Edward Lynch

b. circa 1765, d. circa 1814
The following narrative was written and shared by Patricia (Craig) Johnson who has extensively researched the Fields family (contact information at end of report):


Edward Lynch (ca 1765 - ca 1814)
Mary Fielding (bef 1770-1830)


According to family legend, Edward Lynch came from Galway County, Ireland to Philadelphia PA in 1790 with his wife and several children. His wife's name was said to be Miss Fielding. None of this has been documented and no other reference mentions Fielding.

By 1795, the Lynch family had made its way to Southwest Virginia where Edward (sometimes written Edmond) purchased Lot #4 of the inner lots of the city of Abingdon, Washington Co Virginia. 1803 records show they were living in Abingdon on Lot #4. In 1809 they conveyed this lot to their son, Hugh Lynch.

In 1810 the Lynches were counted in the Washington Co VA federal census, where two boys and three girls appeared to be still at home. We surmise that William and James are the boys. The three girls are probably Sallie, Rebecca, and Nancy. Eleanor and Elizabeth are already married and Jane may not be born yet. Edward, a stone-mason, was dead by 1815, since the Widow Lynch paid taxes on part of Lot #4 that year. A Mary Lynch died in December 1830 in Abingdon. Her estate settlement and burial arrangements were handled by a William Lynch whom we believe to be her son. William Henritze, known to be husband of Rebecca Lynch and thus son-in-law of Edward Lynch, was allowed to purchase items from her estate before the public sale. We believe this Mary to be the wife of Edward Lynch and for purposes of this narrative we will refer to Edward's spouse as Mary. Their gravesites have not been found.
Edward and Mary were the parents of nine children for whom we have records:

1. Eleanor "Nellie" Lynch was born in Ireland ca 1785. On 12 Nov 1801, in Abingdon, she married John Andis (Andris-Andres-Anderson). John died in 1840 at age 72. Nellie died 30 Nov 1853. Both are buried in the old Shutters Cemetery in Washington Co VA

2. Hugh Lynch, probably born in Ireland around 1790, came with his parents to Washington Co VA. He is mentioned in court records there until 1815. Later, he resided in Hamilton Co OH with wife, Millie. He died before 1829, and was survived by his wife and children. Sometime after 1829, Hugh's brothers and sisters in Abingdon filed suit against Hugh's widow and children for possession of Lot # 4 in Abingdon. In 1834, the Washington County Court ruled that the lot should belong to the Abingdon heirs of Edward Lynch, deceased. In addition to the name of Hugh as deceased son, this document provides the names of all the living children of Edward Lynch and some spouses as of July 1834.

3. Elizabeth Lynch was born in VA ca 1795. Sometime around 1810, she married William (1) Fields. They were the parents of eight known children. William (1) died in 1829 and Elizabeth in 1851. They are buried in Sinking Spring Cemetery in Abingdon, Washington Co VA.

4. William Lynch, probably born between 1795 and 1800 in VA, was alive in 1834. No gravesite has been found.

5. Sarah "Sally" Lynch, born in VA about 1798, married John Lewis before 1819. Both were alive in 1850. Their gravesites are unknown. Their daughter, Malinda, married John Ragsdale before 1850. John died in 1867 and Malinda married John Henry Martin in 1868. Malinda died 3 Apr 1893. John Henry died 9 Dec 1899. They are buried in the grass covered Martin vault in Sinking Spring Cemetery in Abingdon, Washington Co VA.

6. James Lynch was probably born between 1800 and 1810. He was alive in 1834. No gravesite found.

7. Rebecca Lynch, born ca 1800 in Abingdon, VA and William H. Henritze, born 1780 in Berks Co PA married on 28 Sep 1819 in Abingdon. They had four known, possibly five children. William died in 1851 and Rebecca in 1852. They are buried in Sinking Spring Cemetery in Abingdon, Washington Co VA.

8. Nancy Rutledge Finley Lynch was born 01 Feb 1801 in Abingdon. On 11 Dec 1823 she married Isaac Kreger, in Abingdon. Isaac was born 15 Oct 1795 in Smyth Co. VA to Michael and Christina (Cope) Kreger. Nancy and Isaac lived in Washington Co from 1824 to 1853 where their ten children were born. They were in Roan Co. TN, 1853-1857, and then moved with at least five children to Maysville, Benton Co AR. Nancy died in 1864 and Isaac in 1866. They are buried in the old cemetery at Bentonville, Benton Co. AR. Their oldest child, *John Goodson Kreger, remained in Abingdon, where he became a prominent citizen and served as the Washington County Clerk of Court for many years. His son, John Marshall Kreger, married Eleanor Jane (Nora) Baldwin, daughter of Alice (Fields) Baldwin - thus linking the FIELDS-LYNCH family a second time. Alice was the grand-daughter of William (1) and Elizabeth (Lynch) Fields, who was sister of Nancy (Lynch) Kreger.

9. Jane Lynch was born 1810 in VA. In 1850 she was living with her widowed sister, Elizabeth (Lynch) Fields, whose husband, William (1) Fields had died in 1829. In 1860, Elizabeth was dead and Jane was in the household of her nephew, James Fields, son of William and Elizabeth. It does not appear that Jane ever married and her burial place is unknown.
*******


*The story is told that when John Goodson Kreger learned in December 1864 that the Federal troops were approaching Abingdon, he loaded up what Washington County records he could in a wagon and hid them in a cave outside the city. General George Stoneman, the Union Commander, took possession of the town and moved on, after giving orders to burn only the depot and those places housing Confederate supplies. Later a Federal straggler rode his horse down Main Street with a torch, setting fire to every building on the South side including the courthouse. He sat in the middle of the street with his rifle trained on anyone trying to save the structures. He was finally shot by a Confederate soldier who came around from behind. The fire consumed all the buildings on both sides of Main Street for one full block.

It is apparent that someone saved the records because we were able to identify and document the families of our search by photocopying the handwritten pages from the ancient record books dating back to the late 1700's . PCJ
     
Patricia Craig Johnson
8600 Skyline Dr. Box 1132, Dallas TX 75243
(email link in endnotes)

Family

Mary (?)
For the moment, only Elizabeth has been added as a child of this couple. 
Child
Last Edited22 Mar 2013

Citations

  1. [S2439] Patricia Craig Johnson, "William Fields-Elizabeth Lynch" family group sheet, (e-mail address).