BIO: ABRAHAM LAMBERTON, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Joe Patterson OCRed by Judy Banja Copyright 2004. All rights reserved. http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/copyright.htm http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/pa/cumberland/ _____________________________________________________________ >From Biographical Annals of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Chicago: The Genealogical Publishing Co., 1905, pages 669-672 _____________________________________________________________ NOTE: Use this web address to access other bios: http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/pa/cumberland/zeamer/ ABRAHAM LAMBERTON. Upon the tax list of Middleton township, Cumberland county, there appears in 1772 the name of John Lamberton. He stands taxed with 200 acres of land and two horses and two cows. So far as known he was the first person of his name who settled in the present precincts of Cumberland county. In October, 1773, he purchased from one Matthew McClure, then of Mecklenburg county, N. C., a tract of land lying in Middleton township, containing 203 acres, 58 perches. In 1778 there also appears upon the records of Middleton township a James Lamberton "freeman;" and in 1779 a James Lamberton and Simon Lamberton, both designated "freeman." John Lamberton continues upon the Middleton township tax list at every assessment until in 1781, in which year he is accredited with personal property but with no land. After that date James and Simon Lamberton are taxed each with 700 acres of land, and John Lamberton disappears. It is probable that he died that year. Subsequent conveyances of land owned respectively by James and Simon Lamberton conclusively show that they were equal parts of the same tract that Matthew McClure in 1773 conveyed to John Lamberton, and located in the part of Middleton township that has since became Middlesex township. This testimony of the public records established the fact that John Lamberton was in what is now Middlesex township, Cumberland county, as early as 1772, and that James and Simon Lamberton were his sons. It is the object of this sketch to deal principally with the descendants of James Lamberton. According to the family history the Lambertons came from the North of Ireland. The exact time of their coming is not known, but it must have been shortly before 1772, the date of John Lamberton's first appearance in Middleton township. James Lamberton was born in 1750, and consequently was yet a mere youth when the family settled in the locality in which they afterward lived for four generations. The country for miles around them was a wilderness, neighbors were few and far between, and the Lambertons, by church and social affairs, were frequently called to the neighboring town of Carlisle. In the course of these visits James Lamberton met a young Carlisle lady named Ursula Wood, who afterward became his wife. She was the only child of Abraham and Margaret (Rose) Wood, was also of Scotch-Irish descent, and was born Nov. 26, 1763. When James Lamberton married his father was already dead, and he and his bride took formal possession of the homestead in Middleton township, where they began the serious duties of 670 CUMBERLAND COUNTY. life and always lived. He was a useful and honored citizen, a man of character and influence, and became regarded as a leader in his community. He was an active member of the Presbyterian Church at Carlisle, and for a time was one of its ruling elders. He was also a brave soldier in the war of the Revolution. His intelligence and probity marked him as a fit man for public position, and in 1804 Gov. McKean appointed him a justice of the peace for the Seventh district of Cumberland county which included Middleton township and the town of Carlisle. This office he held during the rest of his life, and the time-honored title of "Squire Lamberton" had its beginning in him just one hundred years ago. He died Sept. 10, 1822; his wife died Sept. 20, 1840. James and Ursula (Wood) Lamberton had issue as follows: Mary, born March 10, 1784, married John Elliott, a member of an old and prominent Scotch-Irish family of the same part of the county; Margaret, born Oct. 14, 1785, died March 21, 1871; John, born Aug. 16, 1787, died Dec. 15, 1790; John (2), born Aug. 16, 1792, died Feb. 20, 1793; Elizabeth, born June 6, 1794, married John Irvine, also of Middleton township, and died Jan. 21, 1813, leaving one child, a daughter, who became the wife of Dr. William Hepburn, of Williamsport; James, born Dec. 6, 1797, died May 1, 1802; Abraham, born April 6, 1801, is mentioned below; Ross, born Aug. 5, 1803, married Jane Waugh, daughter of Samuel Waugh, of Silver Spring township, and in 1841 moved to Oberlin, Ohio, where he died Oct. 6, 1857. Abraham Lamberton was next to the youngest child of the family. He was born, reared and always lived on the farm which his grandfather, John Lamberton, acquired by purchase in 1773. While he never changed his home the district in which his home was situated had three different names during his lifetime. At his birth, and for some years thereafter, it was Middleton township. In the course of time Middleton township was divided and the part which includes the Lamberton place became North Middleton. Afterward North Middleton was divided and since then the Lamberton home has been in Middlesex township. Abraham Lamberton's education was limited to such instruction as was imparted in the country district school of his day, but being possessed of a vigorous intellect he from natural inclination continued his studies long after his school days ended, and in that way acquired a good practical education. Although a farmer he made surveying a specialty and studied and practiced it until he was master of all its details, winning for himself a reputation that brought him all the business in that line he could attend to. Politically he was an ardent Democrat, and he gave much time and attention to public affairs, which naturally resulted in placing him in public position. In 1832 Gov. Wolf appointed him a justice of the peace for the same district in which Gov. McKean had appointed his father twenty-eight years before. The office of justice of the peace becoming elective in 1840, he thereafter was elected to it by the people and reelected so long as he consented to stand as a candidate for same. He was peculiarly constituted for the duties and requirements of this office, and discharged them with such conscientious fidelity that he come to be universally known as "Squire Lamberton," and by that title has passed permanently into the history of the county. In 1847 and in 1848 he was elected to the Lower House of the State Legislature. Cumberland county was then entitled to two representatives in CUMBERLAND COUNTY. 671 that branch of the Legislature, and there were four candidates for the two places. Each time good strong men ran, but each time Mr. Lamberton received the highest vote cast. In 1859 he was elected county surveyor, and thereafter re-elected to that office until he finally declined to run. Although much in public position, he was not a professional office-seeker. Public preferment came to him because of the confidence people had in his honesty and integrity, and in his ability to render them the service they wanted, rather than by any special effort on his part. He was a zealous friend and supporter of the free school system, helped to put the law creating it into effect and under it was a director continuously for many years and until late in life., Like his father before him he was of the Presbyterian faith, and united with the Second Presbyterian Church of Carlisle on May 11, 1833, at the second communion held by that congregation, was a consistent and earnest Christian worker, and for years a trustee of the church. Squire Lamberton was a good and useful member of society. He unselfishly discharged every duty that came to him, and by word and deed promoted the public welfare upon every opportunity. In the domestic circle, in the church, in business affairs and in public station, he was equally faithful and upright, and his name and example will long be cherished by the community in which he lived. Abraham Lamberton was married, on April 8, 1830, to Margaret Elliott Clark, of North Middleton township, Rev. George Duffield, pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Carlisle, performing the ceremony. Margaret E. Clark, on both the paternal and maternal sides was also a descendant from two of the oldest families in that part of Cumberland county. She was a daughter of Robert Clark, who married Mrs. Nancy (Fleming) Gregg, and both the Clarks and the Flemings were in Middleton township as early as 1737. Nancy Fleming was one of a family of ten children, two son and eight daughters. She first married Charles Gregg, by whom she had one son, Alexander C. Gregg. Charles Gregg dying, she afterward married Robert Clark. The Clarks were also Presbyterians, and Margaret E. (Clark) Lamberton joined the Second Presbyterian Church of Carlisle at the first communion held by that congregation, and was the first person who joined it on the profession of faith. Abraham Lamberton died Jan. 29, 1869, on the ancestral farm where he was born and always lived. His wife died March 3, 1886, and both are buried in the family burying lot in Ashland cemetery at Carlisle, where also rest the remains of most of their children who are dead. To Abraham and Margaret E. (Clark) Lamberton, were born the following children: Nancy Elizabeth died July 20, 1892. Ursula Wood died in 1859. Mary Ann died in 1876. Margaret Elliott Clark is mentioned below. James Ross died in infancy. Robert Clark is mentioned below. Jane Rebecca lives in Carlisle. Catherine Williams died in infancy. James Abraham owns and resides upon a large farm in western Kansas. Three of the four surviving members of the family, Margaret, Rebecca and Robert, reside in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Margaret E. C. Lamberton has had a long and creditable career as a teacher, beginning with a country school near her home in Middlesex township. She taught for several years in the Middlesex district and then going west taught for several years at Oberlin, Ohio. Returning to Pennsylvania she for a number of years taught the well known Franklin Square school, in South 672 CUMBERLAND COUNTY Middleton township, Cumberland county. From Franklin Square she was elected to the position of teacher in the grammar grade of the public schools of Carlisle, where she taught successfully until she concluded to retire from the profession. She and her sister Rebecca now live in modest retirement in their home on West Pomfret street, the same home in which her mother spent her declining years. Robert C. Lamberton is secretary and treasurer of the Beetem Lumber & Manufacturing Company, and lives on East North street. He is broken in health, but in his younger years was a man of great energy and business enterprise. During the Civil war he enlisted as a recruit in Company G, 84th Regiment, P. V. I., was a gallant soldier and rose to the rank of captain, by which honored title he is familiarly known to all his friends and acquaintances. As with former generations, so it is with the present. All the members of the family are devoted Presbyterians and regular communicants in the church which their sainted mother was the first to join in 1833.