Archives of Maryland
(Biographical Series)

Thomas Reynolds (b. circa ? - d. 1824)
MSA SC 5496-050623
War of 1812 Claimant, Calvert County, Maryland

Biography:

The son of the wealthy landowner Edward Reynolds,1 Thomas Reynolds resided in the All Saints' Parish in Calvert County, in what later became the Third District.2 Reynolds' home stood near Sunderland and Chesapeake Beach, a few miles away from the shore of the Chesapeake Bay.3 He raised tobacco on his farm, and also operated a cider press by at least 1822.4 Census records indicate that Thomas Reynolds and his wife, Elizabeth, had one ten-year-old girl living with them in 1820.5 Reynolds served in the Maryland House of Delegates from 1807 to 1815.6

Thomas Reynolds had eighteen slaves working on his tobacco plantation in 1800, and thirty in 1810.7 In October 1814, one of his slaves, General Saunders, escaped to a British ship in the Chesapeake Bay.8 Thirteen years later, on July 25, 1827, Reynolds' estate would receive $280 as reparation for the escaped Saunders, under the Treaty of Ghent.9 Reynolds owned thirty-two slaves in 1820.10 When one of Reynold's slaves died in September 1822, Reynolds paid Joseph Snode seven dollars for a "walnut Coffin for Fella Dossey."11 Unfortunately, the names of Reynolds' other slaves are currently unknown. Reynolds' neighbor Samuel Cranford also owned at least one slave with the Dossey surname: George Dossey, whom Cranford hired out to Reynolds for one day in 1822.12

When Reynolds died in 1824, he owned over four hundred acres of land in Calvert County, including part of the tract "Lordship's Favor."13 He bequeathed his estate to his widow Elizabeth, his brothers Edward G., William, and Joseph W. Reynolds, his nephews Samuel and Edward R. Chew, and his niece Francis Hawkins.14 At the time of his death, Thomas Reynolds was indebted to at least twenty-three individuals, including John Dare of the same county. Joseph W. Reynolds sold all of the late Thomas Reynolds' slaves and personal property for $1,324.50, towards Thomas Reynolds' many debts.15 In 1831, the Farmers' Bank of Maryland sued for Reynolds' land on behalf of his creditors, although Elizabeth Reynolds bought back eighty of the original acres.16
 


Footnotes

1.     Charles Francis Stein, A History of Calvert County, Maryland (Baltimore, MD: Published by the author, 1976) 136, 305-306.

2.     Diocese of Maryland, Journal of a Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church, Baltimore, MD: J. Robinson, 1821.35.
        U.S. Census Bureau (Census Record, MD) for Thomas Reynolds, 1800, Calvert County, All Saints Parish, Page 19, 4th line from bottom [MSA SM61-25, M 2054-4].
        Calvert County District 3, Simon J. Martenet, Map of Calvert County, 1860, Library of Congress, [MSA SC 1213-1-117].

3.     "Charles A. Walton House," CT-3666, Maryland Historical Trust, Inventory of Historic Properties. www.mdihp.net.
        "M. Gordon Tobacco Barn," CT-17, Maryland Historical Trust, Inventory of Historic Properties. www.mdihp.net.
        "His Lordship's Favor." CT-19, Maryland Historical Trust, Inventory of Historic Properties. www.mdihp.net.
        "Upper Bennett," CT-18, Maryland Historical Trust, Inventory of Historic Properties. www.mdihp.net.
        Claim of Thomas Reynolds, Claim 149, Case Files, compiled ca. 1827 - ca. 1828, documenting the period ca. 1814 - ca. 1828, *ARC Identifier 1174160 / MLR Number PI 177 190,* National Archives, College Park.

4.     December 14, 1824. CHANCERY COURT, (Chancery Papers), 1830-1831, MSA S512-20. Accession No.: 17,898-10427-1/3, MSA S512-13-10288 Location: 1/39/2/ Farmers' Bank of Maryland vs. Samuel Chew, Thomas Reynolds, et al, March 29, 1831, Calvert County, Case No. 10427.

5.     U.S. Census Bureau (Census Record, MD) for Thomas Reynolds, 1810, Calvert County, Page 12b, Line 3 [MSA SM61-45, M 2060-1].
        U.S. Census Bureau (Census Record, MD) for Thomas Reynolds, 1820, Calvert County, District 2, Page 6, Line 5 [MSA SM61-65, M 2062-2].
        U.S. Census Bureau (Census Record, MD) for Elizabeth Reynolds, 1830, Calvert County, Page 31, Line 16 [MSA SM61-85, M 67-2].

6.     Archives of Maryland, Historical List, House of Delegates, Calvert County (1790-1974). http://www.msa.md.gov/msa/speccol/sc2600/sc2685/house/html/cvhouse.html.

7.     U.S. Census Bureau (Census Record, MD) for Thomas Reynolds, 1800, Calvert County, All Saints Parish, Page 19, 4th line from bottom [MSA SM61-25, M 2054-4].
        U.S. Census Bureau (Census Record, MD) for Thomas Reynolds, 1810, Calvert County, Page 12b, Line 3 [MSA SM61-45, M 2060-1].

8.     Definitive List of Slaves and Property, compiled ca. 1827 - ca. 1828, ARC Identifier 1174162 / MLR Number PI 177 192. National Archives, College Park.
        Claim of Thomas Reynolds, Claim 149, Case Files, compiled ca. 1827 - ca. 1828, documenting the period ca. 1814 - ca. 1828, *ARC Identifier 1174160 / MLR Number PI 177 190,* National Archives, College Park.

9.     RG 76. Records of Boundary and Claims Commissions and Arbitration, Records of the Mixed Claims Commission: Miscellaneous Records, Ca. 1814-28, 7 vols., entry 185. Vol. 4 of 11. National Archives, College Park. Thomas Reynolds, No. 149.

10.   U.S. Census Record (Census Record, MD) for Thomas Reynolds, 1820, Calvert County, District 2, Page 6, Line 5 [MSA SM61-65, M 2062-2].

11.   CHANCERY COURT, (Chancery Papers), 1830-1831, [MSA S512-20], Farmers' Bank of Maryland vs. Samuel Chew, et al, March 29, 1831, Calvert County, Case No. 10427.

12.   Ibid.

13.   Ibid. Plat of Thomas Reynolds' Land.
         Ibid. David Carcaud (use of), David C. Lyles, Claim No. 22.

14.   Ibid. Copy of Thomas Reynolds' Will, May 22, 1821. Probated June 8, 1824.

15.   CHANCERY COURT, (Chancery Papers), 1830-1831, [MSA S512-20], James Williamson and John Williamson vs. George W. Smith, et al, April 29, 1825, Calvert County. Case No. 11802.

16.   CHANCERY COURT, (Chancery Papers), 1830-1831, [MSA S512-20], Farmers' Bank of Maryland vs. Samuel Chew, et al, March 29, 1831, Calvert County, Case No. 10427.
 

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