Governor Charles Lynch

CHARLES LYNCH, the eighth and eleventh governor to serve Mississippi, was born in South Carolina in 1783. His education was limited and attained in the common schools of his native state. After moving to Mississippi, Lynch first worked as a farmer, and eventually entered into a career in public service. Although he was not a lawyer, Lynch secured an appointment to serve as probate judge of Lawrence County in 1821. He also was elected a Democratic member of the Mississippi State Senate in 1827, as well as winning reelection in 1832 and serving as senate president in 1833. On June 12, 1833, Governor Abram M. Scott died in office, and Lynch, who was president of the senate at the time, assumed the duties of the governorship. He served in that capacity until November 30, 1833, when Hiram Runnels then took office. Lynch was elected, as a Whig, to a gubernatorial term of his own on November 2, 1835. During his tenure, plans for a state penitentiary were approved; the Union Bank bill was sanctioned; ten new counties were formed; and the Panic of 1837 shattered the state’s economy. After declining to run for reelection, Lynch left office on January 6, 1838. He continued to stay politically active, serving as the commissioner of public buildings. He later served as president of the Alabama and Mississippi Railroad and Banking Company. Governor Charles Lynch passed away on February 9, 1853, and was buried in the Greenwood Cemetery in Jackson, Mississippi.