Founding Fathers & Sons

Who’s your Daddy? 

I apologize for using a clichéd phrase to introduce this blog, but the topic is anything but dull. During the American War for Independence, many father-son pairs served together, especially in local militia units that appeared and disappeared with the shifting tides of conflict. Some, however, fought at the highest levels of the Revolution. With Father’s Day coming up, I thought it would be worthwhile to highlight a few of these extraordinary duos. To keep things brief, I’ll be sharing these stories in three separate blogs this week, so stay tuned!

Part One

A Pair of Irishmen from the Palmetto State

This pair of First Patriots hails from South Carolina, originally from Ireland. Jonas Lynch fought alongside the Irish in their brave yet doomed stand against William of Orange's forces. The final resistance to William's mercenary army surrendered after the siege of Wexford in 1691. Many fled to France, hoping to support the cause under the French king. Unlike many Irish expelled from their homeland following the defeat in the Irish wars, Jonas Lynch made his way to America. He became a successful planter. His son, Thomas, was born in Berkeley County in 1727.

Thomas Lynch Sr. also worked as a planter and owned extensive rice fields along the Santee River and other waterways, as well as a vast estate known as Hopsewee Plantation on the North Santee River. He became the second-wealthiest man in the colony. Lynch was also a leading statesman, serving in the South Carolina Colonial Legislature and representing South Carolina in the Stamp Act Congress of 1765, where he headed the committee that drafted the petition to the House of Commons and served as a delegate to both the first and second Continental Congresses. Lynch Sr. likely signed the Declaration of Independence, representing South Carolina. Sadly, he suffered a massive stroke early in 1776. With his father incapacitated, the South Carolina Assembly appointed his son, Thomas Lynch Jr., to succeed him. 

Thomas Lynch Jr. was born in 1747 at his family's Hopeswee Plantation. Unlike his father, he had access to a top-tier education, attending prestigious schools in America before going to Eton and Cambridge, where he studied law in London. He returned to America, married well, and took up planting like his father. As the son of one of the most passionate revolutionaries and influential men in the colony, Lynch Jr. naturally became very interested in politics and enjoyed strong support from the voters. 

Thomas Lynch Junior

During the years 1774-76, while his father served in the Continental Congress, Thomas Jr. contributed on the home front by attending the first and second provincial congresses, the first State legislature, and serving on the State constitutional committee. In 1775, the younger Lynch took a captaincy in the First South Carolina Regiment of Continentals. This upset his father, who hoped to influence a higher rank for his son. Unfortunately, young Captain Lynch contracted bilious fever, an intestinal ailment, while on recruiting duties in North Carolina. Incapacitated, he had to give up his early military career. 

Triumph and Tragedy

However, when Thomas Sr.’s condition in Philadelphia became critical in the spring of 1776, South Carolina’s Assembly sent Thomas Jr. to the Continental Congress. Despite his own serious health issues, the younger Lynch dutifully traveled to Philadelphia, where he stayed throughout the summer. During that revolutionary season, it was the younger Lynch, not his father, who voted for and signed the Declaration of Independence. The Lynches were the only father-son pair to serve together in the Continental Congress at the same time.  

However, personal tragedy followed political triumph, and more blows were yet to come to the father and son, the First Patriots. Both Lynches’ health worsened, and by the end of the year, they headed homeward. Thomas Sr. never made it back. En route, in Annapolis, MD, a second stroke took the life of the elder Lynch. Thomas Jr. returned home a broken man—physically and emotionally. 

Late in 1779, he and his wife went to France in an effort to regain his health. They sailed for the Dutch island of St. Eustatius in the West Indies to find a ship back across the ocean, but a storm struck, and their ship was lost at sea. This was common during the age of sail, but the tragedy is not just personal (Thomas Jr. left no male heirs). The loss of the father and son was a blow to the young nation, which could have benefited from the talents and dedication of the Lynches of South Carolina.

The Harbor at Saint Eustatius