Tombstone Tuesday James Lynch 1838-1872

James Lynch was Secretary of State during Reconstruction, and held other positions of honor. He died December 18, 1872. At the time, he was the only African American in the history of Mississippi that ever laid in State in the capitol.

After remaining in his coffin two days in the rotunda of the capital, he was buried with great ceremony. A handsome monument for which the State of Mississippi paid in part, was erected over his grave.

Funeral Obsequies of James Lynch The late Secretary of State was interred from the Captiol yesterday. The funeral oration was delivered by the Rev Mr McDonald, and the remains were escorted to the grave bt the State authorities, the city authorities, Hope Fire Company No 3 (colored) of Jackson, United States Fire Company No 1, (colored) of Vicksburg, the Friendly Brothers, (colored) of Vicksburg, a delegation from Vicksburg Fire Company No 2 (colored) and a large concourse of colored people.

James Lynch was buried in the Greenwood Cemetery, Jackson, Mississippi.
His monument reads 'True To The Public Trust".

James Lynch, Mississippi's Secretary of State During Reconstruction

Source: Subject File for James D Lynch - File found at Mississippi Department of Archives and History

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James Lynch Mississippi's Secretary of State During Reconstruction

Lynch, Jas (1870 U.S. Census) Mississippi, Hinds County, Jackson

I came across James Lynch, an interesting figure during Reconstruction in Mississippi while researching the surname Lynch in my family.

James Lynch was born in Baltimore in 1838. He was the son of a slave woman, and his father was a white merchant and minister. James became a preacher in the Methodist Episcopal Church in Illinois and Indiana. He married in 1860, and moved to Philadelphia, where he edited a Methodist newspaper. During the War he followed Sherman through Georgia as a missionary to freedmen. In 1867, he came to Mississippi to preach and teach. He also entered politics soon after his arrival, working fervently toward black voter registration.

Lynch was elected Secretary of State. By all accounts, he was an effective political speaker and administrator. He also served on a three man board of education, administering sixteenth section lands, which had been poorly managed. He developed Rust College in Holly Springs, which was run by the Northern Methodist Church.

He failed to gain the nomination for Congress in 1872, losing to John Roy Lynch, not related. Apparently stories of alcoholism began to surface, and blacks lost faith in him.

He died December 18, 1872, at the age of 34 of Bright's Disease. He was buried at the all white cemetery in Jackson, Greenwood Cemetery.

Source: Subject File for James D Lynch - File found at Mississippi Department of Archives and History

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