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 - 1740
 1627 - 1708 (81 years)
| Birth |
1627 |
Boston/Watertown/Wethersfield, CT  |
| Died |
10 Jul 1708 |
Bristol, RI |
| |
| Father |
Robert Reynolds, b. 1586, Aylesford, County Kent, England |
| Mother |
Mary Pulleyne, b. 1600, England |
| |
| Family |
Priscilla Brackett |
| Married |
1657 |
New England Colony |
| |
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| Name |
Priscilla Brackett |
| Gender |
Female |
| Died |
8 Jan 1740 |
Bristol, |
| Person ID |
I23834 |
My Reynolds Line |
| Last Modified |
18 Dec 2022 |
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| Sources |
- [S146] Reynolds Family Association, https://www.reynoldsfamily.org/line12/robert1.php.
CAPTAIN NATHANIEL REYNOLDS, the only son, and probably the youngest or next youngest of Robert's five children, who became a soldier, shoemaker, and landowner of Boston and Bristol, was born in 1627, in England, and died July 10, 1708, Bristol, RI. He was probably buried in Bristol.
He and father Robert witnessed a deed in Boston 1650 (verifying thus that he was then of age). March 13, 1654, chosen "Sealer of Leather" and in 1655 made Boston constable. In 1656 he subscribed £1 toward the building Town House, Boston. Again "sealer" (inspector) of leather, Boston, March 14, 1663, for 1 year; 1670-1; 1674-5; and town records of March 1, 1679: "Lt. Nathaniell Reynolds was chosen to inspect & take an Accompt of all hides intended to be transported according to a law of ye Countrie made 15th of May, 1672." March 12, 1665, chosen "Chief Counstable" (Chief of Police), Boston. He had been more or less regularly a subordinate constable for some years, as appears in various court documents of the period. On May 3, 1665, Nathaniel was made a "Freeman" or voting townsman of Boston. Pay of Nathaniel as Constable of Boston Feb. 23, 1666, was £1-15. July 4, 1672, "Nathanell Reynalls" as juror signed a verdict of Guilty on an inquiry over an Indian, Pungatowhen.
On May 29, 1677 Nathaniel was 6th on a list of 129 craftsmen of Boston praying for protection in their several callings against strangers. He was usually described as "cordwainer." On Suffolk court records are various references to accounts for shoes sold by Nathaniel Reynolds. He went bond for Saml. Phillips, 1667, in the case of Wilson vs. Phillips, debt.
on Dec. 12, 1666, brother-in-law John Brackett, willed £10-0-0 to Nathaniel and his wife Priscilla (Brackett) Reynolds. He inherited his father's considerable property on the corner of Milk and Washington Streets upon Robert's death in 1659. For many years Lieut. Nathaniel was landlord of Josiah, father of Benjamin Franklin, and certainly until Nathaniel's death in 1708. At a meeting of Boston Selectmen, Apr. 27, 1691:
Libertie granted to Josiah Frankline to erect a building 8 Foote squae upon the Land belonging to Lt. Nathaniel Reynolds neere the South Meetinge house."
Tax list, Boston, 1687, reads: "Houses, mills, wharves, etc.-6. Tax, 2 sh. 2 d.
He is on Boston tax lists in 1681 and as late as 1695. He still owned the Boston property at his death, though Josiah Franklin rented one house and Nathaniel's son-in-law, John Fosdick, occupied another. Nathaniel willed this property to Nathaniel 2nd, who continued to hold it from 1708 and on. The property was appraised in 1708 at £150.
Josiah Franklin moved out of this house in 1712. It may be that Nathaniel 3d moved into the little house, and this Nathaniel almost certainly occupied it after his marriage in 1716, as he bought for £100 a quitclaim from his brothers John and Philip, after their father Nathaniel 2nd and mother Ruth (Lowell) Reynolds, both died during 1716-17. Nathaniel 3d, aet. 26, died in 1719, and his will gave it to his wife Mary (Snell) Reynolds, who soon thereafter removed to Brockton, MA, and sold it in 1725 to her uncle-in-law John Fosdick.
In 1683, May 9, Nathaniel was administrator of Estate of his deceased son-in-law, Thomas Bligh, first husband of his daughter Sarah, "in behalf of the widow of the deceased at her request."
He was elected a member of the Ancient & Honorable Artillery Company of Boston in 1658 and took an active part in its parades and musters. His son was probably the "Lieut. Nathaniel Reynolds" elected to membership in 1681.
At the beginning of King Philip's Indian War (1676) Nathaniel held title of "Lieutenant" of 4th (Capt. Wm. Hudson's) Co. of Major Thos. Clarke's Suffolk Regiment. He led several expeditions into the Indian country, and commanded a company under Colonel Church. He commanded a garrison at Chelmsford (now Lowell), MA on Feb. 25, 1676. Inhabitants there petitioned the Massachusetts General Court that Lieut. Nathaniel and his company be allowed to remain that fall and winter as they feared the Indians. Nathaniel's nephew, Robert Mason, son of his sister, Sarah, served in his Company at Chelmsford, 1676. Bodge, Soldiers of King Philip's War, 1676, mentions him as "Captain Reynolds," as do the Bristol, RI Town Records.
August 24, 1676 his name appears for £4-0-0 military service. May 12, 1672, MA General Court confirmed him as Lieutenant in Capt. Wm. Hudson's Co.
Probably as an aftermath of his expeditions into the Indian country about Narragansett Bay where he saw promising new farming land, he removed permanently to Bristol about 1680 with all of his family, save his married daughter, Sarah Reynolds Fosdick, and his eldest son, Nathaniel Jr. who remained behind on the Boston property. Nathaniel Sr. became "Ensign, Bristol County Militia", and on June 6, 1684, became "First Lieutenant" of that Militia. He may have acquired his title of Captain in it later, or it may have been a left-over from King Philip's War.
The exact date of his removal from Boston to Bristol is disputed, but it was very close to 1680. Bristol was then a part of Bristol County, Massachusetts. He witnessed a deed in Boston as late as June 5, 1680, but may have removed permanently in that year. Many of the old records of the time, including Nathaniel's will, are recorded at Taunton, the county seat. Bristol was annexed to R.I. from MA about 1746. Captain Nathaniel's last three children were born in Bristol, all others in Boston.
He built his house on the northeast corner of Bradford and Thames Streets. His son, Joseph, who died 1759, built the present ancient Reynolds house [still standing in 1992] on High Street. Nathaniel was probably among the founders of Bristol, as on August 27, 1680, he received 1/32nd part in the original lay-out. When Bristol was named he was fourth in a list of 80 inhabitants.
He was apparently among the Dissenters from the Established Church of England, and was fifth on the list of founders of the First Church of Bristol, Congregational, on May 3, 1687. On June 28, 1686, he signed a remonstrance against the over-zealous minister Rev. Woolbridge. Nathaniel may have been at one time of Presbyterian faith. In Boston he had been a member of the First Church of Boston, 1665, where it is possible his parents are buried in that graveyard.
He was active in town politics in Bristol, being appointed Grand Juryman, Sealer of leather, Selectman and Committeeman from 1687-1705.
His long will is preserved and recorded in Bristol and is interesting for the considerable light it throws upon his family. His sister, Mary Sanger of Watertown, mentioned in his will was then the sole survivor of the original Reynolds emigrant family from England and was still alive in 1711.
He married twice: First wife, Sarah Dwight, of Dedham, then about 19 years old, dau. John and Hannah Dwight, on Dec. 30, 1657 (or on another record Jan. 7, 1657-8). She was born June 17, 1638, died July 8, 1663 in Boston. The record of her death is in Medfield, MA town records. Their children:
7. Sarah b. July 26, 1659, d. Jan. 1, 1718; m. 1st Thomas Bligh abt. 1680; m. 2nd John Fosdick abt. 1683
8. Mary b. Nov. 20, 1660, d. Jan. 8, 1663 "aet. 2 yrs. 2mos."
*9. Nathaniel b. Mar. 3, 1662-3, d. between 1716-17; m. Ruth Lowell
He married 2nd Priscilla Brackett, probably about 1664 and certainly before Feb. 21, 1666. She was dau. of Peter and Priscilla Brackett. She died in Bristol Jan. 8, 1740. Their children were:
10. Mary b. abt. 1665, d. Sep. 27, 1718; m. Capt. John Woodbury of Bristol May 18, 1694
11. John b. Aug. 4, 1668, d. Jan. 30, 1757; unmarried
*12. Peter b. Jan. 26, 1670, d. between 1726-32; m. Mary Giles about 1699
13. Philip b. Sep. 15, 1674, d. bef. 1706, probably in infancy
*14. Joseph b. Dec. 29, 1676, d. Jan. 16, 1759; m. Phoebe Leonard 1718
15. Hannah b. Jan. 15, 1681; m. Samuel Royall 1704
*16. Benjamin b. May 10, 1686, d. Aug. 4, 1770; m. Susanna Rawson 1709
17. Ruth b. Dec. 9, 1688, d. July 3, 1737; m. Joseph Cary 1710
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