Migration, slaves and family favorites: Samuel Lambeth+

The Lambeth Family of North Carolina rocks. As of this evening, I’ve traced my tree as far back as the 1730′s with Samuel Lambeth. The search is made easier in large part by the Familytomb Genealogy database, a pretty sophisticated website offering “data, photos and documentation of the surnames realated to the Behen, Dillon, Lambeth, Ash and allied families.” So the tree kind of exploded. I’ll draw it out sometime.*

And extra information gives some texture to these squares and lines. Tonight I learned about why my 5th great-grandfather moved to Missouri, that he owned some slaves, and found another old family picture.

*in short, Samuel Lambeth is my five-times-great-grandfather, born in North Carolina about 1773.

 

How many ways can you misspell Keaton?

Fiddled around a little more tonight, and can’t get past Isaac (/Isace) Keaton (/Keeton) (b 1810 VA).  Spelled Isaac Keeton in the 1850 Census of Cannon County, Tenn., it says he was married to a woman named Sarah (b 1814), but I don’t know what her maiden name was. Google searches and further FamilySearch.org searches yield no results on Isaac Keaton other than the 1850 Census and record of an Isaac Keeton on the 1840 Census. So I guess I either need a death record of one of their children that has her maiden name, or I need to delve into some Virginia Censuses.

I finally found that he was buried in Missouri, in the Snodgrass Cemetery in 1858. His wife was buried in the Clifty Cemetery in 1882. This means they must have moved to Missouri in the eight years between 1850 and 1858, which is interesting.

Here are Isaac and Sarah’s children as of 1850:

• Henry N – 1833
• William I (?) – 1839
• Epraim S – 1841
• Abrahm C. – 1841
• John R. – 1845
• James L – 1848
• Larkin T – 1849

So, Findagrave.com is useful, and gave me the find of the night. This picture is supposedly of James Lennex Keaton, my great-great-great grandfather (I’ve also found spellings of “Lenox”). Not sure where how the photo was obtained, so I don’t know for sure if it is him or not. Either way, this dude is sporting a pretty badass beard and scowl combo.

My biggest concern is that James L.’s wife’s name is, I thought Martha Parmer, but he could have remarried, maybe Mary is short for Martha, or some other mid-19th century anomaly.

And now it’s 2:39 a.m., so maybe I’ll play with this more later.

Edit: I showed this picture to my great-grandfather, and he acted pretty excited about it. He confirmed that James was his grandfather, but said he never saw any of his grandparents (three of them died within a year after he was born in 1927, and the other, Louisa Lambeth Perkins, died in 1905). A guy he knew as a kid told him stories, and Grampa wishes he were still around. “I miss those old-timers.”

 

A short introduction to why I would not use preimplantation genetic diagnosis

I’ve written a little about past family, but what about the future? Here’s a piece from my human biological variation class. I wrote it during finals week, so excuse any errors, but it’s certainly a compelling topic, and one humans will face more and more in subsequent generations.

Using preimplantation genetic diagnosis to choose an offspring’s genetics is arguably comparable to supporting a second-wave eugenics movement. Its long-term social cost outweighs the immediate benefits. Families privileged enough access the technology wouldn’t halt inferior genetics outright; The discrimination would be slower and more subtle. As PGD children born with virtually no problems become more common, their superior capabilities would increasingly disadvantage naturally born individuals. Within a few generations, the essence of humanity could disappear. For these ethical reasons, I would refuse PGD for my children.