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LYNCH (JOHN R.) PAPERS


Biography/History:

John Roy Lynch

John Roy Lynch was born into slavery at Tacony Plantation, Concordia Parish, Louisiana, on September 10, 1847, to Patrick Lynch and Catherine (White) Lynch. Patrick Lynch was an Irish immigrant. He was employed as the plantation manager of Tacony. As for Catherine, she was the daughter of Robert and Elizabeth White of Virginia. As a young girl, Catherine was sold to the wealthy planter and owner of Tacony Plantation. John was the youngest of Patrick and Catherine’s three children. Since Louisiana laws forbade those enslaved to sign into a contract, their marriage was not legally recognized. Therefore, Patrick began negotiating the purchase of Catherine and their children. Lynch obtained the title to his enslaved family, but as a result, this negated his ability to provide for them. When Tacony Plantation passed into the hands of Alfred V. Davis, Patrick was not retained as the plantation’s manager. Subsequently, Patrick went to join his brother, Edward, in New Orleans, Louisiana, to seek employment. Prior to his departure, Lynch and Davis agreed that Catherine and their children would remain at Tacony until his return. Shortly after arriving in New Orleans, Patrick became fatally ill. He was able to return to Concordia Parish, where he stayed at the house of his friend, William G. Deal, who was the business manager of a nearby plantation. It was agreed between Patrick, Catherine, and William that ownership of Catherine and their children would be transferred to the latter; with the promise that the family would not be mistreated or neglected in any way. Legal documents were drafted for the transfer of title from Lynch to Deal. Patrick Lynch died on April 19, 1849. Despite his promise to Lynch, Deal sold Catherine and her children to Alfred V. Davis. Once Davis learned of the scheme, he permitted Catherine to hire herself out and remit payment to him in the amount of fifty cents a day for seven days a week. Catherine obliged, and the family was moved to the Dunleith Plantation, Natchez, Adams County, Mississippi. John Lynch was assigned as Davis’ personal valet, while his brother, William, performed the duties of a dining-room servant. In 1863, Union forces invaded and occupied Natchez. As a result, the Lynch family was emancipated.

John Roy Lynch was sixteen years old at the conclusion of the Civil War. Once hostilities ceased, John secured employment as a dining-room waiter in a boarding house. Shortly thereafter, Lynch began working as a cook for the Forty-ninth Illinois Volunteers Regiment of Infantry, United States Army. Lynch served in this capacity for six weeks, until the regiment received orders to leave Natchez. John then found a job as a pantry man working on the government transport, Altamont, which had docked at Natchez. Lynch was employed in this role for several months. However, the job came to an end with the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. Lynch’s next line of work was in the field of photography through the efforts of Dr. Patrick H. McGraw, a friend of John’s father. Dr. McGraw owned the building where the photography business of Hughes and Lakin was located. John began as a messenger, but was promoted to the position of printer within three months. By the summer of 1866, Lynch was the manager of this establishment. In 1869, Lynch’s political career began with his appointment to the position of justice of the peace for the city of Natchez by Governor Adelbert Ames. Later that year, Lynch was elected to the state House of Representatives. Lynch served until 1873, and rose to the position of house speaker during his final year in office. In November 1872, Lynch was elected to the United States Congress, beating out Judge Hiram Cassidy by more than 6,000 votes. As a result of his support for the Civil Rights Bill of 1875, Lynch lost his seat the following year to James R. Chalmers. Lynch attempted to regain his former seat in 1880 but was defeated again by Chalmers. However, Lynch contested the election, and the Committee on Elections ruled in his favor on April 29, 1882. Lynch lost his congressional seat in both the 1882 and 1884 elections to Henry S. Van Eaton. Lynch’s final attempt at reclaiming his seat was in 1886, wherein, he lost to Thomas Stockdale. Lynch remained active in politics by serving as a member of the Republican National Committee from 1884-1889. In 1884, Lynch became the first African American to deliver the keynote speech at the Republican National Convention. Lynch was a delegate to the Republican National Convention held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from June 19-21, 1900. As a participant, Lynch served on the subcommittee that drafted the platform.

On December 18, 1884, Lynch married Ella Wickham Somerville (b. ca. October, 1850 – d. September 4, 1931), daughter of Mathilde (b. December 9, 1832 – d. January 25, 1907) and James A. Somerville (b. May 6, 1806 – d. June 2, 1894) of Mobile, Alabama. From this union, John and Ella Lynch had one daughter. During the early 1890s, Lynch began studying law. He passed the Mississippi State Bar Exam in 1896, and established the law firm of Terrell and Lynch in Washington, D.C. In July 1898, President William McKinley appointed Lynch to the position of Paymaster of Volunteers in the United States army with the rank of captain during the Spanish-American War. During this period, Lynch was stationed in Cuba, Nebraska, Puerto Rico, San Francisco, Hawaii, and the Philippines. By 1906, Lynch had been promoted to the rank of major. Lynch went on to serve in this capacity until retiring in 1911. Lynch’s final position within the federal government was as registrar of the Federal Land Office.

After retiring from the military, Lynch, who had been divorced since 1900, married Cora Williamson on August 12, 1911, and the couple moved to Chicago, Illinois. While in Chicago, Lynch established a law practice and became involved in the real estate sector. In 1913, Lynch published, The Facts of Reconstruction. This publication refuted the prevailing narrative that framed the period of Reconstruction as being a failure. In both 1917 and 1918, Lynch published two articles for the Journal of Negro History, which challenged statements made by historian, James Ford Rhodes, concerning the period of Reconstruction. These articles evolved into the 1922 publication, Some Historical Errors of James Ford Rhodes. John Roy Lynch died on November 2, 1939, shortly after completing his autobiography, Reminiscences of an Active Life, which was published in 1970. Lynch was interred at Arlington National Cemetery. On December 12, 1956, Lynch was elected to the Mississippi Hall of Fame at a special meeting of the board of the trustees of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. Lynch’s portrait, which was painted by Betsy Salisbury Creekmore, was presented to the Mississippi Hall of Fame on February 26, 1995, at the Old Capitol Museum.

Scope and Content:

The Lynch (John R.) Papers include two letters from John Roy Lynch to R.E. Meilson, a note from Lynch to an unknown recipient, and a two page autobiographical sketch of John Roy Lynch.