An old folk song called, "Oh! Susanna" was penned by a man who was consoling a girl, whose heart he had broken, she probably wishing to marry him ,but he was 'going to Alabama with a Banjo on my Knee.'
Published in 1848 by Stephen Foster, this wailing ode to broken hearts spoke to many a young travelor bound for parts unknown, searching for that lumonous American Dream. A nascent desire, driven by the eustress of survival and the desire of wealth, drove numbers of young men to absquatulate and journey south, west and even northwest, longanimity and perserverance, from sea to shining sea.
John W. Lynch was such a young man with the persistence and drive to leave his epigraph on the stones of history, and indeed, he succeeded in leaving his name on one, a tomstone.
He was born on February 8, 1799, in Anson County, North Carolina, and I know that fact from that very stone. The first mention of his name in records, was within the Will of his father, Phillip Lynch, dated 1807, when John was yet a small boy of eight. The second came a decade later, when John was about 18.
November 25, 1817, William Terry of Cumberland County, North Carolina sold to Martin Pickett all of his interest in in Lot number One in the town of Wadesboro, sold by Nelson P. Jones to Leak Pickett & Company. Witnesses were Tod Robinson & John W. Lynch. Proved by the oath of Toddy Robinson in 1818, Book 2, Page 25. Now knowing Tod Robinson married a Terry and Pickett was also an associated family name of the Robinsons, both of these men must have been family members of Tod Robinson.
John W. Lynch had close ties to Tod Robinson and his father Phillip, had a connection to 'Tirey' or Terry Robinson. Tod Robinson was the son of Cornelius Robinson and Elizabeth Pickett. He married Martha Terry, daughter of James Terry. Despite the name being seen as 'Tirey' and other shapes and spellings, it was also seen as 'Terry', which I believe is correct. Was there an earlier Terry union in the Robinson family? Terry was a man, and found in the earliest records of Anson.
| Name | Terey Robinson |
|---|---|
| State | North Carolina |
| County | Anson |
| Township | Tax List |
| Year | 1763 |
The 1763 Tax
| Name | Tirey Robinson |
|---|---|
| Gender | M (Male) |
| State | North Carolina |
| County | Anson County |
| Residence Year | 1780 |
| Household Remarks | Name on a petition, 19 April 1777, to the Senate, etc., from the “inhabitants of the Upper End of the County of Anson” asking that the county be divided since the county has “grown popolo." |
The 1777 petition,
But in the 1790 census, Phillip had a neighbor named "Jeremiah" Robinson and I believe "Terry" may have been "Jerry" and the "J" mistaken for a "T".
On August 12, 1819, Toddy Robinson gave his location as Cumberland County and began dividing out enslaved people to his children.
Book S, page 408 Toddy Robinson of Cumberland County 'to my son Eli Robinson for natural good will and affection "....Billy, Jacke, Lydia, Cressy and her children, Vinson, Sampson, Eliza & Phoebe. Signed Tod Robinson, witnessed by John W. Lynch.
And so it went...
Toddy Robinson (Jr.) received Jordan, John, Gilbert, Jacob, Shary, and Rachel and her children, Malinda and Tom.
Signed by Tod, witnessed by John W. Lynch.
Ann T. Robinson received Big Ben and his wife, Phyllis, little Moses, little Mary, and Easter.
William Robinson received Isham, Davie, Daniel, Martha, Lucy and Solomon and his wife Anne and their children, Henry and Dick.
Cornelius Robinson received Little Ben, Lewis, Little John, Charles, Jim, Betty, and her child, Rufus and Sally and her child, Sender.
All dated August 12, 1819, all found in Book S, pages 408-410, all signed by Toddy Robinson and all witnessed by John W Lynch.
In 1798, David Love, who was the grantor of property in several deeds involving John W. Lynch's father, Phillip and many of his near neighbors, is seen in Deed F Page 153, as having moved to Green County, Georgia and selling property back in Anson to Toddy Robinson and Eli Terry, his relative.
1825 William R Pickett, another kinsman of Toddy Robinson is in Autauga County, Alabama and selling his Anson holdings to Jeptha Gulledge, 3 adjoining tracts of 400 acres, neighbors mentioned were William Rorie, John Stanfield of Faulkner relation, John Jackson, Yarborough and Hezekiah Rorie. Places mentioned were Lick Branch and Thompson Creek. Witnesses were Thomas Coleman and John W. Lynch, proved by John's signature in October of 1826.
October of 1826 is when the deed that informs us that John W. Lynch, himself had moved to Alabama, banjo on his knee or not,. John W. Lynch of the town of Washington, Alabama, sold to Thomas Waddill the 36 acres on the west side of the Rocky River that joined that of his sister and brother-in-law, Betsy and Oliver Coppedge, being land allotted to me fron land of Phillip Lynch, deceased and known on division plat as lot # 5. ' Signed by John and witnessed by Clement Marshall, Book V Page 386.
The very next deed involved the siblings of Darling Allen, Jr. as they divided the land of their deceased father, Darling Sr.. Darling Jr. had married Catherine "Catey" Lynch.
In the next few years, John seemed to have began what appeared to be an auspicious future. He had been appointed a Justice of the Peace in Jackson, Alabama. And then he died.
| Name | John W. Lynch |
|---|---|
| Birth Date | 8 Feb 1799 |
| Death Date | 28 Feb 1833 |
| Cemetery | Doster Family Cemetery |
| Burial or Cremation Place | Prattville, Autauga County, Alabama, United States of America |
| Has Bio? | N |
John was buried at the Doster Family Cemetery in Prattville, Autauga County, Alabama. I don't think he had any particular ties to the Doster family. He was a young man, days from being 34. There is no indicated of what caused his death, but it wasn't sudden. John knew he was dying. He wrote a Will, uncommon for men of his age.
And guess who was the Executor of his estate? None other than Toddy Robinson. I have no doubt that it was his connection wtih Tod Robinson that brought him to Autauga. With no known familial ties to the Robinson family, I wonder how John had formed such an insoculated relationship with Tod Robinson and family?
John's Will, however, gave much appreciated insight into his own family.
I hereby appoint Tod Robinson senior, William Wyatt and (Lop?) Porter all of the county aforesaid to be Executors.l
Note: In the actual probate papers that would follow, a few months down the road, the three would consist of William Wyatt, Tod Robinson and Peyton Bibb, with Tod Robinson being the primary
John claimed to owe, one debt, to wit - a draft on William Wyatt, accepted by him in favor of Chase Truett of New York, payable in Mobile for $1500.... And then a debt owed Wick and Chernman of New York for $600-$700.
To my brother Edmund Green Lynch of Anson County, North Carolina, I give and bequeath one fourth part of the residue & remainder of my property after payment of the debts aforesaid
To my sister Sarah wife of William Cawthon of Henderson Co. Tennessee. I give & bequeath one fourth part.....
To William Cawthon husband of my said sister Sarah I give and bequeath one fourth...to be held in trust by the said William Cawthon for the use of my other sister Eliza wife of Oliver Coppedge of Henderson County, Tennessee....Wm Cawthon shall hold said property in trust for the sole and separate use of my said sister Eliza & her children.
To the three children of my deceased sister Catherine wife of Darling Allen, and to James G Nash the son of my other deceased sister Nancy I give & bequeath one fourth part....to be equally divided between them to be paid to them as soon as they come to the age of 21 years or marry.
My will & desire is that all my clothes and wearing apparel be packed up & sent to my brother in North Carolina with the exception of one camel cloak faced with Ermine which I present to William Wyatt.
I give to my brother Edmund G Lynch.
In testimony.....this 22nd day of February AD 1833.
John Lynch signed his name with a legible, flowing signature that was testimate to the fact that not only had he written his own will, and not an attorney, but he was an educated man.
Witnesses were D. Go lightly, John W. Wishon and R Caruthers.
A few months later, in April, David Golightly swore that he had witnessed the Will and that his friend, John, had been of sound mind and memory, and that he, John W. Withers and Robert Caruthers witnessed it.
John W. Lynch was a young man with no wife, no children, a little bit of property, some debts, and a good coat. Fortunately, he had some good and impressive friends. Had he lived and thrived in this fertile part of Alabama, he may have made his fortune, and left impressions upon history as did his associates.
He did leave us with some information about his family, however, that would correct a few inconsistencies. First, we know he outlived his two sisters, Catherine Lynch Allen and Nancy Lynch Nash. That totally refutes the ongoing theory that Nancy Nash who had a relationship with Benjamin Hudson was Nancy Lynch Nash. Apparently, Stephen and Nancy had both died young, leaving one son, John W. Lynch. Also that Catey Lynch Allen was the mother of three children, so Darling Allen's three oldest would also be Catey's.
We know that at the time of John's death, Edmund Green Lynch still lived in Anson County. Green was the one still taking care of their mother and his father's lands. We can also safely assume that John trusted and liked his brother-in-law, William Cawthon, husband of Sarah Lynch, but didn't trust Oliver Coppedge, the husband of his sister Betsy, at all.
William Conquest "Bucky" Wyatt, who ultimately settled John Lynches estate, was a contemporary of his, born in 1796 in South Carolina. He made his way to Autauga through Georgia, marrying twice, to Elizabeth Baggett and Marianne Right (Wright). By Marianne, he had five sons.
He may have originally settled in or around Washington, and in the 1840's, he was appointed a Justice of the Peace, like John Lynch had.
Bucky was the son of a Baptist Minister, William Wyatt. Bucky's sister, Mary, married a Mr. Bibb who moved to Autauga and probably spurred Bucky's arrival there. Their son, William Wyatt Bibb, became the first Governor of Alabama when it became a state in 1819.
William Conquest Wyatt, was living in Chestnut in 1850, and died in Prattville in 1852. His family had ties to a Robinson family while in Georgia. I can't help but think that the Chilton Georgia Robinson were probably related to the Anson, NC Robinsons in some way
All of John Lynches associates were from well-connected, well-educated and civiclly- involved families. Prosperous, Old South Plantation families. I can't help but feel the Lynches were from the same ilk, ground from the same stone, but doomed to a touch by the death of their father while the children were yet young.
Lastly, after his earlier association with Toddy Robinson, it can be a solid theory that his relationship there took him to Autauga. Was he an employee perhaps? Robinson was a wealthy man.
Robinson died not too long after John, but was clearly a much older man. Had he taken John under his wing, as John was a small boy when his own father, Phillip Lynch, had died. Above is a newspaper clipping concerning the estate of Tod Robinson, Sr. Several years after his death.
Tod Robinson had founded or 'found' a lovely spring site that still beats his name. A bit of his about it from Alabama Surnames Expanded ", below.
A church built at the site still stands and bears the name. Tod Robinson traveled a great deal, while this memorial places him in Autauga before 1820, he also clearly lived in Anson County, NC during those years. He served as Clerk of Court for a long time and can be found in both Anson and Richmond County records. His last feed in Anson placed him as a resident of Fayetteville and from there, he may have launched to Alabama, by way of the Cape Fear.
Tod set up his children to succeed in life. Cornelius, named for Tod's own father, is memorialized in NCpedia as
"Cornelius Robinson
25 Sept. 1805 - 29 July 1867
....planter, commission merchant, and Confederate Congressman, was the son of Tod Robinson, Wadesboro, Anson County, planter and his wife, Martha Terry. '
His maternal grandfather was James Terry, a prominent Anson County Tory. Young Cornelius received his LL.B. from The University of North Carolina in 1824 but never practiced law.
Sometime prior to 1828 he was lured out of his native North Carolina by the booming cotton economy of the Alabama Black Belt. Settling in the central Alabama county of Lowndes, Robinson soon established himself as a planter. On 3 Jan. 1828, in Montgomery, he married Martha Owen DeJarnette, an Anson County native of Huguenot descent. Little is known about his antebellum business career except that he also had commission house interests in Mobile. Robinson served in the state militia; during the Seminole War of 1836 he was captain of Lowndes County's Benton Company, and later he rose to the rank of brigadier general.
Politically, he was a staunch Democrat who became a fierce Southern rights advocate as agitation over the issue of slavery in the territories intensified. Robinson, along with other radical Southern rights men, opposed the Compromise of 1850 because it failed to guarantee the South permanent equality with the North in the Federal system. Incensed by Third District Alabama Congressman Sampson W. Harris's support of the compromise, Robinson ran against the incumbent in the election of 1850. Harris, a bold Southern rights Democrat who suddenly found himself branded an unprincipled political opportunist by many of his former allies, won a narrow victory over Robinson and Unionist Democrat William S. Mudd.
Despite his defeat, Robinson's devotion to the Southern rights cause never faltered. Living between Montgomery and Cahaba, two urban strongholds of Southern rights extremism, he was drawn into the orbit of some of Alabama's most radical Southern rights leaders. Ultimately, he was elected to represent Lowndes at the Alabama convention of 1861 as an advocate of immediate secession.
After the Confederacy was formed, Robinson replaced John Gill Shorter in the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States when Shorter was chosen governor of Alabama. However, Robinson served in Congress for less than two months (30 Nov. 1861–24 Jan. 1862), resigning because his health prevented him from making the trip to Richmond for the next session. During the Civil War, he served briefly on General Braxton Bragg's staff before failing health again forced his resignation. Returning to his home in Lowndes County, Robinson continued his planting operations even after the Confederacy's death in 1865. He died on his plantation, outliving his beloved Confederacy by only a little more than two years.
The Robinsons were everything hated about the confederacy and the South.
The Robinson Family Bible sustained the names and dates of the lives of Tod, Martha and their prestigious prodigy.
Copied in the 1930's by Francis Kathleen Robinson Garrett, the Bible had obviously been maintained by Martha, Mrs. Robinson. She recorded her parents, James Terry and Nancy Ann Roberts, and named her grandparents. Both of her grandmother's, Nancy Raiford Terry and Mourning Raiford Roberts, were of course, Roberts. The old Southern hierarchy followed the way of the Aristocrats back in Europe, keeping wealth and property in the family. That's why we also find certain family groups so inosculated with each other.
The Robinsons had eight children, James Terry, named for his maternal grandfather; Hannah Pickett, named for her father's maternal line, another James Terry, born four years after the first, appearing like the first little boy died young. Yes they did that.They were followed by a William, Ann Terry, Cornelius, named for Tod's father, Eli Terry, named for Martha's brother and Tod Robinson, Jr.
Tod's father Cornelius was a Captain in the Revolution in the Anson County Regiment, quite the opposite of Martha's father. The family entanglement seems to have gone back quite far. The Robinsons were from Augusta County, Virginia before their arrival in Anson County, NC. A deed shows that Tod's grandfather, Charles Robinson Sr., had purchased land before 1750. On June 25, 1750, Charles Sr. bought 42 acres from his son, Charles Jr., on Little River. Not long after, Cornelius, Tod's father, purchased 360 acres on the Pee Dee River from William Terry, formerly of Lunenburg County, Virginia. Tod would later marry into the Terry family.
Below is an excerpt from Tod's Will.
The town of Washington, Autauga, Alabama, where the Anson County deed Book V, Page 386, told us John Lynch lived in when he sold his Anson holdings, is reported as being settled by Wade Hampton Cox, a ferryman who operated a tavern, merchantile and ferry crossing on the Alabama River. His ferry was the first on the river and for a time was the main path between Montgomery and the western part of the state.
A published description of Washington by early Autauga historian Shadrack Mims describes it as a 'flourishing village, affording a lively business for three to four dry goods stores ' during the years John W. Lynch would have been a citizen, the late 1820's and early 1830's.
The first cabin, or resident, appeared in 1817, so it hasn't taken long for the village to grow. One of the stores was operated by Mr. Cox, but another was ran by "Pickett and Peck". Martin Pickett, a relation of Tod Robinson through his mother's side, was mentioned earlier in this post, in a deed. The removal to Alabama had obviously been a family venture. Yet John Lynch was not family.
Washington thrived for awhile and in the 1820's and 1830's was equal to Montgomery, and described by Mims "There were a good many people in town and business seemed brisk and lively, more so than Montgomery.....There were more men of wealth and influence settled in the vicinity of Washington than there was about Montgomery.'"
But times change and do did Washington. Prattville was established, a town that grew around the area where the body of John Lynch had been planted. Like John Lynch, Washington is now just a whisper in the wind.
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