Everyone called him Nine and nothing else. My grandmother said his name was Charles Henry but I've never been able to find him under any records that way. But when I looked at my mother's birth certificate, which he signed, his marriage certificate, my uncle's birth certificate, they were all signed Henry. So I started looking for Henry knowing his mother's name was Matilda and his brother's name was Barney.
And there he was. In one census record after another. Henry Lynch Jr. with his brother Barney and his mother Matilda. And his father Henry Sr. I found Henry Sr.'s will and obituary which refer to him as Henry P. Lynch. The Lynch's lived in Clinton and Nine was tagged that by his older brother Barney. We were always told that Barney had trouble saying his name and he thought it was Nine and that stuck. That makes no sense if his name was Charles but it does if his name was Henry and his German mother (my mother told me she was German and remembers she had an accent) might have called him Heinrich to distinguish from his father.
I don't have his birth certificate but everything I do have except for his death certificate and this grave stone, says his name was Henry. He sold insurance until he lost his job in the Depression. He moved to Chicago to get a job as a police officer, putting in his twenty years on the night shift. He died of a heart attack shortly after my mother's wedding.
I don't know why his wife would have gotten his name wrong or if he changed it himself sometime after his move to Chicago. He and his wife were separated for ten years but they did spend the last ten years of his life together. I remember asking her if people called him Charlie or Charles or Chuck. She said people never called him anything but Nine.
And there he was. In one census record after another. Henry Lynch Jr. with his brother Barney and his mother Matilda. And his father Henry Sr. I found Henry Sr.'s will and obituary which refer to him as Henry P. Lynch. The Lynch's lived in Clinton and Nine was tagged that by his older brother Barney. We were always told that Barney had trouble saying his name and he thought it was Nine and that stuck. That makes no sense if his name was Charles but it does if his name was Henry and his German mother (my mother told me she was German and remembers she had an accent) might have called him Heinrich to distinguish from his father.
I don't have his birth certificate but everything I do have except for his death certificate and this grave stone, says his name was Henry. He sold insurance until he lost his job in the Depression. He moved to Chicago to get a job as a police officer, putting in his twenty years on the night shift. He died of a heart attack shortly after my mother's wedding.
I don't know why his wife would have gotten his name wrong or if he changed it himself sometime after his move to Chicago. He and his wife were separated for ten years but they did spend the last ten years of his life together. I remember asking her if people called him Charlie or Charles or Chuck. She said people never called him anything but Nine.
Everyone called him Nine and nothing else. My grandmother said his name was Charles Henry but I've never been able to find him under any records that way. But when I looked at my mother's birth certificate, which he signed, his marriage certificate, my uncle's birth certificate, they were all signed Henry. So I started looking for Henry knowing his mother's name was Matilda and his brother's name was Barney.
And there he was. In one census record after another. Henry Lynch Jr. with his brother Barney and his mother Matilda. And his father Henry Sr. I found Henry Sr.'s will and obituary which refer to him as Henry P. Lynch. The Lynch's lived in Clinton and Nine was tagged that by his older brother Barney. We were always told that Barney had trouble saying his name and he thought it was Nine and that stuck. That makes no sense if his name was Charles but it does if his name was Henry and his German mother (my mother told me she was German and remembers she had an accent) might have called him Heinrich to distinguish from his father.
I don't have his birth certificate but everything I do have except for his death certificate and this grave stone, says his name was Henry. He sold insurance until he lost his job in the Depression. He moved to Chicago to get a job as a police officer, putting in his twenty years on the night shift. He died of a heart attack shortly after my mother's wedding.
I don't know why his wife would have gotten his name wrong or if he changed it himself sometime after his move to Chicago. He and his wife were separated for ten years but they did spend the last ten years of his life together. I remember asking her if people called him Charlie or Charles or Chuck. She said people never called him anything but Nine.
And there he was. In one census record after another. Henry Lynch Jr. with his brother Barney and his mother Matilda. And his father Henry Sr. I found Henry Sr.'s will and obituary which refer to him as Henry P. Lynch. The Lynch's lived in Clinton and Nine was tagged that by his older brother Barney. We were always told that Barney had trouble saying his name and he thought it was Nine and that stuck. That makes no sense if his name was Charles but it does if his name was Henry and his German mother (my mother told me she was German and remembers she had an accent) might have called him Heinrich to distinguish from his father.
I don't have his birth certificate but everything I do have except for his death certificate and this grave stone, says his name was Henry. He sold insurance until he lost his job in the Depression. He moved to Chicago to get a job as a police officer, putting in his twenty years on the night shift. He died of a heart attack shortly after my mother's wedding.
I don't know why his wife would have gotten his name wrong or if he changed it himself sometime after his move to Chicago. He and his wife were separated for ten years but they did spend the last ten years of his life together. I remember asking her if people called him Charlie or Charles or Chuck. She said people never called him anything but Nine.
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