John Lynch
Under colonial rule, manumission in Virginia was effectively illegal, in all but rare cases. Breakthrough came in 1782 when Quakers and other opponents of slavery effectively lobbied for liberalized manumission laws in the newly independent Virginia that allowed for private individuals to manumit slaves at the owner’s discretion without the consent of the governor or legislative assembly as had been required under British rule. Virginian manumission was unique in that it was completely voluntary, and many freed their slaves out of principle. Though Quakers made up only a very small percentage of Virginia’s population, it is estimated that Friends accounted for over 25% of manumissions between 1782 and 1806.
Virginia Quakers such as Lynchburg’s founder John Lynch had to make the very personal and voluntary decision to manumit their slaves, shirking contemporary societal norms and overlooking the personal cost in lost capital and labor. John Lynch (born 1740) was described as a pious and devout member of the Society of Friends and a most respected citizen of the city he founded and bears his name. His mother raised him among Friends as part of the South River Meeting House in modern-day Lynchburg.
The historically documented crossing of paths between influential anti-slavery Quakers such as John Woolman, Robert Pleasants and the Lynch family undoubtedly shows the influence these men had on the members of the South River Meeting. Sarah Clark Lynch’s daughter, John Lynch’s sister, Sarah Lynch Terrell was an outspoken anti-slavery advocate in the local Meeting, “so strongly did she impress her neighbors that many leading men acted on her suggestion and freed their bondsman”. Records of the South River Meeting in 1771 note that the local Friends were no longer buying or selling slaves and by 1787 it was said that all Virginia Quakers had freed their slaves.
John was well known as a generous man and zealous Quaker throughout his life. Over the years, South River records show him serving as an elder and a clerk for the meeting and more poignantly, as a former-slaveowner, among a group of Friends who went to exhort their brethren to end any connection with slavery and record the pertinent manumissions.
The town of Lynchburg had not yet been incorporated in 1782 when manumission was liberalized in Virginia and the deed documents referenced here were recorded at the Campbell County courthouse. Court records show John Lynch manumitting slaves in 1782, and then later again with his brother Charles Lynch manumitting several slaves in 1793.
John Lynch’s court record of manumitting 16 slaves in 1782 incorporates references to natural rights philosophy and the Golden Rule…“I John Lynch of Campbell County being fully persuaded that freedom is the natural right of all mankind and that it is my duty to do unto others as I would be done by in the like Situation... I do hereby [e]mancipate and set free the above named Slaves…”
He later freed five more individuals between 1792-1793 in cooperation with his brother Col. Charles Lynch.
In 1810 John Lynch penned a letter to part-time neighbor Thomas Jefferson, whose summer home Poplar Forest in Bedford County was not far from a growing Lynchburg. In the letter John Lynch proposed that Jefferson support a colonization scheme to repatriate future freedmen to West Africa as a deliberate enticement for American slave owners to manumit their slaves.
The greatest test of John Lynch’s faith and resolute beliefs that all men were created equal occurred when his son Dr. John C. Lynch was poisoned and died, allegedly at the hands of a slave named Bob and a freewoman accomplice in Lynchburg. Through the legal requisites, John Lynch became the executor of his son’s estate, including the slave Bob. John Lynch not only manumitted Bob, reiterating the “natural rights and do unto others” theme and that “vengeance was the Lords” in the manumission deed but also paid for Bob’s legal defense in a trial declared not guilty. Following the trial of Bob, John Lynch in turn manumitted his son’s former slave out of principle, rejecting the opportunity for reprisal to sell Bob into continued bondage, as can be seen in the words of the manumission deed:
“…being fully persuaded that freedom and liberty is the natural law of mankind and no law, moral or divine hath given me a right to property in the person of any of my fellow creatures and notwithstanding the injury done to me and mine, by Bob from his confession and evident circumstances, for which he was tried and acquitted by the laws of this country – believing as I do that no circumstances whatever can change the principle, and leaving the event unto Him who hath said “Vengeance is mine and I will repay” I therefore for myself and heirs do hereby emancipate Bob…
John Lynch did not simply manumit his own slaves in the face of personal financial loss and tragedy, he also admonished his fellow Quakers and advocated for measures he hoped would encourage others to do the same. Though many of the Founding Fathers struggled to manumit their own slaves during their lifetimes or even publicly espouse outright abolition, the record of John Lynch’s actions showed no such hesitation.
