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| John Lynch From findagrave |
John Hugh Lynch (b. January 8, 1818; d. October 20, 1881)
South Carolina. White.
Education: Medical College of South Carolina (M.D.)
Occupation: physician, teacher.
John Lynch was born in 1818 aboard a ship crossing the Atlantic Ocean. His parents Conlaw Peter and Eleanor MacMahon Nelson Lynch were immigrating to America from Ireland. They lived in Georgetown, South Carolina for a brief time. However, they soon moved to Cheraw and remained there for most of their lives.
John's father Conlaw worked as a carpenter and millwright. Conlaw and his family were Catholic, unusual in largely Protestant South Carolina. The Lynches saw great success in America. John and his siblings were among the most prominent Catholics in the state. John's brother Patrick served as bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston. His sister Sister Baptista (née Ellen) was the Mother Superior of the Ursuline Convent and Academy in Columbia.
John became a well-known physician. He attended Cheraw Academy and then studied under a local physician, Dr. Hopton. He continued his education at the Medical College of South Carolina (now Medical University) in Charleston. He graduated from the college in March 1840.
After completing his medical training, he moved to Stanley County, North Carolina and worked as a physician. He stayed there for two years and then returned to Cheraw.
John lived in Cheraw for the next 14 years. In Cheraw, he continued to work as a physician. Maintaining his medical practice was a struggle. A major difficulty for John was his religion. Many residents were Protestant and were uncomfortable being treated by a physician who did not share their faith.
John's professional difficulties were compounded by some unsuccessful attempts to speculate in real estate. Ultimately, he found himself in significant financial debt. In 1849, John considered moving to Charleston as the city's larger Catholic population would provide greater professional opportunities. However, he ended up staying in Cheraw until 1856 when he moved to Columbia.
In Columbia, John continued to work as a physician. He remained in the city after the Civil War broke out in 1861. John had a considerable stake in the outcome of the war as he was slave-owner. John had owned slaves since at least 1850, and by the time war broke out, he enslaved 28 people. Although he later taught at a racially integrated USC, John evidently felt no qualms with the practice of slavery during the antebellum. He casually discussed the subject with his brother Patrick in correspondence. When he first moved to Columbia, he sold a young enslaved women to make payment on his first home, and he reported this to his brother without expressing any concern for the woman.
John's brother Patrick was active in the Confederate government. In 1864, Confederate President Jefferson Davis appointed Patrick as the delegate to the Holy See. In that capacity, Patrick traveled to Rome and tried to get the Pope to recognize the Confederacy although without success.
John himself played only a minor role in the Confederacy. He did not serve in the military and only joined the government during the last year of the year. That year South Carolina Governor Andrew Magrath appointed him state surgeon general.
In February 1865, the war came to John and his family. On February 17 of that year, the city of Columbia was surrendered to Union forces led by General William T. Sherman. Around the time Sherman entered the city, Sister Baptista sent the general a letter asking him to protect her convent from the Union troops. She appealed to him on both religious and personal grounds. Year earlier, she explained, she had taught Sherman's daughter Maria while working in Ohio. Sherman responded by sending her a letter saying that the convent was safe as he had no plans to destroy private property.
Despite Sherman's assurance, much of the city – including the convent – was destroyed that night. The circumstances remain contested. Fire broke out, but sources disagree as how the fires were started. John's daughter Ellen provided testimony to Congress in 1928 about the events of the 17th. She recalled that, during the day, one of Sherman's officers told her father that the city of Columbia was doomed. After nightfall, she observed Union soldiers with torches, setting buildings on fire. She was certain that those soldiers were responsible for the destruction of the convent.
Although near the convent, John's own home was not destroyed. However, John and his family were concerned the fires would spread to their house and fled. The family, along with the nuns and students of the convent, spent the night at the nearby St Peter's Catholic church.
The morning after the convent was destroyed, General Sherman rode past St. Peter's Church and was met by Sister Baptista. Sherman expressed his regret at the destruction of the convent and granted the Sister use of a mansion, the Hampton-Preston House.
Despite the destruction his soldiers caused, Sister Baptista praised Sherman later in life. For example, in an 1872 personal letter, she described Sherman as “a splendid General and . . . a magnanimous enemy who cheerfully and promptly raises a fallen foe."
John remained in Columbia after the war. He continued to work as a physician. He also played a minor role in local government. In March 1868, he was part of a delegation that represented his district at the Democratic State Convention. He was also nominated as a Democratic candidate for city alderman, but he declined to run for the position.
John began working at the University of South Carolina in 1869. In September of that year, he was offered the position of Demonstrator of Anatomy. He declined the position, but the next month he was offered the position of Professor of Physiology and Material Medicia. He accepted the professorship.
John's professorship was in the medical school. The medical school was relatively new, having been created around 1867. At the time of John's hire, five professors taught in the school, although three of them, Maximilian LaBorde, John LeConte, and his brother Joseph, also taught in the academic school (similar to a College of Arts and Sciences). John took over the duties of the two professors who had joint duties: John LeConte and Maximilian LaBorde. He took over the physiology courses from Professor LeConte and the material medicia courses from Professor LaBorde. Around the time John was hired, LeConte left the university for California. LaBorde remained at the university and taught English until his death in 1873.
In addition to his teaching and medical work, John seems to have been actively engaged with scientific research. In 1871, the science magazine Scientific American published a letter by him on steam boiler explosions. In the letter, he argued that boiler explosions were widely believed to be caused by mechanical failure, but they are, in fact, often caused by chemical reactions.
Shortly after John began teaching, the university underwent a major transition. During the early 1870s, the Republican-controlled Board of Trustees came into conflict with the largely Democratic faculty. The outcome of this conflict was that faculty began to be replaced by people more sympathetic to Reconstruction.
The turning point came on October 7, 1873. On that day, the first African American, the politician Henry E. Hayne, enrolled at the university's medical school. This was a major controversy that resulted in the departure of several professors. The departures left John as the only member of the 1869 faculty who remained employed at the university.
John's employment is anomalous. He was alone among the faculty in being well-regarded by White Democrats. For example, in his history of Reconstruction in South Carolina, John S. Reynolds largely regards the Reconstruction professors with contempt. However, he writes that John was a "gentleman enjoying the respect of the people and a physician in good standing."
The disruption surrounding the admission of African American students had major negative consequences for the medical school. John was the sole professor employed in the school until the university's closure in 1877. He struggled to attract and retain students. An October 1874 report only listed four students attending the medical school, and none of them received their degree.
Around 1877, the year University of South Carolina closed, John began working for the state government. He served as physician for the state penitentiary. At the time, the superintendent of the penitentiary was T. W. Parmele, the father of UofSC student Charles R. Parmele.
In December 1877, John was also appointed as state Surgeon General by the newly elected Governor Wade Hampton. He retained this position until his death in 1881. John died of Bright's disease on October 20. He'd long been sick from the disease, but his symptoms worsened in October, and he was bed-ridden the week before this death.
John Lynch is buried at the cemetery of St. Peter's Church in Columbia.
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| Grave of John Lynch Photo courtesy of author |
Sources
1). Atkinson, William B. The Physicians and Surgeons of the United States. Charles Robson, Philadelphia (1878) p. 578.
2). 1850; Census Place: Chesterfield, Chesterfield, South Carolina; Roll: 851; Page: 101b
3). 1860; Census Place: Columbia, Richland, South Carolina; Page: 19
4). 1870; Census Place: Columbia, Richland, South Carolina; Roll: M593_1507; Page: 128B;
5). 1880; Census Place: Columbia, Richland, South Carolina; Roll: 1238; Page: 287D
6). Curran, Robert Emmett. The Church and Confederacy: The Lynches of South Carolina. University of South Carolina Press, Columbia, SC (2019).
7). Reynolds, John S. Reconstruction in South Carolina, 1865-1877. State Company, Columbia SC (1905).
8). Heisser, David C. R. and White, Stephen J., Sr. Patrick N. Lynch, 1817-1882: Third Catholic Bishop of Charleston. The University of South Carolina Press (2015).
9). "Delegates to the State Convention." The Daily Phoenix, March 31, 1868, p. 2.
10). "Mr. Editor." The Daily Phoenix, May 23, 1868, p. 3.
10) "Military Notes." The news and herald [Winnsboro, SC]., December 11, 1877, p. 1.
10) The watchman and southron. [Sumter, SC], October 25, 1881, p. 3.
11). Lynch, John. "Boiler Explosions." Scientific American 25, no. 13 (1871): 196.
12). Senate Documents, 71st Congress, 2d Session: Miscellaneous, Vol.2. Government Printing Office. Washington 1930). p. 8994.
13). Reports and Resolutions of South Carolina to the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina at the Regular Session of 1878. Calvo & Patton, State Printers. Columbia, SC (1878). pp. 521-522.
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