JAMES M./R. & MARTHA JANE DUKES REYNOLDS

James M. or R. Reynolds was born in December 1853, somewhere in Alabama, I believe it was Jackson County. I have heard tell that the area he came from was called Sand Mountain. He was the second son and one of ten children of John R. Reynolds and Phebe Catherine "Kate" Storey. James married his first cousin, Martha Jane Dukes on March 20, 1873 in Jackson County, Alabama and they moved to Cookville, Titus County, Texas sometime around 1888.

Although it is not known the exact date, why, or just how James and his family came to Titus County, it must have been a hard and dangerous journey. They may have came by covered wagon or the trip may have been made part way by river boat. During the 1800's many early settlers traveled from the South to Baton Rouge down the Mississippi River and then took a steam boat up the Red River to near Clarksville or to Jefferson. From there it would have been a fairly easy trip along the Nacogdoches Road, or Cherokee Trail, as it was also called, to Titus County.

Jim, as he was know by everyone, spent his life as a farmer, and he and Martha Jane, also known as Aunt Jane, had a total of ten (10) known children. The children were as follows: Dora Ann born in Jackson County, Alabama in January 23, 1874. Dora Ann never married and died on February 27th, 1936 in Titus County, Texas at the age of 62. Walter C. also born in Jackson County, Alabama on January 18th, 1876 and died on February 17, 1925 in Titus County, Texas. Minnie Reynolds born in November 14, 1879 also in Alabama, I believe that Minnie died at a early age there does not seam to be any records of her or knowledge of her by other relatives. She did apparently have a twin brother, Henry Carter who was also born on November 14th, 1879 in Alabama, and died on December 10th, 1933 in Fouke, Miller County, Arkansas. John Bun Pruitt Reynolds, who was born on May 18th, 1882 also in Alabama, he had a twin brother Tommy Morley who died in 1892, Tommy died at a young age, around 10, and John Bun died on March 5, 1950 in San Francisco, California. Eliga Reynolds was born on November 6, 1884 in either Alabama or Texas and died at the age of almost 2 on October 14, 1886 in Cookville, Texas. Thomas Pence Reynolds was born the 11th day of November, 1888 in Titus County, Texas, and died January 31, 1960 at the Old Union Community in Titus County, Texas. Mollie who was born in December 1891 in Titus County and Nancy Lucinda who was also born in Cookville, Texas in July 5, 1894 Mollie died in Titus County abut 1917 and Nancy died about 1952 in Greenville, Texas. After Mollie's death, Nancy married her husband Walter Jackson Dickeson and helped raise her two children.

Both Jim and Aunt Jane were well known around Cookville, Texas. There are many stories about Aunt Jane especially. Everyone I have talked to says she was quite a woman and could be one of the meanest women around. It is believed that Aunt Jane had two thumbs on her left hand , and it is said that both of them loved to sing and play the guitars. I was told by someone that at one time they only had one pair of shoes between the two of them and that they would each wear one shoe and cross their other foot under themselves on the bed while they played their music.