Gen. Andrew T. McReynolds, deceased, was one of the leading lights of the Grand Rapids bar, as well as a soldier of more than ordinary gallantry. He was born in Dungannon, county Tyrone, Ireland, December 25, 1807, and maternally was a cousin of Gen. Andrew Jackson, the hero of the battle of New Orleans and later seventh president of the United States. His grandfather was also a lawyer of consummate ability in Ireland, and had an office in Sackville street, Dublin, was for years sheriff of Tyrone county, and lived to reach the patriarchal age of 103 years. His father was John McReynolds, also a distinguished member of the Irish bar. The mother of Gen. McReynolds bore the maiden name of Ann Sloan, was also a native of Ireland, and died in Cherry street, Grand Rapids, at the age of ninety years.

Andrew T. McReynolds was intended by his father for a soldier, but fate decreed otherwise. Great tales reached Ireland of how Cousin Andrew was climbing the ladder of professional and political fame, and the young McReynolds determined to try the new world also. Upon the death of his father, he inherited the estate, and two years later found the proceeds in gold in a carpet-bag on the way to New York. Andrew Jackson was president then, and the young man received a warm welcome, which also extended to another relative, Senator McLane, of Baltimore. He spent but little time in the east, however, and made his way in 1833 to Detroit, which then had a population of less than 2,500. Having a natural inclination toward politics, and incited by the success of his cousin, he was elected alderman four years after his arrival in Detroit. In 1839 he was chosen one of the delegates to the Harrisburg convention, which nominated Harrison. This was the first national convention in which Michigan figured as a state, and Gen. McReynolds was for many years past its only survivor. After that time he was a prominent figure in Michigan history. He took an active part in the political and military history of the state and nation, and his record is among the first in everything. His military record dates back to 1832, when he, as a member of a Pittsburg company, assisted in putting down the nullification rebellion in South Carolina. His political history continued from Harrisburg convention. In 1847 he was a democratic member of the Michigan senate, and his remarks upon the subject of the relations with Mexico were so eloquent that he attracted notice at Washington and President Polk tendered him a captaincy in the Third dragoons. He accepted, and his record among the "greasers" was that of a gallant soldier. In 1848 he was commissioned, by brevet, major "for gallant and meritorions conduct in the battles of Contreras and Cherubusco." At the latter place he was wounded in the left arm, which was ever afterward comparatively useless. It was at McReynolds’s side, also, that Phil Kearneys’ arm was shot off.

Maj. McReynolds returned to Detroit and afterward became the first captain of the Montgomery guard. In 1859 he came to Grand Rapids and entered upon the practice of law, but he had hardly settled down when the Civil War broke out and he was given carte blanche to organize a cavalry regiment anywhere. The regiment was wanted badly and the president could not wait for the governor to issue a commission. In this way Col. McReynolds happened to be the only colonel of volunteers, commissioned by President Lincoln direct, during the war. He raised a regiment in New York City at once, and his gallant record in the Civil War is a matter of history. His son, B. Frank McReynolds, now secretary of the local board of police and fire commissioners, was also a gallant fighter in the war.

After the war Gen. McReynolds returned to Grand Rapids and resumed the practice of law. When he reached the age of eighty years he was still able to conduct as vigorous a legal contest as younger men, and did so up to within a short time of his birthday, when he publicly announced his retirement in favor of younger men. During his later career in Michigan, Gen. McReynolds never held any prominent office, for, owing to republican ascendancy in the state, his democratic opinions barred the recognition which his distinguished service warranted. He stumped the state for over twenty years for democracy and was United States district attorney for western Michigan during Andrew Johnson’s term, thus participating in the only glimpse democracy had had in the state for a period of thirty years. In 1852-4 he was prosecuting attorney for Wayne county, and in 1874-6 he was prosecutor for Muskegon county, and although seventy years old when he held the last named office, he performed the duties most satisfactorily. During his long and useful life the venerable general had experiences which few men enjoy. He was in Liverpool when the first locomotive started out with a train, and was the first passenger on the first railroad train in the United States. He was also in Baltimore when the first telegraphic message was sent over the wire.

During his early residence in Detroit the Asiatic cholera broke out in a severe epidemic and physicians and nurses were frightened. Young McReynolds volunteered his services and did such effective work that the dread disease was soon stamped out. In recognition of this, the city of Detroit presented him with a large and valuable cameo pin. After his return from the war with Mexico, the citizens of Detroit presented him with a sword of great value and magnificence, the cost of which was raised by popular subscription, no one being allowed to contribute more then ten cents.

Always a stanch democrat, he never missed attending to his duties as a citizen and member of the party. He was many times honored by being selected as a delegate to various state and national gatherings, but one of his proudest moments in all his glorious career was when he officiated as chairman of the local reception committee for the democratic state convention in Grand Rapids in 1892, to which place he was appointed by Chairman Thomas F. Carroll.

And Gen. McReynolds was probably the oldest Knight Templar in the United States, if not the world. He became a Mason in Ireland, and by special dispensation was initiated and pushed through to knight templar degrees before his twenty-first birthday. He helped to organize Detroit commandery, and was for the last few years the only surviving charter member of that commandery. He was also an honorary member of De Molai commandery of Grand Rapids. Every Christmas the commandery sent him a large and beautiful box of roses, and at each banquet, for years, the knights remembered him in the same manner.

He hardly knew what a pain or an ache was, except from his wound, and sickness was quite unknown to him. Until very recently, with one exception, the last physician he ever employed was in 1834, in Detroit, when he caught a severe cold and nearly died. He had always been an inveterate smoker and enjoyed his pipe to the last.

He was, aside from his G.A.R. connections, president of the Mexican War Veterans’ association, and when he attempted to resign at the last meeting because of old age he was not allowed to do so. He had attended every meeting of this association since its organization and had always been its president.

He was also a charter member of the old original Detroit Boat Club.

Gen. McReynolds was united in marriage at Worthington, Mass., with Miss Elizabeth Morgan Brewster, who was but one year younger than himself, and who traced her lineage to the Pilgrims of the Mayflower, and was a lineal descendant of Elder Brewster. The three living children who blessed this union were named Maria W., who is the wife of Charles H. Dean, of Grand Rapids; Helen Sloan, wife of Fred A. Nims, a prominent lawyer of Muskegon, and Benjamin Franklin, of whom further mention will shortly be made. Those deceased are George Sloan, Emily Ann, Mary Elizabeth and Andrew Jackson. The mother of these children was called away at the ripe age of eighty-four years, and the venerable father died at the home of his daughter, Mrs. F. A. Nims, at Muskegon, November 26, 1898, at the extreme age of ninety years, and with his varied life-record and invaluable services, it may well be imagined that his memory will be kept green by the residents of Michigan and his honored descendants.