DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker for Davis Reynolds is the source of this tale, and I'm just the one ridin' it out to you. Now, Davis Reynolds was a man with his eyes on the horizon — and a name already picked out for the town he hadn't built yet. Born in 1800, he was pushing fifty-six years old when he packed up everything and everybody and pointed himself toward Texas.
He came from Gordon County, Georgia, and the journey wasn't by stagecoach or steamboat. Davis Reynolds, his wife Catherine, their unmarried children — James, Julia, Catherine, and John H. — and several slaves made that long trek by wagon and foot. That's right.
By foot. Some portion of that trip, somebody was walking to Texas. Three of his married children — Almira Otts, Eliza Forester, and George W.
Reynolds — came later, letting the family patriarch get things settled first. And when Davis Reynolds got to Henderson County and planted his boots in the dirt, he didn't name his settlement something modest. Something humble.
He named it New York. That right there tells you everything about the size of the man's ambitions. He wasn't dreamng small.
He wanted growth. He wanted prosperity. He wanted the whole thing.
He set about building a community the way a founder does. He donated land for the first community cemetery, and that cemetery didn't stay in the Reynolds family — it opened up to all the neighboring families, became the resting place for the whole region. The first marked grave there belongs to his daughter Almira Otts, born in 1838, gone by 1863.
Davis himself, and his wife Catherine, who was born in 1802 and died in 1871, are among the many Reynolds family members laid to rest in that same ground. The community kept growin'. In 1873, Reynolds' son John Harrison — born in 1843, died in 1903 — gave land for a combination school and church.
One building, two congregations. Both Baptists and Methodists used it for many years, which if you know anything about small-town Texas, is either a miracle of cooperation or proof that frontier necessity has a way of smoothin' out theological differences. Davis Reynolds himself had died in 1869, so he didn't live to see what came next.
But New York, Texas was still out there, still carryin' that outsized name into the twentieth century. And then, in 1901, the railroad came through Henderson County — and went right around New York. Bypassed it entirely.
Not long after, the town lost its post office. All those hopes for a big city, dashed by a set of iron rails laid somewhere else. What's left of New York today is the Baptist church, the cemetery where the Reynolds family sleeps, and the store right at this very site.
That store is owned by Reynolds descendants. Still serving the New York community and its neighbors — in the same spirit, the marker says, in which it was founded. Davis Reynolds came from Georgia with a big name and bigger dreams.
The railroad didn't care. But the family stayed. And the store stayed open.
Turns out, that's not nothing. That might even be everything.
What the marker says
Henderson County pioneer Davis Reynolds (1800-1869) came to Texas in 1856 with his wife Catherine (1802-1871), their unmarried children, James, Julia, Catherine, and John H.; and several slaves. Traveling by wagon and foot, they journeyed from Gordon County, Georgia. Three married children, Almira Otts, Eliza Forester and George W., came later. Reynolds named his settlement New York as a sign of his hopes for its growth and prosperity. Reynolds donated land for the first community cemetery which came to be used by all neighboring families. The first marked grave is that of Reynolds' daughter Almira Otts (1838-1863). Davis and Catherine are among the many other members of the Reynolds family buried there. A combination school and church, used for many years by both Baptists and Methodists, was built on land given by the Reynolds' son John Harrison (1843-1903) in 1873. Reynolds' hopes for a big city were dashed when the railroad bypassed New York in 1901 and the town lost its post office. The village now consists of the Baptist church, cemetery, and the store at this site. Owned by Reynolds descendants, the store continues to serve the New York community and its neighbors in the same spirit in which it was founded.