Founding Fathers & Sons

Who’s your Daddy? 

I apologize for using a clichéd phrase to introduce this blog, but the topic is anything but trite. Throughout the American War for Independence, many father-son pairs served together, particularly in local militia units that emerged and disappeared with the changing tides of conflict. Some, however, fought at the highest levels of the Revolution. With Father’s Day approaching, I thought it would be worthwhile to profile a few of these remarkable duos. To keep things concise, 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 valiant yet hopeless 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, where they hoped to take up the cause under the King of France. Unlike so 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 engaged in planting 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 the leading statesman in the colony, serving in the Colonial Legislature of South Carolina and representing South Carolina in the Stamp Act Congress of 1765, which included heading the committee that drafted the petition to the House of Commons and serving as a representative to both the first and second Continental Congresses. Lynch Sr. would have been a signer of the Declaration of Independence representing South Carolina. Unfortunately, he suffered a massive stroke in the early part of 1776. With the father struck down, the South Carolina Assembly named his son, Thomas Lynch Jr., to take his place. 

Thomas Lynch Junior

Thomas Lynch Jr. was born in 1747 at his family's Hopeswee Plantation. Unlike his father, he had the advantage of a world-class education, attending elite schools in America before going to Eton and Cambridge, where he studied law in London. He returned to America, made a grand marriage, and took up planting like his father. As the son of one of the most fervent revolutionaries and influential men in the colony, Lynch Jr. naturally took a keen interest in politics and enjoyed strong support from the electorate. During the years 1774-76, while his father served in the Continental Congress, Thomas Jr. worked on the home front, attending the first and second provincial congresses as well as the first State legislature and serving on the State constitutional committee. In 1775, the younger Lynch accepted a captaincy in the First South Carolina Regiment of Continentals. This upset his father, who hoped to use his influence to obtain a higher rank for his son. Unfortunately, young Captain Lynch contracted bilious (an intestinal ailment) fever while on recruiting duties in North Carolina. Incapacitated, he was forced to abandon his nascent military career. 

Triumph and Tragedy

However, when Thomas Sr.’s condition in Philadelphia proved grave in the spring of 1776, South Carolina’s Assembly sent Thomas Jr. to the Continental Congress. Despite his own significant medical issues, the younger Lynch dutifully traveled to Philadelphia, where he remained throughout the summer.  During that revolutionary season, it was the younger Lynch, not the father, who got to vote for and sign the Declaration of Independence.  The Lynches were the only father-son team that served concurrently in the Continental Congress.  

But personal tragedy followed political triumph, and more blows to the father and son, the First Patriots, were yet to come. 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 headed to France in an attempt 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 a common occurrence 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 team was a loss for the fledgling nation, which could have used the considerable talents and dedication of the Lynches of South Carolina.

The Harbor at Saint Eustatius