Lynch, John Roy, 1847-1939

John Roy Lynch was born near Vidalia, La., but after his father's death moved with his mother to Natchez, Miss., in 1863, where they were held as slaves. He was appointed by Governor Adelbert Ames as a justice of the peace in 1869 and served as a member of the Mississippi House of Representatives (1869-1873), a Republican Congressman from Mississippi (1873-1877, 1882-1883), Chairman of the Republican State Executive Committee (1881-1889), member of the Republican National Committee for the State of Mississippi (1884-1889), and Fourth Auditor of the Treasury for the Navy Department under President Benjamin Harrison (1889-1893). He was admitted to the Mississippi bar in 1896 and practiced law in Washington, D.C. (1897-1898). Lynch was appointed a major and additional paymaster of Volunteers during the Spanish-American War in 1898, a paymaster in the Regular Army with the rank of captain in 1901, and a major in 1906. He retired from the Regular Army in 1911 and practiced law in Chicago, Ill., from 1912 until his death.