Capt. David Lynn II     2nd Generation  1758-1834

"The American Revolution was shaped by the decisions and actions of individuals who had the opportunity to act and choose, and who could have acted and chosen differently."  Society of the Cincinnati

 

Capt. David Lynn II (Search the Archives), son of Judge David Lynn 1, was born July 15, 1758 in Rock Creek, Maryland and died April 11, 1835 in Cumberland, Maryland. He married Mary Galloway on April 28, 1795 in Anne Arundel County, Maryland.  She was born July 10, 1774 in West River, Maryland and died March 22, 1853 in Hampshire County, Virginia, daughter of Major Joseph Galloway and Sarah Birkhead  
Captain David Lynn II  (1758-1834)  Mary Galloway Lynn (1774-1853)

Oil portraits of Captain David Lynn and Mary Galloway Lynn by Charles Willson Peale are owned by the widow of David Lynn VI, Barbara Lynn.  His brother, South Trimble Lynn, owns the pommel holsters that Captain Lynn carried at the surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, Virginia and the cradle in which Captain Lynn slept as a babe.  
Capt Lynn's Cradle Pommel Holsters

This picture of Captain David Lynn II was contributed by Mike Emig, a descendent of Captain Lynn's daughter, Mary Galloway Lynn.  It had belonged to his mother.  The picture is a copy of a daguerreotype which is believed to have been taken of an original oil painting.  It is on a sheet of copper with a silver mirror-like coating.  It could be the same painting as the one above only reversed in the process of making the daguerreotype.

Click here for a description of The Revolutionary War uniform,

 Envelope from a letter Addressed to Capt. David Lynn

from Brigadier General Smith of the Maryland Line 

Original envelope in the possession of David and Cynthia Lynn.

Click on this link to see a copy of the obituary for Capt. David Lynn in the Maryland Gazette. http://www.msa.md.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc4800/sc4872/001290/html/m1290-1427.html

Copy of the obituary from the Maryland Gazette contributed by Catherine N. Ball,  Judge Lynn Chapter of the DAR.

Obituary of Captain David Lynn. Maryland Gazette, 23 April 1835, p. 3, cols. 1-2.

Archives of Maryland Online, MSA SC 3447, M1290, image 1427.

DRAFT. Transcribed by Catherine N. Ball, Ph.D., 26 May 2007

 Died, on the 11th inst. after a short illness, at his residence in Cumberland, Captain DAVID LYNN, a soldier of the Revolution, in the 78th year of his age. Capt. Lynn entered the army of the Revolution shortly after the Declaration of Independence, when only eighteen years old, and was familiarly known at that period as the “white headed boy.” He was present at the battles of Monmouth, German-town, and at the siege of York-town. At the close of the Revolution Captain Lynn removed from Montgomery, his native county, to his residence in Allegany, where he died. For several years after the war he was afflicted with a severe pulmonary disease, which he had contracted by exposure in the service of his country. By the help of a warm climate, which he enjoyed on the West India Islands for a while, and with the assistance of good medical advisers, he was restored to sound and vigorous health, which he enjoyed almost without interruption until within a few months before his death. Notwithstanding his advanced age, Capt. Lynn was nearly as active and as much used to exercise as when in the full vigor of manhood. His favorite occupation was that of a Shepherd. It was interesting to witness the sedulous care with which he superintended his large flocks of the finest sheep. The pursuit which delighted him bespoke the simplicity and excellence of his heart.

 If the good fortunes of men are to be envied, it surely must be the fortunes of those who, after having contributed, by their patriotic exertions during the Revolution, to their country’s Independence, lived to see that country made powerful and happy under the influence of those institutions which sprung from the Revolution. Such was the fortunate destiny of Capt. Lynn, and if this thought crossed his dying pillow, and produced that calm and Christian resignation which distinguished his last moments, it is not sufficient – consoling as it is – to draw the sting which his death has planted in the bosoms of his family and friends. Surrounded by numerous children and grand children, his death is a bereavement to them which those only can properly appreciate who have lost the best of parents. His afflicted consort is left to mourn a loss which to her can never be repaired, but there should be something soothing in the remembrance of her husband’s character, than which no legacy is more valuable, and none more worthy to be cherished by those he has left behind him. To his neighbours and all who visited him, there was no one more kind hearted and hospitable, and sincerely do they [illegible] in the sorrow which his death has brought upon his afflicted family.

1777      The Chew House        Battle of Germantown

1778   Battle of Monmouth

1781   Battle of Cowpens

1781   British Surrender at Yorktown
     Captain David Lynn entered the Continental Army as Ensign of the First Battalion of the Flying Camp in 1776.  On March 27, 1777 he was made a Lieutenant of the Seventh Battalion of the Maryland Regulars and on May 22 he became Captain of the same regiment.  In that capacity he continued to serve until the close of the American Revolution.  He took part in the Germantown, Monmouth, Cowpens and Yorktown engagements.  Following the war and his location to Cumberland, Maryland he was appointed with others to sell the Cumberland apportionment of Hagerstown Bank Stock.  (Notes from South T. Lynn)

 

    April 11, 1835 , at Rose Hill, near Cumberland, in the 78th year of his age, David Lynn, an officer of the Revolution passed away.  At the close of the Revolution he removed from his native county, Montgomery to Allegany.  While but a youth, and shortly after the commencement of the war, he entered the army, and bore a commission first as a lieutenant, and soon afterwards as a captain, in the Continental service.  He served throughout the war, and was present at Monmouth, Germantown, and other battles, and at the surrender of Cornwallis.  David and his brother John were original members of the Society of Cincinnati.  The two brothers helped form the Society along with George Washington who served as the first President General of the Society.

     His brother, John Lynn also entered the Continental service at an early age. He was made Lieutenant of the First Maryland Regiment, and served with distinction throughout the entire war. He is generally referred to as Colonel John Lynn and that is the title inscribed on his tombstone in Mount Olivet cemetery in Frederick. Gen. George Washington was entertained at his house on a visit to Cumberland and spoke of him as Major Lynn which title was conferred upon him in the spring of 1790 by Gov. Howard of Maryland.  

     Shortly after the close of the American Revolution, Captain David Lynn and brother John both located in Cumberland, Maryland and the latter became the first clerk of the Circuit Court for Allegany County, serving from 1790 until 1801, when he removed from his Cumberland residence on the northwest corner of Washington and Prospect streets on Lot No. 66 the deed for which it is worthy of note being the first deed recorded after Allegany County became erected. Major Lynn was in the Legislature of Maryland as a representative from Washington when Allegany County was erected in 1789. He married Miss Eleanor Edelyn and two years before his death moved to his estate known as Wild Cherrytree Meadows at McHenry, then in Allegany Co. but now in Garrett Co. 

     Captain David Lynn represented Allegany County in the General Assembly of Maryland in 1794 and 1795 and was one of the three Commissioners appointed by the State for the apportionment of the Military Lots Westward of Fort Cumberland given by the State as a bounty to the officers and privates of the Maryland Line. This was a work involving much energy and care and his ponderous private record of the proceedings of the Commission now in the office of the County Commissioners of Allegany County and believed to be the only one of the three private records extant is remarkable for the neat, legible and orderly manner in which it was kept and which would indicate that he was a draughtsman of unusual ability.

     The Lynn family’s long line of descendents in its turn left a large lineage standing today for the best traditions and ideals in this and in other communities in which they dwell of a most worthy and patriotic ancestry among them the Lynn, Henderson, Magruder, Robbins, Johns, Schley, Tilghman, Moss, and Bowie families. (Information taken from "THE HISTORY OF WESTERN MARYLAND")

Apparently, according to some historians, the Lynn family and George Washington were good friends.  It is said that George Washington became a surveyor due to the influence of the Judge David Lynn.  There are several references including this plaque in Cumberland to his visits to both Capt. David Lynn's home and Col. John Lynn's home.

Plaque in Front of the Cumberland Courthouse

Picture taken by Roger and Vicki Lynn-Turney

 

Excerpt from the pages of George Washington's Diaries mentioning his stay at Major Lynn's residence

Children of Capt. David Lynn and Mary Galloway Lynn (3rd Generation)

  1. Henry Galloway Lynn was born March 27, 1796 and died November 12, 1812.
  2. Francina Cheston Lynn (Capt. David2, Judge David1) was born Jan. 28, 1798 and died Sept. 4, 1828. She married Col. Frederick A. Schley.
    3.
  3. Mary Galloway Lynn (Capt. David2, Judge David1) was born November 12, 1799 and died February 7, 1879. She married Jonathan Willson Magruder.
  4. William Lynn (Capt. David2, Judge David1) was born September 9, 1801 and died July 25, 1851. He married 1st Jane Johns. He married 2nd Anne L. Browne.
    5.
  5. John Galloway Lynn (Capt. David2, Judge David1) was born October 1, 1803 in West River, Maryland and died October 1, 1881 in Rose Hill, Cumberland, Allegany Co., Maryland. He married Rebecca Beall Singleton Lynn April 10, 1833. She was born September 23, 1815 in Hampshire County, Virginia and died May 12, 1893 in Baltimore, Maryland, daughter of John Magruder Singleton and (unknown).
  6. Dr. George Lynn (Capt. David2, Judge David1) was born August 8, 1805 and died November 1860. He married Virginia Moss. (mentioned in the will of Anna Venable Lynn)
  7. Anne Brooke Lynn (Capt. David2, Judge David1) was born August 3, 1807 and died June 25, 1882. She married George Tilghman. (mentioned in the will of Anna Venable Lynn)
  8. James Cheston Lynn was born July 24, 1809 and died January 9, 1851.
  9. Joseph Galloway Lynn was born March 28, 1811 and died in infancy.
  10. Ellen Jane Lynn (Capt. David2, Judge David1) was born January 7, 1813 and died July 20, 1844. She married James L. Willoughby.