Note: This
is one in a series of historical stories about local families
in the Trinidad region.
Click here to find out more
about how these stories were collected.
The original information we gathered
on the Lynch family is from the tombstones in the Catholic
cemetery in Trinidad, Colorado. There are two tall imposing
spires in the middle of seemingly empty field. Neglect,
vandalism, and an uncaring attitudes by workers who knocked
down many of the stones and destroyed the monuments to
families loved ones, according to Arthur Mitchell, Trinidad
historian. Holy Trinity Catholic Church has no records
for the time period when most of the Lynch family members
passed away except for the death of Mary Lynch and Willie
Lynch.
The saga of the plight of the Irish
was a very tragic one in human history, having been invaded
and pushed off their ancient family lands, only to become
tenants
on their own ancestral homes. Then the famine stuck and millions died. Those
who survived gathered up what little they had and sent a least one family member
to America to work and send funds home for the rest of the family to come.
This was the case of the Lynch family. When I first stood
in front of their monuments
in the Catholic cemetery in Trinidad, I got the sense of profound sadness,
as many of their children died at a young age-there is
no written records to tell
us why.
Thomas Lynch was born about 1834 in
Ireland and died June 18, 1889. Mary Catherine O'Reilly's
name is on the tombstone, but no dates are listed. Her
data is from
census records. They had the following children, as we have been able to
put together:
1. M. Bomard 'Barney' -name from photo
2. Phillip Patrick born May 15, 1859, Dublin, Ireland
(O'Mara family Bible record & tombstone)
3. Thomas M. Lynch born about 1864, died June 16, 1887 (tombstone)
4. Owen, May 23, 1865, Dublin city records, Ireland
5. Mary, May 23, 1866, Dublin city records, Ireland
6. John J., born April, 1871 in Virginia and died January 25, 1886 (tombstone)
The birth records Owen Lynch from the
City of Dublin, Ireland state that the Lynch's lived
at 5 Ballybough Rd #1 North City, Union of North Dublin.
Thomas'
occupation is listed as a boot & shoemaker. On the birth certificate of Thomas'
daughter, Mary, the name & dwelling place of father- is listed "Thomas
Lynch-America" and the informant was listed as Michael Weddick, Chief Resident
Officer, County Workhouse. So Thomas went off to America and the family lived
at the workhouse until he was able to send money for them to come to the U. S.
It must have been difficult to leave your wife and family in poverty and go to
a strange land amongst strangers.
Their son, John, was born in Virginia,
so that is possibly where they emigrated to. The next
place we find the Lynch family was in Trinidad, Colorado.
Thomas had a shoe store at 215 N. Commercial and lived on Kansas Ave.
Their
sons,
Thomas died at age 22 years, John at 14 years, and Phillip at 30 years
of pneumonia. The 1900 census records in Colorado, New Mexico, and Kansas
were
checked, but
Owen, Barney, Mary could not be found. They disappeared somewhere. Their
mother, Mary, died in Trinidad on August 25,1894, according to the records
at the Catholic
cemetery .There is also a child, Willie, in the Catholic cemetery records
who died July 2, 1895, age 6 years, but it is not known who he is related
to.
The following are obituaries for Phillip,
Thomas, and Mary Lynch published in the Trinidad Daily
News: Friday, November 29,1889 Died in this city,
Wednesday evening, Phil Lynch, o f pneumonia, aged 30 years, .The funeral
occurred
at 2
o'clock this afternoon from the Catholic Church. June 18, 1889. Thomas
Lynch, the Commercial Street shoemaker, died last night about 2 o'clock
of heart
disease. The remains will be buried tomorrow. June 20, 1889. The funeral
of Thomas Lynch
took place from the residence of the deceased on the North side, this
morning at 10 o'clock. The remains were followed to the grave by a
large concourse
of sorrowing friends. August 27, 1894 The funeral of Mrs. Thos. Lynch
occurred this
afternoon at 2 o'clock from the Catholic church. She has been in poor
health the past two years and has been staying at the hospital where
she died
Saturday night.
It is not known why the Lynchs came
to Trinidad, Colorado, but they must have had a friend
or relative there. Mary O'Reilly Lynch might
have been
related
to Hugh T. O'Reilly's family. He was married in Trinidad to Anna
Mary Daly on January
30, 1894, his parents were listed as James and Elizabeth O'Reilly.
They moved to Denver and are buried in Mt. Olivet Cemetery there.
It was also
thought
that possibly Thomas Lynch was related to Matthew Lynch from Cavan,
Ireland who discovered
the Aztec gold mines in Elizabethtown, New Mexico and his brother,
James who was a banker and built the Lynch block building in Trinidad.
The
probate records
were checked for any evidence of a relationship in Trinidad and Colfax
County, New Mexico, but none was found.
Phillip Patrick Lynch married Katherine
O'Mara on October 24, 1880 at Holy Catholic Church in
Trinidad, Colorado. Their first daughter
was
born in
Osage City, Kansas
on September 4, 1881 and was baptized at St. Patrick' s Church
by Thomas E. Moore, her sponsors were Thomas Graham and
Ellen Cahill.
Their second
daughter,
Mabel
Agnes, was born in Denver on Apri124, 1883.
Kate Lynch moved to Denver in 1890 with
her two daughters, Maggie and Mabel. To make a living
they continued their careers on the
vaudeville circuit
around the Midwest. Maggie & Mabel began in show business around 1885 until 1897.
There are photos of them in Salt Lake City, Utah; Saint Louis, Missouri; Wichita,
Kansas; Dubuque, Iowa: Luling, Texas; and Cairo, Illinois. Their careers ended
when Maggie met John Charles Mason in Texas in 1897. John’s family owned
a hotel in Gonzales, Texas. They were married September 8, 1989 at St. Regis
College in Denver, Colorado. Mabel lived with her mother, Kate Lynch, and her
grandfather, Thomas O’Mara (see his story which is attached) until Kate
died in 1902. Mabel taught at Bell’s Dramatic Exchange in Denver according
to the Denver City Directory. Mabel then married Patrick Higgins of Denver on
June 17, 1903. He was the son of Michael Higgins and Catherine Butler. We do
not know if Patrick died or they were divorced. On October 5, 1916, Mabel married
Kenneth Williams in New Orleans on their way to Peru where Kenneth worked as
a mining engineer. Mabel lived in Salt Lake City for while and he was a professor
of mining at the University of Utah. Kenneth also worked for Phelps Dodge in
Douglas, Arizona and in Noranda, Canada. According to his lengthy obituaries,
he was highly esteemed in his profession and in his personal life.
My father
told me he invented a device that saved mining companies millions
of dollars. Quite a bit of gold was going up the smoke
stack during the smelting process,
so his invention prevented the gold from going up the smokestack.
Mabel and Kenneth had no children. He died of a heart
attack on February 3, 1942 at the age of
59 years in Noranda, Canada. Mabel died in San Diego on May
28, 1954. Maggie Lynch Mason died September 8, 1922 in
Cisco, Texas in an accident while refurbishing
a hotel. John Charles Mason was a volunteer fireman in Gonzales,
Texas and he died when he fell of the fire truck and
was run over on August 29, 1926.
(Note:
if you have Photos of this family or know of anyone
that
does, that you would like to share here please have them
get in touch with us.)