General Notes

It is believed that Robert came to America from Nayland, Suffolk, Eng. in the fleet with Governor Winthrop in 1630. [1] Evidence is not given but Rev. Moses T. Runnels in his Runnels - Reynolds Family writes "from well authenticated  'private records of long ago', Robert is known to have been in Boston in 1632". [2/10] Speculations on these private records is that they were documents that have been taken from state records for someone's private collection and that Runnels was allowed to use them as long as he didn't reveal the source. Robert was certainly in Boston by 1634 as on August 10th of that year he was admitted in the First Church of Boston and was made a freeman September 13, 1634.

On Dec. 14,1635 a Robert Reynolds was allotted 25 acres of meadowland in Watertown near what is now the Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge. On May 29, 1635 he was dismissed from the church in Watertown to the new church at what became Wethersfield, CT. It is believed that this man was our ancestor Robert and that late 1635 or early in 1636 he returned to Boston where he spent the remainder of his life. His daughter Mary joined the First Church of Boston on Oct. 4, 1645, [1] There is also a John Reynolds who left Watertown to go to Wethersfield in 1635. He appears often in the records while there is only a minor mention of Robert at Wethersfield in April 26,1636. A Robert Reynolds died there in 1662. [2/17] It is posssible he was the Robert of the 1636 record but more likely another man. He was certainly not the ancestor as our Robert's later life was clearly documented in Boston up to his death in1659.

Robert was a cordwainger [or shoemaker]. His home lot was on what is now the SE corner of Milk and Washington Streets. He afterward divided this into several lots, one of which Benjamin Franklin was born Jan. 6, 1705, while the lot was still owned by the Reynolds. In 1638 and 1641 was granted land at Muddy River [now Brookline], and in 1640 he was granted land on Hogg Island. His name is often found in records of land transfers, as witness to legal papers, appraiser of estates, etc. On Aug. 18, 1653 he sold his original grant of 25 acres of land in Watertown. [1]

Under the date of Nov. 14,1653, Capt. Robert Keayne willed him 20 shillings for testifying for him for suits about a hog in 1636 and again in 1642, tried before the General Court. "This sow business" aroused such a hot contention within the dignified General Court that the Magistrates forthwith split apart from the Assistants [deputies] and sat separately. The two legislative houses never again consolidated and the Magistrates in time became the State Senate and the others, the Lower House of the Massachussets Legislature. Robert Reynolds was elected sealer of Leather in 1657 but did not serve. His will. dated April 20, 1658, was proved July 27, 1659. Inventory of the estate amounted to 336.19.10. [1]

Ref: [1] The Warner-Harrington Ancestry - Frederick Warner, 1949 [pg. 536]
[2]  The History of Robert Reynolds - Marion H. Reynolds, 1928
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Reynolds - various explanations of the origin of surname "Reynolds": Common use of fox on Coat of Arms by Reynold families supports the belief that surname derived from the French-Norman word for "fox" , reynard, an old tombstone at Bristol, R.I.,  is a Coat of Arms described : Azure 3 foxes statant or Crest. In the English works of Heraldry we find a crest similar, viz: a fox statant proper. The Reynolds family of Somersetshire, England, bore: Azure a chevron between 3 foxes heads erased or, Crest: a fox's head as in arms. Other Reynolds family's have the fox's head in their Coat of Arms.

PP 2219-2220
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Robert Reynolds, immigrant ancestor, sailed from Aylesford in 1632, and landed in Boston Mass. He was admitted freeman, 9-3-1634, and must have been a member of the