Fred Neal Lambing and Mary Gladys Leedom;

Their Ancestors and Their Descendants. Page 2

      Christopher was born in 1718, the son of an officer in the French army, who, as nearly as can be learned, lived near the village of Paults or Peltz, not far from Strasburg, where he owned extensive vineyards, which, it appears, were placed in charge of his son. And, although they spoke of themselves as French, neither Christopher nor any of his children appear to have been acquainted with that language, but only with the German. The young man married; and, seeing many of his countrymen emigrate to America, conceived the idea of doing so himself. This the father strenuously opposed, declaring that he had enough to keep his family comfortably at home; but after the birth of the second child, Christopher determined to cross the water against the father's will. The parting was far from what should have been expected, and the father became so aggravated that he would hold no further communication with his son. For this reason all connection with the parent stock was broken off, and nothing further is known of it.
       No point gave the writer (M.M.Lambing) more difficulty than that of fixing the precise date of the arrival of Christopher Lambing in America; and still the exact year must remain uncertain. The grounds on which the date must be determined are these: When Christopher left the old world he had two children, the younger of which, Peter, was two years old, who, as nearly as can be ascertained, lived to the age of 106 years, and died in either 1844 or 1845, so that he must have been born in 1738 or 1739, which would place the date of Christopher's landing in 1740 or the year following. This as we shall see, would make him little more, if as much as, 20 years of age when he was married. On his arrival in America he settled in Nockamixon township, Bucks county, in a damp region on the hill about three miles west of the Delaware river, known as "the swamps," and about 70 miles above Philadelphia. Here he spent the remainder of this long life, and from the appearance of the place he must often have regretted his parting from the scenes of his childhood. The writer (M.M.Lambing) saw the ruins of the foundation of his cabin, and celebrated Mass in the church of Marienstein, which stands not three hundred yards distant, and is attended from Haycock, five miles to the south. Who his first wife was and when she died there is no means of ascertaining, but she is most probably buried at Haycock church. Christopher is buried in the Haycock Cemetery, Nockamixon Township, PA. According to the most reliable information she was the mother of five children:
      I. A girl, name unknown, who was swept overboard and drowned with three other children during the voyage across the ocean.
      II. Peter, who was two years old at the time of emigration, and who was born June 29th, 1738 or 1739. He married Catharine Troxel, who was born and raised in the vicinity of Bethlehem, Pa. About that time or a little later, he drifted with other members of his family to that part of York county, which was cut off to form Adams county in 1800, where, among other places, he worked on the lands attached to the Jesuit church at Conewago.   He had five children whose names are known, and perhaps others: John Troxel, Joseph, Anthony, Anne Catharine and another daughter, name unknown. He moved to Westmoreland county about 1822, and settled some six miles south-east of Greensburg, where he spent the remainder of his life. Here his son John visited him in 1838, and the two went out squirrel shooting, Peter informing his son that he was just then about one hundred years old. He died, as nearly as can be known, in the latter part of the year 1844 or the beginning of the year following, at an age variously given at from 103 to 107, but most probably 106. His wife died two years later; and both were buried in the cemetery adjoining St. Vincent's church, now St. Vincent's arch-abbey; but when the remains were moved to the new cemetery to give room for additional buildings, no marks were found on the graves, and their bones with many others were interred in one common grave, and can no longer be known. Of his children:
       1. John Troxel, who was born June 21, 1788, married Margaret Wolf in Adams county, March 1st, 1818, and lived with or near his father. He had five sons and three daughters: Louis, John Henry, Joseph, Isaac P., Jacob, Mary, Elizabeth, and Catharine.

a) Louis married, moved west, and when last heard from lived in Cariboo, Butler county, Kansas.

He had two sons and five daughters. (More about

Louis and his family later)

b) John Henry married and left two children at the time of his death, which took place in Westmore-
land county, the date has not been ascertained.

c) Joseph married, had a family, and lived on a farm
   near St. Joseph, Missouri, when last heard from.
   (It was through Joseph's family that I was able
   to track the family. Joseph's grandson Don     Lambing lived at the east end of 2400 Doniphan in
   St. Joseph, Mo. When I (Larry L. Lambing) moved
   to St. Joseph, Mo. in 1968 I moved to the west end
   of the 2400 block of Doniphan. At that time Don's
   mother (Julia Coss, 2840 Patee, St. Joseph, MO.)
   was alive and was able to give me the name
   and address of Ida Evans, 3127 South Bannock,
   Englewood, CO, 80110, who is a descendant of Isaac    P. Lambing. Mrs. Evans was in her early eighties,    but was in possession of M. M. Lambing's book and    had several documents that helped tie the Lambing
   history together and several will be used later in
   this writing.)

d) Isaac P. was carried away by the gold excitement     of 1849, and married in California Mellitta     Savage, to whom he has a family of five children:
   Ira, Phillip, Henry L., Francis Ambrose, and Alta
   Elizabeth (Ida Evan's mother).

e) Jacob lived at Great Grove, Green County, Ohio,
   when last heard from and was twice married. His
   only child, a son, by his first wife, is married    and lives in Iowa. By his second wife he had    three children.

f) Mary married Levi Mellor of Pittsburg, and both are now dead.

g) Elizabeth C. married James Mellor, brother of Levi, who is also dead; and she and her son, and only child, live in Somerset, Ohio.

h) Catharine (Kate) is unmarried, and lives with her sister in Somerset, Ohio. (Ida Gay in a letter dated September 10, 1968 states that Catherine or Aunt Kate lived many years in my mother's home and was certainly a great help as my mother had six living children. She passed away June 1, 1927 in Englewood, CA.)

i) A note was made in the family bible that a daughter was still born on January 10th, 1832.

John Troxel moved from Westmoreland to Washington county in 1832, and from there to Ohio in 1858; where, after living in several places, he died in 1878, at the age of 90.
(June 26, 1878 and his wife Margaret died July 10, 1878.)
More on John Troxel Lambing later.

2) Nothing is known of Joseph.

3) Anthony, when last heard from, in 1824, lived near
Philadelphia, and was unmarried.

4) and 5) Anne Catharine and her sister, whose name has not been handed down to us, both died when they attained
maturity, and most probably after their parents had
moved to Westmoreland county. One of them was on the
eve of being married.

III. Joseph, son of Christopher, of whom nothing is known with certainty; but it is thought that he crossed over into New Jersey, where it is known that persons of the name lived in the last and early part of the present century, and where some of them may perhaps still be found.

IV. Barbara, and V., her sister, of whom nothing further is known than that they went to Philadelphia, where they kept a "cake shop" when last heard from.

The date of death of the first wife of Christopher has not been ascertained, but it is most probable that she is buried at Haycock church.

We have now more certain information in the marriage and baptismal registers of the old German church at Goshenhoppen - now Balley, Montgomery county, Pa. - which was the missionary center for the central eastern part of the State from before the middle of the last century. All these entries are signed by Rev. John Baptist de Ritter, S.J. These had frequently to be taken on fly-leaves on the missions, and in this way some of them are, doubtless, lost; and the hand-writing of the entries that remain is often almost illegible, and contains omissions. But copies of such as refer to our families are now in possession of the writer (M.M.Lambing). The first entry is that of the second marriage of Christopher, and reads: "1766, 9th May, in the church at Goshenhoppen mission, I joined Christopher Lambin, widower, to Mary Anne Wanner." The woman's name is almost illegible, but is given as nearly as it can be deciphered. In some entries she is called Anne Mary. Of the children of the second marriage there were:

VI. George Jacob (name in register), who went by the of Jacob. He married a Miss Phillips, most probably in Adams county, where he had a family, and moved to Allegheny city in the early part of the 18th century, where he died, and where some of his descendants lived until lately, who called themselves Lampton, because Lambing was "too Dutch."

VII. Anne Margaret (in register), born January 19, 1771, who married a Jacob Fried, and had two daughters; but that is all that is known of her.

VIII. Catharine (in register), born 19 April 1772, of whom nothing more is known.

IX. John (in register), born 19 April, 1774. He married Barbara Kohl, daughter of Michael Kohl, of whom later on, most probably in Adams county, and about the year 1799, and moved to Armstrong county, near Saltsburg, about 1823, where he died, date uncertain, leaving two sons, John and Anthony, and perhaps other children.

. John, who married and moved to Cherry Tree, Indiana

county, where he raised a family.

2. Anthony, who married and remained near Saltsburg, where some of his descendants are still to be found.

X. Matthew - the grandfather of the writer. (M. M. Lambing) The entry in the register reads: "1776, 21 April, at Haycock I baptized Matthew, legitimate son of Christopher Lambing or Langbein and Anne, united in lawful wedlock, born 12 April 1776."

A gap occurs in the register at this place, but tradition has it that there were two other children about whom nothing has been preserved, and by placing them here, it will both fill the gap, and account for the tradition.

XI. Nicholas (in register), born December 19, 1784, the youngest of the family. He was a hatter, and moved to Albany in 1806, since which time nothing has been heard of him; but there are descendants of Christopher living in Canada, south of the St. Laurence, who would appear to be this branch of the family. They spell their name Lampeng.

Christopher Lambing lived to the age of 99 years and 2 days and died either in 1816 or 1817, at his home, and was buried in the church-yard at Haycock. When the writer (M.M.Lambing) visited the site of the old home, he met and talked with a very old, but intelligent man, who, when a small boy, was at Christopher's funeral. His wife survived him, but the date of her death is not known; and in death she was laid by this side. But the place was marked with a simple flagstone, without inscription, and it is impossible to distinguish it from the other spots where "the rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep."

The rest of the book by M. M. Lambing details the history of Michael Anthony and Anne Shields. Since this does not follow the line of the present writer it will not be included in this history.

In a hand written history written in 1881, of which the author is unknown (I think it is an early draft written by A.A. Lambing) the following accounts were stated:

When Christopher reached the new world he settled in New Jersey, not far from where Trenton now stands. About the time of the Revolution...the date is uncertain except that it was after the Revolution...he crossed the Delaware and settled in Nockamixon township, Bucks County. It is said that he served in the American army during the war of the Revolution.

His family growing up and marrying were dispersed the greater part of going to York County..that is..to the part of York County which was cut off in 1800 and formed into Adams County.. The old man although visiting his children continued to reside in Bucks County when he died..the date of his death is not known...at the advanced age of 99 years and 2 days as I was informed (Feb. 1870) by a man who knew him and who stated moreover that he had walked two miles to a funeral the day before he died.

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