William Henry Reynolds b 13 Aug 1868 Seco, Letcher Co KY d 24 Nov 1947 Ermine, Letcher Co KY; buried Hall Cemetery, Mayking, Letcher Co KY; s/o William Henry Reynolds and Frances Matilda Baker. William Henry Reynolds m. 14 Feb 1889 Ermine, Letcher Co KY to Mahala Hall b 14 Mar 1870/71 Letcher Co KY d 9 Jul 1944 Ermine, Letcher Co KY; buried Hall Cemetery, Ermine, Letcher Co KY; d/o Thomas Hall and Martha Whitaker. Children of William Henry Reynolds and Mahala Hall
1. Nancy Reynolds b 28 Feb 1890 Letcher Co KY d 15 Jul 1911 Ermine, Letcher Co KY; buried Hall Cemetery, Mayking, Letcher Co KY.
2. Frances Matilda Reynolds b 11 Jun 1892 Letcher Co KY d 3 Mar 1988 Knott Co KY; buried Hall Cemetery, Mayking, Letcher Co KY; m. 26 Dec 1913 to Henry Harrison Combs b 6 Mar 1889 KY d 16 Dec 1978; buried Hall Cemetery, Mayking, Letcher Co KY; s/o William Rhea Ray Combs and Catherine Polly.
3. Martha Ann Reynolds b 13 Apr 1894 Seco, Letcher Co KY d 27 Jul 1968 Ermine, Letcher Co KY; m. 26 Dec 1916 to John Combs b 8 Sept 1887 d 29 Oct 1966 Letcher Co KY; s/o William Rhea Combs and Catherine Polly.
4. William Henry Reynolds b 20 Jan 1896 Seco, Letcher Co KY d 4 Jul 1971 Dayton, Montgomery Co OH; m. 20 Jan 1921 Crafts Colly, Ermine, Letcher Co KY; to Bertha Mae Combs b 22 Mar 1899 Crafts Colly, Ermine, Letcher Co KY d 2 Jun 1985 Dayton, Montgomery Co OH; d/o Joseph Combs and Susan Stallard.
5. Stephen Nathaniel Reynolds b 25 Dec 1897 Letcher Co KY d 27 Sept 1917 Ermine, Letcher Co KY; buried Hall Cemetery, Mayking, Letcher Co KY; Findagrave Memorial; buried Hall Cemetery, Mayking, Letcher Co KY. Never married.
6. Ollie Reynolds b 26 Jan 1900 Letcher Co KY d May 1988 Whitesburg, Letcher Co KY; m. 19 Dec 1936 to Ed Hoback
7. Sallie Reynolds b 6 May 1902 Ermine, Letcher Co KY d 21 Nov 1985 Whitesburg, Letcher Co KY; m. (1) to Frank Helton. Sallie Reynolds m. 17 Feb 1921 to Male Tolliver.
8. Cora Reynolds b 16 Jul 1904 Letcher Co KY d 11 Oct 1998 Whitesburg, Letcher Co KY; m. 20 Oct 1939 to Troy Wallace Frazier b 2 Nov 1894 Dalna, Letcher Co KY d 15 Nov 1952; buried Hall Cemetery, Mayking, Letcher Co KY; s/o Hiram W Frazier and Lavina Hogg. Troy Wallace Frazier m. 16 Sept 1921 Letcher Co KY to Lola Collins d 2 Jul 1938; Blackey, Letcher Co KY; buried Smoot Creek Cemetery, Smoot Creek, Van, Letcher Co KY; d/o George Washington Collins and Mary Jane Brown. Lola Collins m. 26 Dec 1935 Letcher Co KY to Virgil Adams
9. Drucilla Reynolds b 13 Aug 1906 Letcher Co KY d 2 May 1995 Tuscarawas OH; buried Hall Cemetery, Mayking, Letcher co KY; m. 31 Mar 1928 Letcher Co KY to Milburn Polly b 19 Dec 1906 Letcher Co KY d 3 Dec 1967; Whitesburg, Letcher Co KY; buried Hall Cemetery, Mayking, Letcher Co KY; s/o Henry Polly and Sarah Frances Maggard. Milburn Polly was a barber. Child of Milburn Polly and Drucilla Reynolds;
i. Ralph Darland Polly b 3 Nov 1929 Letcher Co KY d 25 Dec 1929 Letcher Co KY; buried Hall Cemetery, Mayking, Letcher Co KY.
ii. Female Polly; m. Male Bierie
10. Joseph Coleman Joe Reynolds b 18 Mar 1909 Letcher Co KY d 10 Sept 1994 Letcher Co KY; m. 11 Jun 1938 to Stella Irene Lewis b 7 Jul 1914 Sandlick, Letcher Co KY d 19 Mar 2006; d/o Willie Franklin Lewis and Ada Dixon.
11. James Ellis Jim Reynolds b 2 Nov 1911 Ermine, Letcher Co KY d 4 Jun 2000 Whitesburg, Letcher Co KY; m. Chelsea Hogg b 17 Mar 1920 d 7 Jan 2019; age 98; buried Hall Cemetery, Ermine, KY; d/o Burnett Hogg and Bertha Shepherd.
Whitesburg High School Made With Brick From The Brick Kiln of William Henry Reynolds and His Brother, Noah Reynolds - Photo From Eloise Delzer, Granddaughter of William Henry Reynolds and Mahala Hall Reynolds - Received 11 March, 2008
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Old Whitesburg Kentucky Courthouse, Made With Brick From The Brick Kiln of William Henry Reynolds and His Brother, Noah Reynolds - Photo From Eloise Delzer, Granddaughter of William Henry Reynolds and Mahala Hall Reynolds - Received 11 March, 2008
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The following wonderful bit of history is from Eloise Delzer, granddaughter of William Henry Reynolds and Mahala Hall, received 11 March 2008;
William Henry "Bill Pap" Reynolds was born in Letcher County Kentucky in 1868 and married to Mahala Hall Reynolds on Valentines Day 1889. They lived on Friday Branch near Ermine, Letcher County Kentucky in a two story log cabin. He was jailer of Letcher County at one time and my grandmother ran the farm. My grandfather, William Henry Reynolds and his brother, Noah Reynolds, manufactured bricks and built buildings. They dabbled in politics and raised cattle and livestock. The clay they used to make the bricks was taken from the North Fork of the Kentucky River banks near where he and my grandmother, Mahala Hall Reynolds, lived nearly all their lives. The cemetery where they are buried is located high above the bend in the river where the clay came from.
The bricks that build the old Whitesburg High School building were from his kiln. They were darkest red solid bricks, a little larger than modern day bricks. The picture of that building has been made into a historic print and can be purchased at print and frame shops in Letcher County, Kentucky.
The picture also hangs in the Whitesburg Library downtown along with a copy of the old courthouse which also was built with bricks from their kiln.
Many other buildings in Whitesburg, Kentucky that have since been torn down or burned were built with their bricks. I have one of their bricks as a doorstop in my entry hall. In any case, I find it interesting that the trade and skills our first ancestor in America brought with him from England was still practiced by his offspring up to the mid 1930's.
My grandmother, Mahala Hall Reynolds, was a twin to Frances Hall Bentley. Grandmother, Mahala Hall Reynolds, took care of the family and the small hillside farm and along with another lady whose name I do not remember, cooked for the work hands when it was time to get the crops laid in during the fall and spring when there was planting to do.
They wanted their children to be educated. Out of the 12 children, one died of typhoid at 21 years of age and another died at age 20 of appendicitis while in the army during WWI.
I remember clearly the barn with a hand hewn shingle roof and the corn crib. Both were constructed of large logs. My Grandpa "Bill Pap" kept cattle, chickens and geese up until he died in 1947. There was a smoke house where flour sacks hung on the walls ready to take to the mill and a well with moss around the wooden box above it with a well bucket for drawing of the coldest, best tasting water in the world.
There was a black snake in the corn crib where my grandpa kept the corn for the chickens, ducks and geese. I wanted to feed the geese so bad I would brace myself to reach into the crib for an ear of dried corn to be shelled off to the ducks and geese. I wanted Grandpa Reynolds to know I was brave enough to reach into that rustling pile of corn we both knew contained not only the corn but the snake.
He would watch me do this little trick from the back porch while he pealed off a piece of chewing tobacco with his little pocket knife. He pretended he was not watching, but when I would get the corn from the crib, I would hold it up for him to see and he would smile and wave. I tried to get him to get the corn for me, but he told me I had to want to feed the geese more than I was afraid of the snake...a line that has stood me in good stead many a time when a little bravery was required.
At ten years old, I held my Daddy's hand and stood by the bed when our Dad said goodbye to "Bill Pap" for the last time as he lay in the front room of the old house on Friday Branch. He out lived our Grandmother who died of a heart attack earlier. I remember both deaths and all the details surrounding the events. Our grandmother handled all the religion in the family. That is what "Bill Pap" said...meanwhile he played the fiddle on the front porch while she went to church. She would sock that old tired Sunday hat on her head and secure it with a hat pin and give him a look that said you better be through with that fiddle before I get back home with the preacher and his wife for dinner. She was not a woman with much fun in her.. and maybe by the time I came along, she was just tired. In any case, I loved my grandpa very much.
I remember him most when he was dressed up. Although he was a little man, he looked like a fellow of some note in his black suit, vest, homburg hat and leather bow tie. As a child, I can remember him sitting around with his suspenders on over shirts with no collar on them...I think the collar buttoned on when he went out. After he was older, hew would get dressed up and go listen to interesting cases in court. When the day was done, he would come to the porch and motion for me to come to him. Then he would bring out a big gold watch, look at it and say, "Is it time for a little candy?" And of course, I always said it was. He brought me peppermint, horehound stick candy in a tiny little brown paper bag all warm and creased from holding it tightly in his hand during the walk from town to Ermine. I guess I was about five years old when the candy came my way.
I also remember going with him to the cemetery and to Johnny Morgan's house...the same house that is now the Dan Devlin house across the street from Mom and Dad's home on Golf Course Lane. They drank coffee laced with a little whiskey and chewed tobacco and spat the ambeer into an old pot bellied stove with no door on it. They discussed the weather and how to predict it too. Suppose that is why I think from time to time I have some expertise in the science myself... I use their method for predicting snows and have been two for three in the last three years.
Updates and details on this family submitted by Eloise Delzer, granddaughter of William Henry Reynolds and Mahala Hall, received 11 March 2008 and John Christopher Reynolds, son of James Lewis Reynolds and Wanda Rodgers. Thanks to John Christopher "Johnny" Reynolds for the family photos on this page and to Wanda Rodgers Reynolds for her updates and additions.
Obituary of Mahala Hall Reynolds
Mt Eagle Newspaper, Whitesburg, Letcher Co KY
Thursday Evening, July 13, 1944
Photo of Mahala Hall Reynolds With Obituary in the Mt Eagle News July 13, 1944
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Aunt Mahala Hall Reynolds after spending 73 years, 3 months, and 26 days on this earth, passed on to new realms last Sunday evening July the 9th, 1944. She was born Mar. 14, 1871 and was the daughter of the late Thomas and Martha Hall, early residents of this section. On February 14, 1889 she was married to William H. Reynolds and to them were born 12 children, two, Nancy and Stephen, having preceded her in death many years, ten children survive her today. They are as follows; Mrs. Harrison Combs of Colly; Mrs. John Combs and James of Ermine; William of Cromona; Mrs. E. M. Hoback of Whitesburg; Mrs. Tom Tolliver of Hot Spot; Mrs. Troy Frazier and Mrs. Milburn Polly of Whitesburg; Joe of the U. S. Army; Cody at home, and these with her husband, five sisters, two brothers and hundreds of friends and relatives are left to mourn her passing.
Aunt Mahala Reynolds was of the old type, patient, kind and a loving mother, never interested in the things of this world, except the care and love of her home and children and a good wife. For over 55 years it had been a pleasant companionship - one that the storms and tribulations of this life tied closer together. For several years her health failed, hard work, the cares of this life and the worries left its mark - whe would not give up - a strong constitution - she lived to the last - and at the milk gap while her husband was milking - and while she talked with him - silently the quiet visitor from above called to her - and she moved on to that glad land above. No pains, no sighs, no suffering - it was over and Aunt Mahala Reynolds had gone to be with God. Another good mother, a kind wife, and one that all loved is gone and while she was never a member of any church her faith and hopes were as bright as the noon day sun and many times she said to her children and husband, "There was nothing in her way and she was ready to go." She repeated to not grieve after her.
The feet that went down in the river of death,
As we stood on Life's desolate sand,
Are walking in gladness the streets of bright gold,
That run ghrough that beautiful land,
The lips that so tenderly whispered our names,
Are not closed in the silence of death,
Will speak to us yet in the Eden of Love,
Where life is not longer a breath
The dear hands that lovingly clung to my own,
As they grew in death's pulseness and cold,
Are bearing fresh palms thru the City of God,
Or sweeping o'er harp strings of gold,
The eyes that turned on me with love to the last,
Now beam in eternity's light,
They see in his beauty the King on his throne,
And gaze on his face with delight.
Funeral services were held at the Hall Cemetery, Ermine, Ky., on Wed., July 12th, at 2:00 P. M. with Rev. G. Bennett Adams, Rev. T. R. Collier, Rev. Dewey Sexton and Rev. Kirby Ison, officiating. Burial in the Family lot, Hall Cemetery. Craft Funeral Home in charge.
Obituary of Francis Matilda Combs
d/o William Henry and Mahala Hall Reynolds
Mrs. Combs, 95, dies in Hindman (Kentucky): Francis Matilda Combs, 95, died March 3 (1988) at the knott County Health Care Center at Hindman. She was the daughter of the late Bill and Mahala Hall Reynolds and the widow of Henry Harrison Combs. She was a member of the Thornton Old Regular Baptist Church. Surviving are four sons, Brack Combs, Flem Combs, both of Nashville, Ark., and Jack Combs and Harry Combs, both of Ermine; three daughters, Cassie Adams, Ermine; Eunice S Adams Hall, Jenkins, and Lucille Cox, Ozan, Ark.; two brothers, Joe Reynolds, Whitesburg, and Jim Reynolds, Mayking, and three sisters, Ollie Holbock, Cora Frazier, and Siller Polly, all of Whitesburg. Funeral services were held March 6 (1988) at the chapel of Letcher Funeral Home. Burial was in the Hall Cemetery, at Ermine. (Letcher Co KY)