Andrew Murray Lybrook

Capt. Andrew Murray "A.M." Lybrook was born in Giles County in 1832. He married the eldest of the Reynolds children, Mary Joyce. 

He was a graduate of Emory and Henry College, practiced law in Patrick County, as well as serving as a county judge and as a member of the Virginia State Senate.

Judge Lybrook was a well read man and his personal library contained a set of Charles Dickens books, Webster's Dictionary, and Charles Darwin's "Domestication of Animals and Plants." He felt strongly that apple growing would be an excellent enterprise for Patrick County and he was a member of the American Pomological Society.

Lybrook drew national attention when representing former enslaved nanny Kitty Reynolds' two sons in Commonwealth vs. Lee and Burwell Reynolds that eventually went before the Supreme Court and affirmed African American defendants had a right to a trial by jury selected without racial discrimination.

When Mary Reynolds Lybrook died at the young age of 44 years, Andrew Lybrook wrote a tribute to her in the family Bible that spoke of his utter love and devotion - and his desire that her gentle spirit whisper a word of hope and encouragement in his dreams.