Thomas Lynch, Jr.

From New World Encyclopedia

Thomas Lynch, Jr.
Lynch's signature

Thomas Lynch, Jr. (August 5, 1749 – 1779), was a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence as a representative of South Carolina. Of the 56 Signers, only fellow South Carolinian Edward Rutledge was younger than Thomas Lynch, Jr., just three months younger. Both were 27-years-old.

His stepfather was South Carolina Governor William Moultrie; a nephew was South Carolina Governor James Hamilton Jr. His grandfather was Jonas Lynch from the Galway lines of the Lynch family who were expelled from Ireland following their defeat in the Irish wars of William of Orange.

Early years

He was born at Prince George Parish, Winyah, in what is now Georgetown County, South Carolina, the son of Thomas Lynch. He was schooled at the Indigo Society School in Georgetown before being sent to England, where he studied at Eton College and at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge. He studied law in London, returning to America in 1772.

Revolutionary war

In 1775, on the raising of the first South Carolina regiment of provincial regulars, he was appointed to the command of a company. Having received his commission, he soon enlisted his quota of men, in some of the neighboring counties, and at the head of them took up his march for Charleston. Unfortunately, during the march he was attacked by a violent bilious fever, which greatly injured his constitution, and from the effects of which he never afterwards entirely recovered.

Final years

By the end of the year, neither Lynch was well enough to remain in Philadelphia and they began their trip home. Lynch, Sr. suffered a stroke en route and died in Annapolis, Maryland. Lynch, Jr., did not seek reelection and retired to his home in South Carolina. Late in 1779, he and his wife embarked on a voyage to the south of France in an attempt to regain his health. They first sailed for St. Eustatius in the WestIndies, where they expected to take passage in a neutral ship for the south of France. Their ship never made it to the West Indies; it was lost at sea. Before he departed for his ill-fated voyage, he made a will. The will stipulated that heirs of his sister or female relatives must change their surname to Lynch in order to inherit the family estate. The family estate, Hopsewee, still stands in South Carolina. He was an only child.

Legacy

At the age of 30, Thomas Lynch, Jr,. was the youngest Signer of the Declaration of Independence to die. Because of this, and the fact that he had served in Congress less than a year and was ill most of the time, his autograph is extremely rare. Dr. Joseph E. Fields, a founder and first President of the Manuscript Society, wrote in Manuscripts: The First Twenty Years (Greenwood Press: Westport, 1984) that examples of Lynch's handwriting "are among the rarest in the entire field of Americana...Disregarding signatures," Dr. Fields continues, "there are about four times as many [Button] Gwinnett autographs as there are Lynch autographs." In 1994, Dr. Fields sold collector William Hongach the original wills of Thomas Lynch, Sr. and Thomas Lynch, Jr. Hongach is a noted collector of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence and had assembled three complete sets of the Signers.[1]

Notes

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  • Barthelmas, Della Gray. 1997. The Signers of the Declaration of Independence: A Biographical and Genealogical Reference. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland. ISBN 0786403187
  • Fields, Joseph Edward. 1952. Lynch autographs in South Carolina. S.l: s.n. OCLC 24035573
  • Waln, Robert. 1825. [Thomas Lynch, Jr.]. OCLC 34680609

External links

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