John Reynolds

REYNOLDS, John, governor of Illinois, b. in Montgomery county, Pa., 26 Feb., 1789; d. in Belleville, Ill., 8 May, 1865. He was of Irish descent, and, with his parents, emigrated in childhood to Kaskaskia, Ill., where he obtained a common-school education, and was admitted to the bar. He served as a scout in the campaigns against the Western Indians in 1812-'13, subsequently practised law in Cahokia, Ill., became a justice of the state supreme court in 1818, served for many years in the legislature, and was speaker of the house in 1852-'4. He was governor of Illinois in 1832-'4, commanded the state volunteers during the Black Hawk war in May and June of the former year, and was a member of congress in 1835-'7, and again in 1839-'43, having been elected as a Democrat. He edited the "Eagle," a daily paper in Belleville, for several years, and is the author of "The Pioneer History of Illinois" (Belleville, Ill., 1848); "A Glance at the Crystal Palace and Sketches of Travel" (1854); and "My Life and Times" (1855).

Source: Appletons' Cyclopaedia of American Biography, vol. 5. James Grant Wilson and John Fiske, eds., New York: D. Appleton & Company, 1888, p. 227.

Submitted by Nancy.