Elizabeth Lynch1
b. circa 1795, d. 14 May 1851
| Father | Edward Lynch1 b. abt 1765, d. abt 1814 |
| Mother | Mary (?)1 |
The following narrative was written and shared by Patricia (Craig) Johnson who has extensively researched the Fields family (contact information at end of report):
William (1) Fields (1781 – 1829) Elizabeth (Lynch) Fields (1795 – 1851) The William Fields who died at Abingdon, Washington County VA in 1829 and is buried in Sinking Spring Cemetery, is the first Fields of our line we have been able to trace. For purposes of clarity in this narrative, he is referred to as William (1). His grave marker gives his age as 48 so a birth date of 1781 can be calculated. His place of birth remains a mystery. He seems to have arrived in Abingdon about 1809 and appears to have married Elizabeth Lynch by 1810. Bible records verify that William, the first of their eight children, was born 21 April 1811. Very little is known of the life of William (1) and his early death is unexplained. He was a brick mason. It was not until his estate appraisal was discovered did we learn that he was also the owner of his own brick making establishment. From various documents we have been able to ascertain that by 1829 he was the father of William, Edward, Sarah Ann, Elizabeth, James, Jacob, and Daniel. His wife, Elizabeth, was carrying their eighth child, David. It is possible that other children were born and died between census enumerations (every ten years) but we are following only those whose records we found. Because no family stories or contemporary writings survive, it is difficult to get a feel for the kind of person William (1) was and of his place in the community. We were delighted, therefore, to come across, purely by chance, the following statement in an un-indexed volume of History of Southwest Virginia and Washington County by Lewis Preston Summers. In an effort to convey conditions existing during the Civil War, Mr. Summers quoted in full a diary kept during 1861 - 1862 by a “very aged citizen of Abingdon”. The un-solicited entry for November 22, 1862 not only reveals the high regard in which the son, William, who died in 1862, was held, but also provides some insight into the life of William (1). Nov. 22 1862 – William Fields died the 22nd of November, 1862, in the fifty second year of his age, no better man has lived or died in Washington County. His father died New Years morning 1829 – just such a man. |
| Elizabeth (Lynch) Fields was born in Virginia about 1795 to Edward and Mary (Fielding) Lynch. The Lynches were a large family of stonemasons who were said to have come to the US from Galway, Ireland around 1790. Deed records show that Edward purchased Lot # 4 in the original plat of the town of Abingdon in 1795, so it is quite possible that Elizabeth was born and grew up in Abingdon. As already stated, Elizabeth and William (1) were married by 1810. The brick making and brick laying business appeared to thrive. Although we have no details of how Elizabeth coped following the death of William (1), a fairly accurate scenario can be envisioned. Sons, William and Edward, ages 17 and 15 endeavored to carry on business as usual. Elizabeth probably had a hand in running things because it was a family enterprise and she provided a home for the young brick masons who were apprenticed to the brick company. William married Eleanor Davidson in 1841 and was busily building up his own clientele. William, James, and David branched out into construction of homes, municipal buildings, and retail establishments over a wide area of Southwestern Virginia. We do not know if they continued to work within the framework of the original Fields brick business or had separate ventures. Daniel, about whom we knew very little at first, went to Tennessee before 1850 to work. He may have partnered with his brothers in their building business before that time. In 1843 William and Edward gave their mother, Elizabeth, “for the rest of her natural life”, some property they owned jointly in Abingdon, consisting of a half acre of land with a house and other buildings. In 1850 Elizabeth was living there with daughter, Sarah Ann, bricklayer sons, Jacob and David, and what we are assuming to be her unmarried sister, Jane Lynch. Also in the household were three apprentices, ages 10 to 12, two young brick masons, employees, no doubt, and Elizabeth’s four slaves – three male and one female. From these bits of data, it would seem that the family weathered the death of William (1) well and the business prospered. Then in 1851 Elizabeth died. She is buried with William (1) in Sinking Spring Cemetery in Abingdon. Her grave marker shows her age to be 65 but all other information points to her as being 56. We think the numbers are trans-posed. No marriage record was found for William (1) and Elizabeth Lynch. Therefore, we tried to establish in some manner that it was really Elizabeth Lynch, daughter of Edward and Mary (Fielding) Lynch who was the wife of William (1) A conveyance dated 8 July 1834 names the heirs of Edward Lynch, deceased, as William Lynch; James Lynch; William Henritze & Rebecca, his wife; John Andres & Eleanor, his wife; Elizabeth Fields; John Lewis & Sally, his wife; Jane Lynch; and Isaac Kriger(sic) & Nancy, his wife. It appears that of the six daughters of Edward Lynch, two do not have husbands. Jane is listed in the census through 1860 as unmarried. We believe this Elizabeth is the widow of William (1) Fields who died in 1829. In the 1850 census, Jane Lynch is in the household of Elizabeth Fields. In the 1860 census, Jane Lynch is in the household of James Fields, son of Elizabeth. |
| On our first trip to Abingdon in 1989, we met wonderful relatives we did not know existed. Virginia (Kreger) Witherspoon, born in 1913 welcomed us warmly to Abingdon. Her grandmother was Alice Fields (Baldwin) the grand-daughter of William (1). Her mother was Eleanor Jane (Nora) Baldwin, daughter of Alice. Virginia was not particularly interested in family research but was full of family “lore”, and produced the bible of her great grandmother Eleanor Davidson Fields. She was delighted to see us and tell us what she remembered. When we questioned her about the Lynch family, she said she had always heard that the Fields and Lynch families were somehow intertwined but could not tell us how. When I found that Virginia’s maiden name was Kreger, we were finally able to make the connection: 1. Edward Lynch – Mary Fielding 2. Daughter Nancy R. F. Lynch married Isaac Kreger 3. John Goodson Kreger, son of Nancy, married Mary Elizabeth Bradley 4. John Marshall Kreger, son of John G. Kreger, mar. Eleanor Jane (Nora) Baldwin 5. Virginia Kreger, John Marshall’s daughter married Raymond Witherspoon 1. Edward Lynch – Mary Fielding 2. Daughter Elizabeth Lynch married William Fields (1) 3. William Fields, son of Elizabeth, married Eleanor Davidson 4. Alice Fields, William’s daughter, married W. T Baldwin 5. Eleanor Jane (Nora) Baldwin, daughter of Alice, married John Marshall Kreger 6. Virginia Kreger, Nora’s daughter, married Raymond Witherspoon Eleanor Jane (Nora) Baldwin married John Marshall Kreger, her second cousin once removed. This linked the FIELDS-LYNCH family for the second time. |
| The quote from Lewis Preston Summers places William (1) clearly as the father of the William Fields whose mother was Elizabeth Fields. William’s siblings were the children of Elizabeth Fields. This was proven by the deed records dealing with the inheritance of their undivided one-seventh interest in their brother Edward’s half of the land where Elizabeth lived. Discussion of these deeds is found in the narratives of the eight children of William (1) and Elizabeth (Lynch) Fields. Patricia Craig Johnson 8600 Skyline Dr. Box 1132, Dallas TX 75243 (email link in endnotes) |
Family | William Fields b. 1781, d. 21 Jan 1829 | |
| Children |
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| Last Edited | 22 Mar 2013 |
Citations
- [S2439] Patricia Craig Johnson, "William Fields-Elizabeth Lynch" family group sheet, (e-mail address).