Charles Lynch

Other Events and Attributes:

• Name: Major Charles W Lynch
• Arrival: 1733, , , Virginia, USA

Notes:

The first Charles Lynch ran away from his home in Ireland in 1720 at about the age of fifteen. It is said that as the ship on which he sailed left the coast of Ireland, the boy jumped overboard in an attempt to swim back to his home but was quickly fished out of the water and the voyage was resumed.

On reaching Virginia, Lynch was indentured to a wealthy planter, Christopher Clarke, to pay for his passage across the ocean. Clarke subsequently took a great interest in Charles Lynch and helped to educate him. Lynch studied law and became a good business man. He married Sarah, the daughter of Christorher Clarke, and was the first settler to occupy Lynchburg and its environs.

Lynch can very properly be considered a pioneer when it is remembered that only the Tidewater area of Virginia was relatively well populated. No well-defined line was drawn delineating the frontier, but it is generally conceded that the benefits of civilization extended only about one hundred miles from the coast at the time Lynch moved his family to the frontier region. His first land grant of about 1,000 acres was received in 1731, in Goochland County. By 1750 he had received some twenty grants of land which totaled 10,231 acres.

Lynch was relatively prominent in his county, his name frequently being associated with that of Nicholas Meriwether and Peter Jefferson, father of Thomas Jefferson. He operated a ferry from his plantation in Goochland County across the Northana River. He acted as a trustee with Joshua Fry, William Randolph, and Peter Jefferson for money granted by the General Assembly to clear the Fluvanna River of rocks and make it more navigable. He was comissioned a Captain in the Militia in July, 1745. He served a term in the House of Burgesses from 1748 to 1749 and was appointed to the Committee for Courts and Justice. He was appointed sheriff for Albemarle County in 17499 and was appointed one of the justices of the peace for Albemrle in April, 1752. This list of achievements, from an indentured servant to membership in the House of Burgesses in the space of thirty years, speaks well for his initiative and intelligence and would indicate that Lynch was a conscientious, hardworking individual.

Charles Lynch married Sarah Clarke in 1733, and moved to about one mile south of the present site of Lynchburg. Sarah had become a Quaker in Louisa County so maintained contact with her old church for a number of years, holding silent worship at home with her children when no meeting was near enough to attend. However, her husband was not religiously disposed and seems to have taken no part in the church or family worship. Sarah Lynch raised six children, three of whom became famous: Charles as the author of Lynch Law, John as the founder of Lynchburg, and Sarah Lynch-Terrell as the outspoken opponent of slavery in South River Meeting.

As more settlers moved to the Lynchburg area, Sarah Lynch invited her neighbors to attend silent worship in her home. Enough interest was shown for this group to petition the Cedar Creek Monthly Meeting, their immediate superiors in the Quaker Church organization, for a public meeting place of their own to be called South River Meeting, because of its location on the south side of the James River. Permission was granted in 1754, but these Friends continued to meet in homes until 175?, when Sarah Lynch gave some land to provide a place for building a meeting house. Thus, from a simple family worship grew a substantial church which lasted well over a hundred years and formed the foundations of the city of Lynchburg, for the history of the South River Meeting from 1754 to 1800 is the history of Lynchburg.

Sarah Lynch's influence on her son, Charles, must have been tremendous in his early years as he was very active in Quaker affairs. As proof of the righteousness of this woman, it should be noted that she was appointed an elder for the South River Meeting in June, 1759, a very rare privilege among the orthodox Quakers who only bestowed such honor in exceptional cases, as they preferred to have no hierarchy rather than appoint unworthy individuals to leadership.

Charles married Sarah Clark in 1733 in , Hanover, Virginia, USA. Sarah (daughter of Christopher Clark and Penelope Johnston) was born in 1716 in , New Kent, Virginia, USA; died on 20 Jan 1792 in , Campbell, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Name: Penelope Lynch

Penelope married Robert Adams on 15 Oct 1748 in St Anns, Albemarle, Virginia, USA. Robert (son of Robert Adams and Mourning Fountelroy "Mary" Lewis) was born on 20 Dec 1725 in , Goochland, Virginia, USA; died on 17 Jun 1785 in Lynchburg, Independent Cities, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

As Charles Lynch Jr. grew up, it is reasonable to assume that his parent's activities afforded him an oprortunity to come in contact with law, business, politics, management of a plantation, military life, religion, and possibly a disregard for constituted authority, since the Quakers were not prone to pay homage to anyone as their superior. This last-named trait offers some interesting speculation which may help to show how Charles Lynch Jr. stepped so surely in with other American patriots of the Revolution. It is not known that Charles Jr. bad any formal education. Probably he was taught at home by his mother, and his father certainly could have provided his more technical instruction. 'l:hat few of his letters which have been preserved seem to indicate that he would belong to the planter aristocracy of Virginia, intellectually speaking. Of course, he would not rate with a Jefferson, but was above the average man. Little else is known about Charles Lynch Jr. in early life. The first time his name appears in print is in his father's will, dated October 9, 1752 and proved on May 10, 1753, in which Charles Jr. is designated one of his father's executors. Born in 1736, Charles Jr. was only seventeen at the time of his father's death. According to the terms of the will, Charles Jr. was to receive a good tract of land on the Staunton River, five slaves, and to divide the cattle and hogs at Staunton with his brother, John, in 1757 when the former reached his majority. The cultural background of his parents provided him with good intellectual potent1al and his physical needs and start in life were amply provided for in his father's will.

There is no doubt that Sarah Lynch governed the thinking and activities of her children altogether for several years after the early death of her husband. Certainly, they acquired her interest in religion and the Quaker Church, and Charles was no exception. Even though the South River congregation had been authorized to hold its own public meetings, there were sorr:e proceedings which had to be approved by the Cedar Creek Church until South River was granted an independent status. Accordingly, Charles Lynch and Anne Terrell published their intention of marriage the first time at Cedar Creek Monthly Meeting on December l4, 1754. Likewise, 1n good Quaker tradition, a committee was appointed to Enquire into the said Lynches Clearness and make a report to the next Monthly Meeting. The committee reported the following month that Charles was "clear in relation to marriage" and the marriage was approved. Charles and Anne Terrell were married on January 12, 1755 according to the prescribed form as reported by the committee appointed to attend their wedding.

Attendance at the Cedar Creek Meetings required some little traveling, for it was usually held in Caroline County. Nevertheless, Charles Lynch continued to attend various meetings throughout the next two years as evidenced by his appointment to investigating committees and for permission to sue for just debts.

By March, 1758, the South River community had begun to conduct its own Monthly Meetings, and Lynch had risen in importance enough to be appointed to attend the Quarterly Meetine, representing South River. In addition, he was appointed to take over the job of clerk of the Monthly Meeting, a duty which he performed for about six years and which involved writing the proceedings or each meeting in a journal provided for that purpose. Lynch's name appears frequently ln the records throughout 1758 in various committee assignments and as a rei:resentative to tr.e Quarterly Meeting. In one instance, he and several others were appointed to inquire into the failure of a previous committee to make a certain report about prospective members to the Society from Halifax. Lynch's committee was also a failure for several months, but eventually nade its report in December of that year and along with it, satisfactory reasons for the delay of their investigation. Such checking and double-checking on the assignrents of Quaker committees was not uncommon. Frequently there was delay in reporting. Always, in such cases, another group was appointed to investigate the failure of the first, but if satisfactory explanations were forthcoming, then nothine else was ever said about the failure. 27 The purpose of this illustration is to show further the lengths to which the orthodox Quakers went in governing the affairs of their members, as it rray shed so~ light later on the reasons which caused Charles Lynch to break with the church. During the years 1758 through 1763, Lynch was a veritable pillar of the church community in which he lived. Hardly a month passed without his name appearing in the records as a representative to the Quarterly Meeting, appointment to an investigating committee, appointment to prepare the Quarterly Meeting accounts, to attend regular Quaker meetings and assist them in correct procedure, to prepare testifications against other Quakers who were straying from the straight and narrow path, to prepare or deliver disownments to members who did not repent of sinful acts, to repair the meeting house and secure the title to same bylaw, or to perform miscellaneous duties of the clerk. This was the period of his greatest activity among the Quakers and one which it must be assumed that he entered into wholeheartedly or else he could have found ways to shun the various duties required of him. Several other men stand out as prominent members of this cornrr.unity, but in church affairs Charles Lynch played equally as important a part. It was not until the spring of 1?64 that the first clue appears that possibly Lynch was tiring of his church duties. The entry appears in South River records that Charles Lynch requested to be relieved from his duties as clerk, and one William Chandler was appointed to that station.29 After August, 1764 his name does not appear again to any assignment whatsoever. Possibly one of the greatest factors in Lynch's waning interest for the church was the affair in which his brother Chris torher was involved. No specific account of the charges brought against Christorher Lynch by his brethren is found in the Quaker records except that, "Christopher Lynch being in practices contrary to the principles of Truth" will be disowned unless he can give the meeting satisfaction for his actions, whatever they were. This entry was recorded on July 21, 1764, and although it, my be i::ere coincidence that Charles
Lynch took no active part in the work of the church after August, it is probable that he sympathized with his brother or else had been contemplating leaving the church for some time. The business with Christopher Lynch ended in October, 1?641 when the two Men appointed to treat with him reported that he no longer claimed any right or title among the Quakers. An interesting pursuit was begun in September, 1765 by the Quakers in their attempts to get back the meeting rapers and other business records belonging to the church which had been retained by Charles Lynch since he bad given up hie post as clerk. Boling Clark and VJilliam Candler were appointed to collect the papers and settle various other rratters
with Lynch. For reasons unknown, they were unsuccessful in their task. Several other men were appointed to the committee but each month the record shows them all to be unsuccessful. Almost a year later, on August 16, 1?66, 11The Friends appointed to settle the Meeting tusiness
with Charles Lynch report they could not get the accounts nor settle it any other way than it was. They are therefore discontinued till further direction. 11 32 Here the mltter ended, and it is not yet known if the records in question were ever collected.

October, 1766 brought on the final round with Lynch and the Quakers. The church entered a complaint against Charles Lynch for taking "solemn oaths" and justifying himself in the action. A committee was appointed to persuade him of his error and also to inform him that he would be testified against unless he rr.ade the rroper repentance to the congregatjon. In November the committee reported that Lynch had again justified himself for taking oaths, so several Quakers were designated to draw up a paper of denial against the accused. There are two events that may have led to the raper of denial against Lynch for takinr, oaths. The first occurred on September 23, 1766, when Lynch and two others were appointed by a Bedford County Court order to settle with the executors of William Boyd's est~te to see that a final settleirent of the will was made.34 Such an order rriay have necessitated taking an oath before Lynch could be approved for the assignment. The second event, although not recorded until Deceniber, 1766, by the House of Burgesses, could have occurred before the Quaker car.plaint and thereby have been its cause. The House of Burgesses resolved "That Captain Charles Lynch, ••• being ordered out on err~rgent Occasions, ~nd not havin~
Tirne to raise the full Complement of 1len to entitle him to Captain's pay, ••• ought to be allowed the Pay of a Captain for his said Services."

Lynch's commission as a captain being authorized ry the governrnent, may have involved an oath of alleginnce to England. Even though neither or the events cited are positive illustrations of Lynch's oath taking at this time, both ere plausible. It need scarcely be add~d, that hod Lynch not been disowned for tak1ng oaths, he certainly would have been for participating in the above n:ilitary campaign. Enlistirent in the army or other warlike activities were grounds for disownment by the
Quakers. The paper of disownment was drawn up and read to Lynch in January, 1767, by Eoling Clarke, one of Lynch's closest friends while in the church. Lynch was offered a chance to redeem hirnse1r37 but apr~rently never did, for the final statement in the records reads, 'ffllereas Charles Lynch having been a tr.ernber of the Soci~ty of the People Called Quakers & have Con~rary to our known principles been guilty of taking solemn oaths we do therefore testify against him all such practices and the acter thereof from being any longer a rember of our Society till it may please God to convince him of bis error and work repentanc~ in him by a Godly sorrow which is the Sincere desire of us. It is difficult to say precisely why Charles Lynch broke with his religion after spending about ten very active years among the Quakers
and having been reared a Quaker by his mother. Maybe his father's aloofness from the church had some bearing on his decisi.on. Certainly he was deeply concerned over the disown~ent of Chriotopher Lynch. It is also possible that Lynch develored some skepticism as to the value of Quaker passive resistance jn the face of Indian nnsaacrea about the countryside around 1?6o.39 He may even have turned the Quakers' own disregard of constituted authority against them, had it occurred to him that the church did a good deal of unwarranted meddling into the private affairs of its rrembers. Whatever his reasons, breaking
with the church caused him to radically alter his previous living pattern and enter a variety of activities which he could not have done otherwise.

Mildred married Capt William Ward in 1770 in , , Virginia, USA. Capt (son of John Ward and Anne Chiles) was born in 1745 in , Pittsylvania, Virginia, USA; died on 11 Oct 1826 in , Pittsylvania, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Residence: 1810, Harrisonburg, Independent Cities, Virginia, USA
• Residence: 1820, , Rockingham, Virginia, USA
• Residence: 1830, , Greenbrier, West Virginia, USA
• Residence: 1840, , Fayette, West Virginia, USA

Notes:

Robert Adams Ward
Robert Ward was born between 1770 and 1775 in British controlled Colonial Virginia. Robert Ward on 03 Dec 1804 in Shanandoah County, Virginia where he was married to Nancy Smailes.

Ref: Shenandoah County Marriage Bonds, 1772-1850, page 111.

He enlisted during the War of 1812 in Rockingham County in the First Battalion serving as a Private under Cpt. Samuel Lynn. In 1815, he failed to appear twice at Muster and was fined 75 cents each occurance. In 1816, he failed to attend Muster three times and a imposed fee was 75 cents each time. This failure to appear may have been due to seasonal planting or birth of a child.

Ref: Virginia Valley Records for Genealogy and Historical Materials of Rockingham County, by John Walter Wayland.

Robert lived on Little Beaver Creek in Greenbrier Co.
(Note: This would be in Raleigh County)

Robert owned land in Raleigh Co. located on Loop Creek & New River in 1850.
Notes found 1804 Shenandoah Co, VA
1809 Rockingham Co, VA
1815 Rockingham Co, VA
1820 Rockingham Co, VA
1830 Greenbrier Co, VA
1840 Fayette Co, VA
1850 Raleigh Co, VA

In Greenbrier County (WV) Va Deeds 1780-1814
pg. 18 - #161-62 Sept. 28, 1790 - William Ward & wife Rebecca sold 215 acres for L127 to Robert Houston on Anthony Creek/Greenbrier River.
pg. 19 - #208-09 Sept. 28, 1790 Robert Ward & wife Rebecca sold 288 acres for L177 to Robert Houston on Anthony Creek above & joining the narrows and a 1751 survey of James Ward.

In Greenbrier County (WV) Va Wills 1777-1833
pg.183 - #677-78 - William Henson sale Feb. 1825. John Argabrigh, THOMAS BENNETT, Henry, Cassle, Samuel Flack, John Grey, Thomas Harrah, Henry Hedrick, John Hedrick, Hiram Henson, Sivily Henson, Wm Henson, John Hess, John Holcomb,
Samuel Holcomb, James Huggart, John McCorkle, David Nelson, John Nelson, Henry Numley, Anthony Rader, John Rodgers, Moses Shugh, MATHIAS SMAILS, ROBERT WARD, Samuel Wise.

In the 1820 census, Rockingham County there is a Benjamin Ward living next door to Robert - possibly a brother.

Sometime around 1828 Robert & Nancy moved to Greenbrier County, Va. June 11, 1828 Robert bought 3120 acres (three tracts) of land from Stephen Goodhue of New Hampshire (Bk 12 pg 78) The land was in Greenbrier County on the north side of the New River, including part of War Ridge. An old newspaper clipping says he settled along Little Beaver Creek.

According to Fayette County History by J.T. Peters & H.B. Carden pg 548 Robert Ward & Enos Gwinn were the second
settlers to settle on Bacus mountain then known as Naoma. Robert settled on the ridge in a south-westerly direstion. They built log homes & cleared land for corn.
On Feb 23, Robert & Nancy sold to Nathaniel Berry 100 acres at the end of War Ridge on New River. (Fayette Co Book B 461). On July 9, 1846 Robert (no mention of wife) sold to Wm. Gwinn for the sum of $1.00 1120 acres on the New River (Fayette Co. C 689) Since some of his children show up in Lawrence County OH on the 1850 census he may have been preparing to move to Ohio. August 25, 1858 his heirs listed as Robert Ward, G.L. Ward, Adam Miller, Winsom Davenport, Thomas Ward & William Parker sold 100 acres on the New River
to Wm. Redden, Jr. for $15.00. The deed was drawn up in Lawrence County Ohio & filed in Fayette County. Wm. Redden may have been the husband of Sarah (Salley) Ward & a son-in-law to Robert.
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He died in Raleigh County, Virginia, near Ward's Ridge, approx.1858, and is buried in an unmarked grave at Tilden Community Cemetery.

WILL
This deed made this 25th day of August in the year 1858 between Thomas Ward, Robert Ward, William Parker, Adam Miller, George Ward, Winston Davenport heirs and devises of Robert Ward snr dec'd of the first part and William Redden Jr of the second part, witneseth, that the said parties of the first part for and in consideration of the sum of FIve dollars doth grant unto the part of the second part all their right title and interest in and to certain tract or parcel of land lying in the County of Fayette and state of Virginia on the waters of New River containing by estimation one hundred acres be the same more or less, and bounded as follows to wit, Beginning at an oak a corner of the said lying on the bank of New River thence running up the river to the slippery rock xxx Large Rock lying in the edge of the river on William Gwinn line thence leaving the river and with line of the mentioned to a line of the tract sold by the said Robert Ward Snr to Nathan Berry thence with his line to the old patent lines of the original survey and with said line to the beginning, and it being part of a tract of land of which said Robert Ward dec'd possed. To have and to hold unto the said William Redden Jr. and to his heirs and asigns forever, And the said parties of the first part doth hereby covenant to & with the said party of the second part that they will warrant specially the property hereby conveyed, witness the following signatures & seals.
Robert Ward
G.L. Ward X his mark
Adam Miller
Winston Davenport x his mark
Thomas Ward
William Parker x his mark
Signed in the presence of us
J.J.Handley
Logan Handley and
C.E.Stewart
The state of Ohio
Lawrence County
(Sons Rbt., Thos. Geo. L signed ... Nancy m. Wm. Parker ... Martha/Patsy m. Adam Miller ... Sally m. Wm. Redden... Oletha/Letha m. Davenport ... son William Pascal did not sign, which indicates he died before the 1858 date of deed which all living kids would had to have signed off on (and until 1917 a wife could only transfer with/thru her husband's signature). This land was part of the original land at War Ridge aka Naoma aka Backus and extending down the gorge to New River.

Robert married Nancy Smailes on 3 Dec 1804 in , Shenandoah, Virginia, USA. Nancy (daughter of Thomas Smailes and Mary Marsh) was born in 1784 in , Albemarle, Virginia, USA; died in 1875 in , Raleigh, West Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Sarah married Samuel Smith on 21 May 1792 in , Pittsylvania, Virginia, USA. Samuel (son of Colonel John Marshall Smith and Elizabeth Hopkins) was born in 1765 in Pocket Plantation, Halifax, Virginia, USA; died on 19 Feb 1845 in Clifton Plantation, Bedford, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Residence: 1830, , Pittsylvania, Virginia, USA

Major married Tabitha Hubbard Walden on 20 Nov 1805 in Leesville, Campbell, Virginia, USA. Tabitha (daughter of Charles Ambrose Walden and Elizabeth Mumford Walls) was born on 24 Dec 1789 in , Pittsylvania, Virginia, USA; died on 15 May 1866 in , Pittsylvania, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Mildred married Lynch Dillard on 27 Jan 1810 in , Pittsylvania, Virginia, USA. Lynch (son of Benjamin Dillard and Anne(twin to Agatha) Ward) was born in 1784 in , , Virginia, USA; died on 17 Sep 1849 in , Pittsylvania, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]