Christopher Reynolds

Notes

Christopher REYNOLDS (From Richard Reynolds) Christopher's grandfather, father and several uncles are said to have run a large shipping enterprise, and many descendants were early settlers in America. (a) He arrived in VA on the "John and Francis" in 1622 at age 11, apparently unaccompanied by any family. He and two other passengers on the same ship became servants of Edward Bennett. (b) Although not all servants in that day were brought to America in indentured status, Christopher apparently was: On March 13, 1625 he deposed "that he did see and read Peter Collins indentures and that by the indentures he was to serve Mr. Bennett four years." (c) On Good Friday in 1622 and Indian massacre had killed almost 1/3 of VA's 1200 English population. Edward Bennett's plantation, across the James River from Jamestown, was hit hard by the massacre, but it's unclear whether Christopher was a survivor, or if he arrived later in the year. One unsubstantiated source states that Christopher was present at the time of the massacre, that he was serving as Robert Bennett's secretary, and that he and Bennett were among 33 survivors at the Bennett plantation. (d) The next record of note it the arrival in Virginia from London of the "Speedwell," with Christopher Reynolds, age 24, a passenger. (e) The year is 1635. In the manifest his name is grouped with nine other passengers. Presumably this is the same Christopher--the age is appropriate--and it is known that Christopher was granted a land patent to 450 acres of land in Warrisquick Co. in 1636 "for transporting of nine servants." Therefore the assumption is that Christopher returned to England (date unknown), then came back to VA with the new settlers, for which he was rewarded with a land grant.(f) (The Headright Laws of the Virginia Colony rewarded those who imported new settlers with a grant of 50 acres for each "head" brought to the colony). When Christopher died, his will, dated may 1, 1654, distributed his property among his three sons and three daughters. To his as-yet unborn child, (destined to be Thomas, the next in our pedigree), "...I give to the child my wife goeth with if it lives two cows, to enjoy them at three years old." (g) Other facts about Christopher Reynolds: Fact 1: 1622, arrived in VA from England on "John & Fransis" with 2 other passengers. Fact 2: 1622, The passengers were Luke Chappman, Edward Maybank. Fact 3: 1624, all 3 were listed in the 1624 census as servants of Edward Bennett. Fact 4: 1636, settled on 450 acres, patent to which granted Sep 15, 1636. FOOTNOTES: (a) Tillman, Stephen "Christopher Reynolds and His Descendants," The Goez Co., Washington D.C., 1959 (However John Bennett Boddie, "Historical Souther Families II", Redwood City, 1958, asserts that the English origins are not well supported by evidence. Lee Taylor, early VA expert for the Reynolds Family Association, is even more forceful. She states that in 20 years of research, she has found NO documentation to prove Christopher's antecendents, and finds no evidence for the "large shipping enterprise" mentioned by Tillman.) (b) "Muster of the Inhabitants in Virginia, Taken in 1625. Total 1,095." In William and mary College Quarterly Magazine, VII (1899), 217-218. (c) Adventures of Purse and Person, page 502, ed Martha Hiden, Princeton Univ., Press. (d) Reynolds History Annotated, pg 10, by William Glasgow Reynolds, Mercury Press, Rockville MD, 1978. (e) Hotten, John Camden "Original Lists of Persons of Quality; 1600-1700," page 82; Genealogial Publishing Co., Baltimore, 1980. (f) Virginia Patent Book No. 1, page 369, cited in "Cavaliers and Pioneers, Abstracts of Virginia land Abstracts and Grants," page 47, by Nell Marion Nugent, reprinted Genealogical Pub. Co., Baltimore, 1974. (g) 17th Century Isle of Wight Book A, page 521.