Lynn R. Van Vlack

**Lynn R. Van Vlack** was an attorney.

## Biography

The History of New York State Biographies

Senior member of the firm of Van Vlack, Bargar & Berglund, of the bar of Jamestown, New York is a member of the Van Vlack family who have resided in the State of New York and New Amsterdam before the change of the name to New York, since the year 1659, when his ancestor, Tielman Van Vlack, came from Holland to New Amsterdam.

Abraham Van Vlack, descendant of Tielman Van Vlack, was married to Marguerite Wiltsie at Fishkill, New York, in 1775, and in the same year enlisted as a private in Dutchess County, Second Regiment of New York State, under Captain John Brinkerhoff, and served until 1778. By a mistake of enrollment his name was spelled Van Vlack instead of Van Vleck, and since that time this branch of the family has carried the changed name. John A. Van Vlack, the son of Abraham Van Vlack, was married, in 1798, to Elizabeth Gidley. He served as a captain in the War of 1812 with England. He is buried in the Hanover Center Cemetery in Chautauqua County, New York. His son, Daniel B. Van Vlack, was married to Jane Wiley, on October 2, 1824. Their son, George W. Van Vlack, was married to Marietta A. Merrill, at Forestville, New York, on July 15, 1867. This marriage took place shortly after the discharge of George W. Van Vlack as a Union soldier, he having served for over three years as a member of the 64th New York Infantry Volunteers, having enlisted as a private and being discharged as a lieutenant. The last four months of his service were spent in Libby Prison and on Belle Isle. His commission was given as a reward for having, single-handed, captured Major-General G. H. Stewart and Brigadier-General Edward A. Johnson, of the Confederate Army, and delivered them in person to General Hancock, his corps commander, on the 25th of August, 1864.

Lynn R. Van Vlack, the fourth child of George W. and Marietta A. (Merrill) Van Vlack, was born on the farm owned by his parents at Perrysburg, Cattaraugus County, New York, on April 17, 1883. He attended the country school near this farm and later entered Forestville High School, from which he graduated in 1903. He served a clerkship with County Judge W. S. Thrasher, of Dayton, New York, for one year prior to entering the University of Michigan, from which he was graduated in 1910, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. He was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of the State of Michigan on June 28, 1910, spent the summer in Nebraska, returning to the State of New York in the fall, was admitted to practice by the appellate division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York in and for the Fourth Judicial Department on March 29, 1911. He immediately formed a partnership for the practice of law with Richard A. Hall of Cherry Creek, New York, under the firm name of Hall & Van Vlack. In 1913 Mr. Van Vlack opened offices in South Dayton, and there conducted an independent office until he entered the World War, serving first for three months in the Field Artillery at Fort Niagara, in the year of 1917. On October 10, 1917, Mr. Van Vlack enlisted in the Tank Corps and served at Camp Colt, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, as a sergeant in the 310th Center Tank Corps until he was discharged on December 10, 1918.

On being discharged, Mr. Van Vlack worked for the firm of Thrasher & Clapp, in Jamestown for one year, at the end of which time the firm of Van Vlack, Peterson & Bargar was organized and opened in the Fenton Building at Jamestown, New York. Mr. Peterson shortly retired from the practice of law and the firm was continued under the firm name of Van Vlack & Bargar, until August, 1928, when Lester w. Berglund was admitted to partnership with Mr. Van Vlack and Allen E. Bargar, under the firm name and style of Van Vlack, Bargar & Berglund.

Mr. Van Vlack is a member of the American Bar Association and New York State Bar Association. He is affiliated with the Free and Accepted Masons, in which order he is a member of Mr. Moriah Lodge, No. 145, and he is a thirty-second Scottish Rite Mason of the Jamestown Consistory. He is also a member and Past Commander of the James Hall Camp, No. 111, of the Sons of Union Veterans; and the Ira Spring Post, No. 148, of the American Legion. He has been very active in the American legion work ever since the war, and is at the present time serving as com-

mander of the county organization of the American Legion of Chautauqua County. Mr. Van Vlack organized the third Boy Scout Troop in Jamestown, known as Troop No. 7, and sponsored by the local American Legion Post, and was Scout Master of that troop for two years. Since April, 1927, Mr. Vlack has been a member of the Board of Education of the city of Jamestown.

On February 11, 1910, at Cherry Creek, New York, Lynn R. Van Vlack married (first) Florence A. Harmon, who died January 20, 1921. Four children were born of this marriage: 1. Virginia Merry, born December 30, 1910; died August 12, 1921. 2. Merrill Harmon, bon February 23, 1912. 3. Russell Raymond, born September 1, 1914. 4. Florence Janet, born August 30, 1916. On September 12, 1924, Lynn R. Van Vlack married (second) Madge Ferry, of Mannington, West Virginia.