History of Oakland County Michigan a narrative account of its historic progress, its people, its principal interests / compiled from the official records of the county, the newspapers and data of personal interviews, under the editorial supervision of Thaddeus D. Seeley.

HISTORY OF OFAKLAND COUNTY

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still remains, and I trust will ever remain, that, in the eyes of the law,
no man is presumed guilty until he has been convicted by a jury of his
peers; and so long as that principle stands, just so long will the honest,
conscientious attorney be serving the higher, truer and nobler administrations of the law by insisting that however culpable a man may be
imagihed to be, it is better that he should go unpunished than that the
sacred principle of the law, the presumption of innocence be broken in
upon, violated and trampled under foot in order to appease popular
prejudice, fanatical frenzy, or mob violence.
"It is of as great importance that existing laws be impartially and
fully administered as it is that we have good laws. If because of prejudice, passion or still baser motive, the settled rule of the law is disregarded on some particular occasion, it is cause for regret on the part
of all good citizens.
"The difference between a government with constitutional limitations and an autocracy is not so much in the character of their laws as
in their administration-not so much in the severity of the law as in
the certainty of its enforcement.
"If a settled principle of the law can be set aside in my favor because of some peculiar circumstance which appeals to sympathy or
passion, then all our boasted security is as naught; life is not secure;
reputation is not safe and property rights are but the toys of a day."
Mr. Lynch is the eldest of the five children of his parents. Thomas,
the second born, is now a resident of New Mexico; William died when
about twenty-one years old; John J. is a resident of Pontiac, and Edward
is a farmer in Oakland county. The mother died when she was in the
seventy-fourth year of her life, while the father still makes his home in
Pontiac, and is now in his seventy-eighth year. They have been lifelong members of the Roman Catholic church.
On June 12, i888, Mr. Lynch married Miss Bridget Crotty, of White
Lake, Oakland county. She is a daughter of James and Catherine
(Gorman) Crotty, both natives of Liponay, Ireland, who came to America in I834, locating in White Lake, Oakland county.
Eight children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Lynch, one of the number dying in infancy. The others are: Catherine F., a stenographer
in the office of her father; Mary Ursula, at home; Agnes A., Marcia R.
and Margaret M. B., also in the parental home; Patrick Sarsfield and
Emmet D. are twins.
Mr. Lynch is a Democrat, and since arriving at his legal majority
has been actively and prominently identified with the labors of the party
in Oakland county. He is a stanch Roman Catholic, deeply and practically concerned in the progress of St. Vincent de Paul's church, and
one of the most prominent members of the Knights of Columbus to be
found in Oakland county, of which he is district deputy for the order.
Mr. Lynch is now serving as a member of the school board.
ANDREW L. MOORE
Andrew L. Moore ranks prominently among the prosperous members of the legal profession in Oakland county. He has passed his