My great-grandmother Elizabeth Watt [McFarland] Reynolds has always intrigued me, though I’ve never been able to find out much about her. The picture to the right shows Elizabeth as a young lady, probably in her teens. My mother always referred to her simply as Nannie. Born on May 16, 1870, she was the daughter of David McConkey McFarland and Mary Mifflin Rothrock, of West Chester. The McFarlands were most likely Protestant as earlier McFarlands in Montgomery county attended Lower Providence Presbyterian; the Rothrock side of the family was originally from Germany and settled around McVeytown. Her father, David M. McFarland, was a well-known businessman in West Chester, occupying offices at 13 N. High St. I have seen him listed as both a broker and a banker; he was probably both at one time of another.

The family was probably fairly comfortable, though I have not determined quite where they lived in West Chester.

On April 10, 1895, Elizabeth was married in West Chester to Isaac Gregg Reynolds, son of David M. Reynolds and Amanda Gregg. Isaac was the owner of a steam laundry in West Chester and apparently quite successful. By 1903, Elizabeth had become a member of the Society of Friends, and the whole family was added to the registers of Birmingham Monthly Meeting on 8/29/1903.

The family made their home at 601 S. Church in a home that is now part of the West Chester University campus. Isaac and Elizabeth had three children: Mary, Gregg David, and  Elwood.

My mother never told me much about Nannie (and I didn’t know enough to ask), but she did provide a few tidbits over the years that lead me to think that Nannie was a pretty strong personality. Among the various family artifacts handed down to me was a Smith & Wesson derringer that was apparently used by Nannie  to kill a rat. Apparently, killing a large turkey was no big deal for Nannie, either!

Of the various grand-children of the couple, one in particular was very close to them, young Betty Bingaman. Never particularly close to her own parents, Betty spent a lot of time with her grandparents and when she died, she was buried near them in Oaklands Cemetery in West Chester