SKETCH XXV
THE EARL OF MAR, AND THE MARRS AND LEMONS
OF NORFOLK
Every young student of Scottish history has read of the two attempts made to re-establish the house of Stuart on the Scottish and English thrones—the first by the Chevalier de St. George, in 1715, and the second by his son, the gay and daring “Prince Charlie,” in 1745. It will be remembered that it was the Earl of Mar who raised the standard of revolt when the first attempt was made; that 10,000 Highland clansmen joined his standard, and that the kilted revolters were held in check by the Duke of Argyle until they were finally dispersed. It will also be remembered that the first Pretender escaped from the highlands and returned to France, accompanied by the disappointed and crestfallen Earl of Mar.
Now, it is claimed on strong circumstantial evidence, that this old Scottish chieftain, who is described as Sir John Francis Mar, was a brother of Lawrence Marr, the father of David Marr, the old pioneer who settled on “Marr’s Hill,” in Woodhouse, at the beginning of the present century.[1] It is said another brother or two besides Lawrence were implicated in this Jacobite revolt, and that Lawrence escaped into Ireland, and subsequently came to America and settled in Northampton County, Penn., near the little town of Bethlehem, on the Delaware River. If this grand-ancestor of the Norfolk Marrs was really the Earl’s brother, it is quite possible that a few corpuscles of royal Stuart blood course through their veins. A grandson of Robert II., the first Stuart who wore a crown, married the Countess of Mar, and secured the earldom. This Earl of Mar was the natural son of Sir Alexander Stuart.[2] Later on, during the reign of James III., we find an Earl of Mar who was a brother of that king; and a century or two after we find another Earl of Mar entrusted with the guardianship of the youthful James VI., who also succeeded to the throne of England as James I.
It is said the Earl of Mar who led the insurrection in 1715 was a bachelor, and left a fine property in the vicinity of Paisley, County of Renfrew; and it is said Lawrence was the only brother who married and had children.[3] It is upon this condition of things that the descendants of Lawrence Marr base their expectations of receiving a fortune. It has cost them a considerable sum already by way of investigations, and the chances are that, after incurring additional expenditure, the fortune will still “be acomin’,” as is the case with the fortunes of so many of our old families. As before stated, there is good circumstantial evidence in favor of the claim. Lawrence is said to be the name of the missing heir, and Lawrence was the name of the grand-ancestor of the family in America, and, according to a family tradition, he was a refugee from his native land on account of his participation in the Highland revolt. David Marr, the old Norfolk pioneer, had in his possession, it is said, a pair of massive silver knee-buckles and a pair of silver shoe-buckles which had belonged to his father; and if these silver trappings had been worn by him in the Highlands, it would signify a social standing several degrees above the commonalty of the Highland peasantry, to say the least. No doubt there are numerous unclaimed fortunes in Europe awaiting American claimants, but the difficulty is in furnishing the required proofs. With the stringent registration laws now in force, future claimants will have less difficulty in tracing back their ancestry.
Lawrence Marr died in Pennsylvania, leaving several sons and daughters. One of these sons, David, and one daughter, Mary, and her husband, Joseph Lemon, came to Long Point. It is said that Thomas, another son, started for Canada, but died on the way; and that Richard Marr, late of Woodhouse, was a twig of this branch.
David Marr had thirteen children, twelve of whom grew up.[4] Two of the twelve were sons—Lawrence and David; and the daughters’ names were, Sarah, Mary, Anna, Elizabeth, Eleanor, Susanna, Rachel, Martha, Margaret and Judith. David Marr was past sixty when he came to Long Point, and he lived but a few years after he came.
Lawrence, eldest son of David, came to the new settlement in advance of his father. He came in about 1800, accompanied by his wife and his little brother David, who had not yet entered his teens.[5] Lawrence was twenty-seven. His wife Rachel was the daughter of Colonel Butler, an officer in the British army, who lost his life in the conquest of Canada.[6] Lawrence Marr made a wise choice of a home on the hill known as “Marr’s Hill,” being the fine, substantial home, at present, of A. W. Smith. He was twice married. By his first wife he had three sons—David, Robert and Joseph; and two daughters—Mary and Nancy. By his second wife, Naomi Strawbridge, he had four sons—Richard, Benjamin, Graham and Joseph. His son Joseph by his first marriage died young, and this accounts for the second Joseph. He also had five daughters by his second wife—Elizabeth, Rachel, Catherine, Mary Ann and Maria. Of these sons, Benjamin contracted a cold while serving in a troop of horsemen during the rebellion, which resulted in his death. David was a Justice of the Peace, and if Norfolk ever had a magistrate who proved himself a “peacemaker,’ it was Squire Marr, of Woodhouse. The story of his labors as a peacemaker is not found in the public records, as he settled nearly every case that came to him without the necessity of a trial in court. He was a man of peace, and a consciousness of having been instrumental in bringing about a reconciliation between two belligerent neighbors was far dearer to him than the acquisition of a few paltry fees. Robert, the second son, built a saw-mill on Black Creek, and met with marked success financially. Graham, next to the youngest son, studied medicine and became a doctor.
David Marr, second son and youngest child of the original David, came to Long Point, as before stated with his brother Lawrence while yet a mere lad. After remaining a year or two in the wilds of the new settlement, he went back to Pennsylvania. Not meeting with a hearty welcome, he made up his mind to try it again as soon as he could earn money enough to pay his expenses. He earned $4.00 threshing out three stacks of rye for a Pennsylvania Dutchman, and with this money in his pocket he started alone, and on foot, for the new country once more. It is said this youthful pioneer walked every step of the way from the Delaware River to Marr’s Hill—excepting of course, ferryings across rivers. He learned the cabinet-making trade, was handy with tools, generally, and worked on any sort of building job that had any money in it. He sent to England for a complete set of cabinet-making tools, which cost him $900, and he paid for the outfit by making 300 wheelbarrows during the war of 1812, at $3.00 each. He bought fifty acres adjoining his brother Lawrence on the south, and here he settled with his wife Anna, daughter of the old Lynn Valley pioneer, Solomon Austin.[7] David Marr never went to school a day in his life; but he attended thirteen sessions of a night-school taught by a man who never spent a day in school himself. He was one of Norfolk’s pioneer cabinet-makers, and many a night the sound of plane, saw and hammer was heard in his little shop all night long, in making coffins. He was industrious, upright and honorable, and was never plaintiff or defendant in any suit at law. He died in 1871, in this eighty-first year. He had six sons—Solomon, Joseph, Edward, John Hiram, William and Duncan D.; and three daughters—Esther, Jane and Mary. Joseph succeeded to the homestead; Edward, Solomon and John Hiram settled in Iowa; Duncan D. learned his father’s trade, and settled in Simcoe; Mary died single, and Esther and Jane married, respectively, William Brooks and W. F. Nickerson.
A number of the original David Marr’s daughters married and settled in the States before his sons or himself came to Canada, but the descendants of the family in Norfolk know nothing about them. David Marr was born in 1743, and his wife Sarah in 1747, and as he did not come to Canada before the year 1805, his large family were all grown up, married and settled somewhere, except the two youngest, Judith and David. David Marr’s old family Bible has been preserved, and all that is known of the family is learned from its time-stained old Register. It simply records the names of Sarah, Anna, Eleanor and Martha—who they married or where they settled no member of the family in Norfolk knows.
Mary Marr, eldest daughter to the original David, married George Rymal, and settled in Hamilton.
Elizabeth Marr, the third daughter married Abraham Diltz, and settled in Harrison County, Kentucky.
Susanna Marr, the sixth daughter, married Charles Redman, a school teacher, who died in Pennsylvania, leaving one son, David.
Rachel Marr, the seventh daughter, married David Marr, and settled in Glanford, near Hamilton.
Margaret Marr, the ninth daughter, married Andrew Labar, and settled at Trafalgar, where she raised a large family of girls.
Judith Marr, the youngest daughter, married Abraham Labar, and settled in Norwich. John Labar, of Bloomsburg, is a son of Judith. It is said that Judith Marr was living with relatives at Hamilton at the time her brother David returned to Canada, and that he rested overnight at the place where she was staying, and the following day she accompanied him the remainder of his long journey. It is said they started at sunrise from the old Barton church on top of the mountain, and walked to their brother Lawrence’s new home on Marr’s Hill, reaching their place of destination at eight o’clock in the evening, having walked a distance of fifty-two miles over rough and uneven roads and through immense stretches of mere forest trails.
It is said the original Lawrence Marr had five or six sons; that he and his eldest son were Loyalists during the war of the Revolution, and that his remaining sons, including David, supported the cause of independence.
The late Richard Marr, of Woodhouse, married Martha Marr, and had six sons—David, William, Thomas, Lawrence, Adam and George; and three daughters—Margaret, Rachel and Martha.
Mary Marr, daughter of the original Lawrence, married Joseph Lemon, of New Jersey. It is said she and her husband came to Canada. Two sons of this union settled in Norfolk early in the century-—namely, Joseph and Jacob.[8]
Joseph Lemon settled in Woodhouse, near Port Ryerse. He had five sons—Alexander, James, Samuel, Thomas and Jacob; and two daughters—Catherine and Nancy.[9] Of this family; Alexander married into the Gilbert family, and settled in Woodhouse. He had one daughter, who married a man named Saulsbury.[10] James married ______ Clendenning, and settled on part of the homestead. He had three sons—Hiram, “Riah” and Joseph. Samuel went away;[11] Thomas settled in St. Thomas; Jacob married Charity Lemon, and settled in Elgin; Catherine married Henry E. Collins, who finally settled near “Five Stakes” in Elgin; and Nancy married Ebenezer Gilbert, of Woodhouse.
Jacob Lemon, brother of Joseph, the old pioneer, settled on Lots 5 and 6, in the Gore of Woodhouse. These lots are now divided into four or five valuable farms, constituting as fine a tract of land as lies in the county. Mr. Lemon possessed a jovial disposition, and in his day was one of the most popular citizens of Woodhouse. He had one son, Jacob, who was the youngest in the family.[12] His daughters’ names were; Catherine, Lavinia, Charity, Eliza, Sarah, Matilda and Rebecca Ann. Catherine married David Duff and settled in Woodhouse; Charity married Jacob Lemon; Eliza married Henry Decew, and settled in Iowa; Matilda married Joseph Lemon, and settled in Charlotteville; and Rebecca Ann married Philip Pegg, and settled in Woodhouse.
Jacob Lemon, the only son of Jacob, married Mary Ann Wheeler, and settled on the homestead. He had one son, Isaac; and four daughters—Sarah Ann, Elizabeth, Esther and Rebecca.
The Lemon families were prominent among the old Woodhouse Methodist families, who lie buried in the old Woodhouse cemetery.
[1] John Mar was the 23rd Earl of Mar, succeeding to the Scottish estates in 1689. He supported the failed Jacobite Rebellion that pitted many Scots against the Hanoverian monarchy of England and was stripped of his honours. The Earl died in 1732 leaving a son Thomas who succeeded his father as Lord Erskine, but the estates of the earldom were not restored during his time, Thomas died without issued in 1766. His sister Frances married her first cousin, James Erskine and their son John Francis Mar was restored to the earldom in 1824. The vital dates of Lawrence Marr, the progenitor of the American family, are unknown, but with an estimated birth year of 1720, could not have been a brother of John Francis, but possibly of John the 23rd Earl. Burke’s Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage is the authority on accepted genealogy for the nobility of Great Britain and does not include Lawrence Marr. A contradictory account of Lawrence Marr’s connection is given by Charles M. Cree in an unpublished manuscript titled “The Curse of Marr.” This begins in the year 1600 with the birth of Thomas Marh (sic) in Ballyshannon, Donegal Bay, Ulster, Ireland. Thomas was a son of Michael Marh and Margaret Maguire. Thomas’ son Patrick immigrated to Scotland and settled near Lochgilphead, Argyle County where he received from the Crown a grant of a large tract of land. Patrick married Hannah McDonald and their daughter Mary married John Erskine who assumed his wife’s maiden name and changed the spelling to “Marr”. John Erskine Marr was made Duke of Argyle then Earl of Marr. His daughter Helen Marr married her second cousin Henry Erskine who assumed the name of Marr. He had four sons Henry, Richard, James and John. The eldest succeeded his father and the other three brothers sailed for America about 1750 and were founders of the Maine and part of the Pennsylvania family. The inheritor Henry Marr, eldest brother married Rachael Goodnough, and was father of Henry and the Lawrence Marr who was progenitor of the Norfolk family. Unfortunately there are problems with the Cree account in terms of possible dates, but it is presented as a possible avenue for research.
[2] According to Burke’s Peerage, Alexander Stewart of the Scottish royal house, married Isabel, Countess of Marr and succeeded as the 12th Earl. Alexander died in 1435 without succeeding issue and the earldom passed to Isabel’s cousin Robert Erskine. There is descent from the Scottish royal house of Bruce. Gratney, the 7th Earl married Christian, daughter of Robert II Bruce, King of Scotland.
[3] John, the 23rd Earl of Mar married first to Margaret of Kinmount and second to Frances Pierrepont. They had two children as stated above. Earl John’s brother, James, Lord Grange married Rachel Chiesly and had three children, the eldest of whom was James Erskine who married his first cousin Frances Erskine the daughter of the 23rd Earl. Their son John Francis succeeded to the earldom. In later years, the families of two of his sons both claimed the rights to the Earldom creating a dispute and resulting in both being given the title of Earl of Mar.
[4] The David Marr family bible record at the Norfolk Historical Society Archives lists fourteen children: Sarah Marr, born May 30, 1763; Mary Marr, born December 5, 1764; Anna Marr, born February 28, 1767; Elizabeth Marr, born July 4, 1769; Sarah Marr, born May 25, 1771; Lawrence Marr, born July 18, 1773; Eleanor Marr, born April 20, 1775; Susanna Marr, born June 20, 1777; Rachel Marr, born May 14, 1780; Martha Marr, born September 30, 1782; David Marr, born August 20, 1784, died young; Margaret Marr, born August 1, 1786; Judith Marr, born August 7, 1788; David Marr, born September 10, 1790
[5] Lawrence Marr arrived in Upper Canada in 1803. His sons David, born c. 1800 and Richard, born on 12 Oct 1802, gave “United States” as their birthplace in the 1852 Census of Woodhouse Twp. The first record of Lawrence Marr in Norfolk was his purchase on 30 Aug 1803 of Lot 1, Concession 3, Woodhouse Township, recorded in the Abstracts of Deeds Register.
6When Owen referred to “the conquest of Canada” on other occasions, he noted this being in the British capture of Quebec during the Seven Years War of 1757-63. Rachel (Butler) Marr's vital dates are unknown, but her husband Lawrence was born on July 18, 1773, so it is unlikely that Rachel’s father died as early as the Seven Years War.
7 While David Marr might have lived for a time next to his brother, he settled on Lot 9 in the Gore of Woodhouse Township where he was recorded in the 1829 Assessment and the 1852 Agricultural Census.
[8] In the correspondence of historian Orena Buchner Hanley, it was noted that Mary Marr married at Mount Bethel, Pennsylvania to Jacob Lemon, son of Joseph and Prudence Lemon. Two additional sons came to Norfolk. William Lemon arrived at Crowland Township, Welland County by 1796 when he filed a petition (Upper Canada Land Petition “L” Bundle 2, Doc. No. 30). On 14 Jul 1801, William Lemon purchased from Abraham Powell, 100 acres of land in the north part of Lot 1, Front Concession of Woodhouse Township, Norfolk County in 1801, the transaction recorded in the Abstracts of Deeds Register. William lived out his life there. His brother John Lemon also settled first in Crowland Township then lived in Townsend Township where he was recorded in the 1852 Census.
[9] Joseph Lemon had additional children named in his will of July 27, 1823. They were Lawrence Lemon, born c. 1801, Mary born in 1791 who married James Bowlby, and Margaret born c. 1811 who married Edward Kniffen.
10 Alexander Lemon married Rebecca Gilbert, daughter of Woodhouse pioneer Isaac Gilbert. Their family is included in Isaac Gilbert, United Empire Loyalist by Harriet Walker: Adella Lemon, born June 20, 1817 married John Saltzberry; Charles Lemon, born March 8, 1819, died 16 Aug 1821; Charles Henry Lemon, born July 25, 1822 married Margaret Wright; Amelia Lemon, born September 8, 1823, married first to Peter McFarlane and second to Abraham Schuyler; Alexander Thomas Lemon, born September 28, 1833, married Susanna Lutes.
11 Samuel Lemon married Eliza Sovereign and settled on Lot 11, Concession 3, Charlotteville Twp., where they were recorded in the 1852 Census.
12 Jacob Lemon born on January 12, 1816 according to his gravestone in Old Woodhouse Methodist Church Cemetery, Woodhouse Twp. was actually not the youngest in the family. His sisters Harriet born c. 1824, Sarah born on June 13, 1825, and Matilda born c. 1828 were younger.