Thomas Lynch, Jr., signer of the Declaration of Independence, was born here on Aug. 5, 1749. He was elected from St. James Parish, Santee, to the 1st Provincial Congress on Dec. 19, 1774; to the 2nd Provincial Congress on Aug. 7-8, 1775; and to the Continental Congress on Mar. 23, 1776. He was commissioned captain of provincial troops on June 17, 1775, served on the committee to draft the constitution for South Carolina in 1776, and was lost at sea in 1779.