James D. Lynch was born around 1837. By the early 1860s, he was living in Ohio. He enlisted in the Union army on November 7, 1861, and he mustered in as a private in Company I of the 76th Ohio Infantry on January 9, 1862. The regiment took part in the Battle of Fort Donelson, the Battle of Shiloh, and the siege of Corinth. He was discharged for disability on August 12, 1862, and he died sometime afterward.