1820 Census. John Lamb is living in Sampson County. His wife is reported as age 45+, a mistake I believe. He is age 26-45 and she surely was too. They have a young male 10-16 (no doubt the one born to John’s first wife in 1808) and three young females all under the age of 10. I believe they were: Elizabeth Carroll, the daughter born to his first wife in 1812 and Catherine Elizabeth born 1818.

1830 Census. John Lamb lives in Sampson County. He is age 40-50 as is his wife. Two males age 20-30 are present, one of them could be the son born in 1808. And three young males are present. I can account for Thomas and George W -- known sons of Rebecca and John who srvived to adulthood. And three young females are present the oldest of which was age 10-15. John and Rebecca had three daughters who survived to adulthood who were no doubt those three, leaving Elizabeth Carroll unaccounted for.

1840 Census. John Lamb lives in Sampson County. He is 50-60 as is his wife. Six younger males are present who could be his sons and perhaps the husband of a married daughter and even a young son of theirs. Plus there are four younger females, his three daughters by Rebecca and perhaps Elizabeth Carroll reappearing, the younger female age 40-50. There is also a female age 80-90 present. I believe this was Rebfcca’s widowed mother Priscilla Bass.

The Sampson County Heritage book says he was born about 1779.

He first married Elizabeth Henry and they had two children and then she died maybe around 1815, all according to Sampson County Heritage book.

Received 244 acres in New Hanover in 1808 as his share of his father's estate, known as Raccoon Point, according to Sampson County Heritage book. He also received 4 slaves, 12 cows, 25 hogs and $12.65.

Later he purchased another 308 acres on Cypress Creek, both plantations in Pender County.

After marriage to Rebecca Bass, he began acquiring Sampson County land, near Turkey.

Served in the War of 1812, stationed in Wilmington.

Sampson County Heritage book says he is buried "in the woods behind the old Wash Carroll house near Turkey, no markers." Another source says Black River Presbyterian Cemetery in Ivanhoe -- but we went there and he is not there. He is not listed at all in the Cemetery book of Sampson.

abt 1782. John Lamb was born. We don’t know the exact date as there is no surviving tombstone nor church or bible record. I have seen 1779 in one place and 1785 in another -- both just ballpark guesses in my opinion. He didn’t live until the 1850 Census which would have given his age. But even that might well have been off by a couple of years.

We know he married by, say, 1805, so my guess of 1782 is based on splitting the difference between the range of dates I have seen and having him marry at about age 23, quite a typical age for a young man in those days.

All biographies for him say he was born in New Hanover County. I believe he was -- but in the area that became Pender County when that county was created by splitting it off from New Hanover in 1875. There are specific references to Long Creek in certain deeds associated with his father. Long Creek extends north from the NE Cape Fear River and parallels (in a meandering way) US 421 north of Wilmington on its approach to near Currie, NC. It is also now the name a township of Pender County in that same location.

I have concluded that John’s parents were William Lamb and Abigail David. That his father was William is known from a recorded agreement between John and his brothers Joseph and William to settle the estate of his deceased father. That William’s wife was Abigail David is known from William’s Revolutionary War Pension Application.

1808. This is about when John married Elizabeth Hendry and also about when his father died and John received 244 acres as his share of his father’s estate.

1809. John purchased another 308 acres of land from his brother Joseph. This new tract and the other tract he inherited in 1808 were in the Cypress Branch-Long Creek area of now Pender County.

1810 Census. It seems the 1810 Census for New Hanover County has been forever lost. I would assume we could have found John Lamb present there with his young wife and son. Too bad.

1812. John served in the War of 1812 and was stationed at Wilmington.

1818. By 1818 or so, his first wife had died, leaving him with two small children: James Henry born in 1808 and Margaret Jane born in 1812. And in 1818, I believe, he married Rebecca (Bass) Carroll, widow of Thomas Carroll, who seems to have brought into their marriage Thomas’ daughter Elizabeth Carroll from his first marriage.

1820-1840 Census. John is present in these three Censuses, in all cases in Sampson County. The Long Creek area of Pender County is not too far south of the southernmost tip of Sampson County but the land purchases I can document for John in Sampson County were not in that part of the county and in any event didn’t start until after 1820.

Starting in 1821 and continuing through 1837 he acquired extensive Sampson County land holdings in the Six Runs and Stewarts Creek areas -- the latter being near Turkey, NC.

So I can’t explain the 1820 listing saying he was already in Sampson, though it makes sense he was, in fact earlier, because that is where Rebecca (Bass) Carroll would have been living. It is possible I suppose that for a few years, he lived where she and Thomas Carroll had lived -- probably in the Six Runs area where the Carrolls were -- and then began acquiring land in his own right in those parts.

1837. John sold all of his New Hanover County land -- over 700 acres. This is a key event. It is my opinion that one of the biggest mistakes amateurs make when tracing their family history is to not distinguish what may be two entirely different people with the same name. As it relates to John, the issue is how to prove that the John Lamb we know of in Long Creek up to about 1820 is the same man who then later appears in Six Runs — what if it was two different men with the same name? What if John of Long Creek simply died about 1820 and this other John Lamb just happened to appear in Sampson County coming there from an entirely different place (elsewhere in America or even Europe)?

So I try to be sure I can answer such questions and my answer is this:

The 1837 deed whereby John sold his New Hanover County land to Isaac Lamb says clearly that John is of Sampson County and then traces the land he is selling back to William and Thomas and Peter Lamb.

In 1820-1840, there is one one man named John Lamb in Sampson County and only in 1820 do we find one other in New Hanover County — with William, Ichabod, Hugh — who are these guys?

James Henry Lamb, son of John by his first wife, Elizabeth Henry, daughter of James Henry becomes a big land holder in Six Runs. But I think the Henry family was geographically of a place closer to Long Creek than Six Runs. ???

Was Catherine mentioned on that deed?

Dec 1844. John died. He was supposedly buried “in a large cemetery of Lambs near Turkey”. Elsewhere it says on the Lamb Plantation. It is said a forest fire destroyed all evidence of that cemetery and its markers. His estate began the probate process at the February Court of 1845, Lewis Carroll was the administrator.

The Sampson County Heritage book, which gives a county history and biographies of early residents includes a biography of John, from which much of the above is taken (with verification whenever I was able). It refers to him as John Deloit Lamb and elsewhere as John D Lamb. I have never seen any mention of that middle name for him except there though I think I have seen one or two instances where he was John D. Mostly he was just John Lamb. I have no idea if Deloit was his middle name or not, if it was, I also have no idea how he would have come by it.

John Deloit Lamb was born about 1785 in then New Hanover County and died in December 1844 in Sampson County. He was buried on the Lamb Plantation near Turkey, NC. He married Rebecca Bass, who had first been married to Thomas Carroll. John had been first married to Elizabeth Hendry with whom he had several children before she died around the time of the War of 1812, in which John served. Then John married Rebecca and beginning in 1821, he began acquiring land in Sampson County which is where he lived in his later years.

John was the son of William.

1850. Living with Rebecca is her 90 year old mother Priscilla Bass and Liza age 40. Liza is not daughter Catherine Elizabeth, I think she may be Elizabeth Carroll -- but it is not clear whether the Census taker intended her name to be Bass or Lamb -- but she was not listed as Carroll.

Another interesting family in the Lawther lineage is the Bass family. It is interesting because they are among the earliest arrivals to America (1619) of all family branches. And it is interesting because it weaves some Native American heritage into the Lawther lineage; John Basse married an Indian princess of the Nansemond Nation. The current chief of the Nansemonds is named Barry Bass. One line (not the Lawther line) of descendants of John Bass and his Indian princess married other full-blooded Nansemonds and over the years had to officially prove to the State of Virginia time and time again that they were of English and Indian heritage and not blacks or mulattoes as some accused them of being. The whole Bass line makes an interesting story.

The Lawthers are linked to the Bass line because Mary E Carroll’s mother Catherine Elizabeth Lamb, wife of Lewis Carroll, was the daughter of Rebecca Bass and John Deloit Lamb.

Rebecca Bass was born 18 Dec 1788 in Wayne County, NC and died before Feb 1861 in Sampson County. Her will was written 6 Dec 1859 and probated Feb 1861. She left instructions for her estate to be sold, including ”to sell all Negroes one by one, except mothers with sucking child shall be sold together.” The money raised was then to be divided equally among her five children including Catherine E Carroll, wife of Lewis. Here is another will that neatly ties generations and marriages together. Wills that do this are wonderful proof of relationships over several generations. Rebecca’s father was Joshua.

Another source that ties people together is the pension application and supporting documents of Priscilla Bass which refers to Joshua's will and lists daughter Rebecca who married John Lamb. Rebecca filed an affadavit in support of her mother's pension application affirming she was 62 (agrees).

Interestingly, she was John Lamb's second wife. Interestingly, John Lamb was her second husband, she had been married to Thomas Carroll earlier.

There is a source that says that she had a son Thomas Carroll Lamb by her first husband. I don't know if this is accurate. If so, he died young.

Certain dates associated with the marriages of Rebecca Bass are a little unclear and different sources have a wide range of dates. As no females are present in the household of Thomas Carroll in 1810, I believe his first wife has died and he has not yet remarried. I cannot account for the absence though of Elizabeth, said to be his daughter by his first wife.

Court documents shed some light. On 19 Aug 1817 she was named Rebecca Carroll and then on 16 Nov 1818 she was named the widow Rebecca Lamb. From her daughter's tombstone, I believe Catherine Lamb was born 1 Nov 1818. So she got married it would seem in late 1817 or very early 1818. So the very specific date I have seen of 2 Dec 1814 just cannot be true.