California Biographies, Santa Cruz County. SEDGWICK J. LYNCH. Transcribed by Peggy Hooper Source: History of Santa Cruz County, California Pacific Press Publishing Company San Francisco, Cal. 1892 By E. S. Harrison This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm SEDGWICK J. LYNCH. This prominent pioneer of 1849 was born at Sandy Lake, Mercer county. Pa., April 25, 1822, and was a son of John and Mary (Fowler) Lynch, natives respectively of Ireland and Scotland. Upon completing a grammar-school educa- tion he was apprenticed, at the age of fifteen, to James D. Moore, a carpenter of Mercer, with whom he remained until the expiration of his time, and later he worked as a journeyman. During the spring of 1845 he went to Cincinnati, Ohio, as foreman for a contracting firm, in whose employ he later went to Nashville, Tenn., for the purpose of building a flour- ing mill and a distillery. Other work in his line kept him at Nashville until the discovery of gold in California, when he went to New Orleans and took passage on a vessel bound for Panama. Arriving at the isthmus he found about six thou- sand Americans anxiously awaiting a steamer to take them up the Pacific ocean to San Francisco. It was four weeks before he was able to secure passage for himself and he then embarked on the ship Senator, which cast anchor at San Fran- cisco October 5, 1849. Later this ship ran on the Sacramento river and Mr. Lynch was employed as repair man on the vessel for some time. Meanwhile he also carried all letters and mail packages from San Francisco to Sacramento, re- ceiving from forty cents to $1 each. For a time he worked for Frank Ward at $20 per day and assisted in the erection of several buildings on Montgomery street, Sacramento. Anxious to try his luck in mining, Mr. Lynch sailed by ship as far as possible on the river and then traveled with pack-mules for a considerable distance, afterward walking through snow six feet deep. Scarcely had he and his com- panions arrived at Downieville when a snow storm began and for fourteen days they suffered the inclemencies of the weather with scant shelter and scarcely any food. Their starving condition forced them to seek another camp, al- though they were obliged for a time to walk through snow eight feet deep and not sufficiently hardened to bear their weight. When finally they reached the mines it was some time before they had recuperated sufficiently to begin work. As a miner Mr. Lynch met with some luck, his first venture bringing two and one-half pounds of gold per day. Return- ing to San Francisco in June of 1850 he engaged in the building business and also served as a member of the vigil- ance committee. During 1851 he came to Santa Cruz and opened a carpenter's shop in the building subsequently oc- cupied by Henry Crowell. After a time he disposed of the business to Jordan & Davis and then erected the first plan- ing mill in Oakland. As a member of a surveying expedition he assisted in surveying from the base of Mount Diablo through the state to the Colorado desert, where two of the party were killed by the Mojave Indians. On his return to Santa Cruz in 1854 he built for Jordan & Davis the first wharf erected on the open coast of California. On the completion of the wharf he took other contracts for buildings of all kinds and formed a partnership with George Gregg, of Santa Cruz, the two building a planing mill and store and opening lumber yards at Los Angeles, Wilmington and Compton. The partnership was dissolved in 1870 and afterward Mr. Lynch became interested with J. M. Griffith, of Los Angeles, in a factory for the making of sash, doors, blinds and general mill work. Success continued to reward the efforts of the partners until the retirement of Mr. Lynch in 1876 and his return to Santa Cruz, where he erected an elegant, at- tractive residence, in the midst of spacious grounds, adorned with flowering plants and ornamental trees. From that time he lived in retirement, enjoying the fruits of years of intelligent activity, and holding a position among the most prominent men of his home town. At the organization of the first bank here he had purchased stock and in many other ways he had been a promoter of early financial and commercial enterprises. Fraternally he held membership with tlie Masons and when he died May 30, 1881, he was buried with the solemn rites of that order. Although it has been long since he engaged in the building business many of his structures remain, to bear testimony to his skill in carpentering. Among these buildings are wharfs and bridges, mills and stores, as well as a large number of the most substantial residences of those days. The marriage of Mr. Lynch was solemnized February 16, 1858, and united him with Miss Jane Donohue daughter of Thomas and Jane (McKee) Donohue. The father of Mrs. Lynch died while yet a young man and later his widow was married to Frank Shields. After the death of her second husband she came to California and made her home with her daughter in Santa Cruz, where she died in 1891, at the age of seventy-nine years. The death of Mr. Lynch was a deep bereavement to his wife and children, as well as a distinct loss to the citizenship of Santa Cruz. After his demise Mrs. Lynch made her home at No. 118 Riggs street until her death, October 21, 1910, surrounded by the comforts of existence, ministered to by her surviving children and respected by a host of old-time friends. Two of her sons, both of whom were named in honor of their father, Sedgwick J., Jr., and Sedgwick J., died in early life. One of her daughters, Eliza- beth, died at the age of fourteen years, and another daughter, Alice, Mrs. Elmer E. Simpson, died in young womanhood. Of the family there now remain four children, namely : Mary J., who is the wife of Charles E. Withee; Fannie, Mrs. Will- iam E. Craig; Almira, the wife of L. Hunt; and William J., of Santa Cruz.