The Lambs of Fayette County Georgia

John M. Lamb (1828-1864) &

Martha Chambers (1830-1913)

Submitted by R. Gene Lamb, Jonesboro, GA, direct descendent

The Lambs were early settlers of Fayette County, Georgia. Jacob Lamb, my third great grandfather, arrived at least by 1828. He and his wife likely came with numerous others from Marlboro County, SC including Samuel, Leggitt, Jeptha, et al Robinsons who I believe were his first cousins. Jacob's brothers Reddick and John, his sister Permelia, wife of Cornelius Gibson, and his mother Marion, possibly a Robinson, all came to Fayette County within the next few years. Jacob, Reddick and their mother Marion were early land owners in Fayette Co. Records show the mother's name with numerous spellings. I believe the mother was Marion or Miriam.

Jacob, Reddick, John and brother-in-law Cornelius Gibson all eventually bought land near the Bear Creek store and post office, just south of the Fayette County line in Henry County on what is now Lower Woolsey Road. Jacob bought and sold many farms in Fayette and Henry County in the 22 years he lived in the area. In 1849 and 1850 Jacob and his siblings all sold their Georgia land and moved on to Russell and Chambers County, Alabama. By then Jacob's mother, Marion, and first wife (name unknown) had died and he had married Julia F. Jordon. The mother and first wife and probably some deceased children of the four siblings were buried in a family cemetery just off Lower Woolsey Road.

Jacob had seven children by his first wife. I have not found any record of three male children born between 1830 and 1840. John M., my second great grandfather, is the only male I know from Jacob's first marriage. He stayed in Georgia. His three sisters Mary, Amanda and Lucinda A. and a half brother Zachariah Taylor Lamb moved to Alabama with their father and his second wife Julia. Three more half brothers, Jacob C., Lude C. and Walter and three half sisters, Lucius, Lumus Ella and Solan were born in Alabama.

John M. Lamb, Jacob's oldest son, had married Martha Chambers, daughter of Joseph Sanders Chambers and his wife Frances Asbury Stinchcomb, in Fayette County in 1846. One person wrote that Martha went to Alabama to find John. That's not likely since both families lived within a couple of miles of each other for 20 years before their marriage and both families were Methodist. They likely were married in Inman Church and may have attended there together most of their lives.

John, Martha and their first son Joseph Jacob, born in 1848, likely spent some time in Alabama as John helped his family settle, but I'm confident they did not move there. John bought land, 100 acres, on present Panhandle Road from his father-in-law in 1858. He likely made his living on that land till the purchase in the year Joseph died. He purchased 40 adjacent acres from James A. Chambers, his brother-in-law, in 1860, that had also belonged to his father-in-law.

In the remainder of their sixteen years together John and Martha completed their family with three more sons, William C. "Buck" in 1852, James M. "Can" in 1856 and John A. in 1860. Martha must have been proud of her four sons, but envied mothers with little girls in fancy dresses. She was soon to learn the advantage of having four sons.

John joined the last company of confederate soldiers to be formed in Fayette Co., GA in May of 1862 and was soon off to war accompanied by kin and neighbors, leaving Martha and the boys to care for the farm. By then Joseph Jacob was almost 14, William C. was 10, James M. was less than six and John A. less than two. They were hardly what you would call an adequate work force for managing 140 acres, but manage they did. John's half brother, Zachariah T. Lamb, came back and enlisted in the Confederate Army in Fayette County in March of 1862, two months before John enlisted.

Two years and four months later, 3 Sep 1864, in a battle in the wilderness near Berryville, VA John was killed. Some have reported he died in the Battle of the Wilderness, but that battle was fought in the Spring. He, like so many, was left on the battle field, hopefully, to be buried by someone. There are no records of his grave. He is remembered by a marker at New Hope Methodist Church on Panhandle Road in Clayton County where his wife and some of the children were buried.

Clayton County created in 1858 included John's land. New Hope Methodist Church formed in 1883 became the church home of John's family in succeeding years because of the closeness. There was another Methodist Church on North Bridge Road, just west of the Flint River, on the west edge of land lot 77, district 5, where two acres of additional land was purchased adjacent to the church and cemetery in 1836. The deed, recorded 16 Jun 1836, was from Richard H. Shepherd to John Chambers, Miles V. Norton, Travis Ivy, Alfred Dormon and Richard Phips, trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Records of that church and cemetery have not survived to my knowledge. The church land is now covered by Augusta at Rivers Edge golf course near the club house. That church may have been the predecessor of New Hope Methodist.

The Chambers land stayed in Lamb hands for a number of years, but was eventually sold by John's descendants as they gave up farming. John's original 140 acres, the south half and northeast corner of land lot 79, district 5, is now part of a nice subdivision, Waterpointe, fronting on Smith Reservoir. Another large track acquired by John's son James is mostly flooded by the reservoir.

The Marvin T. Lamb, John's grandson moved his family to Inman and they ran a grocery store and post office there for a number of years. Many of Marvin's descendants are still in the area.

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