Sarah Lynch

• from Babcock Book by Gwendolyn Garland Babcock

The town of Lynchburg had been settled in the 1750s by a group of Quakers led by John Lynch and his family.

John's father, Charles Lynch, had run away from home in Ireland, sailing to America in 1720 at the age of fifteen. To pay back the cost of his passage, he had been apprenticed to the planter Christopher Clark, a wealthy Quaker who lived in Hanover County. Clark took an interest in the boy's education and encouraged him to study law. In 1733 Charles Lynch married his benefactor's daughter, Sarah Clarke. Charles Lynch never became a Quaker, but his wife Sarah was an ardent one. Three of her children would become well known in Virginia history: John Lynch, the founder of Lynchburg; Charles Lynch, junior, from whom the "Lynch Law" takes its name; and Sarah Lynch Terrell, an early antislavery activist in South River Meeting.

Sarah Clarke Lynch held the first meetings of South River Particular meeting in 1754 in her own home. South River joined with Goose Creek in 1757 to establish the South River Monthly Meeting on land she donated.

Family

Sarah Clark was born about  1715 in the St. Paul's Parish area of Kent County (now Abermarle) Virginia and died 20 January 1792 in Lynchburg City, Virginia, where she is buried in an unmarked grave in the South River Meeting House Graveyard.

• Parents: Capt. Christopher Clark of Louisa County (1681-1754) & Penelope (Bolling?) Johnston (??) (1684-) (1)

Married

1. 1733 in Lee County, Virginia to Charles Lynch b: ABT 1704 in Galway, Ireland, who came to America as a "bound man" or bonded servant to her father.  He died about May 10, 1753 in Abelmarle, Virginia.
2. 27 December 1766 in Bedford (was Pittsylvania) VA (3) to John Ward b: 1716 in Augusta Co., VA.  Died   ABT 11 NOV 1816 in "The Mansion", Campbell Co., VA. He was married to Anne Chiles 1st. Sarah lost her place as a Quaker for marrying the non Quaker Ward.  

Children of John Lynch

1. Penelope  b: ABT 1734 in Albermarle Co., VA.  Married Robert Adams.
2. Charles  b: 1736 in Albermarle Co., VA, of "Lynch Law" fame. Married Anne Terrell.
3. Sarah  b: ABT 1738 in Albermarle Co., VA.  Married Micajah Chiles Terrell.
4. John b: 1740 in Albermarle Co., VA.  Founded Lynchburg, VA.  Married Mary Bowles.
5. Christopher  b: 1742.  Married Anne Ward.
6. Edward b. About 1743. 

Notes

1. From the will of father Christopher Clark, Louisa Co, VA dated Aug 14, 1741, proved May 28, 1754: "4th I give to my loving daughter Sarah Lynch one negro boy and all things else she has that were ever mine." ["Descendants of C. & M. Clark," p. 3]
2. 1752.  Charles Lynch gave son Charles, the eldest, land on Staunton River; son John, land on Staunton above Charles' up to Clemen's Mill Creek; son Christopher, Joseph Fleet  land and three islands; son Edward, land next to Blackwater on the Fluvanna, the home place, after his mother's death, and 1310 acres on Lynch's Creek, if Bolling Clark has it not; wife Sarah, "The Manner Plantation," Etc.,;  daughter Sarah, 350 acres on Fishing Creek, to go to Edward if she should die or have no lawful children.

Sources

1. Bell, James P. P. Our Quaker Friends of Ye Olden Time: Being in Part a Transcript of the Minute Books of Cedar Creek Meeting, Hanover County, and the South River Meeting, Campbell County, Va. Baltimore: Genealogical Pub. Co, 1976. page 258
2. Virginia Historical Magazine, Vol 24, # 2.  Virginia State Library.  Page: 180
3. Bedford Co, VA Marriage Book. Virginia State Archives, Richmond, VA; p72
4.  Kegley's Virginia frontier: the beginning of the Southwest : the Roanoke of ... By Frederick Bittle Kegley.  Page 114.

Links

•  http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~sunnyann/clark.html
• http://www.babcockancestry.com/books/babcock/101fisherfirst5generat...

Wife of Charles Lynch of Galway, Ireland. He immigrated to American in 1733, arriving in Annapolis MD. She is the mother of John Lynch, founder of Lynchburg, VA and Charles Lynch, of Green Level (Avoca) in Altavista, VA.

Tradition has it that Charles Lynch ran away from home in Ireland and sailed to America in 1720 at the age of fifteen. To pay back the cost of his passage, he was apprenticed to the planter Christopher Clark, a wealthy Quaker who lived in Hanover County, Virginia. Clark took an interest in the boy's education and encouraged him to study law. In 1733 Charles Lynch married his benefactor's daughter, Sarah Clarke. Charles Lynch never became a Quaker, but his wife Sarah was an ardent one. Three of their children would become well known in Virginia history: John Lynch, the founder of Lynchburg; Charles Lynch Jr., from whom the "Lynch Law" takes its name; and Sarah Lynch Terrell, an early antislavery activist in South River Meeting.

On page 66 of "Lynchburg's Pioneer Quakers and Their Meeting House" by Douglas Summers Brown, it states that Sarah Clark married (1) Charles Lynch (2) Major John Ward. On page 72 it states that "A strenuous effort was made to locate the grave of Sarah Lynch. She is supposed to be buried at "The mansion", home of her second husband, Major John Ward, near Altavista. It is said that the stone wall, built many years after her death, runs across her grave. There is no marker over her resting place. ∼Sarah Clark was the daughter of Christopher and Penelope Bolling (Johnson) Clark of Hanover County, Virginia. In 1733 she married Charles Lynch who had paid his passage from Ireland as an indentured servant to Christopher Clark, Sarah's father. Lynchburg is named after Charels & Sarah Lynch. It encompasses Bedford, Campbell, Amherst, Halifax, Pittsylvania, Henry, Franklin and Patrick counties. After Charles' death Sarah married John Ward.

• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Oct 18 2020, 18:32:27 UTC

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• Reference: WikiTree Genealogy - SmartCopy: Jun 17 2021, 11:15:19 UTC

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• Reference: WikiTree Genealogy - SmartCopy: Jun 17 2021, 11:15:19 UTC