John LARRABEE Sr was born in 1753 in Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts, USA. His father led a seafaring life, and is supposed to have been impressed into the British service, from which he never returned. John's alleged that his guardian (an uncle in Lynn, Massachusetts - said to be Isaac) worked him very hard and gave him no education whatever. John ran away from his uncle at the age of fifteen, and entered the United States service at the beginning of the Revolution. He enlisted early in May, 1775 and served 8 months as a private in Capt. Hart's Company, Col. Sargent's Massachusetts Regiment. He re-enlisted in 1776 and served one year. Again he re-enlisted January. 1777 and severed in Capt. Drury's Company, Col. John Cranes Regiment of Artillery and was discharged February. 9, 1780 at Morristown, N.J. Finally he re-enlisted and served 3 more years. He received an honorable discharge at the close of the war at West Point. He participated in many battles, including the battle at Trenton, where he had his feet badly frozen. He received pension for many years in later life.

Little is known about where John was or what he did for the twenty years after the end of the war. He settled in Virginia, and it does not appear that he ever returned to his early home, and was lost to the family in Lynn. He married first a Miss Hicks and she died.  They had one son:

1. John LARRABEE Jr was born on 4 October 1799 in Virginia, USA. He died on 2 January 1873 in Oblong, Crawford County, Illinois, USA. 

He was married second to Dorothy (Dolly) SMITH, by whom he had three sons and five daughters.  Dorothy (Dolly) SMITH was born about 1785 in Virginia, USA.  In the year 1800, John can be found near Marietta, Ohio, with a wife and two children. Census records show him in Madison Township, Licking County, Ohio in 1820, 1830, and 1840.  Licking County, Ohio history books state that Larrabee was a settler there in 1801, seven years before the county was formed, and a pioneer of that area. In the spring of 1801, John left his family behind in Marietta while he and a few others embarked in a canoe on the Licking River. Eventually they settled on a piece of land in Licking County. He found a hollow 10-foot sycamore tree that he used as a home for several months. During those months he cleared the land, raised some corn, and built a cabin. Once his crop was harvested, John returned to Marietta for his family and brought them to their new home.  Here eleven persons settled and were known as the 'Larrabee colony'.

John died on 6 February 1846 in Licking County, Ohio, USA with pension arrears from Sept. 4, 1845 to March 13, 1846 paid to the widow Dolly. He was buried in Lutheran Cemetery, Licking County, Ohio, USA. One Licking County history states that "He was unpretentious, honest, industrious, and measurably free from the degrading vices and vicious habits that sometime characterized the frontier settlers. And it can also be truthfully said that he practiced the virtues which so conspicuously marked the character of our pioneers, and indeed of most of the settlers of a new country -- virtues which grew out of the necessities of their condition, foremost of which were industry, frugality and hospitality, and last and most general, the reciprocation of neighborly kindnesses."  Another history states, "He was a man of correct habits, industrious and honest; weighed about 350 pounds and was helpless some time before his death. He said he had a brother William and a sister Joanna."

Dorothy died in October 1850 in Licking County, Ohio, USA of brain fever.  John and Dorothy had the following known children:

1. Mary LARRABEE was born in 1803. 
2. Elizabeth LARRABEE was born in 1805. 
3. Daniel LARRABEE was born in 1807. 
4. Joana LARRABEE was born in 1809. 
5. William LARRABEE was born in 1811. 
6. Lucinda LARRABEE was born in 1815. She was married to Thomas Williams ASHLEY about 1850. Children included Marietta ASHLEY, Fanny ASHLEY, and Charles ASHLEY. 
7. Sylvester LARRABEE (see below) 
8. Lydia Loralie LARRABEE was born on 25 April 1820 in Licking County, Ohio, USA. She was married to Napoleon TRAVIOLI (son of Dominic TRAVIOLI and Abigail PARKER). Napoleon TRAVIOLI was born on 4 July 1821 in Jefferson County, New York, USA. Lydia died on 17 August 1889 in Clark County, Illinois, USA. Napoleon died on 10 June 1891 in Clark County, Illinois, USA. Both were buried in Livingston Cemetery, Clark County, Illinois, USA. Children included James TRAVIOLI, Jerome TRAVIOLI, Mary TRAVIOLI, William TRAVIOLI, and Lyle TRAVIOLI.

Sylvester LARRABEE was born on 25 May 1818 in Licking County, Ohio, USA. He was married to Eliza Jane ELLIS on 14 May 1840 in Licking County, Ohio, USA. Eliza Jane ELLIS was born on 17 May 1823 or 1825 in Guernsey, Guernsey County, Ohio, USA. They can be found on the census in:

• 1840 Madison Township, Licking County, Ohio
• 1850 Mary Ann Township, Licking County, Ohio, Family #961
• 1860 Mary Ann Township, Licking County, Ohio, Household #285
• 1870 Mary Ann Township, Licking County, Ohio, Household #140

Eliza died in 1858 in Licking County, Ohio, USA. Sylvester died in 1889.  He was buried in Walnut Prairie Cemetery, York Township, Clark County, Illinois.  Sylvester LARRABEE and Eliza Jane ELLIS had the following children:

1. Wilford Thomas LARRABEE was born on 5 April 1841 in Newark, Licking County, Ohio, USA. Wilford Thomas LARRABEE had the following children: Mary E LARRABEE, Frank S LARRABEE, Sarah M LARRABEE, William Henry LARRABEE, John J LARRABEE, Eliza Lou Nellie LARRABEE, Annie LARRABEE, Thomas W LARRABEE, Charles  LARRABEE and Cleveland LARRABEE. 
2. William H LARRABEE was born in 1842. 
3. Johanna Elizabeth LARRABEE.  She was married to Joel PALMER.
4. Mary Jane LARRABEE was born in 1844. 
5. John Wesley LARRABEE was born in 1847. 
6. George Washington LARRABEE.  Died at age of 6 months.
7. Jacob Ellis LARRABEE was born on 3 August 1850 in Newark, Licking County, Ohio, USA. He was married to Margaret E LYNCH on 9 August 1875 in Warren County, Indiana, USA. He died on 16 July 1915 in Hoopeston, Vermillion County, Illinois, USA. 
8. Eliza Jane LARRABEE was born in 1852. She was married to Jerome TRAVIOLI (son of Napoleon TRAVIOLI and Lydia Loralie LARRABEE) on 10 April 1878 in Clark County, Illinois, USA. Jerome TRAVIOLI was born about 1854. She died on 17 August 1900 in Clark, Clark County, Illinois, USA. She was buried in Walnut Prairie Cemetery, Clark County, Illinois, USA. Jerome died about 1907. Their children included Blanche Travioli, Charles Travioli, Lydia Travioli, Mary Travioli, and Dorothy Travioli. 
9. **Sylvester Joel Larrabee (see below).
10. Lewis Napoleon LARRABEE was born in 1855. 
11. Benjamin Eleven LARRABEE was born in 1857. 

Family history says that Sylvester was briefly married to a Catherine BENNER and they had a child who died and then they were divorced.  In the 1860 census, there is a Catherine listed as well as a child Noah, who was born just a few months earlier.  Neither one appears on the 1870 census with Sylvester, so it is probable that this family rumor is true. 

Sylvester died in Clark County, Illinois, in 1889 and is buried in Walnut Prairie Cemetery there.

**Sylvester Joel LARRABEE (also known as "Ves") was born on 8 January 1854 in Licking County, Ohio, USA. Sylvester Larabee moved to Indiana when nineteen years of age and settled near Newtown, Fountain County, Indiana where he followed farming for a few years. He later moved to Warren county and two years later settled in Steuben township, where he was an active farmer. He was married to Cornelia CRONKHITE (daughter of Sidney CRONKHITE and Sarah Sibrena SWEET) on 22 February 1877 in Warren County, Indiana. Cornelia CRONKHITE was born on 15 April 1852 in Warren County, Indiana. They can found in the US census in:

• 1880 Steuben Township, Warren County, Indiana, Household #14
• 1900 Steuben Township, Warren County, Indiana, Household #59
• 1920 Pike Township, Warren Township, Indiana, Household #90

Cornelia died in 1923. Ves died on 22 April 1928. Both were buried in West Lebanon Cemetery, West Lebanon, Warren County, Indiana, USA. Ves and Cornelia's children included:

• Lillian Mae Larrabee
• Sherman Larrabee
• **Clara Belle Larrabee (see the Galloway Family page)
• Amanda Larrabee
• Blanche Larrabee
• Carman Larrabee
• Watson Larrabee
• and a son who died in infancy