James H. Reynolds, M. D. – This distinguished physician and surgeon of Mount Hilliard, Bullock county, Ala., was born in Anson county, N. C., in 1833, as son of Newnom and Lucy (Scarborough) Reynolds, of whom the father was born in Richland county, N. C., and the mother in Montgomery county, in the same state. After their marriage Newnom and wife located in Anson county, where they resided until 1834, when they came to Alabama and resided in Russell county for some time, and then settled in Macon county, where the mother died in 1856, and the father in 1864 – both devout members of the Methodist church for years. Newnom Reynolds was a successful farmer and a leading character of Russell county, Ala., for many years. He was one of a family of three sons and five daughters born to Henry Reynolds, a native of Maryland, who removed to North Carolina and thence to Mississippi, where he died in Marshall county, in 1851. The father of Newnom was one of three brothers, who came from Ireland to America prior to the Revolutionary war. Two of these brothers settled in Maryland, but of the third all trace was lost. The maternal grandfather of Dr. Reynolds was William Scarborough, a native of North Carolina.
Dr. James H. Reynolds is the youngest of a family of seven children. He had two brothers who were, like himself, educated to the medical profession, viz.: John A., who graduated at Cincinnati, practiced for many years, and died in Barbour county, Ala., in 1891; William, is a graduate from Charleston Medical college and is an active practitioner in Macon county, Ala. Another brother, older than the others, and named Lemuel, was a member of the Thirty-seventh Alabama infantry, and fell at Tupelo, Miss., in 1862. Dr. James H. Reynolds studied medicine with his brother: Dr. John A., for two years, and in 1854, graduated from the Nashville (Tenn.) Medical college; he then at once settled within two miles of where he now lives, and in 1856, married Miss Sarah, daughter of John and Lucy Striven, who were both born in South Carolina, but came to Alabama and settled in Pike (now Bullock) county in 1835, when, after rearing a large family, both bade farewell to earth. Mrs. Reynolds was born in South Carolina, but was brought by her parents to Alabama when she was but two years old. She has borne the doctor eight children, all of whom grew to maturity, and six still survive, viz.: William, a graduate from Mobile medical college and now practicing medicine at Mount Hilliard; Lucy, wife of Oza Sellers; Minnie; John, a planter; Pearl, and Clyde. In 1858 the doctor settled on his present plantation in the woods. His possessions comprise about 2,700 acres and are devoted to cotton, corn, and pasturage for stock of various kinds. His medical practice has extended over a period of thirty-eight years, and in the early days embraced a circuit of fifteen to twenty miles. In 1862 the doctor served about four months in the Fifty-third Alabama infantry, but the people of the neighborhood were clamorous for his return, and he felt obliged to resign his position and furnish a substitute to the army, that he might be able to attend to the wants of his home community. In 1886, the doctor was elected to the lower house of the general assembly, was re-elected in 1888, and in 1890 was elected to the senate for four years. He has always been an active worker in the democratic party, is an alliance man, is public-spirited and is universally a favorite. Mrs. Reynolds is a Methodist.