Thomas Jackson Reynolds Notes
Thomas Jackson Reynolds was born November 3, 1864 in Georgia. His mother was Elizabeth J.
Reynolds, known as Betty. Betty Reynolds, as far as we know, never married or had any other children.
A DNA test taken from her descendant, Steven Joel Reynolds, indicates Tom’s father may have been a
Retherford/Rutherford (this family spelled their name Rutherford in Georgia and spelled it Retherford after arriving in Pike County, AL). The yDNA sample matched a Retherford man living in Florida whose lineage traces back to Pulaski County, Georgia at about the same time Betty Reynolds lived there with her family. That is not proof positive that the father of Tom Reynolds was a Rutherford male. The test results simply imply that Steve Reynolds and a Rutherford man share a common ancestor. The probabilities are 25% that this common ancestor occurred within 8 generations and 75% that the occurrence was within 16 generations. Since the paper trail of this man’s ancestors follows the same path of Tom’s lineage, it strengthens the case that Reynolds’s and Rutherfords share a relationship.
More research must be done before any conclusions can be made.
Tom Reynolds is found in the records of Pike County, Alabama in a marriage certificate dated 8
August, 1899 when he married Suphronia Wilson. He was 34, she was 20, and they were married at her home. The ceremony was performed by a Minister of the Gospel, John W. Reynolds. John was also
Tom’s uncle and Betty’s brother. According to family lore, John and Tom came to Pike County together from Georgia. The 1880 Federal Census of Thomas County, Georgia shows Tom living with his mother in the community of Ochlocknee. Betty’s mother, Mary Reynolds, also lives in Thomas County. The 1880 census for Thomas County reflects MJ (Mary Jane) Reynolds living in the household of her son, William.
Also enumerated in the household are JW (John), William’s brother; William’s wife Mary Elizabeth
Thomas Reynolds; and his two daughters, M.F. and Sarah. The census is dated 14 June, 1880. On
October 26 of that same year Mary Elizabeth would die giving birth to William’s third daughter, Mattie.
The 1870 Census for Thomas County, GA finds Mary Reynolds and family living West of the
Ochlocknee River in the town of Thomasville. She is listed as 50 years old with daughter Martha, 17, son
James, 11, son John, 7, and grandson Thomas, 6 residing with her. Interestingly, Betty is not found in the household or any other household in the vicinity. Betty’s brother William is not found either.
Civil War records from Texas gave us the next clue about the Reynolds family. When William
Reynolds’ first wife died, William remarried Penny Carroll from Thomas County. Shortly after William died from appendicitis in 1899, his widow, Penny, applied to the state of Texas for a Confederate
Widow’s Pension. During that process, William’s brother, James Madison Reynolds, was contacted to verify William’s service. James Reynolds was a very prominent Baptist Minister preaching all over Texas, notably in Abilene and Goliad. He responded to the request for information on his brother with the following letter:
Brady Tex 10/4/15
TO: Mr C.W. Leake

Abilene Tex
Dear Sir, Yours concerning pension for Mrs, Wm, Reynolds received and replying will say, you have asked me a hard
Question. I was born in ’59, and therefore quite small in war times. Then I have been away from Ga, Now 35 years. I have been away from the part of Ga from where my Bro, inlisted in the Army, since I was 7 years old. I know he went and was in
Lee’s Army fighting the bigest part of the time in Va-. I know he was wounded Three times. And stayed till Lee,s surrender.
My Bro, Knows this, as I do, and He may be reached by
Addressing him Rev, J.W. Reynolds, Louisville Ala. By addressing Mr, J.S. Montgomery Thomasville Ga, you might get all the information you want as he was a close friend of My
Bro. I am sure he could put you in touch with information that might be helpful. In any way I can help Command me. I cant reach Mrs, Reynolds by letter, as every letter I write her is returned to me unclaimed. Yours Friend
J.M. Reynolds
Many affidavits in Penny’s file give information on where in Georgia, exactly, the Reynolds’s came from. The affidavits below have been abstracted from Penny Carroll Reynolds’ Confederate Widows
Pension Application file obtained from the Texas Archives. Note the witness in the first one was named
S.B. Coody. Styring Brinson Coody was married to William’s sister, Mary Ann Reynolds. During a research trip to Pulaski County in 2004, I became lost on a maze of dirt roads in Dodge County, Georgia.
Sensing the restlessness in the backseat, I stopped at a neat little brick home, the only sign of civilization
I had seen for a while, to ask for directions. A man in his mid-seventies or later came out of the carport and asked if he could help me. He introduced himself as Charles Robert Coody. I asked him if he was related to Styring Brinson Coody. “Yes”, he replied, he was my grandfather. Since I knew SB Coody had served in the Civil War, I asked how that could be. Mr Coody told me he was “the youngest son of a youngest son.” Small world.
Affadavit-
State of Georgia, County of Dodge
Ordinary Court Judge J.F. Coleman
Witnesses S.B. Coody & M.A. Lancaster
Wm E Reynolds enlisted and served in the CSA Feb 1862 – April
1865

“he was a member of Capt Early Co of Early County and we know that William E Reynolds was in the war we saw him on his way home on furlough at the time he got wounded in 1864 in the
Gettey Burge fight Geordan Brigade.”
State of Georgia, Early County
C.C. Lane, Judge of Ordinary Court
S.T. Howard affidavit
ST Howard was 2 nd sergeant Co G 13 th Regiment of Georgia
Volunteers and kept muster rolls
William Reynolds enlisted at Griffin Georgia July 9, 1861 and served honorably until the end of the war
Wounded at Monocacy, MD July 9, 1864 and at Appomattex C.H.
April 9 th 1865
The Captain of said company was J.T. Crawford
The colonel of said regiment was Marcellas Douglass
Affiant understood that said Reynolds came from Pulaski
County, GA
War Department
Adjutant General’s Office
Washington
Dec. 18, 1915
“The records show that William Reynolds, private, Company G,
13 th Georgia Infantry, C.S.A., enlisted July 8, 1861, and that he was paroled April 9, 1865, at Appomattox Court-House,
Virginia.
Brady Tex 10/4/15
TO: Mr C.W. Leake
Abilene Tex

Dear Sir, Yours concerning pension for Mrs, Wm, Reynolds received and replying will say, you have asked me a hard
Question. I was born in 59, and therefore quite small in war times. Then I have been away from Ga, Now 35 years. I have been away from the part of Ga from where my Bro, inlisted in the Army, since I was 7 years old. I know he went and was in
Lee’s Army fighting the bigest part of the time in Va-. I know he was wounded Three times. And stayed till Lee,s surrender.
My Bro, Knows this, as I do, and He may be reached by
Addressing him Rev, J.W. Reynolds, Louisville Ala. By addressing Mr, J.S. Montgomery Thomasville Ga, you might get all the information you want as he was a close friend of My
Bro. I am sure he could put you in touch with information that might be helpful. In any way I can help Command me. I cant reach Mrs, Reynolds by letter, as every letter I write her is returned to me unclaimed. Yours Friend
J.M. Reynolds
From J.F. Coleman, Ordinary Judge
Dodge County
Eastman, Georgia
March 11, 1915
Hon E.M. Overshriner – Dear Sir if you will rite the ordinary of Blakly Early County I think he can give you some information as to William E. Reynolds War Record he went from his county to the war wee dont no any thing a bout his letter of his company and Redgement he Runaway from Dodge County and and went to Macon and in listed in said company and Redgement at Macon Ga 1862
Blakely Ga
Nov 25 th 1915
Hon. C.C. Lane
Ordinary
Dear Sir, My William Reynolds is on my muster Roll, Co G 13 th
Regmt Ga Vol. Was wounded at Monocacy, Md July 9 th 1864 and at

The 1860 Federal Census for Pulaski County, Georgia finds
Elizabeth J. (Betty) Reynolds, along with her siblings William and
James Madison, Mary Ann (who married SB Coody), Sarah, Susana, and
Martha J. It also lists Stephen and Mary Jane Reynolds as parents.
It’s interesting to note that in this particular census that Wright
Lancaster, a prominent Baptist Minister in that region of Georgia lived next to the Reynolds homestead. Could he have been an influence on the three Reynolds brothers? William, James, and the yet unborn
John all became Baptist ministers themselves.
Appomattox C.H. April 9 th 1865. This man came from Pulaski Co.
Ga and joined co. At Griffin Ga July 9 th 1861. I guess he is the man you want. I hope he gets the pension. If I can be of any help to you in the matter call on me. Yours truly S.T.
Howard