William Lynch Shatto (1850 - 1924)

Born 28 May 1850 in Conemaugh Township, Cambria, Pennsylvania, United States

Ancestors

Died 30 Oct 1924 at age 74 in Tustin, Orange, California, United States

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Biography

William was born in 1850. He was the son of William Shatto and Rebecca Boyd. He passed away in 1924.

William Lynch Shatto was named after a Methodist minister, William Lynch, who had baptized his father at the urging of his mother Rebecca who was concerned about his father's youthful ways and need to become more of a serious family man. Lynch was born probably in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, where he appears in the 1850 census with his parents who had left Perry County. His father at the time was working in an iron smelting plant, pouring iron "pigs", to earn money to move further west and become a farmer.

William followed his parents to Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, and then Washington County, Kansas, in the early 1870s where he became a carpenter, and met and married Martha J. Haworth. Martha died in childbirth with their son dying 15 days later.

Perhaps due to this tragedy but also not seeing a future in Kansas, Lynch set off for California, initially to Los Angeles, and by 1880 was in Tustin which was undergoing a building boom. He was joined by his little sister, Emma, and her husband Zibeon Field who was also a carpenter, they moved on to San Jose, California, and continued in the building industry.

In Tustin, he is returned in the census and voter registration records as simply a carpenter until 1920 when he is simply returned as a farmer. This belies his career as a successful building contractor responsible for some of the landmark buildings in Tustin including Advent Christian Church and his own Edwardian-Colonial Revival home on A Street built in 1907 that is on the National Register. His A Street home was built for his third wife and was lived in by his widowed fourth wife Martha, the widow of another well-known Tustin builder, Joseph Finis Martin, until 1954. Lynch also became a well-to-do orchardist.

His two daughters were highly encouraged and supported by their father to get an education and develop their own place in life. He and his third wife lived and worked for four years in Mendota, Illinois, to support daughters Edith and Ethel who were attending Mendota College. Later, both received master's degrees from the University of Wisconsin in 1910: Ethel became a teacher, and Edith a nationally prominent social worker, public health, and labor activist.

Barry Michie - G-G Nephew

Sources

• Find a Grave, database and images Find A Grave: Memorial #47643713 william_lynch-shatto: accessed May 7, 2024), memorial page for William Lynch Shatto (28 May 1850–30 Oct 1924), Find a Grave Memorial ID 47643713, citing Fairhaven Memorial Park, Santa Ana, Orange County, California, USA; Maintained by Barry Michie (contributor 47110636).