SUSAN VIRGINIA CANADY

Susan Virginia Canady, the second daughter and fourth child of William E. and Susan Bacon Canady was born on October 12, 1872 in Bryan County. She walked to school with her brothers and sisters every day of the school season and "kept them in line". According to her brothers, Albert and Paul, "Susie's word was law . . . she was the boss".

Farm life in the latter part of the 1800's was difficult. The South was recovering and rebuilding from the War Between the States, and people were without money and many of the material possessions they had before the war. Susie and her sisters had to help pull weeds, plant and gather crops, plus help with the cooking, canning and washing. There were also the animals to attend, so the children fed the chickens, collected the eggs, milked the cows and churned the milk to butter. During cane grinding season in late summer and early fall, the girls made and bottled the cane syrup. Washing clothes was preceded by making soap from excess fat with a lye base. The soap along with the clothes washing process often left very chapped hands and sore knuckles.

Susan Canady and her siblings were raised to believe in and have faith in God. On Sunday mornings the family rode together in the wagon to Hopeful gathered Baptist Church, about two and a half miles from Pembroke, Georgia. Susan was baptized in a creek near Hopeful and joined that church. Her faith got her through the many hardships the family endured in those difficult days. Susan never forgot the lessons that her faith had taught her during those growing up years. She later moved her church membership to Calvary Baptist Temple in Savannah, Georgia, joining Calvary on October 1, 1919 along with her younger sister, Julia Canady Miller. Susan loved her church and her pastor, Rev. John S. Wilder. In her later year, "Brother Wilder" was the guest of honor at her birthday celebrations.

Susan left the farm in Bryan County for the city of Savannah, Georgia some years after she was grown. For awhile she stayed with her older sister, Florence and her husband, Walter Cave, who ran a boarding house. She got a job at Best Laundry washing and ironing clothes. Things were done differently in the city where there was some automation in the washing of clothes and heating of irons. There was still no electricity, so hand powered flat irons were still used. It was in Savannah that Susan met and married Joseph Henry Lynch, a railroad man who was transferred frequently because of his job. They had seven children, four boys and three girls.

Susan was an outstanding cook and kept her family well fed. She baked fruit cakes and pound cakes which she stored in a trunk for the Christmas Holidays. The cakes were wrapped in cloths to keep them fresh and moist until they were eaten. Her children thought the cakes might need a little more flavor so they would sneak a bottle of wine in the room where the cakes were stored and pour it over the cakes to "spice" them up just a bit. Susan was a person on whom everyone in her family could rely. Not only did they depend on her, but they had enormous respect for her opinions and her leadership. This was something her brothers and sisters had discovered early in life.

Joseph H. Lynch suffered a stroke in 1923 leaving him paralyzed for seven years. Their oldest daughter, Bertie, lived with them and worked so that her mother could take care of her father. In 1930 Joseph Lynch died of a massive stroke. Bertie continued to live with her mother being sure that she had everything she needed. Bertie was the last of the seven children to marry, and when she did, she also moved to Newport News, Virginia. At this time, Susan Lynch went to live with Jimmy and Josephine Hernandez. When Jimmy was overseas in the army during World War II, Josie went to work for the Corp of Engineers. Although she didn't own the house, Susan once again had a house of her own, and she took charge of it completely.

During her latter years her vision became clouded by cataracts. She had her first operation at age 75 to extract one of the cataracts. That surgery was such a success that she decided that two eyes could see better than one, so she planned to have surgery on the other eye. After the second cataract surgery, but before receiving her new glasses, Susan became ill and had to undergo gallbladder surgery. She recovered quite well after surgery, but developed a seizure disorder from an undetermined cause. Susan Canady Lynch died on October 21, 1963 in the home of Jimmy and Josie Hernandez. She is buried beside her husband at Hopeful Cemetery, Pembroke, Georgia.

The children of Susan Canady and Joseph Henry Lynch are:

1. Rufus Elliot Lynch b. 9/4/1899, d. 3/19/1980 m. Nina Mae Allen
        David Delmar Lynch (11/27/33) m. Simone Senneville
                  Louise Anne (02/23/67)
                  Carole Elaine (10/22/68) m. Dan Alexander
        James Elliot Lynch (9/22/36) m. Emma Jean Edenfield (10/29/40)
                  Michael Wayne (10/17/60) m. Elaine M. Bowser 
                            Jeremy Michael (12/7/88)
                  Richard Kevin (11/26/69)
                  Nancy Elizabeth (3/7/63)
        Susan Virginia Lynch (2/14/40) m. Gary Hudson Hobbs
                  Gary Hudson, Jr. (5/19/62)
                  David Elliot (10/28/67) m. Shayla Rungee
                            Cole Jordan Elliot (2/1/94)
                  Timothy Allen (11/7/72)
                  Susan Victoria (12/19/65)
                                                           m. John Wisener
2. Bertie Lea Lynch b. 12/10/1901 m. Joseph Barbour
3. Willie Elias Lynch b. 1905 d. 2/26/1982 m. Dorothy Walker
        Dorothy Elizabeth Lynch m. Jim Divis
4. Thomas Jefferson Lynch b. 11/11/1906 d. m. 1) Caroline (Carrie) Pharis 
        Joseph L. Lynch 
                                                                          m. 2) Ada Floyd
5. Harry Walter Lynch m. Anne Dickerson
        Deborah Anne Lynch
6. Susan Viona Lynch b. 1/5/1912 d. 5/12/1990 m. Paul Szabo
        Viona Theresa m. John Wright Jones
                  John Paul 
                  Janice Viona 12/17/62-9/2/90
                  Julie Ann 1/26/65-4/28/88
        Paulette Szabo 5/10/46 m. Raymond O. Gross
                  Rebecca Susan 1975
                  Paul 2/17/79
7. Josephine Henrietta Lynch b. 11/7/1914 m. James Edward Hernandez
        Josephine (JoJo) Hernandez m. 1) Robert Graham
                  James Robert Graham 1/30/58 m. Linda S. Waltrous
                            Katherine 1/25/91
                  Dona Marie 1960 m. Kenneth Jenkins
                            Christopher James
                                      Kendra Marie 10/7/85
                                      Angela
                                      Krissy
                                      Amanda
                                                     m. 5) Don Graham
                  Kimberly m. Thomas Lee Allan
        James Edward Hernandez, Jr. m. Elizabeth Fling