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Thomas Lynch was the son of a gentleman of the
same name, and was born on the fifth of August, 1749, at Prince George's Parish,
in the province of South Carolina. The family was an ancient one, and is said to
have originally emigrated from Austria to England, where they settled in the
county of Kent; sometime after which, a branch passed over to Ireland, and
thence some of the descendants removed to South Carolina. The name of the family
is said to have been derived from a field of pulse called lince,
upon which the inhabitants of a certain town in Austria lived, for some time,
during a siege which was laid to it; and from which circumstance they changed
the name of the town to Lince or Lintz, which name was adopted by
the principal family of the place.
The precise period when Jonack Lynch, the great grandfather of Thomas Lynch,
the subject of the present memoir, emigrated from Ireland to America is
uncertain, but, probably, at an early period after the settlement of the colony.
At his death, he left his son Thomas a slender patrimony, which however, by his
industry, and especially by the purchase of a large tract of land, which he
devoted to the cultivation of rice, was increased to a princely fortune. This
fortune, at his death, was left to a son by the name of Thomas, father of the
subject of the present sketch.
At an early age, young Thomas Lynch was sent to a flourishing school, at that
time maintained at Georgetown, South Carolina. Before he had reached his
thirteenth year, his father removed him from this school and sent him to
England, to enjoy those higher advantages, which that country presented to the
youth of America. Having passed some time in the collegiate institution of
Eaton, he was entered a member of the university of Cambridge, the degrees of
which institution he received in due course. On leaving the university, he
sustained a high reputation, both in respect to his classical attainments, and
for the virtues which adorned his character.
This intelligence, communicated by some friend to his father, was so highly
flattering, that he was induced to continue his son abroad for some years
longer, and wrote to him, expressing his wish that he should enter his name at
the temple, with a view to the profession of law. This he accordingly did,
devoting himself with @is characteristic zeal to the philosophy of
jurisprudence, and to the principles of the British constitution.
About the year 1772, after an absence of eight or nine years, young Mr. Lynch
returned to South Carolina. He returned an eminently accomplished man; in his
manners graceful and insinuating, and with a mind enriched with abundant stores
of knowledge, justly the pride of his father, and an ornament to the society in
which he was destined to move.
Although he was eminently qualified to enter upon the profession of law, he
succeeded in persuading his father to allow him to relinquish the pursuit of a
profession which his fortune rendered it unnecessary for him to pursue. Such a
preliminary course was unnecessary to entitle him to the confidence and esteem
of his fellow-citizens. These he at once enjoyed.
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.
On his recovery, he joined his regiment, but was at this time unable, from
the feeble state of his health, to perform the duties of his station according
to his wishes. Added to this affliction, the unwelcome intelligence was received
of the dangerous illness of his father, who was at that time attending in his
place upon congress in Philadelphia. He immediately made the necessary
arrangements to hasten to a dying father, if possible to administer to him the
support and consolation which an affectionate son only could impart. To his
surprise, his application for a furlough for this purpose was denied by the
commanding officer, Col. Gadsden. This disappointment, however, and the
controversy which grew out of the above refusal, were terminated by his election
to congress, as the successor of his father. He now lost no time in hastening to
Philadelphia, where he found his father still living, and so far recovered that
the hope was indulged that he might yet be able to reach Carolina.
The health of the younger Mr. Lynch, soon after joining, congress, began also
to decline with the most alarming rapidity. He continued, however, his
attendance upon that body, until the declaration of independence had been voted,
and his signature affixed to that important instrument. He then set out for
Carolina in company with his father, who had hitherto been detained by feeble
health in Philadelphia; but the father lived only to reach Annapolis, when a
second paralytic attack terminated his valuable life.
After this afflicting event, the son proceeded to Carolina but such was his
own enfeebled state of health, that he had little reason to anticipate the long
continuance of life. A change of climate, in the view of his physicians and
friends, presented the only hope of his ultimate recovery. A voyage to Europe
was at that time eminently hazardous, on account of exposure to capture. A
vessel, however, was found proceeding to St. Eustatia, on board of which,
accompanied by his amiable and affectionate wife, he embarked, designing to
proceed by a circuitous route to the south of France.
From the time of their sailing, nothing more is known of their fate. Various
rumors were from time to time in circulation concerning the vessel in which they
sailed, but their friends, after months of cruel suspense, were obliged to adopt
the painful conclusion, that this worthy pair found a watery grave during some
tempest, which must have foundered the ship in which they sailed.
Although the life of Mr. Lynch was thus terminated, at an early age, he had
lived sufficiently long to render eminent services to his country, and to
establish his character as a man of exalted views and exalted moral worth. Few
men possessed a more absolute control over the passions of the heart, and few
evinced in a greater degree the virtues which adorn the human mind. In all the
relations of life, whether as a husband, a friend, a patriot, or the master of
the slave, he appeared conscious of his obligations, and found his pleasure in
discharging them.
That a man of so much excellence, of such ability and integrity, such
firmness and patriotism, so useful to his country, so tender and assiduous in
all the obligations of life, should have been thus cut off, in the midst of his
course, and in a manner so painful to his friends, is one of those awful
dispensations of Him whose way is in the great deep, and whose judgments are
past finding out.