My Genealogy Hound

JUDGE GEORGE L. REINHARD, of Rockport, was born in Bavaria, Germany, July 5, 1843, and until fourteen years old attended the primary schools of his native country. In 1857 he immigrated to the United States, and for some time attended the schools of Cincinnati, where he also was employed in an extensive spoke and wheel factory owned by an uncle. In 1860 he moved to Union County, Ind., where he followed manual labor until the breaking out of the Rebellion, when he volunteered his services among the very first, and was made a private in Company I, Sixteenth Regiment Indiana Infantry, his company being afterward transferred to the Fifteenth Regiment. He served three years and four months, participating in the battles of Greenbrier, Perryville, Pittsburg Landing, Stone River and others without being wounded, and on receiving his discharge returned home in shattered health. Determined to secure a good education he entered a high school of Cincinnati, and from 1868 to 1869 attended Miami University at Oxford, Ohio, clerking and teaching school at intervals to defray his expenses, and also teaching German among the students at the University. Mr. Reinhard in this way secured an excellent education. In 1868 he began the study of law, and in September of the year following was examined and admitted to practice at Owensboro, Ky. The winter of 1870 he removed to Rockport, Ind., where he has since resided. Being a close student and naturally possessed of many mental attainments of a superior order, Mr. Reinhard was not long in securing a select and extended practice, and was soon recognized as one of the ablest attorneys of southern Indiana. In 1876 he was elected as State’s Advocate for the second judicial circuit by 1,200 majority of votes, and so acceptably did he fill the office that he was re-elected in 1878 without opposition. In November, 1882, he was elected to the bench of the second judicial district for a period of six years, and is now satisfactorily filling the requirements of that responsible office. Judge Reinhard is a Democrat, and a member of the brotherhood of Odd Fellows. His family belong to the Presbyterian Church. He has, to some extent, been engaged in literary pursuits, his principal effort being “Reinhard’s Indiana Criminal Law.” This work is recognized by the legal profession throughout Indiana as a valuable addition to the legal literature of the State, and is justly meeting with high encomiums from individuals, among whom is Supreme Judge W. E. Niblack. Socially, Judge Reinhard and family are among the first in Rockport. He was married the fall of 1869 to Miss Mary E. Wilson, and four children have been born to them, one son and one daughter yet living.