Old
Times There Are Not Forgotten...
I
have always loved hearing my mother tell tales of my great-grandfather (
on my mother's side ),
Elijah Olbert Linch, his brother Captain William David
Linch, my fourth great-grandfather, Patriot Lt. James Young;
my fourth great grandfather Patriot Captain Fredrick
Gray; my fifth great grandfather, Patriot Captain William
Dawkins; my fourth great
grandfather Patriot Adam
Wideman; my fifth great grandfather Patriot John
Harris; my fourth great grandfather Patriot John Creagh; my fourth
great grandfather, Patriot Owen Lee; my 5th great grandfather, Patriot
William Carmichael; my second cousin six times removed,
Patriot Captain Thomas Lynch,
Jr , a Signer of the Decloration of
Independence
from the State of South Carolina; and on my fathers side my fourth great grandfather, Patriot
John McMullan, a tailor who made General ( President ) George Washington's first
military uniform; my fifth great grandfather, Patriot Mark Stowers; and my
4th great grandfather, Patriot William McKenzie; and my 6th great grand uncle,
Patriot Benjamine Franklin, a Signor of the Decloration of Independence.
A family tree of the
predecessors and descents of this author is available.
This feature will be
mostly about my great-grandfather, Elijah Olbert Linch with
links to the others.
Elijah and his brother William David Linch, were
grandsons of Reverend Elijah Linch of Newberry, South
Carolina. He began preaching in June, 1799.
The Reverend was the son of David Lynch and Ester Embry of Newberry, SC,
and was born on June 28, 1773 and died August 10, 1842.
He married Elizabeth Chapman ( daughter of Joseph Chapman ) on
October 27, 1792. He and his wife are buried in Newberry, SC, in a
cemetery known as Chapman-
Summers cemetery ( Old Dunker ).
The reason the name is spelled Linch and not Lynch is due to the
error of a surveyor making the deed to some property. To keep the property in
the family, the name was thereon spelled Linch. This spelling confusion became evident when I visited the graves of Rev Elijah and his wife Elizabeth in
Prosperity, SC; his marker is spelled Linch and hers is spelled Lynch.
Elijah and William David are sons of David Linch and his wife
Mary Beam of South Carolina.
David and Mary Linch were true pioneers of Georgia. They came by wagon and
team, along the McIntosh Indian
Trail, blazing their way through the virgin
Georgia woods. My mother remembers tales of their piano falling from their horse
drawn wagon into the Savannah River during the crossing. The piano ended up in
their grandson David's home in Turin, GA, until age and use took its toll on the old
instrument. They settled on a small rolling hill overlooking a creek in Coweta County near the
town of Turin. Deer and wild
turkey visited this pristine creek daily. It is here that they cleared the land
( with the help of a girl slave and two boy slaves they brought with them ), built their home,
farmed and raised their family. The old home is no longer standing; age
and neglect took its toll and it was demolished in 1971. They were among the
founders of the Harmony Univeralist Church near the
town of Senoia, GA. This church still stands today.
On April 26, 1864, by Special
Order 113/4 signed by R.E. Lee, General, Army of Northern Virginia, he was
mysteriously transferred to the Confederate States Navy ( as were 13 other
cavalry men, 2 were from the 1st NC Cavalry, 3 from the 2nd NC Cavalry, 3 from
Cobb's Legion Cavalry, 3 from Jeff Davis Legion Cavalry, 1 from the 3rd VA
Cavalry, and T J Moore and Elijah from Phillips Georgia Legion Cavalry ) at
Richmond, VA, to Commander Fredrick Chatard. He served on the brigantine-rigged
Confederate steamer, CSS
Patrick Henry. It is here that the paper trail of his service seams to
disappear. Strange that they would move veteran horse solders to the Navy.
Apparently this practice was fairly common for the blockade-runners.
My mother, Martha Jeanette Linch
Franklin, clearly remembers her grandmother, Jeanette
Henrietta Tench ( Mammy ), Elijah's wife, tell her tails about his days as a
confederate cavalry soldier and blockade-running quasi pirate.
Today, I fly the confederate
battle flag on our charter boat, the Giant
Stride, in memory of my Great grandfather and the pirate flag in honor of
my 4th g grandfather Adam Wideman.
Elijah never applied for a veteran's pension, however,
his wife did apply for
his pension in 1919. She had apparently lost her copy of his parole papers, but she
does certify that "it was dated at Wilmington, NC and gave his height,
weight, color of his eyes, also age and complexion". Another
certification from her granddaughter Frances E Gray and she states " I
am the grand-daughter of applicant and have visited her house often, before and
after the death of my grandfather E.O. Linch, and frequently before the death of
my grandfather and since I have been shown a paper discharging him from the
Confederate Navy. I remember well that said discharge was dated at Wilmington,
NC, and gave a description of my grandfather at the time of his discharge. I saw
this discharge as late or later than the year he 1913, when my grandmother moved
back to the farm from Newnan, GA, but in the subsequent confusion of
moving and straightening up again the paper was lost."
After the war ended, Elijah returned to his home in a
tiny Coweta County, GA, town, Turin ( previously called Preston ). He then resumed farming the vast
plantation land.
Elijah
married Jeanette H Tench April 2, 1868, in Coweta County, GA and they
produced the following offspring: Mary Eleanor, Harriet Fluellen, David
Chapman,
Clerance Montmorenci, Giles Fitzhugh, John Harry, William
Fredrick Creagh (my grandfather, my mother's father).
Elijah died June 24, 1907, at his home in Coweta County, and
was laid to
rest in the old family cemetery out in the ( once ) piney woods near Turin, GA, The
cemetery is called the Elder-Linch Cemetery. It is
named for the two families that started it. His wife Jeanette
died on October 3, 1934, at the age of 87 and is buried there also. Her
death date was somehow inadvertently omitted from the grave marker.
Elijah's grave is marked with a Veterans Administration
marker indicating he served in the Civil War. This author obtained the marker
and did its installation.
The records of the cemetery's location were not to be
found. My mother did an excellent job of directing me to its general vicinity.
This cemetery is located down a dirt trail past an old wooden barn ( a weathered
old board
from this barn now holds Elijah's old 12 gauge, L C Smith shotgun that
hangs on the wall
in my den and other barn boards were hand cut into frames for photographs of Elijah, his
brother and his ship ) not far from the intersection of Elder Mill Road and Hall
Road in Turin, Georgia. After a day searching with friends from Fayette
County, GA, it was located about a half mile back in the thick Georgia piney
woods.
Note: Latitude: 33.295, Longitude: -84.6303.
Vandals have desecrated many of the graves. The
ornamental iron fence and gate surrounding the cemetery has been stolen. Neglect
and the forces of nature have harmed others. Elijah's parents, David Linch and
his wife Mary's grave was destroyed by a falling tree, remains of the monument
can still be seen. However, Elijah and Jeanette's is in excellent condition,
with little destruction, as are several others.
Unnamed slave grave markers can still be found off in the
thick woods and verdant underbrush in the woods to the South of the family plot.
Standing there in a March ( 1999 ) chill, peering at Elijah's
final resting place in the pristine woods makes me wish that I had had the
opportunity to 'climb up on his knee', as Jimmy Buffett sang
about his grandfather, and listen to his many tales about the great war for
southern independence and rural farming life in nineteenth century Georgia.
I placed a small Confederate Battle Flag on his grave.
Let's not ever forget those who risked it all so that we
can be free today. Don't let your forefathers take their knowledge of the past
to the grave with them.
We must study the past to better prepare for the future.
Look away, look away, Dixie's Land...