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GEORGE E. REYNOLDS, who holds an enviable reputation among the members of the legal profession, being considered
one of the ablest attorneys now practicing at the bar in the city of Pittsburg, Allegheny county, Pennsylvania,
owes his entire success to his own unaided efforts and the ambition which dominated, him. He is a member of an
honored family of the state of Pennsylvania, but having had the misfortune to lose his father when he was but one
month old he was early obliged to take an active part in the struggle for existence, and is in the fullest sense
of the word a self made man.
George P. Reynolds, father of George E. Reynolds, was a resident of Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, and after
his marriage settled upon a farm and was actively engaged in agriculture. He was also engaged in threshing for
the neighboring farmers, and was considered a wide awake business man. At the time of the building of the Philadelphia
& Reading railroad, he became one of the contractors to furnish the ties necessary for the building of the
road in that section of the country. He was in the midst of these contracting obligations when he was killed, in
March, 1876. The settling of these unfinished contracts left his widow and children in financially embarrassed
circumstances, and they were all obliged to commence the battle of life at an early age. George P. Reynolds married
Rebecca Dreisbach, daughter of a farmer near Turbotville, Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, and they had children:
Daniel H., a hardware merchant in Milton, Pennsylvania; Elizabeth, married Charles Moser, a merchant of Watsontown,
Pennsylvania; William N., a hardware merchant in Turbotville, Pennsylvania.; Augustus, retired merchant of the
same place, and George E., the subject of this sketch.
George E. Reynolds, fourth son and fifth and youngest child of George P. and Rebecca (Dreisbach) Reynolds, was
born in Turbotville, Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, February 28, 1876. He was but a few weeks of age when
his father met his death, and was compelled to assist to the extent of his childish ability in the support of the
household almost from his infancy. At the age of nine years he was placed with his uncle; Daniel Dreisbach, a neighboring
farmer, to assist in the work of the farm, remaining with him for two years, during which time he received as payment
his board and clothes. During the following year he worked for a man named Christopher Koons, from whom he received
two dollars and fifty cents per month for a part of the year, and five dollars per month for the remainder. He
next worked One year for William Seaman, and while there was offered a home by I. D. Gresh, a merchant of Milton,
Pennsylvania, with whom he subsequently resided. During the first two years of his residence withMr. Gresh he received
his clothes and schooling as an equivalent for the service he rendered, and during the following years fifteen
dollars per month during the summer months until he was graduated from the high school in Milton, Pennsylvania.
Young Reynolds was naturally thrifty and a good manager, and while residing with Mr. Gresh had saved the sum of
one hundred dollars, which seemed a munificent one to him in those days. Mr. Gresha advised and encouraged him
greatly, and it was in compliance with the wishes of that gentleman that Mr. Reynolds commenced a course of study
in Ursinas College, in Collegeville, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania. During the summer following this course in
college he went to Atlantic City, having obtained a position there as clerk in a hotel, and in the fall of the
same year he went to Milton, Pennsylvania, where. he obtained employment as a traveling salesman for Bear &
Company, cigar manufacturers, his compensation being sixty five dollars per month and all his expenses. He was
very desirous of completing his collegiate education, but finding that his means would not permit this indulgence
he determined to take a more hurried and necessarily shorter literary course in order the sooner to be able to
engage in what he purposed at the time should be his life work, the profession of teaching. He. accordingly entered
the State Normal School at Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, and at the end of one year of hard work was graduated with
honor at the head of his class. The reputation gained for thoroughness and ability during his time of study was
of service to him in securing his appointment as principal of the high school at Hill's Grove, Sullivan county,
Pennsylvania. He was engaged in educational work during the next seven years, each year withessing a rise to a
more important position or increased salary. While engaged in teaching during his second year in Derry Station,
Pennsylvania, the election for the principalship of the school was hotly contested, and Mr. Reynolds resigned in
order to accept a better position. It was at this time that he decided to withdraw from educational work and take
up the study of law. He immediately entered into a business arrang.ement with C. G. Voris, of Milton, Pennsylvania,
who became his preceptor, and he registered as a student of law in Sunbury, Northumberland county, Pennsylvania.
He also studied in the office of Mr. Voris during the evenings, on Saturdays, and during the vacation time. While
engaged in his legal studies he continued his occupation of teaching, the money earned in this way furnishing the,
means necessary to enable him to pursue his studies. He was admitted to the bar in Northumberland county in September,
1902, but continued to teach until June of the following year. He was then admitted to the Allegheny county bar
and to the supreme and superior court of the United States in the western district of Pennsylvania. He opened a
law office in the Frick building, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, August 1, 1903, which is elegantly and commodiously
furnished, and in which he employs six people. He ranks high among the attorneys of the city, and his success has
been a pronounced one. He is a ready, eloquent speaker, with an easy flow of language, and his arguments are presented
in a forceful, convincing manner. Politically his support is given to the Republican party, but he has never sought
political preferment. He has many friends in the social as well as the legal and educational circles of his city,
and he is. a member of Jeannette Lodge, No. 436, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Duquesne Lodge, Masonic
order, and the Pittsburgh Country Club. Mr. Reynolds is unmarried.
From:
A Century and a half of
Pittsburg and her people.
By: John Newton Boucher
The Lewis Publishing Company
1908.
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