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After graduation Reynolds studied law in the office of Smith, Robinson and
Fassett, Elmira. In 7867 he was admitted to the bar, and in 1875 formed a partnership with
Frederick Collin, with the firm name of Reynolds and Collin. In 1886, his firm was changed,
by the admission of J. B. Stanchfield, to "Reynolds, Stanchfield and Collin," and so
continued to the time of Reynolds's death, December 2, 1900. Reynolds was an excellent
lawyer and held a prominent and commanding position in his section of New York State.
In his early years he was a very successful pleader before juries, and held his own even with
such competitors as David B. Hill, Jeremiah McGuire, Robert Stephens and Jacob Schwartz.
Later his attention was turned to business cases, and in this way Reynolds became identified
with many commercial enterprises, such as companies for the utilizing natural gas and for
the development of oil wells. He prospered and accumulated a large property. Our
classmate was a stanch Democrat and had a wide political field open before him, but he
kept clear of politics for the most part, and confined himself closely to his profession and
to his commercial enterprises.
As we remember him in his brief stay with us in college, so Reynolds continued to
be in his busy and successful career - a quiet, unassuming man, kindly in manner, temperate
in speech; a lawyer of strict probity and unquestioned talents; a business man of progressive
spirit and credible achievement.
In June, 1876, Reynolds married Miss Rathbone, only daughter of the late Henry W.
Rathbone. Mrs. Reynolds survives her husband, and is living in the family mansion on Main
Street, in Elmira. There are three children, one daughter, Frances, and two sons, Henry and
James R. Reynolds.
The family has a summer home in Watch Hill, Rhode Island, and it was here that
Reynolds received the first intimation, July, 1899, by a paralytic stroke, of the illness,
Bright's disease, that proved fatal the following year.
Source:
Class of Sixty-Three Williams College Fortieth Year Report, by
the Class Historian, Thomas Todd Printer, Boston, 1903
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