REYNOLDS WRITER: THE GHOST OF DICK REYNOLDS, THE $700 MAN

by Randy Reynolds, descendant of Bartemous Reynolds and his son Sharp S. Reynolds, Sr.

and by Chris Russo, descendant of Bartemous Reynolds and his daughter Elizabeth Reynolds Curry

Gene Reynolds' grandfather, Allen Reynolds, used to tell him about the enslaved people that Allen's father Sharp Reynolds, Jr., grew up with. Sharp Jr. was 9 when Lincoln freed the slaves, but many of them lived out their lives in a different kind of slavery, indentured to the same families that had enslaved them.

The way the family's last enslaver, Sharp Reynolds, Sr., was explained to little Gene by his grandpa Allen was, "He let them old slaves live there the rest of their lives, the ones that wanted to. He always treated 'em like family."

When his daddy Sharp Sr. died the Reynolds' land went to Sharp Jr.'s youngest half-brother Minor Gray Reynolds. Sharp Jr. died in his thirties and his son Allen inherited nothing. He farmed rented land his entire life. His son Bonnell worked in the mill. His son Gene was a preacher.

The land-rich Minor Reynolds family subsequently did quite well for themselves. Like many people in America today they can trace the beginnings of their wealth to the land cleared by and worked by enslaved African-Americans.

Bartemous Reynolds who arrived in North Georgia in 1804, didn't have to do any physical work unless he wanted to. Enslaved people built his houses and barns, cleared his fields, cut his timber, tilled, planted and harvested his crops. Enslaved people drew his water from the well, emptied his slop jar in the mornings, built the fire in his fireplace, cooked his meals, washed his pots, cleaned his clothes, nursed his infants, babysat his young 'uns, fed the livestock, did the milking, the butchering, sheared the sheep, spun the wool, made the cloth and whatever else required physical labor.

The enslavers, therefore, had plenty of time on their hands for other pursuits. Bartemous Reynolds preached. He organized two churches. He was elected Justice of the Peace. He sold (and repossessed) land frequently.

Bartemous' son Sharp Reynolds, Sr., was heavily involved in politics, going to conventions, writing letters to the editor of a nearby newspaper, helping dislodge the Cherokee from their North Georgia land. His letters to The Athenian survive—lengthy diatribes that Facebook users today would call "rants." His letter trying to con General Andrew Jackson out of a gift is still on file in the Andrew Jackson presidential papers:

https://reynoldswriter.blogspot.com/2019/08/the-mystery-of-sharp-reynolds-letter-to.html

At the time of Bartemous’ death at the age of 85, he had only 280 acres left… the remainder had been sold off and/or transferred to his eldest son Sharp Sr. He had barely enough slaves left to run an old man’s household and the much-reduced farm. His remaining slaves were listed by the Hall County appraisers who evaluated the estate on the 28^th of November, 1854, six days after his death. They were:

1 NEGRO MAN, DICK, FORTY YEARS OLD $700.00

1 NEGRO MAN, DAN, SEVENTY YEARS OLD $50.00

1 NEGRO MAN, WILL, VERY OLD AND SIMPLE $00.00

1 NEGRO WOMAN, SELIA, FORTY-ONE YRS OLD $500.00

1 NEGRO GIRL, SOPHIA, TEN YEARS OLD $600.00

1 NEGRO GIRL, MANDI, NINE YEARS OLD $500.00

1 NEGRO GIRL, MARY, THREE YEARS OLD $300.00

1 NEGRO BOY, THOMAS, FIVE YEARS OLD $300.00

Dick, Dan, Selia, Will and the four children, like their forebears, probably went to church with their white master and preacher. Bartemous founded and pastored Timber Ridge Baptist Church and Mud Creek Baptist church.

Sermons of other southern enslaver/preachers of that era were rife with politics, and often—directed at the enslaved themselves—used scripture to justify their bondage, including such verses as:

Whether those slavery justifications were part of Bartemous Reynolds’ sermons, I don’t know. No manuscripts, outlines or notes of his sermons remain.

Bartemous' enslaved humans were sold by Sharp Spencer Reynolds, Sr., at auction on the Hall County courthouse square 13 months later.

After slavery, Dick somehow earned enough money to purchase 50 acres of land that he was quite familiar with: It had formerly been owned by Bartemous Reynolds, then Sharp Reynolds, Sr., and later, Ebenezer Gower who sold it to "Old Uncle Dick Reynolds," as The Gainesville News of August 19, 1903, called him.

The family was in the news in 1903 because some people believed the long-dead Dick Reynolds was haunting Gainesville.