An Illustrated History of the State of Washington, by Rev. H.K. Hines, D.D., The Lewis Publishing Co., Chicago, IL., 1893 O.W. LYNCH, one of the leading furniture dealers in Seattle, was born in Racine, Wisconsin, December 3, 1843. His parents, Oliver and Sarah (Cross) Lynch, natives of New York and England respectively, of Scotch, Irish and English ancestry. They located in Wisconsin, about 1838, where Mr. Lynch followed his trade as carpenter and builder. In 1854 he crossed the plains to California, followed mining a short time, then engaging in trade and farming in the vicinity of Stockton, where he was joined, in 1856, by his family, who made the trip via the Panama route. In 1863 they removed to the San Jose valley, and in 1870 to Puget Sound and located a claim of 160 acres on Fidalgo island near Deception Pass, where he has since been engaged in agricultural pursuits. Our subject was reared upon the ranch, with but limited privileges in the line of educational advantages. When old enough to carry a gun, he began hunting through the marshes about San Francisco bay for duck and game, which occupation proved so profitable that he continued it for fourteen years, spending his summers in various occupations. He began his mercantile experience in the clothing store of E.C. Dake of San Francisco in 1864, working only through the summer, while his winters were passed in hunting. He was married in Chicago, in 1870, to Miss Bela M. Farnham, of Michigan. Returning to the coast, Mr. Lynch then located 160 acres on Fidalgo island, and followed farming for five years, when, because of the ill health of his wife, he took her to San Francisco, where she died in April, 1877, leaving two small children, Elva and Leslie. In 1879 Mr. Lynch returned to Puget Sound, locating at La Conner. He was married at Stanwood, in 1880, to Miss Constance Bradley, a native of Missouri. He then located in Seattle, following carpenter work for one year. Then, becoming clerk for Clark & Anderson, in the furniture business, he continued up to September, 1882, when was formed the partnership of Lynch & Vahlbusch, which firm engaged in the furniture business, opening a small store, the present site of the Grand Hotel on Front street. There being no railroad communication with the East, all furniture was purchased at Portland and San Francisco. After fourteen months the firm changed to Lynch & Wood and so continued until May, 1878, when Mr. Wood retired and our subject continued operations alone. On the first of January, 1888, he sold one-fourth interest to N.A. Veline and continued under the firm name of' O.W. Lynch & Co., up to the disastrous fire of June, 1889, when they were burned out, entailing a net loss of $25,000. Business was resumed on the 12th of July, in a warehouse on West street between University and Spring, and there conducted until the completion of the Arlington Hotel Block, into which building the firm moved on March 1, 1890. They have since occupied six stories in this block, utilizing a floor space of 20,000 square feet. They carry a full line of furniture of the most noted manufacturers of the East, among them being Berkey & Gay, the Widdicomb Furniture Company, Grand Rapids Chair Company, Phoenix Furniture Company and Gunn Folding Bed Company, all of Grand Rapids, Michigan; also the lines of G.W. Wilkins Company, J.S. Ford, Johnson & Co., A. Peterson & Co., and Frank Winter, all of Chicago, and products from many other manufactories of Wisconsin and Indiana. Their business is chiefly by retail through the Sound district, furnishing the leading hotels of Seattle and conducting a very extensive trade. Mr. and Mrs. Lynch have two children, Clair and Josephine. Submitted to the WA. Bios Project in January 2004 by Jeffrey L. Elmer * * * * Notice: These biographies were transcribed for the Washington Biographies Project. Unless otherwise stated, no further information is available on the individual featured in the biographies.