Marshall County KS Archives Biographies.....Lamb, Family 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com May 31, 2007, 12:46 am

Author: Emma E. Forter (1917)

THE LAMB FAMILY.

    John Thomas Lamb was born at Tobinsport, Perry county, Indiana, December 13,
1844. He was the ninth child in a family of thirteen children of his father,
Dorastus Lamb, who married Elizabeth Miller, who was born on March 29, 1804. To
them were born seven children, four sons and three daughters, all of whom are
now dead.

    Elizabeth Batt was born on July 10, 1823, and was married to Dorastus Lamb
on December 27, 1840. Their first son, Ezra, was born July 20, 1842, and John
Thomas Lamb, their second son, was born on December 13, 1844. All of the
brothers and sisters are now deceased, except Nora Lamb Lewis, who married
William Lewis at Seneca, Nemaha county, Kansas, October 16, 1873, and resided on
a farm in that county until March, 1875; then moved to Blue Rapids, Marshall
county, and resided there until October 1, 1900, her husband having charge of a
meat-market there. He sold out and moved to Manhattan, where he was custodian at
the Agricultural College for about fourteen years, and on January 15, 1914, they
moved to their fruit farm near Eureka Springs, Arkansas, where they still reside.

    John Thomas Lamb received his education in the local schools of his home
community, for fifteen years; he then went to Illinois, for one year, near
Equality; then to Memphis, Tennessee, and enlisted in Company K, Sixth Illinois
Volunteer Cavalry, November 1st, 1862, and was discharged on November 5th, 1865,
as corporal, at Selma, Alabama; he then returned to his home in Indiana. In the
spring of 1866 John Thomas Lamb and his two sisters, Nancy Newberry and Nora
Lamb, left Tobinsport, Indiana, and reached Atchison on the first day of April.
It took them three days to reach Marshall county, near Vermillion, as they had
to come by team, there being no railroad then. He bought eighty acres of land at
that time in section 9, township 4, range 10, and later purchased another eighty
acres from his brother, Zopher Lamb, who came to Marshall county in January,
1866, and purchased this one hundred and sixty acres for himself and his
brother, John.

    John Thomas Lamb was a home-loving man, and the members of his own family
knew him best, but above all, the testimony can be given to him by all who knew
him, that he was a true Christian, a constant reader and teacher of the best
literature obtainable, a good neighbor and loved to visit the school located
just east across the road from his family residence, being the school district
named for him, "Lamb District No. 134." Messrs. Watkinson, Charles Grable and
John Thomas Lamb were the three first school officials of this school district
and he was treasurer thereof for over twelve years. Thereafter, he and his wife,
Elizabeth, loved to watch the school children play, bringing back to their minds
the youthful days of their school-life in comparison to the advantages the
children enjoy today. And they always at Christmas time took the children apples
by the bucketful and shared the joys of their Christmas tree or entertainment
and exchanging of presents, making the days happier for the children as well as
enjoying the joy, peace, and happiness, themselves. He was a soldier and a lover
of liberty. On May 9th, 1916, the members of Allison Circle, of Vermillion,
Ladies of the Grand Army of the Republic, presented a silk flag to the Lamb
School in memory of Comrade and Sister Lamb. The ladies were accompanied by
several of the veterans and friends, and quite a number of the patrons of the
school district were also present. Miss Buckles, the teacher, had prepared an
appropriate program of recitations and songs. The flag was presented by Mrs.
Samuel Arnold, who also conducted with the Presbyterian minister, the funeral
services, as leader of the members of Allison Circle at Vermillion, for Mrs.
Elizabeth Gray Auld Lamb, on November 16th, 1914. The Lamb children thanked the
ladies for the honor and respect shown the memory of their father and mother,
and Mr. Charles Wallace, district clerk for many years, and still clerk, paid
tribute to the memory of Mr. and Mrs. Lamb and talked patriotism right royally,
also. All joined lustily in three cheers for Old Glory, May 9th, 1916.

    In politics, he was a Republican from childhood until death, and a very
diligent worker at all times for the cause in his community and frequently was
their delegate. In church societies he was a true believer and often declined to
join any particular society, because of conscientious scruples, as he would not
confess any particular faith that was not in him. His reason forbade him to
accept some of the doctrines, nevertheless he always helped, financially, any
and all church societies, as all were working for the betterment of humanity,
and provided for his wife and three daughters to attend church, Sunday school
and young people's church societies, of which they frequently were delegates. He
lived a good Christian life daily; he had formulated his own high ideals and had
the courage to live up to them, regardless of the cost. True enough, we do not
find that very often, but there are not many of them who exist. His three
daughters are indeed proud of the fact, and will try and observe and do
likewise. In business affairs he always worked for the benefit of the community
in which he lived, and was president of the Vleits Bank for a number of years.
By occupation he was a farmer, and was always planning that his wife and three
daughters might enjoy the home prepared by a devoted husband and kind and loving
father. He always took an active part in the affairs of the com-munity in which
the family lived. The father and mother moved on to the present home as soon as
they were married, Friday, February 14th, 1873, and lived on the same farm all
their lifetime. Their eldest daughter, Ora Adelia Lamb, was born on July 2,
1874; their second daughter, Emma Lydia Lamb, was born on March 24, 1876; and
their youngest daughter, Julia Effa Lamb, was born on April 4th, 1879. The three
children were educated- at the Vermillion city school until No. 134 Lamb School
wras organized and completed; then the last days of school life were spent
there. Later, after receiving their county diplomas (three to the eldest
daughter, Ora) they were sent to Marysville, to the normal and Ora attended the
Holton College (Campbell University) for a business education for two years
about 1889 and 1891 and prepared herself for the business world. She taught
school for two years south of Marysville, and then worked for J. A. Broughten
for over twenty years as stenographer, in his law office, combining the work
with the telephone work as collector and bookkeeper for the past twelve years
for the Marysville Telephone Exchange Company, and previous for W. W. Hutchinson
and W. C. Evans, now deceased, in the same capacity.

    Emma Lydia Lamb also taught school near home and later went to Rawlins,
Wyoming, about May 27th, 1903, the time of Marshall county's flood. Later, in
1904, she made a trip through Yellowstone Park, Salt Lake, Utah, and down the
Columbia river to California and returned home again via Denver, Colorado, about
July 5th, 1904.

     Their youngest daughter, Julia Effa Lamb, was married at the home of her
parents to Clarence D. Steele, a young farmer of more than ordinary ability,
February 14, 1910. They now live on the home place with her sister, Emma, since
the death of their parents. He is an ideal farmer, with the latest methods, such
as mogul tractors, and has the management of the three hundred and twenty acres
of land, that John Thomas Lamb had arranged to be closely together, as he had by
industrious and continuous labor saved and provided for his wife and three
daughters a comfortable home and plenty of funds to start life much easier than
he and his wife. The parents had saved and done without many of the comforts of
life that the children might enjoy the blessings given by our gracious God, and
the freedom of our country. The father bravely helped to give them as a legacy,
with the two hundred acres of Marshall county's valuable land, free and clear of
all incumbrances, that they might have the same industrious habits as their
parents, is a legacy that they may be proud to inherit and rekindle the fire of
patriotism in our hearts for the defense of liberty and justice today.

    In later life he enjoyed much happiness in his home, with his family, until
sickness brought sadness at times, but the constant thought of others, which he
had cultivated in youth, made it much easier for his family in caring for him,
especially his daughter, Emma Lydia Lamb, who was his constant nurse for many
years and took such good care of him, as she worshipped her father, until he was
called by death on August 12, 1913. His wife, being deaf, and eldest daughter,
Ora Adelia Lamb, working in Marysville as stenographer, and the youngest
daughter, Effa, being married and having her own home to care for, the greatest
responsibility rested with his second daughter, Emma Lydia Lamb, who devoted her
time and life work in caring for her father at home. He often remarked, "It will
not be for lack of care, if I do not get well." But his long-continued sickness
finally took him away from this material condition, and the children will always
remember their father kindly, and try to live as he did. All who knew him best
always spoke very highly of his business integrity and pleasant manner.

     Elizabeth Gray Lamb, {nee Auld) was born on April 2nd, 1848, in Ohio, near
Deersville, Harrison county; her mother, Eleanor Alexander, was born on April
10th, 1820, in Ireland, and was one year old when her parents came to Ohio, near
Deersville, Harrison county. Eleanor was married to James Auld in 1838; to this
union there were eight children born, four of whom died in infancy. She was left
a widow in 1853. She an<^ her four children, Mary,' Elizabeth, Martha and James,
came to Kansas in 1858, in company with two other families, the Strongs and the
Bradfords. A few years after she was married to Harrison Foster and lived east
of Frankfort, now called the Van Vleit farm, west of Vleits, Kansas. Her husband
died in a short time, and she was left with her above named children. Later, she
married Francis Austin, and was living west of Frankfort when her daughter,
Elizabeth Gray Auld, was married at their home to John Thomas Lamb on February
14th, 1873, an(* immediately they moved to their home on his farm near
Vermillion two and one-half miles northwest thereof, and both resided thereon
until both were called by death from the activities of life here below. They
were both active in the social and religious life of their community. Their
influence had much to do with the high standard of morality in the district in
which they lived, and they were held in the highest regard by all who knew them.
They became prominent in the agricultural life of Marshall county, owning at the
time of their demise two hundred acres of land, part of which one hundred
dollars per acre could not purchase.

    Elizabeth was a youth-keeping woman, with her strength, ambition, enthusiasm
and culture. In the larger, better life, and in the uplift and progress of this
wonderful age, she had her opportunities. In the buoyancy and optimism which she
brought to her work, she renewed her glad days of her girlhood. While young, she
came with her widowed mother, two sisters and a brother to Frankfort about 1858
and was one of the early pioneers of Kansas. She held membership in that vast
army of noble men and women who by sacrifice, toil, and perseverance transformed
Kansas into the peaceful, intelligent, healthy, law-abiding commonwealth that we
view today. What an honor to be numbered among the pioneers of Kansas. It was
her privilege to usher into the world the new-born babe; to administer to the
sick, to help clothe and feed the needy; to build schools. She saw the modern
home of others supplant the log cabin; the overland express take the place of
the ox team. She often assisted when a child, in hauling wood and timber at
their home. The night concert of the coyote has been replaced by the marvelous
Victrola. In 1858 she found Kansas a wilderness, lying in undisturbed virgin
sleep, waiting for the coming of the cunning hand of industry to blossom in
plenty; she was a forerunner, ever marching onward to the light; never shirking
and never turning back. She was one whose faith was indexed by her works. The
year the grasshoppers visited Kansas, 1874, their eldest daughter was born. But,
being an excellent woman of high intelligence and courage and always taking an
active part in the incidents of the early history of Marshall county, and being*
highly respected by all the early settlers, they all worked together, and their
lives were characterized by self-sacrifice, she with her husband, denying
themselves many comforts and much that their friends thought necessities, that
they might preserve intact the property accumulated by their industry and devote
the same to the use of their three daughters. In addition to the property given,
the personal efforts of their lives were untiring for their country, their home
and liberty. These three children are always striving to make happy their three
children, of their own household, but never forgetting the children of
society—many of these are grown-up children, who have been dwarfed by
circumstances or by economic conditions, so that they have found but little of
cheer and much of misery in life, and always made them a little better off by
considering them a little.

    Her ambition was that her three daughters might be useful citizens and they
are trying to obey, as Ora Adelia is now one of the progressive and successful
business women of Marysville, and the efficient bookkeeper, stenographer and
collector for the Marysville Telephone Exchange Company, as she attended
Campbell University at Holton and then in 1892 took a post-graduate course at
Campbell, preparing herself to work as stenographer and bookkeeper. She has
purchased a comfortable home just east of the Catholic church grounds (one block
therein), within the city of Marysville. Ora is improving her permanent home,
and enjoys her city life, but still loves her farm home, being the home her
father and mother started. Her sisters, both now reside thereon, and all three
sisters aim to perpetuate their parents efforts to maintain this home and add
thereto in honor of their parents. It would have been hard to find a more happy
family until death came and claimed the father; then the mother's desire was to
be with her husband, as the three children were all grown, and by their father's
and mother's careful training—spiritual and moral—and business, our mother felt
satisfied that her work here on earth was completed. The mother will be missed
in the community in which she lived so long, over fifty-six years near
Frankfort, where she first settled on a farm, and the present Vleits, not known
then, and was always highly respected and greatly loved by all who knew her. She
was a member of the Church of God, now our Presbyterian church in Vermillion,
and was always a faithful worker for religion, regardless of church
denomination, as all goodness and practical piety make for the betterment of the
community in which we live.

    The Farmers' Union, now located in Vleits, was first organized at Lamb
School house and named "Lamb" for Mr. and Mrs. Lamb.

    Emma Lydia Lamb, second daughter, lives on the home place with her sister,
Julia Effa Steele, and husband. They farm three hundred and twenty acres of
land, and raise wheat, corn and alfalfa in large quantities and many other
smaller products for the feeding of their chickens, which they raise in large
quantities, both for the sale of the eggs and the young chickens, having two
large and commodious hen-houses therefor. They also raise nice stock,
substantial, medium-grade mules, horses, cattle and hogs. They are successful
and progressive farmers in the true sense of the word— farmers—as in this day
and age, to be a successful farmer means the combination of culture and
strength, all of which the two daughters, and the youngest daughter's husband
have obtained by education and their strong physical life; by inheritance the
two daughters are strong physically, and by culture, intellectually.

    Mary A. Auld, a sister of Elizabeth Lamb, was born on December 23, 1840, and
came from Ohio in 1858 and lived with her widowed mother near Frankfort until
her marriage on June 16, 1869, to James Gorman, of Pottawatomie county, Kansas,
where she lived until she and her husband went to Ft. Dodge, Kansas, where she
died on July 4, 1916. She had the honor of being numbered among the pioneers of
Kansas, and taught school in Marshall county in the early days, and later she
lived in her log cabin as a bride, and for a number of years after.

    James Auld, her brother, was born on January 21, 1852, and came to Marshall
county when about five years old, from Ohio and died in Minnesota, leaving a
wife and four children surviving him.

    One sister, Mrs. Martha J. Lieb, survives Elizabeth, and was with her during
her last illness of about four days' sickness, her death being caused by a
complication of diseases.

    Martha J. Lieb (nee Auld) was born on April 10th, 1850, on a farm near
Deersville, Harrison county, Ohio, and came at the age of eight years with her
widowed mother, Eleanor Alexander Auld, two sisters and one brother, James, in
1858, to Marshall county, residing near Frankfort, where all three sisters were
married at their family home west of Frankfort, she to Charles Lieb, on December
29th, 1869, and went with him to his home in Pottawatomie county, Kansas, near
Onaga, two and one-half miles southeast thereof, where he died four years
thereafter of pneumonia, leaving her with two small children. She still lives on
the farm, where she went as a bride, and she has seen her share of pioneer life;
she can recall when the Indians were seen every day hunting and fishing, and the
grasshoppers in 1874 so thick that they resembled a big storm cloud. She
received her education in the country schools of Marshall county, around Barrett
and Frankfort and was one of the best spellers, when they had their
old-fashioned spelling schools. She is sixty-seven years old at the present
time, and would not be afraid to spell with some of the school-teachers of
today, as the present teachers do not devote the time to spelling they did in
the early days of pioneer life.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

History of Marshall County, Kansas: its people, industries, and institutions
by
Emma E. Forter

Indianapolis, Ind.: B.F. Bowen & Co. (1917)


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