Samuel Daniel McReynolds
Astute Businessman, Lawyer, and Visionary
Samuel Daniel McReynolds was born January 11, 1849 in Saline County, MO. He was the fourth of eight children born to the wealthy, pioneer family of Allen McReynolds and Martha Amanda Cooper. Samuel attended and graduated from Kirksville Normal School in 1873. After graduating he read law in the Ellison Brothers law office in Kirksville, MO for two years before being admitted to the bar in 1874. In January 1875 he opened a law office in Carthage, MO where he practiced law for 56 years.
Samuel married Helen Mar Halliburton in 1876. He formed a law partnership with her younger brother John William Halliburton until the firm was dissolved so that each partner could go into business with their sons. Samuel and Allen McReynolds II (Sr.) then joined with John H. Flanigan, Sr. around 1920. This firm is now known as Flanigan, Lasley, and Moore and is possibly the longest-continuous law firm in the state of Missouri.
Samual McReynolds was an astute businessman and lawyer and his contributions to the fabric of Carthage Society were legendary. He was a founder and long-time board chairman of Central National Bank (now UMB); he served on the Carthage School Board, including 8 years as president; he served on the board of the Carnegie Library (now the Carthage Public Library) and was also counsel for the Southwest Missouri Railway Company.
McReynolds’ legacy, however, would be what we now know as Mercy McCune-Brooks Hospital. His law partner, John Flanigan said in his address at Samuel’s funeral: “Here was a life to emulate – a man to love and honor…his impulses were humanitarian. He would relieve suffering where he could. Sympathy was the dominant note of his life, and it found expression in his labor for the hospital”. Records show he took up the cause for a new hospital from The Order of the Daughters of the King about 1892, became president of the hospital board in 1903, and actively campaigned for the contributions of Dr. Brooks, Mrs. McCune, John Guinn, and the City bond issue that eventually built the building in 1929. Flanigan went on to say: “But for the dreams of Samuel McReynolds, and but the long labors by which he realized those dreams, McCune-Brooks would never have been built”. It was truly his monument.
Samuel and Helen McReynolds had four children, Allen (HCH 2013), John, Armilda, and Samuel. Samuel died a few days shy of his 83rd birthday in Carthage in 1931 and is buried in Park Cemetery.
