The Lynch Family

By Marjorie Lynch (nee Hess)

William Francis Lynch was born in 1868 and Mary Donnelly was born in 1874.

William Lynch Sr.

William Lynch married Mary Donnelly. They lived north of Topeka, Kansas and moved to Clyde, Alberta in the spring of 1905. They bought a homestead (NE16‑59‑24‑W4) in the Jeffrey district. When they came to Alberta, they had two children, Mary and John. Then they had Gustine and Nellie, who both passed away a couple hours apart with scarlet fever. One was two years old and one was one year old.

In the early days, William Lynch hauled freight from Edmonton to Athabasca by horse. He was away from home a lot. Mary stayed home to raise her family. She looked after the homestead and milked cows.

There were six other children born to this union: Rosie married Lawrence Patry, and had four daughters; Agnes married Joseph Smith, and had two daughters; Elizabeth married John Navratil and had four sons and two daughters; Willie never married; Catherine married Gilbert Auger and had two sons and a daughter; Mary married David Nutt and had four sons and five daughters; and Timothy married Marjorie Hess and had three daughters.

Mrs Lynch passed away May 3, 1940.

Mr. Lynch passed away in November of 1944.

After they passed away, John and Willie farmed the homestead. After Tim and I married in July of 1948, we moved to Leduc. Tim worked for Imperial Oil until he retired in 1985. We lived in Devon almost 30 years.

Willie passed away June 22, 1972. John married for the first time at a later age. He sold the farm to Norman Parrent and bought a house in Clyde, where he and Besse (Delorme) lived. John passed away March 1982. Bessie still resides in Clyde. The only surviving Lynch's are Agnes Smith (she lives in Mission, BC), Catherine (Katy) Auger (she lives in Fort McMurray), and Tim who still lives in Devon.

Editor's Note: Since the time of writing, Tim and Katy have passed away.