1860 Census: White Creek, Washington County, NY
169/170 William G. McClellan 59 Farming 2500 NY
Minerva 48
Alexander 23 Medical Student
Cornelia 21
Alfred 9
Walter Lambuth 5 Shanghai, China
Jenette " 3 " "Roll M653-874 pg 21
1870 Census: White Creek, Washington County, NY209/224 McClellan, William 69 m w Tallow Chandler 3000 1000 NY
Minerva 54 f w Keeping House
Cornelia 30 f w Ornamental Hair Worker
Daniel 27 m w Clerk in Store
Alfred 18 m w At Home
McEachran, Elizabeth 60 f w
MARY ISABELLA McCLELLAN LAMBUTH
(December 17, 1832 - June 26, 1904)A number of years ago after my retirement, I decided to start researching my McClellan ancestors. I knew very little about them but I remembered that my father had corresponded with a Jean Lewis, one of his distant cousins, I had some snapshots he had taken on a trip to Cambridge, NY. Many years before that, my brother had found in our grandmother's attic a copy of a letter from a William McClellan which described a family's voyage from Kirkcudbright, Scotland to New York. These were the few "leads" I had with which to begin my research. Because my dad had mistakenly addressed an envelope with a letter to Jean Lewis and sent it to my daughter, also named Jean, I had learned Jean's correct NY address. I found this with some of my papers and decided to try to contact her.
It is unfortunate that in most cases, one does not develop the desire to know about their grandparents and their ancestors until it is too late to personally ask them. My father and his sister had been adopted by their paternal aunt shortly after their father (her brother) passed away. Over the years of my youth, we made frequent trips from Georgia to visit Aunt Lillian at her home in Florida. On her property was a 2nd house we called "the cottage." From time to time she would talk about her missionary relatives who were in China and Japan - but, I do not recall ever asking specific questions. I knew that when on furloughs, the missionaries or some of their families, stayed in Aunt Lillian's cottage. I have a little box that was given to Aunt Lillian by "the missionary" and Aunt Lillian gave it to me. It was a special gift. For as long as I can remember, it has been on my dresser holding costume jewelry.
When I contacted Jean Lewis, I learned that her mother had been Aunt Lillian's cousin - so Jean knew her as "Cousin Lilly." Jean told me she had been born in Japan, saying she is the third generation of her family to be born in the Orient. She also told me in the mid 30's she and her mother had lived in the cottage. Jean told me her great-great grandmother was Mary Isabella Lambuth. So - my research began with Mary Isabella.
I don't know how many of you use the Internet for research, but there are many sites on the web which provide all kinds of information. Bit by bit, I gathered information about Mary Isabella and about the McClellans who came to the U.S. from Scotland in 1774. I learned that Mary Isabella, born Dec 17, 1832, was the second daughter of William Gordon McClellan and his first wife, Sarah Ann "Sallie" Cleveland. Mary Isabella had a sister - Jenette Ann, born March 4, 1831. Their mother, known as Sally, was the daughter of Palmer Cleveland and a first cousin of President Grover Cleveland. She died in East Granville, NY on April 13, 1834. When I learned this, I figured William Gordon must have remarried and had more children. During my initial research, I assumed that my great-grandfather would have been Mary Isabella's brother - whose name I believed was Donald.
My initial genealogical research coincided with my brother, Donald's involvement in Clan MacLellan, an international organization in which he served as President. Members are asked to submit their information on their McClellan ancestors. This information is entered into the clan's database and many times one will discover distant cousins who are already members. As I review what we originally submitted, I see how many errors we had! We had known that as a young man in NY our father had changed the spelling of his surname - so at the time I joined Clan MacLellan, I didn't even have the correct spelling of Daddy's birth name. Since his aunt who adopted him was married, I knew her by her married name.
Further discussions with Jean Lewis informed me that she, too, had a copy of the letter from William McClellan that my brother had found in our grandmother's attic. I referred back to the letter in which the author had stated "I, William McClellan, for the information of my children, and whom it may concern, do this 5th day of September in the year of our Lord 1829 write the following memorandum. I learned that Robert and Nicholas (Gordon) McClellan and their six children had lived in Galloway Scotland near Kirkcudbright and that in 1774 they set sail from the River Dee on board the ship Golden Rule. He wrote the ship "proved leaky and we put into Dublin to get her refitted, where we remained 3 days." The voyage to NY took 3 months and 4 days. "We had provisions pretty plenty and paid about three guineas each per passenger." He also tells that they went from NY to Albany, then to Manchester, Vermont and across the Green Mountains to Bromley - only 14 miles. "The roads were new so we were four days getting over - there had never been a wheel carriage across there before."
They stayed in Springfield, VT on the Connecticut River for 10 years. He wrote, "We got there late in the fall and the Revolutionary War broke out the next spring." In the year 1784 they moved from Springfield to what is now called Hebron in the County of Washington and State of New York. He goes on to give the names of his siblings and who they married. He also gives the names of his wife, his four sons and his four daughters, stating after 22 years of marriage his wife passed away. He later remarried but had no additional children.
Armed with this information, I looked up Washington County, NY on the Internet and also asked the archivist of Clan MacLellan to give me the names of any members who had Robert and Nicholas McClellan listed as their ancestors. I wrote to each of these 5 members. The nephew of one of the early clan members replied that he had his aunt's research. She had not only been to Washington County but also Scotland in her efforts to learn about her ancestors. Through her I learned the name of William Gordon McClellan's 2nd wife.
It is possible to go on the Internet to surname webpages where you can see the names of other people searching for information on a particular surname, and you can write notes asking for assistance from other researchers. I also decided to start searching for information on the Cleveland family, since Mary Isabella's mother was a Cleveland. I discovered a note posted in March of 2000 giving information on Robert and Nicholas' son William, listing his children and who they married. Low and behold - there was William married to Sally Cleveland having two children, then married to Minerva McEachron and having seven more children. Now, if you've never done this type research, you probably cannot imagine the excitement of finally finding something that matches what you're looking for! Immediately I replied to this note - but, alas, I've never received an answer back from that individual. Luckily, I have heard from many others! Some still live in Washington County, NY - some are in other states and even Canada. It was totally amazing when I had a reply from someone in Louisville, KY where I'd lived and worked since 1954! Small world - right!
I learned that there was a set of books on Cleveland descendants by Edmund J Cleveland, and my sister purchased them. From these we learned the names of Mary Isabella's siblings. However, the only Donald listed was a Donald Morey McClellan - and I was reasonably sure that was not "my" Donald. I remembered that my father used to talk about a cousin "Morey" and had even visited him. Now I was confused. By this time, I had emotionally become attached to Mary Isabella.
Then, one day I received a letter from someone who lived in Hudson Falls, NY and was a descendant of John, one of Mary Isabella's uncles. This person did not use the Internet, but her daughter worked for Washington County and saw my note on the Internet. She told her mom and her mom wrote to me. She stated William Gordon and Minervah had seven children and she found cemetery records giving death information of M. Lizzie, daughter of Wm. G. and Minerva and wife of Donald McClellan. At long last, I had found my great-grandparents. Mary Isabella's sister, Lizzie, had married their cousin, Donald. The Cleveland book shed more light on Mary Isabella's father. It stated, "William Gordon McClellan sold his farm at Hebron and removed to Cambridge. Here he was a successful merchant until a fatal fire destroyed so much of his property as to cripple him financially. He had hoped to leave his children an ample competency, but told them their good education would have to be their fortune…" The Cleveland book also gave some of the information contained in Mary Isabella's grandfather William's letter. This pretty well convinced me that I was on the right track. It stated that Sallie Cleveland McClellan died at age 25, so Mary Isabella was only about 2 years old and her sister 3 years old when their mother died. Their father remarried the next year. The girls probably did not remember their mother and they were raised by their father and step-mother, Minervah. I do not know the birthdates of all of the step-siblings, but I have their names. There was a brother, Alexander, who died in January 1871 in Shanghai, China and a sister, Maggie, who died in July 1876 in Shanghai.
Now, how do Mary Isabella McClellan from Cambridge, NY and James William Lambuth born in Alabama cross paths? In a letter from James W. written to the New Orleans Advocate, he states that his great-grandparents came from England and settled in Virginia. Her great-grandparents came from Scotland and settled in New York. His father was born in TN and was a missionary to the Indians of LA, was later transferred to AL, and then in 1843, when James William was 13 years old, his family moved to Madison County, MS. At that time, Mary Isabella was an 11 year old living in NY with her father, step-mother, 3 sisters and 1 or 2 brothers. Some of her siblings weren't born yet. Her father was a well-known businessman. Her grandfather, William, according to the "History of Somonauk Presbyterian Church" by Patten and Graham, was a leader in the community, serving as town clerk for 25 years, as postmaster, school inspector and tax collector. He was one of the first elected commissioners of schools and one of the first three elders of Hebron Presbyterian Church. It appeared all the McClellans were quite active in the Presbyterian churches in Washington County, NY.
James William attended the University of MS, studying medicine and law. We have seen earlier that Mary Isabella's "good education" was her inheritance from her father after the disastrous fire at his business. So far I have not learned what schools she attended. From Jean Lewis I learned that one of Mary Isabella's sisters had moved to MS. I am uncertain whether this was Jenette Ann, who was a year older than Mary Isabella, and who married a Sumner Childs. I know that both she and her daughter, Irene Childs, are buried at the same cemetery in FL where my grandparents, parents, and brother are buried. The Cleveland book states Sumner Childs was a music dealer in Gainesville, FL. Jenette and Sumner Childs' two daughters were born in Cambridge, NY. At the time the Cleveland book was written, Irene was living with her father in FL and their other daughter, Alice, lived in AL.
Perhaps the sister living in MS was Sarah Margaret, known as Maggie. She married Harry Drucker and they had a son born in CA who died in Japan. Maggie died in Shanghai, which leads me to believe several members of her family joined the Lambuths there. Mary Isabella's sister, Lizzie, my great-grandmother, died in NY at age 30 when her two children were 7 and 3 years of age. Another sister, Cornelia, never married. She and their brothers, Alford and Donald Morey, moved to Florida. There was one other brother, John Thompson, and the only record I found on him is a baptism date. At an early age, Mary Isabella began teaching. I do not know what year Mary Isabella left New York and went to live with her sister in MS, but it was prior to 1853. She became a tutor for the younger children in the Lambuth family at their large plantation. According to a family chart I received from Kathryn Clark, James William's father, John Russell Lambuth, had ten children by his first wife, Nancy Kirkpatrick, and six more by his second wife, Laurentina Terry. Mary Isabella and James met when he was a law student and she was a tutor for his younger siblings.
Early in 1853, James decided to join the Methodist Conference and become a missionary to China. According to the LDS film #1903795 - Official Temple Records of Deceased Individuals, 1991 - they were married in Shanghai, but according to letters published for Pearl River church, they were married October 20, 1853 by President Thornton of Sharon, MS. It is my understanding they were married in her sister's home and at the time, she was 19 years old and he was 22 or 23. As a young woman, Mary Isabella left her family and loved ones to venture south and use her skills as a teacher. Now, again, we see the young couple leave their family and friends and going to another country. Apparently Mary Isabella kept a diary of their voyage to China, as did her husband. On May 1, 1854, she wrote, "This has been a great day in the city - the great moving day in New York." On May 2nd she wrote, "This day left our boarding place and have taken lodgings in the ship Ariel, where we may find a home for several months to come." On Sept. 16th she wrote, "This has truly been with us an eventful day; that for which we have so much longing has been granted, the sight of China…tomorrow will no doubt bring us to our landing point, Shanghai."
Letters written by James William to the New Orleans Advocate editor describe their lives as missionaries and experiences in China and Japan. He wrote, "At the close of one year in China we removed to the native city, and made our home in a Chinese house, hoping thereby to get nearer to the Chinese and have better access to them. It was about the first of October, 1855, when the weather became cooler, that we removed to our new quarters in the native city of Shanghai. The house was shut in by high walls, which effectually shut out all noise from the busy streets around us. It was a strange experience for two young missionaries, especially was it so the first night we spent in our new home in this great heathen city, surrounded by thousands who knew nothing of God and the glorious gospel of Christ. We were the only foreigners then in the native city, and we were shut in by the great wall which surrounds the city, and great iron-bound gates closed each entrance at night."
Using her teaching skills, Mary Isabella opened her first school in 1856 and taught girls and women not only to read, but to sew, to do all housework and to do "much fancy work." All but one of the Lambuth children were born in Shanghai. Walter Russell was born in 1854; Mary Jeanette "Nettie" was born in 1857. Sadly she died here in Madison County in March when they were on furlough in 1863, just a few months before another daughter, Nora Kate, was born in July. Their son Robert William was born in 1867 in Shanghai.
It was no doubt a sad occasion to leave their Nettie's grave and go back to China. According to Dr. Pinson, "Under these conditions the start was made for the long journey back to China, Walter and the new baby with them and the new grave behind them. They left the old home in a carriage and an ox wagon…The roads were bad and Walter and the 2 Chinese boys with them, as well as Dr. Lambuth were compelled to walk many miles of the journey. They often had to sleep in the carriage and wagon, and were in constant dread because of the soldiers. Sometimes the things had to be taken out and carried up the hills because the mud was so deep that the horses and oxen could not pull the vehicles…In the early spring (this was 1864) the carriage and horses were sold and only the ox wagon was used because the soldiers had no use for an ox wagon and would not take it."
There were years of separation from the children while they were educated in America, staying with Mary Isabella's father and step-mother in New York. In a letter to her father-in-law, Mary wrote from New York City on June 5, 1860, "Just on the eve of setting sail I come to say goodbye to dear father and loved ones at home. I left dear Walter and Nettie one week ago tonight and have heard twice from them in that time. Walter misses me much more than Nettie does and has on one or two occasions cried on account of my absence, but when his grandma talked with him he said he was glad to have me go back and teach the Chinese girls."
As you know, there were periods when there was little funding for their missionary work. During the years of the civil war, Mary Isabella taught and also took in boarders to help meet expenses, always at her husband's side assisting with his work. It is felt that all mission work for girls and women of the Southern Methodist Church owes its beginning to her, and it was a wonder to all who knew her how she could keep so many various kinds of work going - Bible studies for women, day schools for the poor children among the Chinese, orphan schools for girls who were taken when small and trained to womanhood. Some were married from the Lambuth home to Christian Chinese men. In 1886 they were transferred from China to Japan to assist in opening a mission there. He had mastered both the Chinese and Japanese languages, preaching in both languages. After her husband's death, Mary Isabella continued her labors in Japan, opening a training school for Japanese women known as Lambuth Bible and Training School. Besides this school, she was also in charge of a night school for young men. She was a highly respected, knowledgeable woman. She died June 26, 1904 in China.
I am certain you know of the outstanding lives of their children. Walter Russell Thornton Lambuth became a Methodist Bishop and toured Africa with Dr. John Wesley Gilbert. The book of their African experiences is titled "Of Men Who Ventured Much and Far."
Nora Kate married William Hector Park in Japan. He was born in Rock Springs, GA the son of James and Ann (Smith) Park. According to tax records in FL, William H and Nora Kate purchased lake property in Hawthorne, FL - my grandmother's cottage. So, we find Mary Isabella's daughter buying property near the home of Mary Isabella's brother and sister in FL. Nora's husband spent his boyhood days on his father's farm but had a strong desire to become a medical missionary. He entered Emory College near Atlanta and in March 1880 was appointed to China. He studied medicine in Edinburgh, Scotland and in London, England, but graduated from Bellevue Medical College in New York. In China he was in charge of the hospital erected while Dr. Walter Russell Lambuth was a medical missionary in China. So, Nora Kate's brother and future husband became acquainted. They were married in October 1886 in Japan. They had one daughter, Margarita Mary Park. I now know where the name of my grandmother's Lake Margarita came from! Margarita married Dwight Lamar Sherertz who was an educational missionary to China but was compelled to leave by the Communists. After a furlough in America, he served in African missions.
Mary Isabella and James William's other son, Robert William, also went to America for his education, attending an academy in TN and later the Kentucky Military Academy in Louisville - in 1958 I lived just down the road from KMI. He graduated with honors at age 18. His commission as Captain in the U.S. Army was signed by his mother's cousin, then President Grover Cleveland. Later he went to Japan and taught English at the Japanese Military Academy. He returned to America where he married Alice Eugenia Craig. They returned to Japan where their daughter, Nettie Craig Lambuth, was born. However, the climate of the Orient was hard on Alice because of her poor health, so once again they returned to America. After his wife's death, he again went to China. Nettie was only five years old at the time her mother died. She lived with her grandmother, Mary Isabella, until she was twelve, at which time Mary Isabella died. Nettie then went to live with her Aunt Nora's family, the Parks, whose daughter Margarita was about the same age. Nettie married David Johnson Lewis, whose daughter, Jean Lewis, provided me with my initial information on our ancestors.