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Early History of The Damron Family

Very few American families have their ancestry as far back in the new world as the Damrons The name is usually spelled Damron or Dameron, but Damarel, Damrell, or even Dambrell are variations of the same Damron. This is because each English province or county had a different dialect—and all such spellings refer to the same family—Damron. Since little "old" history of our family is known,
this short history is mainly that—our English immigrant ancestors to our great grandfathers, the mid-1800s. At present, a complete book about the Damrons is nearing completion and will be available soon. THERE WAS ONLY ONE DAMRON who had a land grant before 1661—Lawrence Damron, who had a patent in Northumberland County, Virginia in 1652. We are direct descendants of this Lawrence Damron. Not much is actually known about our immigrant ancestor except from research and records we know that Lawrence and his wife Dorothy lived near Ipswich, En- gland before coming to America. Ever since the 14th century, the Damrons have been land-owning and will-
making people.
The Media Research Bureau s report on the Name and Family of Dam(e)ron says, "One of the best known and most ancient of the coats-of-arms of the English family of Dameron or Damron" is described as follows: Argent, a chevron sable accompanied by three tarteaux gules. The Congressional Library, Washington, DC. General C'F, 1 A-R, Reitstap, Armorial General, Plancher Par Rolland, Ref. Plate CLXXIII verifies: Damerin. Flandre. D'arg. au chev. de sa., ace.. de trois tourt. de gu."

Damerin is a French surname derived from a compound of the old German words dam (Judgment) and run (wisdom). The ancient Flemish form of the name is Damerin and the coat-of-arms is of Flemish origin. French spelling of the name is also Damerin. Old records prove there were many families of the name (variously spelled) seated in the county of Suf- folk, England. These records are preserved in Conders Manuscript History of Suffolk Families, in the British Museum, Muskett's Suffolk Family Memorials and in the Public Records Office in London. "Damerons were seated at Henley, as the parish register shows, as early as 1440 and glimpse of three or four generations of this family are afforded in the following records... "Coddenham Parish Register, county Suffolk—1555 Georgius Dameron Nupitur Elizabeth Gosnold XXX die Augustii. "Edmund Dameron of Henley Hall, gentleman, married Margerie, daughter of Judge John Clenche of Cretinge, All Saints Parish, Co. Suffolk, about 1576. "From Henley Parish Reg. "Baptized: 1577—27th Feb. Margaret, Daughter, Edmund and Margaret Dameron (buried 19 Oct. 1579); 1580—3 July, Margaret, daughter Edmund and Margaret Dameron; 1584—24 Nov. Thomas, son, Edmund and Margaret Dameron: died young; 1582—4 Nov. Sibil, Daughter, Edmund and Margaret Dameron: 1586—21 Feb. John, Son, Edmund and Margaret Dameron: 1588—16 Nov. Elizabeth, Dau. Edmund and Margaret Dameron: 1597—4 March, Anne, Dau. Edmund and Margaret Dameron; 1601—17 Nov. Thomas, son, Edmund and Margaret Dameron. "On August 18, 1605, Edmund Dameron, the elder, was buried. Sible Dameron. daughter of Edmund, was the third wife of John Browning ofWillisham Hall. gentleman. "Edmund Dameron bom 1581. son and heir of Mr. Edmund Dameron, Sr. and Margerie Clenche, his wife, sold Henley Hall to Ralph Meadow, and removed to St. Matthew's Parish, Ipswich, county Suffolk. He married 1st Elizabeth 161—2nd Anne 162: baptized- St. Matthew s Parish, reg. "1613—6 March. Elizabeth, daughter, Edmund and Elizabeth Dameron: 1614—19 March, Margerie, daughter. Edmund and Elizabeth Dameron: 1617—1 Sept. Richard, son, Edmund and Elizabeth Dameron (buried Oct. 22, 1623—Richard Dameron, a young child 1619—17 January, Anne, daughter of Edmund Dameron; 1622—31 March. William, son of Edmund Dameron. "The parish register shows that on November 11, 1605, Thomas Baule (Ball) M—Anne Dameron, widow" The records of the ancient family of Westerfield Manor begin about 50 years later than those of Henley Hall. FROM THE SIMILARITY OF CHRISTIAN NAMES, the Virginia Damerons were probably of I Westerfield descent. The first Dameron of Westerfield "John Dameron, the eldest" was buried, according to the parish register, Sept. 14, 1548. Some years ago, a London genealogist helped prepare the following Dameron pedigree: "John Dameron of Westerfield Manor (buried at Westerfield Sept. 4, 1548) married Joan, Daughter of Richard Mynter. (1563 the XX day of Jan. was buried. Old Joan, Lady of Westerfield which was the daughter of Richard Mynter.) The son and heir was John the younger. It is probable that Mr. William Dameron, church warden, 1553, and who was buried Mch. 1,1558, Lawrence buried 13 Jan. 1588, and George d. 1565, were all sons of the older John. John the younger, married 1st Joan Goodwin, daughter of Thomas Felton of Playford, Esq. She was buried May 5, 1600. "The issue of John Dameron, the younger, gentle- man, from Westerfield Parish register. Baptized 1539— May 6—Katherine. dau. of John Dameron the younger; 1541—Mch. 21-^John, son of; 1543—Apr. 16—Thomas; (buried May 5,1545). 1544—Mch. 30—Elizabeth, Dau. John Dameron the younger 1547—Dec. 18—Tho- mas: 1557—Apr. 25—Joan, Dau.: 1558—June 27—Sible, Dau.: 1561—April 30—Thomas, son of Margaret and Thomas Dameron. "The third John Dameron, gentleman, son and heir of John Dameron the younger, married Margaret about 7660. They had a daughter, Joan. John died Feb. 7, 1596 and was buried Feb. 9. "Margaret, wife of John Dameron, was buried May 5. 1600 (parish register). Condor, in the history of Suffolk Families (ms. in British Museum) states, 'The last
of that name, a gentleman of 500 pounds or 600 pounds a year had an only daughter_________whom he married to Collett and to their children left his estate. Thus, Joan Dameron, daughter of John Dameron of Westerfield Manor, gentleman, married John Collett, Nov. 1577 (parish register.

THESE GLIMPSES OF AN OLD church-loving, land-owning English family seem to show the life of this family merely extended into a new English setting when Lawrence Dameron moved to Virginia. In the history of the Virginia family, there is a sense of continuing habits and traditions, rather than a violent breaking off of accustomed ways. It was moving to an over-seas parish, instead of to a new parish in Suffolk, and Northumberland on the 'Great Bay,' facing the wide expanse of Eastern waters, was not so different in situation from the Suffolk country, with its long North Sea coast. The Media Research Bureau of Washington, D.C., defunct in 1953, states: "It appears that they and their descendants were largely of landed gentry and yeomanry of Great Britain. The family seat was established as early as 1440 at Henley in Coddenham, Suffolk." Media Research Bureau's "Name and Family of Dam(e)ron" further states: "The fairly numerous progeny of these and perhaps a few other lies of the family have carried the name to distant sections of the United States. Char- acteristically a modest, reserved, even-tempered, de- pendable and self-reliant race, often of a thoughtful turn of mind and firm purpose, the Dam(e)rons in America have won especial success in the fields of law, letters, agriculture, business and military af- fairs. "Among those of the name who served in the Revolutionary War were Colonel Thomas Dameron, Captain John Dameron, Abraham Dameron. Jacob Dameron, Joseph Dameron, Joshua Dameron, and Thomas Dameron. all of Virginia; and George and Joseph Dameron of North Carolina." IT WOULD SEEM THAT LAWRENCE
DAMERON made his first trip to Virginia before 1652, selected a site for his home and arranged for building the dwelling. County records show a patent for 342 acres located on Wicomico River "for the transportation of seven servants into the colony." Research shows the Damerons were settled in Damariscove Island, Maine, as early as 1614. Governor Bradford of Plymouth, Mass, tells about the Pilgrims going there for help. At that time is was called, "Dameron's Cove." In 1651. it was claimed by Humphrey Damarell in a Boston probate record. It looks as if the Dameron who had the fishing harbor by 1614 was connected with the Popham Colony of 1608. Lawrence and Dorothy Dameron then brought over nine servants from England. Lawrence and Dorothy's children were: Bartholomew, George, Thomas, Lawrence, Jr. and Dorothy. Lawrence received a land grant in Northumberland County, Virginia in 1652. His friends and neighbors on nearby plantations were the Lees (ancestor of Robert E. Lee), the Balls (family of George Washington's mother, Mary Ball) and others. Lawrence Dameron's will was proved Dec. 17, 1660. This will was discovered quite recently in a very
old and badly damaged court record book in Heathsville, Va., with parts of the leaves crumbled into small bits. Enough of the will remains, however, to be of much ge- nealogical value and of considerable interest in that it gives a glimpse of the manner of living of an early settler and what had been accomplished in the brief period of time he lived—with a mention of some of the treasured possessions from the older home. This mutilated will shows the names of sons Bartholomew, George and Thomas. Other records prove that there was a son Lawrence, and a daughter, Dorothy. Mr. Lawrence Dameron's death left his widow in a position of great responsibility. She must have been a woman of strong and resolute character and her name deserved a place among the able and courageous pioneers of colonial Virginia. She held together and developed her increasingly valuable estate and wrote her own biography in the Christian characters and useful citizen- ship of her children and their numerous descendants now scattered over the American Commonwealth. Mrs. Dorothy Dameron died around 1691. Lawrence and Dorothy's son, George married Elizabeth, widow of John Dennis. He inherited the plantation "Guarding Point" on Chesapeake Bay in Northumberland County. In 1849, the old brick manor house was torn down. History shows Governor Berkeley hid at this fine house while he was a refugee during Bacon's Rebellion. George died in 1698. His children were Elizabeth, Colonel Thomas, George and Lazarus. George's youngest son, Lazarus, carpenter and
planter, had as guardian his uncle, Bartholomew Dameron. 1704. Lazarus married Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Smith. He was the first to sell his ancestral acreage and pioneer into frontier regions. Prince Will- iam County Va. records show that in 1725 he deeded his land of 836 acres to Governor Brown for 2,000 pounds of tobacco and 16 pounds current money of Virginia and went to Prince William and King George counties and on to Albermarle County, Virginia, where he died in 1749. Lazarus and Elizabeth's children were George, Richard, Hannah, Winefred, Judith, Moses and John. Moses inherited his father's estate on Red Bank and Damron Creek, Albermarle County, Virginia in 1749. His plantation was not far from Peter Jefferson's (father of Thomas Jefferson). In 1786, Moses had the first deed recorded in Russell County, Virginia on Clinch River. His children were: Captain John, Lazarus, Richard, and Moses, Jr. (married Jennie Mullins in 1812, Floyd County, Kentucky.
Both died on the way to Illinois in 1825, leaving orphans to travel back across the mountains to Virginia alone). Moses, Richard and Lazarus were all Indian scouts and Revolutionary soldiers. According to history, Moses was "a great Indian fighter employed by the government as a scout and spy during the war with Shawnees and Delaware." After the Revolutionary War. a select group of veterans were sent to guard the frontier, "the dark and bloody ground" of Kentucky and Virginia borders. The Damrons were among these. Lazarus Damron moved to Kentucky with Moses and Richard and lived on Twelve Pole Creek in 1796. He married Nancy Mclnery. Their children were Samuel, George, Richard. Moses and possibly Joseph and James. Moses married Polly Preston in 1811. Richard (son of Lazarus), had a land grant on Shelby Creek in 1808 (also was Revolutionary War soldier). His children were: John, who married Nancy Branham in 1821; Richard, Jr., Elisha, William M, Spurlock, Moses, Solomon King and Abraham. Richard died in 1828. Richard Jr. was born in 1802, and married Elizabeth Prowdy in 1821. Their children were: William (Buck), Harvey, James, Walter, John W. and Willson The Damrons owned most of the fishing town of Weems, the store, wharf, cannery, fish-packing plant, residences, a farm, oyster beds, and were directors of Kilmarnack Bank, of the Fire Insurance Company, and founders of the Presbyterian Church there.