LOT Old Heritage Auctions  /  2007 October Rare Books & Manuscripts #675  / 

30092

Declaration Signer Th. Lynch Jr Holographic Will

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:35,000.00 USD Estimated At:40,000.00 - 60,000.00 USD
Declaration Signer Th. Lynch Jr Holographic Will
<B>Declaration Signer Thomas Lynch Jr. (and Sr.) Holographic Wills.</B></I> Autograph Documents, ten pages total, folio. Thomas Lynch, Jr. (1749-1779), was a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence as a representative of South Carolina. <BR><BR>He was born in Winyah, Prince George's County, South Carolina, the son of Thomas Lynch. He was schooled at the Indigo Society School in Georgetown before being sent to England, where he studied at Eton College and at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge. He studied law in London, returning to America in 1772. He became a company commander in the 1st South Carolina regiment in 1775 and was elected to the Continental Congress, joining his father, Thomas Lynch, Sr., as a member of the South Carolina congressional delegation. It is thought that he was sent to Philadelphia to take care of his father who had suffered a stroke in January. In 1775, Captain Thomas Lynch, Jr. had contracted bilious fever while serving in North Carolina, and, although still ill himself, made the trip from South Carolina to Philadelphia to serve his father, his colony, and his country in the midst of the American Revolution. He attended meetings through the summer, voting for and signing the Declaration of Independence. Of the 56 Signers, only fellow South Carolinian Edward Rutledge was younger than Thomas Lynch, Jr., just three months younger. Both were 27-years-old. Thomas Lynch, Sr, was too ill to attend either the voting or the signing. By the end of the year, neither Lynch was well enough to remain in Philadelphia and they began their trip home. Lynch, Sr. suffered a stroke en route and died in Annapolis, Maryland. Lynch, Jr., did not seek reelection and retired to his home in South Carolina. Late in 1779, he and his wife embarked on a voyage to the south of France in an attempt to regain his health. They first sailed for St. Eustatius in the West Indies, where they expected to take passage in a neutral ship for the south of France. Their ship never made it to the West Indies; it was lost at sea. Before he departed for his ill-fated voyage, he made a will. The will stipulated that heirs of his sister or female relatives must change their surname to Lynch in order to inherit the family estate.<BR><BR>At the age of 30, Thomas Lynch, Jr,. was the youngest Signer of the Declaration of Independence to die. Because of this, and the fact that he had served in Congress less than a year and was ill most of the time, his autograph is extremely rare. Dr. Joseph E. Fields, a founder and first President of the Manuscript Society, wrote in <I>Manuscripts: The First Twenty Years</B></I> (Greenwood Press: Westport, 1984) that examples of Lynch's handwriting "are among the rarest in the entire field of Americana...Disregarding signatures," Dr. Fields continues, "there are about four times as many <B>utton Gwinnett autographs as there are Lynch autographs." In 1994, Dr. Fields sold collector William Hongach the original wills of Thomas Lynch, Sr. and Thomas Lynch, Jr. Hongach is a noted collector of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence and had assembled three complete sets of the Signers.<BR><BR>On October 5, 1994, Dr. Fields wrote Hongach, in part (copy of this letter included in lot), "The wills are enclosed...There are two wills - Lynch Sr. and Lynch Jr. The wills have much deteriorated since I have had them. I patched them with scotch tape in the days before we knew how harmful it was..." Dr. Fields told Hongach how he obtained the wills from the Lynch family. Sabina Lynch (1747-1812) was the elder sister of Thomas Lynch, Jr. Her second husband was John Bowman. Their daughter, Sabina Bowman, married Paul Desmukes of Nashville and had nine children. One of their daughters, Sarah Desmukes, married Col. John McCrady, Professor of Mathematics and Zoology at the University of the South. They had five children. One of their four daughters was Katherine DeBernier McCrady. Katherine McCrady, the great-granddaughter of Thomas Lynch, Jr.'s sister Sabina, never married. She was known as Aunt Katherine to the family. Dr. Fields continues, "'Aunt K' never married. When I knew her she was in her 80s. I am certain she has been deceased many years. I last saw her in 1947. She spent most of the time reading about the Lynches and all their progenitors. She had three books that once belonged to the Signer - all three autographed (Alexander Pope's works)... In addition she had two letters from T.L. Sr & T.L. Jr. while at Cambridge or Eton (can't remember which). Over the years the old lady had read & re-read them many times. They were folded over & over into a small packet. She would get them out several times a week. Consequently they were in about 20 pieces. She would get them together like a jig-saw puzzle in order to read them. She asked me to make her a copy of them so that she could read them easily. It took me an entire afternoon to do so - later I sent her a type-script. She then gave me the tattered remains of the wills for my effort. Apparently she or her mother (probably the latter) had cut signatures from the document. I tried to buy the books from her, but her nephew wouldn't allow her to sell them... Dr. McCrady had a national reputation as a spelunker... adamant in not selling his family heirlooms...."<BR><BR>The two wills were in many pieces from folding and unfolding as well as the result of cutting out Lynch's signatures (Sr. & Jr.) and the name "Lynch" wherever it appeared. Because of this, each is incomplete. The wills have been expertly restored. The will of Thomas Lynch, Sr. is on both sides of a 9.5" x 15" sheet and both sides of a 9" x 8" sheet, four pages in all. In part, "<I>for the term of her widowhood the use of the following Negroes Viz Betty, Dandy, Seylla, big Dinah, and her Daughter Juno, and I declare that I give these Legacies in Lieu of her Dower and of every other claim she has or may have to any part of my Estate, Real or Personal... I give and bequeath, all my personal Estate... to be equally divided between my Son cut out & my Daughters Sabina, Esther & Elizabeth....</B></I>"<BR><BR>The will of Thomas Lynch, Jr. is on both sides of three sheets, six pages in all. Two measure 9" x 14.75"; the third sheet is 9.5" x 13.75". In part, "<I>given & bequeathed to my Wife on the Contingency of my dying without a Child, the Use of one third of the Sum whi ch might arise from the Sale of my Negroes. ..during her Widowhood. And whereas I have given her on the contingency of my having a Son & of Negroes not averaging more than one thousand Pounds...And whereas I have given her on the Contingency of my not having a Son...the Use of seventy of my Negroes....</B></I>" He continues, "<I>for the first Son lawfully issuing, & for Default of such Issue then to the Use and Behoof of the second, third, fourth, fifth sixth & of all & every...of my said Daughter...Provided that each Son or Sons of my said Daughter take & use the Surname cut out & no other, & in Case the...who in Law would be entitled to the said Plantations...shall refuse or neglect to take the same or shall use any other then it is my desire that such Person be considered as dead & I desire that the Plantation shall go over to the Person next in Succession who shall take the said Surname & use no other....</B></I>"<BR><BR>It is interesting to note that Thomas Lynch, Jr.'s sister Sabina had three daughters and one son. Her son John Bowman changed his surname to Lynch and had three sons; each was unmarried and killed in the Civil War. The witnesses to this will were Jacob Motte, Thomas Shubrick Jr., and William Pagett Tonge. Motte (1729-1780) was the brother of Thomas Lynch, Jr.'s stepmother. Shubrick (1710-1779) was Lynch, Jr.'s father-in-law. Tonge was the son of the Rev. John Tonge. After Thomas Lynch, Jr. was lost at sea, his will was "<I>Proved before Charles Lining Esq. O.C.T.D. June 5, 1783</B></I>" and on "<I>June 13 1783. Qualified Revd Robert Smith Esq.</B></I>" Each a legal term, "proved" meant that it was established as valid (probate) and "qualified" meant it was certified to be legal. It took years before it was known that Thomas Lynch, Jr. and his wife never made it to the West Indies or to France.<BR><BR>In <I>Manuscripts: The First Twenty Years,</B></I> Dr. Fields notes "from an examination of the Lynch autographs it is apparent that there are rather wide variations in the signatures." Even a cursory examination of the three known Thomas Lynch, Jr. Autograph Letters Signed: the September 7, 1775 letter in the Morgan Library in New York City, the March 1, 1776, letter owned by Thomas Lingenfelter (valued at $200,000), and the July 5, 1777, letter reproduced in Charles Hamilton's <I>American Autographs,</B></I> reveals there are wide variations in his handwriting as well.<BR><BR>After an exhaustive study of the known Lynch, Jr., handwritten letters and a comprehensive analysis of and comparison with the Thomas Lynch, Jr. document herewith presented, coupled with the knowledge that the will came from the Lynch family through Dr. Joseph E. Fields, one of the foremost expert on Signers of the Declaration of Independence (especially Thomas Lynch Jr.), and the collection of William Hongach, who had assembled a complete collection of the signatures of the Signers, and close to complete collections of Signer letter/documents and books signed by the Signers, it is clear that this will is indeed handwritten by Thomas Lynch, Jr., Signer of the Declaration of Independence. Each page expertly restored.<BR><BR><b>Shipping:</b> Requires 3rd Party Shipping (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.heritageauctions.com/common/shipping.php">view shipping information</a>)
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