March 4, 1839, to March 3, 1843. In 1837, while out of Congress and in company with a few others, he built the first railroad in the Mississippi Valley, about six miles (10 km) long, leading from his coal mine in the Mississippi bluff to the bank of the river opposite St. Louis. Not having the funds to purchase a locomotive, the railroad was operated by horse-power. The next spring, however, the company sold out at great loss. In 1839 Reynolds was appointed one of the Canal Commissioners and traveled to Philadelphia to raise funds for that purpose. During that year, he also made a tour of Europe with his wife. He introduced the Latter-day Saint Prophet, Joseph Smith to President Martin Van Buren when Smith was seeking redress for the grievances that the Latter-day Saints suffered in Missouri. This was done by Reynolds with the hope of winning the votes of the growing number of Latter-day Saints in Illinois in latter political contests. Reynolds was elected in 1846 for one term as a member of the Illinois House of Representatives from St. Clair County; during this term he caused to be built the first macadamized road in the state, from Belleville to St. Louis. He was an unsuccessful candidate for the Illinois Senate in 1848. He was again elected to the Illinois House in 1852, serving as Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives. He was an unsuccessful candidate for Illinois State Superintendent of Schools in 1858, and then engaged in newspaper work. In 1860, aged and infirm, he attended the Democratic National Convention in Charleston, South Carolina, as an anti-Douglas delegate, instead supporting John C. Breckinridge in the U.S. presidential election. However, against the Republican Abraham Lincoln in the same year, Reynolds published his support for Douglas. His correspondence before and during the Civil War showed a sympathy for secession. Personal life He was married twice — to Catherine Dubuque in 1817 and to Sarah E. Wilson in 1836 — but had no children. He died in Belleville in May 1865, just after the close of the Civil War, and is interred at Walnut Hill Cemetery in Belleville. References External links 1788 births 19th-century American politicians 1865 deaths American autobiographers American militia generals American militiamen in the War of 1812 American people of Irish descent American people of the Black Hawk War Burials in Illinois Democratic Party members