I am writing this for my son and for my brother’s children. If mother could have written it, it would have given a more complete history of the Lamar family. She knew so many of them and loved them all. What I write is what she told me, in the years I was growing up and we were in the house alone. My brothers were out with our father, and mother talked to me of things she held dear.

When a child, she spent all time possible with her father. When grandmother spent a day with friends on an adjoining plantation, my mother begged to stay home with her beloved “Pa”. He talked to her of his family and the things he told her, she told me.

There was one thing she wanted me to be sure to remember. I was fifteen when she said, “Daughter, I want you to remember this. You have few social equals and no peers.” It wasn’t a thing I would forget, being told me that way, but my mother’s life made me realize the cheapness of snobs. She was a true aristocrat, never a bit of snobbishness in her. To know her was to learn that those who are born at the top of the social ladder are never “climbers”-- and, no matter what their financial circumstances, dignity and charm are always theirs.

Now I must begin telling some of the things I remember:

The first we know of the family-- the Lamartines were living in France at Millay near Cluny in Burgundy. The great poet Lamartine lived there. The family belonged to the nobility--not royalty. They were not weaklings.

Jean De Lamartine came to America before the revocation of the Edict of Nantes Oct 18 1685, and settled in Virginia. Knowing that the aim of the colonists was to found a democracy and loving the freedom that democracy gives, he dropped the de from his name and left off the last four letters “tine”; and the man who came to America Jean De Lamartine became the citizen John Lamar, the first of a family that has given as much as any other family to America. As I write of the things I know I hope I will be able to tell you the things that matter most.

The Edict of Nantes, issued April 13, 1598, gave royal recognition to the Huguenots in France. Perhaps their was still a feeling of insecurity, for Jean de Lamartine signed for a grant of land in Virginia as a subject of the crown of France in the year 1665.

A. Vernon Cole of Jacksonville, FL writes me he has seventy-four pages of the family history and tells me, The family was de la Marre, La Mare, Lamare and Lamar.” Thomas Lamar was the ancestor, born about 1630. He had a brother, Peter too, who came to America. They appear first in Virginia and likely came over with the Huguenot settlers. Then there was John de la Maire, who came to Maryland, he was a native of Anjou France.

Mr Coale then said , “I will write a few names and places in Georgia.” The first name he wrote was Basil Lamar, Richmond Co., Georgia.

Since Mr. Coale knows nothing of our ancestors, it seems strange that he should have picked that name. Basil Lamar was the father of Zachariah Lamar, my mother’s father.

When mother was with me the winter of 1933-34, the grandaughters of Mirabeau B. Lamar came to see her. In talking with Mother they said, “In our grandfather’s writings over and over again he mentions Z. Lamar. Who was Z. Lamar?” My mother answered, “ That was Pa.”

When Z. Lamar died, Dec 27, 1853 his brother, Gazaway B. Lamar, was executor of the estate, guardian for the two younger children.

Charles R Lamar of Montgomery , Alabama began collecting material for a family history. It was a work of love, and he spared no time or effort to complete his work. He made copies of wills, deeds, of any and all records he could find in Virginia, Maryland, South Carolina, Alabama and Georgia. Having been confused by some of the articles he had read, he wrote to mother to ask her to help him complete the family history he was writing. He was delighted to have the information she gave him. In a letter dated Oct 22, 1926 he wrote, “You will be glad to learn, I am sure, that information given me by you-- is to forever one of the most important questions in Lamar geneaology.” I quote this because I want to assure you what I tell you of the family is true. There could be so little that I knew--so far removed from the family--but being with mother day by day I heard of them and perhaps had a better understanding of the branches of the family than I could have had any other way.

Mother always said none of her family ever spelled their name La Mare, Le Mar Lamare, or in any other way than just plain Lamar. They were far too proud of the name to permit any change in spelling.

Before Uncle John Felder and Aunt Ellen were married she told hiim she regretted losing the name Lamar, and he said, “We will weigh. If you outweigh me, I will take your name. If I weigh more, you will take mine.” He was just out of medical school and quite thin. She was plump, and “Grandma McCauley, who was a neighbor, said she looked”good enough to eat.” When weighed, Uncle John was one pound heavier. I have wondered if the trade would have held if he had lost.

The difference in the spelling of the family name in the records found in VA and MD mean very little. The clerks making out deeds, recording wills, etc. could very easily have made a difference in spelling when there should have been none. In reading the names of some ancestors in England we find about 1400 the name Wycliffe, spelled Wyckliffe, then later it is spelled Wycklyfee; and by 1605 it is again going on record as it should have been all along, Wycliffe. There were many changes in spelling, changes forming letters, but the name Lamar belonged to one family only.

Albert Lamar, the brilliant editor of the Macon Telegraph, began a history of the Lamars, but died before it was completed. It is to this cousin that I am indebt for the copy of the Lamar coat of arms that I have. He sent it to my mother, and I have cherished it through the years.

Under date of November 2, 1926 C R Lamar wrote Mother, “I want to live to finish this history I am writing, but I am ready any time. God knows best and my trust is in him.” Later he said he had “sraightened out every kink in the tangle”, and there must have been very little left to do to complete his book.

As he stepped from the curb in front of his home one morning, a car hit him and his work was finished. Mother had sent her records to him. Letters she had received from her guardian, Gazaway B Lamar. Letters from other relatives, notes she had kept from her school days in Georgia. After the death of Rev C R Lamar we asked that these be returned. His wife wrote that she had sent all of C R lamar’s papers to his brother, George H Lamr, Rockville MD. Just what this brother did with the the information that C R Lamar had so carefully, so painstakingly gathered, I do not know. The records my mother kept are lost to us. I can only tell you what was told to me and refer you to the C R Lamar letters and to clippings I have kept.

There are so many things to tell and I am not sure just which should be told first. But to be sure it is not left out , I will tell you now why my Grandmother Lamar came to Texas. My grandfather, Zachariah Lamar, son of Basil lamar of Augusta GA died in 1853. Two years later the oldest daughter, Sarah Ellen, married John Lawson Felder, MD. Dr Felder made a trip to Texas, was pleased with what he saw and returned to Georgia to persuade his wife’s mother to sell her Georgia property and move to Texas.The strongest argument he could use was this-- rail timber was giving out in Georgia and soon it would be impossible to keep the plantation fenced. At that date no one had thought of barbed wire. Grandmother sold her lands, disposed of all her furniture, started her oldest son, John Lamar, to Texas with a wagon train carrying the negroes and their clothing. There was an aged negro gardener, Uncle Jerry, whose wife and children belonged to a neighbor and lived on a neighboring plantation. Grandmother tried to buy Jerry’s wife, but her master refused to sell her. Then grandmother gave Jerry his freedom so he could stay with his family, but Jerry didn’t want to be left. He said, “No Miss, where you and the chillun go I want to go too.” Because Jerry was getting old, Grandmother wouldn’t send him along on with the wagons. He went with the family by train to New Orleans; then by boat to Galveston. The boat trip made him sick, and when they got to Galveston he couldn’t go any farther. The whole family went to a hotel, had Jerry made as comfortable as possible, and all stayed there as long as Jerry lived. Two weeks after they got to Galveston they buried Jerry, then went by stage coach to Montgomery.

They leased land in Montgomery County and stayed two years, then moved to the Richland Creek area and bought a plantation there. The houses were made of cedar logs and the floors of cedar planks. Mother said floors were scrubbed over and over again before they realized they would never be white. While living in Montgomery Co. they had trouble getting feed for negroes and mules. Corn was $2.00 a bushel, and only gold would buy it. There was plenty of wheat, but the negroes wanted cornbread. As they worked they sang, and floating up from the fields you could hear their chorus, “there’s cornbread in Georgia.” The negroes were homesick-- so were the white folks.

One neighbor in Montgomery County was a Dr. Lipscomb. He was an uncle of the Dr. Lipscomb who lived in Crockett. Mrs. Lipscomb had been a widow, the wife of Gen. Memucan Hunt. It was Gen. Hunt who was sent to Washington to ask aid for the struggling Republic.

An old clipping, dated January 24, 1932, tells of the bringing to Texas of the remains of Joanna Troutman, “Lady of Goliad”, to be placed in the State Cemetary at Austin, February 28, 1913. This was in recognition of her service in making the Lone Star Flag, carried by the the Georgia Battalion, and sending it to them by mail coach in November, 1835.

The writer tells us the Georgia Volunteers were camped near Miss Troutman’s home, and their eagerness fired her with a desire to aid the land she had never seen. I do not think it was altogether the zeal of the Georgia Volunteers that gave Miss Troutman the desire for service. Her step-brother, Mirabeau Lamar, must have said much of the need to aid Texas in her struggle for independence. He was so eager to serve he came horseback to Texas, riding so hard his horse was ready to drop when he got to the home of Dr. Montgomery on the Brazos, he must have been near the point of exaustion. From Dr. Montgomery he learned the whereabouts of the Texas troops, secured a fresh mount and pressed on to San Jacinto to lead the cavalry at that decisive battle.

It was the Georgia Battalion that was slaughtered at Goliad. Grandfather’s brother, Basil Lamar, marched to Goliad with Col. Fanin. When help was sorely needed, Fanin sent Uncle Bas as a courier to Gen Houston asking for aid. Before aid could come, the massacre at Goliad was over. Because he was on that mission, Uncle bas lived and returned to Georgia. He was mother’s favorite uncle. She told me of attending his wedding and of visits he made to their home.

After the Battle of San Jacinto , Gen Rusk sent to Miss Troutman the massive silver spoons and forks which had been captured with Santa Ana at the Battle of San Jacinto. This silver was carried to Georgia and presented to Miss Troutman by Gen Memucan Hunt as he was on his way to Washington. His widow told Mother this when they were neighbors in Montgomery. In the 1930s, perhaps a little earlier, Joanna Troutman’s great-great-grandaughter visited Austin and presented the University with one of the forks and one of the spoons which Gen Rusk had captured had captured at San Jacinto.

I am especially glad the article from which I quote has said, “which General Rusk had captured at San Jacinto.”

When our Centennial was being celebrated in 1936, there was a nightly broadcast giving out outstanding points of interest and bits of history dramatized, that we Texans might more fully understand the events of 1836. Newspaper files were searched, forgotten incidents were brought to light.

One night I was reading, paying little attention to the radio, when I heard, “From the Editorial Room of the Galveston News we give you the following: Mirabeau B Lamar was waiting for a boat to take him to British Honduras. While waiting in Galveston he visited the editorial Room of the News. We give you this from our files. The Editor of the News asked Gen. Lamar to whom should go the credit for the winning of the Battle of San Jacinto. Without hesitation, Gen Lamar said,’General Rusk. Houston was at the rear. When he knew reinforcements had arrived, he ordered the men to retreat. Rusk said, ‘Never.’ and ordered the men forward. The men advanced and Independence was won. The victory was due to Rusk’s courage.’ Then the question came, ‘You were there General Lamar?” He was leading the cavalry, but didn’t boast of anything he did. As he was on the spot, I suppose we can be sure he saw and heard what happened there. General Thomas Rusk was the hero of San Jacinto, not Sam Houston.

When Mirabeau Lamar was president of the Republic of Texas, the soldiers who had won the Independence of Texas were experiencing lean years. The land that had been given them as payment for their service in the army didn’t furnish food. They flocked to Austin to ask President lamar for help. Their dire need appealed to his generous nature. He gave of his own means to relieve their distress until he could give no more and had to find some other way to aid them. He appealed to Gazaway B Lamar, his cousin and my mother’s uncle. It was the money of the Lamars that kept the struggling Republic of Texas on its feet.

When the WPA was paying men to write the history of various states, a Mr. WE Bard, 4614 Marcus, Dallas,TX, was compiling data from Texas records on the Lamar family. A letter dated March 10, 1936 says, “It is my informationthat Zachariah Lamar came to Texas at an early date, being an heir to certain lands in Texas from Gazaway B Lamar, that were originally secured during the presidency of Mirabeau Lamar.”

These were the lands given to Uncle Gaz in return for the money he had loaned the Republic of Texas. He was Mother’s guardian.I have been glad he could help Texas. If all the money the family had could have been used that way, results would have justified the investment.

I remember reading a letter from Uncle Gaz to Mother. It was written after the war between the states. He told of his losses. The North had imprisoned him because he marked the bales of cotton brought in from his plantations on the Savannah River. His son Charles, the only child he had who survived the wreck of the Pulaski, was killed by the Yankees as he rode aacross the bridge at Savannah GA. There was no battle on. The war was supposed to be over. Cousin Charlie was on horseback, riding along as any gentleman would, but he wore the uniform of a southern officer. Uncle Gaz said, “The flower of our family is gone. Nine who reached the rank of Colonel died in battle. Of my fortune, there is left a scant six million. My health is broken and I may not see you again, but I hope we meet where the Yankees cease from troubling and the weary are at rest.”

The B in Uncle Gaz’s name is for Bugg. Captain John Lamar of the Revolution married Priscilla Bugg, the daughter of edmond bugg and his wife Obedience; and grandaughter of Sherwood Bugg and Elizabeth Hobson, his wife.

Virginia records of land grants show the Buggs (New Kent) took up grants at an early date in the counties of Henrico, Augusta, Lunenburg and Mechlenburg. The same records show that as early as 1663, 1690, and 1693 Francis Sherwood and william Sherwood, Gentlemen, took up grants near the Buggs. Jeremiah Bugg was among the earliest settlers of Augusta GA candler’s (or Chandler’s?) Colonial Records show the Buggs owned large tracts of land in the vicinity of Augusta. Their lands extending to Butler’s Creek, about nine miles from town. One of the oldest maps of this section, published in 1780, shows the Bugg plantaion on the Georgia side of the Savannah River where the Sand-Bar Ferry landed, and where the Dixie Highway Bridge now touches Georgia soil.

It was here that a desperate fight took place when the American forces retook the horses which the British had captured when sent across the river into South Carolina for pasturage. Here, too, the British surprized Mrs. Sherwood Bugg, directing the milking of her cows, when they made a secret approach to take Augusta, which had been wrested from their grasp; and here Major Carter, fatally wounded in the fight at the Whitehouse in September, 1781, during Gen Elijah Clarke’s unsuccessful attempt to capture Augusta, was nursed by the faithful hands of Mrs. Bugg herself until his death.

Edmond Bugg was a member of the Provisional Congress which met at Savannah in January, 1775, to chose delegates to the Continental Congress to meet in Philadelphia the following May. To bind themselves not to import any goods whatever from Great Britain or Ireland; not to import any slave from Africa after March 1775; not to export any merchandise to Great Britain or Ireland; and to do all in their power for the improvement of the Province of Georgia. Authority for above statements: Whites Historical Collection, pp 58, 61 and 114 History of Georgia By C.C. Jones, Jr Virginia Land Records, Richmond, Virginia

Captain John Lamar, 4th(born 1740, died 1798) was three times married. First to Mary Elizabeth Bugg, daughter of Captain Sherwood Bugg, by whom he had a son, john 5th, whowas the father of Gen Mirabeau Lamar and of Judge LQC Lamar, who became the father of Justice LQC Lamar 2nd. Captain john Lamar 4th married Priscilla Bugg, a niece of his first wife and the daughter of Edmond Bugg, who was very prominent during Revolutionary times. In his will, which was proved in 1782, Edmond Bugg leaves a specific legacy to his grandson, Basil lamar, who is the father of Zachariah Lamar, whose daughter, Mary Augusta Lamar is our mother.

Mother told me she was named Augusta for her father’s birthplace, Augusta GA. She was called Mary because Grandffather thought Mary was the prettiest name he ever heard. Mother always said she was one person who always thought her name was just right and no one ever had a prettier name than hers. I have thought she loved the name because her father chose it for her. f he liked her name, it had to be right because her “Pa” was always right. He held first place in her heart.

Captain John Lamar, 4th raised the first company of militia ever organized in the Province of Georgia to resist the invasion of the British.

Edmond Bugg attended the Provisional Congress which met at Savannah in Jan 1775. At this meeting the members bound themselves to import no slaves from Africa after March 1775. That meant a sudden stop. No waiting, no putting the matter off. The South, even at that early date was tired of taking care of the negroes.

In 1858 Gen Henry Jackson, who was asst Attorny General of the US and prosecuted those engaged in the slave trade, made a terrible arraignment of the North, which was extensively engaged in the slave trade and was trying to turn attention from themselves by criticism of the one southerner who was so engaged. This man of the south was Col Charles AL Lamar, son of Gazaway Lamar, who was Mother’s uncle.

Uncle Gaz had moved to New york, were he was engaged in banking. He had no need for his slaves inherited from the Bugg and Lamar estates, and asked if they wanted to go back to Africa. Every slave that chose to go was given his freedom and sent by ship to Liberia. Those who preferred to stay in Georgia were sent to Uncle gaz’s sons plantations on the Savannah River. In less than two years, those who had asked to be sent to AFrica were asking Uncle Gaz to send for them. They wanted to come back. He said they made their choice, and he left them in Liberia.

Uncle Gaz inherited those negroes. They had to be housed, fed, clothed, cared for in sickness and health. He didn’t move to New York and leave them uncared for. If they wanted their freedom they could have it. Very few did. He gave his home in Augusta to be used as a home for aged negroes. In those days a mansion didn’t cost what they do today. Uncle Gaz had a two story brick home costing 50,000 dollars. The mantles were all of Italian marble. The carving was done in Italy. no expense had been spared to make the home lovely but, after business compelled him to live in New York he didn’t need the house and gave it as a home for old and needy negroes long before the war between the states. After the war he gave the money for an orphanage for negro children. There must have been a lot of little negroes who had no home after the Yankees had burned the houses in the south.

I do not know when Montpelier was founded. I do know it was a school for girls under the direction of the Episcopal church, and it had as its president, Bishop Capers, who had his home at Montpelier. He and Mrs. Capers lived there. Uncle Gaz built a dormitory for girls, which was called Lamar Hall, and Mother went to school at Montpelier and stayed in Lamar Hall.

The home where mother lived until the property was sold, when Grandmother came to Texas, was called Social Retreat. It was in Houston Co Georgia. The county has since been divided and the western half is now called Peach. The Elberta peach was perfected on Grandfather’s plantation, and the place is now the center of the peach industry. I have been told two spinsters live in the old house and their name is Felder. I don’t know how they are related to our Felders. Perhaps very remotely. Some day we may go to Georgia; then we will know.

On May 22, 1926 C R Lamar wrote Mother of the record he found in Georgia. “on October 26, 1827 GB lamar and his brother John T Lamar, were both in the meeting of the Directors of the “Macon Bank” and John T was elected President. For years he continued in this position. GB Lamar then had a big warehouse business in Macon and a line of boats running the river to Darien and then to Savannah, where he had another warehouse on Lamar’s Wharf, which I have seen. The files are full of these affairs. John T Lamar did run for Mayor of Macon on the States Rights ticket.”

The Lamars were badly divided in politcs in those days. In 1851 the Union Banner of Macon carried at its masthead its Union candidates: Governor-Howell Cobb of Clark co.; Congress-Absalom H Chappell of the third district, and Robert Toombs of the eighth district.

“The Lamars finally broke up the Union Party in Georgia, whem Henry G lamar and Col John B Lamar, Both members of the Central Executive Committee, declared the party dissolved and its ticket cancelled; all went into the States Rights as teh only thing left to do.

Howell Cobb was a brother-in-law of this John B lamar, a lawyer in Macon. Absalom H Chappell was a brother-in-law of Mirabeau Lamar, Pres of the Republic of Texas, and the man who used the money frunished by GB Lamar to aid needy Texas soldiers.

Can you see how loyal the Lamars have been to the south? Loyal to the Union they had fought the British to make possible, until loyalty to the Union meant disloyalty to the south.

In 1944 I talked with Dr. Benjamin Wooten, who was then head of the Dept of Physics at the University of Alabama,. In speaking of the Lamars, he said, “The State of Georgia is proud of the Lamars.” I appreciated his telling me that. I know the Lamars are proud of Georgia. They gave their lives for their state. Gave their all for the south and the things it stands for.

As I was growing up, I was told with pride that Cousin Lucius Lamar was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. It was another honor added to the many honors the Lamars had known.

When vacation came, the relatives all knew there was a welcome for them at Grandfathers home. Cousin Albert Lamar spent his summers there. After breakfast he always went for a long walk for his health-- he said, On an adjoining plantation, the Hills lived and their beautiful daughter Kate, married Albert Lamar. When Grandmother knew of the engagement, she said, “I thought there was something besides health in Albert’s mind when he was taking those long walks.” Mother loved cousin Kate as much as if she had been “blood kin”. Of Cousin Albert, she said, “The dearest of all the males in the family.”

There were no public schools then. Our grandfather advertised for a governess. A Miss York of Augusta, Maine was employed. I have thought her coming from a town Augusta might have had something to do with the position being given to her. After the children were older, a schoolhouse was built on the plantation, and a Mr. Butler from Louisville KY was employed. He lived in granfather’s house as one of the family and was paid a salary to teach the children of the family. The children on neighboring plantations came to school and paid tuition to Mr Butler. The children of poor people, those who rented land or only had a small farm, came to school for free.

So far as I know, it was the first school in Georgia where no tuition was charged. The children of the Swift family paid tuition. Tom Swift and his sister, Lottie came.It was the same Tom Swift who later made a fortune manufacturing the tonic called SSS Swifts speedy Specific. You can find it now on drugstore shelves.

After Grandfather died, Mother went to Americus and lived with Aunt Sarah. Mr Spencer was the teacher there. Just where Mr. Butler taught next I do not know. After Americus came Montpelier, and after that the long trip to Texas when Mother was 18. No advantages after that. Nothing but long, hard years and many misfortunes.

Grandmother bought a plantation on Richland Creek. While living there, Uncle John Felder’s oldest child, John Lawson Jr, was quite sick. When he recovered, Uncle John said, “Ma, when Lawson was so sick, I asked God to spare him and promised, if he lived, I would move to a place where my children can go to school. This is no place to keep children. Lawson is getting well and I must keep my promise.”

Grandmother sold her place to a Col.Chambliss of Lake Charles, LA. That was during the ccivil war--about 1863, I think. Uncle John made the trade for grandmother and Col. Chambliss paid for the plantation in conferate money. The whole family moved to Leesburg TX. Major Richardson , who was a cousin of Uncle John, had an academy there. The children could go to school and I think the family might have been happy but for the war.

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