Daniel Reynolds the youngest son of Abraham Reynolds and wife, Mary Leaser, was born March 10, 1809 at the family home place on Bent Creek, Buncombe County, North Carolina.

In the latter 1830's he was an ensign in a company that marched to Bryson City to assist with the Indian movement. After thirty days the company returned to Buncombe County and was disbanded.

In the early 1840's he was employed by Israel Baird as a farm overseer for the Beaver Lake Farm. There he met his employer's daughter, Susan Adelia Baird, and they were married October 7, 1844 by his older brother Reverend John Reynolds.

Several years later he obtained a mail contract and stagecoach line from Salisbury through Morganton to Asheville and return, and also operated a hotel in Asheville until the middle 1850's when he sold out and acquired some Beaver Lake land and became a farmer and apple grower. In 1850 he was elected a Buncombe County Trustee for one year. In 1854 he was a candidate for the North Carolina House Of Commons and lost with 46% of the vote against his wife's cousin, Zebulon Baird Vance. He built in earthen dam for Beaver Lake and operated a grist mill and water powered saw mill. At the east end of the lake was a red clay pit where the family operated a small brick yard. The 1860 census indicated his farm as 250 acres of cultivated land and 1,150 acres of unimproved land, the owner of 15 slaves, a variety of livestock and raised considerable quantities of wheat and corn. His brick residence is still is use, known as "The Old Reynolds Mansion," now a bed and breakfast guest home.

Susan Adelia Tate Baird, the eldest child of Israel Baird and wife Mary Ann Tate, was born April 9, 1826 and died February 17, 1915, in Asheville, N.C. Daniel Reynolds died January 21, 1878. Both are buried at Riverside Cemetery, Asheville, North Carolina.

Contributor: ET (47514618)