Charles Lynch (lawyer)

Charles Lynch ( 1736 - 1796 ) was a plantation owner, politician and revolutionary in the Virginia Colony . He headed an extraordinary court in Virginia that punished supporters of the British during the Revolutionary War .

Life

His older brother later founded the town of Lynchburg at his birthplace, Chestnut Hill Estate on the banks of the James River .

His father worked as indentured servant to time came in 1725 from Ireland. After finishing his time, Lynch senior married his master's daughter. With the support of his father-in-law, the Lynches became big tobacco farmers. After the senior's death, the business fell to the eldest son, John. Lynch senior's widow joined the Quakers in 1750 . Son Charles married Anne Terrill in 1755 and moved to Bedford County with his wife . The town of Altavista is located on the site of its Green Level estate . There the couple raised five children.

His fellow citizens urged Lynch to run for the Virginia General Assembly ; at first he refused because his religion forbade him to take an oath of office . In 1767 he was nevertheless a justice of the peace, whereupon his fellow believers expelled him. He served in the House of Burgesses and the Virginia Conventions until 1778 when he became a colonel in the militia. In 1780, he was involved in a number of incidents in which suspects were speedily punished with whipping, confiscation or coercion. This procedure was subsequently legitimized by the Virginia General Assembly in 1782. It is unclear whether the term " lynching " actually goes back to Charles Lynch.

After the Revolution, Lynch served in the Virginia Senate from 1784 to 1789 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Thomas Walker Page: The Real Judge Lynch . In: The Atlantic Monthly . 88, whole no.530 (December 1901), pp. 732 ff .
2. ↑ http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/111643