Lamb Family Dedicates Memorial Marker

By Matthew T. Patton and Linda Lamb Monticelli

Nearly 100 descendants and friends of the Lamb family gathered Saturday, Oct. 10, 2009 at Cedar Hill Cemetery in Princeton, Kentucky, to honor Revolutionary War patriot Longshore Lamb (ca. 1748 – ca. 1828) and his wife, Sarah (Lee) Lamb (ca. 1760 – ca. 1844).


The day began at noon with a welcome speech by Matthew T. Patton of Phoenixville, Pennsylvania. Patton submitted a supplemental application for Longshore Lamb in 2008 to the Sons of the American Revolution. His early research was aided by fellow Lamb descendant Janet Humphreys, the first to join the Daughters of the American Revolution under Longshore Lamb.

The program also consisted of a flag presentation, including ten flags associated with the early Lamb family, as well as a large flag flown over the United States Capitol on June 15, 2009. A certificate accompanying the flag states, “At the request of the Honorable Jim Gerlach, Member of Congress, this flag was flown for Caldwell County Settler and Revolutionary War Patriot Longshore Lamb, who assisted in establishing American Independence.”

Following the pledge of allegiance to the flag, Tyler Clay Collins played “Taps.” Afterwards, attendees joined to recite a tribute to Longshore and Sarah and to “all of the men and women who have served the United States with integrity and devotion.” After the Lamb memorial marker was unveiled, Matthew T. Patton and Linda Lamb Monticelli placed a red, white and blue wreath at the memorial site. Patton and Monticelli organized the day’s events, which also included a family reunion reception catered by Riverside Café of Dycusburg, Kentucky.

Caldwell County resident Richard P’Pool secured a government-issued marker from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and placed the stone at the site. P’Pool, also a Lamb descendant, was honored in 2003 for his efforts to place markers for U.S. veterans. P’Pool has helped apply for and received more than 300 markers from the VA at his own expense. This process requires hours of tedious and detailed research because the documentation required, including the muster rolls and the extracts from State files or land warrants, is often not readily available. The marker reads, “Longshore Lamb. Pvt SC Militia. Revolutionary War. 1748-1828.”

Longshore Lamb was the son of Thomas Lamb and Alice Longshore; he was born sometime between 1747 and 1754 in Bucks County, Pennsylvania or about 1755 in Fairfax County, Virginia. The Lamb family lived in Bucks County from 1744 until 1754 when they moved to Fairfax County, Virginia. The Quaker Fairfax Monthly Meeting was located on the east side of the Blue Ridge Mountains south of the Potomac River. The Fairfax Meeting was located in Fairfax County until 1757 when they divided Fairfax County leaving Fairfax Meeting in Loudon County. In June 1766, the Lamb family moved from Loudon County, Virginia to Kershaw County, South Carolina.

On October 30, 1779, the Friends at the Bush River Monthly Meeting, located in Newberry County, South Carolina, disowned Longshore Lamb who was a member of the Padget’s Creek Meeting house, located in eastern Union County, for marrying someone who was not of the Quaker faith. Since the state of South Carolina had no laws requiring marriage licenses or registration until 1911, we use the date of October 30, 1779 as the marriage date for Longshore Lamb and Sarah Lee, daughter of Michael Lee.

In late spring or early summer of 1780, Colonel Thomas Brandon, who was camped five miles south of the present town of Union, South Carolina was in the process of recruiting volunteers to support the Patriot cause. It was sometime after the fall of Charleston on May 12, 1780, that Longshore Lamb was recruited into the Second Spartan Regiment of Militia under Colonel Thomas Brandon in Union County, South Carolina. Longshore’s brother William Lamb was also in this same Second Spartan Regiment of Militia under Colonel Brandon.

It is not known how many or which military engagements Longshore Lamb may have actually been involved in while serving under Colonel Brandon. These militiamen served for 4 months, oftentimes working one day and fighting the next. The Patriot militia spent much of their time protecting the local rebel population from the Indians and the many Tory loyalists in the area. On June 12, 1786, Longshore Lamb received ten pounds, two shillings, and ten pence farthings for Militia duty after the fall of Charleston in Brandon’s Regiment. Longshore Lamb signed his full name on this receipt for his service during the American Revolution.

On September 13, 1788, Longshore Lamb purchased 163 acres on Frenchman’s Creek of the Enoree River in Ninety Six District, present day Union County, South Carolina. It is possible that Longshore used at least some of the money he received for his military duties to purchase this land.

Between 1779 and 1800, Longshore and Sarah Lamb had nine children: Mary, Elizabeth, Levi, William, Margaret, Jane, John, Moses, and Martin. All of these children were born in South Carolina. After Longshore Lamb and Sarah Lee were married they lived first in Union County, South Carolina and then in Spartanburg County, South Carolina before finally settling in Caldwell County, Kentucky by 1809 or 1810. Longshore Lamb and his family and Longshore’s son-in-law William Crow and his family were among the very early settlers of the Lewistown community in Caldwell County, Kentucky.

Longshore’s mother, Alice Longshore Lamb, died about 1791 in Union County, South Carolina and his father, Thomas Lamb, died in early August 1800 in Union County, South Carolina. Sarah’s father, Michael Lee, died in early December 1807 in Union County, South Carolina. We do not know who Sarah’s mother was; some researchers say that Michael Lee’s wife was Drusilla Murphy.

Longshore Lamb died intestate sometime from about 1826 to about 1828 in Caldwell County, Kentucky. His wife, Sarah Lee Lamb, remained a widow for the next 16 years or so until her death about 1844 in Caldwell County, Kentucky. Martin Lamb, the youngest child of Longshore and Sarah, and his family moved into his father’s home after his father’s death to care for his mother.

The exact location of the graves of Longshore and Sarah remains unknown, there has never been any grave marker found for either Longshore or Sarah and there are no records known to exist indicating where the graves of Longshore and Sarah Lamb are actually located.

Fourteen states were represented at the reunion: Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia, Indiana, Mississippi, Kansas, Missouri, Texas, Oregon and Washington. Sharon Lamb Davis traveled from Redmond, Washington to the ceremony to honor her great-great-great-great grandfather. “If he hadn’t joined so many others to fight for our future we would not be where we are today. And I am thankful that I live in this free country,” Davis said. “Also, of course, because of the 13 years I have communicated with fellow Lamb researchers Linda Lamb Monticelli and Janet Humphreys, I had a need to meet them face to face and cement our family relationship and thank them for the work they have done over so many years.”

She added, “We are who we are, in part, because of our ancestors and what they passed from generation to generation. I truly believe the morals, integrity, and respect that we may possess is a direct link to our ancestors’ beliefs.”

Because the exact burial location is not known, the memorial, funded by donations from descendants and friends of the family, was placed in the Princeton city cemetery because of its ensured perpetual care.

“By erecting this Lamb memorial marker, the descendants of Longshore and Sarah have marked a spot, if not their final resting place, then at least a place in Caldwell County where Longshore and Sarah Lamb’s journey upon this earth ended,” Linda Lamb Monticelli explained.