Introduction to Lynch Clan

My Lynch ancestors from Ireland came to America in 1848. The group included my Grandfather James Lynch and his five siblings, ages 10 to 18, who sailed without their parents to New York City. Soon they were living in a tenement house in Massachusetts working in a textile mill. From there they gradually migrated west. This blog will contain information gathered by my mother, Hazel Lynch Skonberg from her father, giving details of the trip over and life in America. There is also a diary written by his son, Will Lynch, who was with the American Consular Service of the State Department, and was taken hostage on Dec. 8, 1941, by the Japanese Army who had captured Shanghai that day. I hope you enjoy this blog about the James Lynch family in America.
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Tuesday, September 13, 2011

The Lynch Clan

     The original Lynch name came from France in Normandy, which was settled by the "North Men" or the Vikings.  James is probably part Viking and when pictures of James Lynch from Ireland and my great grandfather, Jonas Victor Swenson from Sweden, are placed side by side, they look like they could be brothers, or at least closely related.  
     The name Lynch came from the O'Loingsigh family (the Gaelic spelling), then became O'Lynch in the 1500's and finally just Lynch.  They were one of the original "Tribes of Galway" and there is a Lynch Castle in Galway, that now houses a bank. (Picture below is for those of you who have always wanted your very own castle).
Lynch Castle
Click on picture to enlarge


Caroline has ancestors that go back to Scotland and the Cameron Clan in the Western Scottish Highlands who fought and lost to the English at the Battle of Culloden in 1746.  They fled to Ireland, then married the Irish Millers before coming to America.  Her German ancestors, the Dormeyers/Dunmire's came from the much fought over land between Germany and France called Alsace.  They left to avoid being conscripted to fight the constant battles between the two countries and arrived just in time for the Revolutionary War.  They promptly volunteered! 
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1 comment:

  1. Starwood QuilterSeptember 13, 2011 at 3:49 PM

    The blog looks beautiful! I love the old family picture with Irish green for the heading.

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