John Lamb, 1st Sergeant, Co. H

Family lore suggests that John Lamb met his future wife, Mary Harper (daughter of Samuel Harper and Hannah Watson Harper of Darlington, Maryland) while she was teaching school in Baltimore just prior to the war. We know that he wrote to her during the war because of a snippet of a letter published in a history of the Silver family, but no letters remain in family posession. They were married September 12, 1865 in the home of her father and mother, Samuel and Hannah (Watson) Harper in Darlington, Maryland, but made their home in Baltimore.

Their first child was Hannah Elizabeth Lamb, (July 26, 1866 - December 29, 1954) Hannah was a seamstress, and an amateur photographer – more than 500 of her images of Darlington, Maryland from the early 20th Century are in the collections of the Maryland Historical Society. She lived in Darlington, Maryland from 1870 until her death.

Their second child was Samuel Harper Lamb, (September 6, 1868 - January 25, 1921). He married Mary "Mollie" Hudgens or Hudgins. He was a carpenter or an architect, and made his home in Baltimore.

About 1870 John and his family moved to Darlington, Maryland, where they purchased property from Mary’s father Samuel Harper.

Their third child was James Alexander Lamb (December 1, 1870 -1947) (probably named after his grandfather) James Alexander Lamb was a carpenter and lived and worked in Darlington, Maryland. He married Annie Liddell (1873- 1954) daughter of Thomas Liddell and Julia Russell of Lapidum, Maryland.

Their fourth child was Ruth Anna Lamb (November 11, 1872-February 22, 1955) She was married to Wesley McDoon in Baltimore in 1899, and after his untimely death in 1902 she returned home to Darlington, where she would live in the family home until her death. She was a seamstress.

John and Mary’s fifth child was John William Lamb ( May 30, 1875 - January 14, 1879) His death at age four must have been a blow to the family. It was followed shortly by the destruction of their home in a fire in 1880. Fortunately the family escaped without injury. While John worked with his crew to rebuild their home, the family lived in the barn of the home of their friends the Murphy’s across the street. The home that John built still stands to this day.

On June 2, 1883, they joined the Deer Creek Harmony Presbyterian Church in Darlington, where Mary’s father had been one of the founding elders.

John was proud of his Civil War service. It is likely that he was present at the dedication of the the Maryland monument at Antietam (detailed elsewhere on this site) as a commerative pin from the dedication remains with the family. He also maintained associations with his former comrades in arms. Colonel Benjamin F. Taylor's scrapbooks at the Maryland Historical Society contain a clipping noting John's presence at one of the reunions of the 2nd Maryland held at Taylor's residence at the Loudon Park National Cemetary.

John Lamb died on April 4, 1915, in Darlington, Maryland and was buried in the cemetery at Deer Creek Harmony Presbyterian Church outside Darlington, Maryland.

Mary continued to live at the family home with her daughters. No doubt living was tough for the family in those pre-social security and medicare days. Hannah’s photos date from this time, and were probably an attempt to produce postcards to sell to tourists of local points of interest along US 1 at Darlington and Berkly, Maryland. At that time there were several tourist cabins in the area, and the family rented out rooms to tourists as well. Mary died March 12, 1924 and she was also buried in Deer Creek Harmony Presbyterian.

A childhood visit to the church yard to visit family graves sparked my interest in the 2nd Maryland, which over the years blossomed into the effort to publish its history, and to the development of this website.

This page is dedicated to the memory of John Lamb, and to all of my other Lamb ancestors gone before, by John William Lamb, his great-great grandson - March 2007