harry, John Bernard, James, Alfred, Charles and William, and 4 daughters, Emma, Elizabeth, Margaret and Agnes. Of there Harry married Lilley and they lived in Leicester. John Bernard had a son (in South Africa) and one who lived in Leicester. James had two sons who lived in Leicester. Alfred died young. No issue are known for Charles or any of the daughters.
    3. William McReynolds had a distinguished career in the British Army. A brilliant marksman, he became the batman to a high ranking officer. In civilian life he was a champion marksman who competed for Yorkshire.
    4. Eliza McReynolds

Below we list a piece of the American McReynolds family which we have not been able to connect with the genealogy in Appendix 6B:

  1. James McReynolds married Elizabeth Powers in Drumcree Parish Church in 1859 (see Appendix 6C) and had at least six children all of whom were born in Ireland but ended up in the United States:
    1. Thomas McReynolds was born about 1860 in Maguiresbridge, County Fermanagh. He became an Anglican missionary in Canada and, in 1925, was living in Hearst, Ontario.
    2. William McReynolds was born in 1863 and owned a dairy in Bowmanville, Canada.
    3. Ann McReynolds married William Gay of Hampton, Canada.
    4. Elizabeth McReynolds married James Gilmore of Muskegon, Michigan.
    5. Jennie McReynolds married Elmer Miller. She belonged to the Salvation Army. Jennie came to the US with her brother James.
    6. James Lawrence McReynolds was born Jan.15, 1873. When he emigrated to the US with his sister Jennie they first settled in Grand Rapids, Michigan. An article in the July 18, 1925, edition of the Muskegon Chronicle describes the reunion in Toronto of James and his brother Thomas who had not seen one another since they parted in Portadown 38 years before. At that time James had been 14 years old and Thomas had been 27. During that same trip James and his wife also met his brother William and his sister Ann whom he had not seen for 21 years. James's residence in 1925 was at 1631 Petoskey Avenue, Muskegon Heights, Muskegon, Michigan. His granddaughter, Maxine Davies, of Montague, Michigan provided the information on this McReynolds family.
Coincidentally Grand Rapids and Muskegon were also sometime residences of Colonel Andrew T. McReynolds whose story is told in Chapter 6.

  1. James R. McReynolds married Elba Hanna Decker. James's father may have been Roland McReynolds and the family legend is that they were Orangemen from County Cork. Their son:
    1. William Decker McReynolds married Eliza Catherine Campbell. Their son:
      1. Courtland Campbell McReynolds married an Icelandic woman, Oluf Julianna Ulfarsdotter. They were the grandparents of Gail Purnell of Alberta, Canada (jpurnell@telusplanet.net).

Christopher E. Brennen