Lamar Family

First Generation

Tradition states that Thomas and Peter Lamar from from Wicre, near Lille, France. They came to Maryland by 1663, probably as early as 1659, and settled in Calvert County, in the part that became Prince George's County in 1696. Thomas Lamar had two wives, Mary, whose surname is unknown, and Ann Pottinger, who survived him. It is not clear which is the mother of his sons Thomas (ca. 1670-1747) and John. John appears to be considerably younger than Thomas, and it is possible that they had different mothers. Thomas Sr. died between October 1712 (date of his will) and May 29, 1714 (probate date).

Eleanor Colson has transcribed the wills of Thomas and Peter Lamar, and Thomas Lamar's son Thomas

Second Generation

The wife of Thomas Lamar Jr. was named Martha. Her surname is variously given as Bevan, Blanford, Mills, or Urquhart, depending on which source you read. At this point I am pretty well convinced it was Blanford or Blandford (spelling varies in the early documents). She is named in the will of Eliza Blanford, 1709, as her "sister Martha Lamar, personalty due testator by brother Richard Beven, Brother Thomas, ex...." from which some researchers have concluded that Martha and Eliza were born Blanford, probably the children of Thomas Blanford of Prince Georges Co. MD whose 1695 will names children Thomas, Jean, Eliza, Grace and Martha. Others have interpreted the same will to mean that Martha and Eliza's surname was Bevan, and that Eliza had married a Blanford. On balance I think that they were indeed the daughters of Thomas Blanford, whose wife was Tabitha Wright. Tabitha's first husband was William Mills, and one correspondent has suggested to me that Martha is her daugther from her first marriage. At this point I am leaning towards Thomas Blanford as Martha's father, however.

I have seen abstracts of the wills in question, but not the original documents. The abstracts of Maryland wills of this period frequently list persons named "Eliza.", and I am wondering if these should really be Elizabeth, in general a much more common name than Eliza before the 19th century.

So who was Richard Beven, named as "brother" in Eliza's will? I suspect that he was the son of Charles Beaven or Bevan, and that his wife, Mary Jane Blanford, was the daughter "Jean" named in the will of Thomas Blanford in 1695. My guess is that she had died recently, and that she had left a legacy to Eliza that had not yet been received, and which Eliza then passed on to her sister Martha. Richard's sister Sarah married Thomas Blanford II, brother of Eliza and (probably) Martha, so he was a brother-in-law in another sense as well. Can anyone confirm this or provide evidence to the contrary?

Thomas and Martha Lamar settled in the Rock Creek MD area (now Rockville). Most of their children moved south.

Children of Thomas and Martha Lamar
James Lamar (ca. 1724-1786) m. Verlinda Osborn
Robert Lamar m. Sarah Young? or Sarah Wilson?
Thomas Lamar m. Eleanor ??
Samuel Lamar
John Lamar (1713-1758) m. Rachel ??
Alexander Lamar
Volenda Lamar m. William Williams
Elizabeth Lamar (1722-1772) m. Joseph Wilson

Third Generation

James Lamar married Verlinda Osborn in Maryland. He sold his land there in 1755, and moved to Randolph Co. NC. After Verlinda's death, he moved to Wilkes Co. GA, where he died sometime after 1786.

Children of James Lamar and Verlinda Osborn
James Lamar m. Alasanah Howard
Thomas Lamar
Nathan Lamar maybe m. Nancy Poor
Ruth Lamar m. Matthew Skeen
Keziah Lamar (1754-1838) m. Alexander Smith
Osborn Lamar m. Rachel Beasley
daughter, name unknown, supposedly married a Jenkins

Sources

Linn, Jo White (1976), The Gray family and allied lines: Bowman, Lindsay, Millis, Dick, Peebles, Wiley, Shannon, Lamar, McGee

LeMar, Harold Diehl, 1891. History of the Lamar or Lemar family in America, Omaha, Neb., Cockle printing company, 1941.

Mays, Edward, Genealogy and History A Branch of the Family of LAMAR with it's [sic] related families of Urquhart, Reynolds, Bird, Williamson, Gilliam, Garratt, Thompson, Herman, Empson, and others

Discussion of Martha Lamar's maiden name was revised on February 13, 2001.

Additional Resources

Eleanor Colson's LAMAR family page
This is an excellent resource for all Lamar researchers

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Elizabeth Harris, ncgen@mindspring.com