Holbrook line: Alexis Lemmon 1718-1786

We know more about the end of Alexis Lemmon than we do about his beginnings.  The birth date I've used above is speculative, apparently based on his age when he is first spotted in Maryland.  The family tradition is that he was the son of John and Elizabeth Smith Lemmon, who were from "northern Ireland".  I've not found a record that would substantiate this, nor have I found a record of John Lemmon's death, but I've only skimmed the surface in looking for that particular information.

The first we know of Alexis is that he had land, called simply, "Lemon's," 100 acres on July 2, 1741.  He acquired more land gradually, called, Lemon's enlargement, Battle Array, and Lemmon's Lot, totaling about 325 acres.  Adding new land would fit the typical profile of a tobacco farmer, which was the main crop during the first part of the 18th century.  Gradually, though, wheat and corn took over as the main crops in the area.

Alexis married Martha, probably Merryman, in December of 1739.  It's thought that Martha was the mother of all eight of their children, but she died in 1776 and Alexis married Rachel Cottrell Jones the following year.  Some of Alexis and Martha's children served in the Revolutionary War, so talk abound the table must have been lively.  We don't know much of Alexis's political beliefs, although he took the oath of allegiance to the province of Maryland in 1778.  In 1768, he had signed a Joppa petition, asking that the county seat be moved from Joppa to Baltimore.  He doesn't, however, seem to have been a radical patriot at all. 

The subject of this post, Alexis (also seen as Electius) would have been of the right age to serve during the French and Indian War but I've not found any record that he did so.  Still, his neighbors very well may have served, and he would have heard stories to tell his children and his children's children.

Alexis died on or before May 30, 1786, probably on his farm in Baltimore County.  His inventory reveals that he was a slaveholder, "owning" six slaves at the time of his death.  They ranged in age from 33 to 2 months old, and were called Sugar, Harvey, Abraham, Henry, Peter, and Temperance.  The total value of these "Negroes", as listed in the inventory, was 270 pounds, out of a total estate of about 440 pounds.  The inventory included farm animals, crops, tools and implements, as well as perhaps more household goods than poor people would have had, and old books and spectacles.

I haven't yet found church records for Alexis, but there were several parishes in Baltimore County and not all the records survived.  I'd like to know his religion.  I'd also like to know whether he served in any kind of militia, in any conflict, and whether he served in public office.  Google has a lot of books about Baltimore County listed that are not on line, so a trip to the Allen County Public Library is in order.

The line of descent is

Alexis Lemmon-Martha Merryman
Alexis Lemmon-Rachel Stansbury
Sarah Lemmon-Abraham Hetrick
Isaac Hetrick-Elizabeth Black
May Alice Hetrick-Louis Stanard
Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants

Our trip to Ohio, still dancing, part 2

Earlier this week, I wrote about the paper treasures I brought back from our four plus day trip to north central Ohio.  Today I want to write about the other treasures of the trip. 

We visited four different cemeteries, and found all the graves we were looking for.  At two of them, we found wonderful people who went out of their way to help us.  The ladies at the Mansfield cemetery, in particular, were real gems who wanted us to be successful in our hunt.  I didn't get their names but if you ever need help at the big Mansfield cemetery, you are in for a treat.  I was able to stand at the grave of my great great grandmother, Elizabeth Black Hetrick,  and pay my respects to the lady who was described in her death record as "truly a pious woman". Neat!  We also visited the graves of John and Hannah Finch Bell (helped by a lady at a neat hardware store just a bit north of the cemetery), Robert and Mary Yost Bell, in Bellville (with the help of a cemetery walker and a caretaker), and Alexis Lemmon, and Abraham and Sarah Lemmon Hetrick at yet another cemetery.  (That one, we walked for a while before we found our targets).  What was especially neat was that we were able to put flags on the graves of two War of 1812 veterans and two Revolutionary War veterans, three of those on Veteran's Day. 

We met such wonderful people on our trip.  Besides the cemetery helpers, a gentleman at the Morrow County courthouse turned out to be the county recorder, and he was kind enough to open up the genealogy library for us on a day that it wasn't officially open.  At a restaurant in Bellville, I asked the waitress about the history of the building.  She pointed to the booth next to us and I was soon introducing myself to the mayor of the town.  When I said that I was a descendant of Robert Bell, who founded the town, I was almost a celebrity.  I got a brief tour of some of the downtown area, and my name was passed on to the newspaper everything woman (reporter, editor, publisher, etc), who called and wanted to do an interview.  So that was another neat experience, and I guess today or tomorrow the weekly will come out, with a little column about our visit to Bellville.  All of these were serendipitous, or at least unexpected.  And in the courthouses and libraries, everyone without exception was both helpful and gracious.

It was a strange experience to walk the streets of Bellville.  Although nothing is left of Robert's town except the streets and general layout, still I could get a sense of what it must have been.  I could see in my mind the area, devastated by a recent tornado, that Robert chose for his town, knowing much of the work of clearing the trees had already been done.  I could see Huron Street as a trail by the river, used long before by the Huron Indian tribe.  I could imagine log cabins giving way to stick built homes, and stick built homes giving way to larger ones, as the town developed.  Bellville is a neat little town and if you're a Bell descendant, or even if you're not, it's worth a visit.

I also have several pages of notes to go through, that might be bread crumbs on my way to finding ancestors, or that might provide data that is missing in my records.  More treasures, for the taking.

It was a "most excellent" trip.  I plan to return to the Ohio Genealogy Library just outside of Bellville, because I was basically able to only go through one of their many sets of files and records there.  I know there is still genealogy gold, and I hope to mine for more!  For anyone reading this, plan your own trip, find your own treasures, and celebrate, with a happy genealogy dance, or otherwise!