EMANUEL LAMON was my Great Great-Grandfather.  He was born in Washington County Tennessee in 1813.
He was the son of John Lamon and Rachel Broyles Lamon and the grandson of David and Caty
Lamon, all of Washington County Tennessee.  Emanuel married Kissiah Hartsell, daughter
of Isaac Hartsell and Rosamond Nelson, on December 20, 1835.*  Three children were born to this
union in Tennessee, Mary-Ann (1836), Isaac Newton (1838), and Martha Jane
(1839).  In the spring of 1840, the family decided to move west to Missouri.**
The family settled in Bates County in 1841.

Isaac Newton Lamon wrote “We crossed the Cumberland Mountains and journeyed
westward over bad roads, fording unbridged streams finally reaching the banks
of the Missouri River.  We drove on the ferryboat and were rowed across to the Missouri side.
We settled on the banks of the White River in Taney County Missouri.  In the fall of 1841, we
again pulled up stakes and crossed the Ozarks and the Osage River into Bates County near Harmony
Mission.  We then followed the old Missouri Trail to the Grand River.  We secured a room in the log
house, which belonged to Allen Ingle.  During the winter if 1841-42, my father bought a
few improvements which he made on the land situated in what is now Deer Creek Township (the land
not yet being in the market, no title to it could be secured) where we lived until 1853, when he sold
out his claim to E.D. Sullens and then pre-empted ½ section of land in the same township.”

During this time, the following children were born, William D (c 1844), Nancy Christine (1848),
Judah E (c 1850), Allan Thomas (c 1854), Sarah E (C 1855) and Rachel Kissiah  (c1858).  The family
faired well until the outbreak of the Civil War.  By 1863, Kissiah had died as had William D, Judah E and Sarah E.

In a letter written in March 1930, Rachel Kissiah Lamon Barnard wrote~

 “ I am writing this biography sketch of my young life.  My parents came from Tennessee to Missouri
in an ox wagon and my father entered a piece of land north of Harmon Fork near Hiway 71 and
there is where we lived until the (civil) war begun.  Father had bought a 2-room log house we lived
very comfortable.  So one day some bad men came in here, said they were from the 16th Regiment.
Mother had died by then, father and my oldest Brother Isaac and my oldest sisters Jane and
Nancy, my little brother Tom and me lived on there doing the best we could.  But these mean men drove
us out of our house and sit fire to it.  So we took as many of our things as we could haul in our ox
wagon and us children drove away.  We did not know where to go, but finely landed up in
Johnson County on what was called Bear Creek, some 12 or 14 miles west of Holden, as well as
I can remember.  But before we got away from here our father went out on Grand River one
morning to find our cow, but in a few hours the horse he was riding came home, the only horse
we had, so we hunted for 2 weeks before we found him.  He had been shot and they left a piece of
writing beside him but it was so dim they could not read it.  My brother Isaac and sisters Jane and
Nancy buried him in the old grave yard down on Grand River a half mile N E of Archie.  There was and
old log church and there he was converted, joined the church, a  preacher by the name
of Owsley—a farmer.  I had forgit whet this church was build of logs and had slots for seats with
wooden pins in them to hold them up.  My dear sisters took care
of me and raised me to be a young lady.”

?? So, who killed Emanuel Lamon?

During late 1862 and 1863, the county of Bates was in a state of terror, overrun by hordes of
marauders and bushwhackers, who held the lives and property of the people at their mercy.
Quantrill’s*** Raiders were terrorizing Eastern Kansas and escaping into the thick woods of Bates and
Cass County.  These marauders used guerilla warfare to loot, steal and kill innocent farmers and settlers.
The Union army declared these guerrilla bands to be outlaws.  The Union Army felt that
southern sympathizers were harboring these outlaws.  On August 25, 1863 General Order #11 was signed
by Union brigadier General Thomas Ewing Jr.

“All persons living in Cass, Jackson, and Bates counties, and in that part of Vernon county within
the District, with the exception of those residing within one mile of Union-held towns and except those
in that part of Kaw Township, Jackson county, north of Brush Creek and west of Big Blue River,
embracing Kansas City and Westport, are hereby ordered to move from their present places of residence
within 15 days.  Those who within that time establish their loyalty to the satisfaction of
the commanding officer of the military station nearest their present place of residence, will receive from
him certificates stating that facts of their loyalty and the names
by whom it can be shown.  All who receive such certificates will be permitted to remove to any
military station in this district or to any part of the state of Kansas, except all the counties on the eastern
border of the state.  All others shall remain out of the district.  All grain or hay in the fields or under
shelter in the District from which the inhabitants are required to move within reach of military stations,
after the ninth of September will be taken to such stations and turned over to the proper
officers there: and report of the amount so turned over made to the district headquarters specifying the names
of all loyal owners and the amount of such produce taken from them.  All grain and hay found in such
district after the ninth of September next, not removed to such stations will be destroyed.”

The question left unanswered, was Emanuel a southern sympathizer who harbored the marauders?  Was he
a Union loyalist and was the unreadable paper found with him his oath of loyalty? Or, was he just a poor
farmer who wanted only to live peacefully and quietly and who was caught up in a situation that was
beyond his control?

Emanuel was a poor man with little education.  He and Kissiah eked out a living farming a few acres of
land and raising a family.  I have found no record of them owning slaves. I think it would be safe to
assume that Emanuel was just a poor farmer who found himself at the wrong place at the wrong time.
We will never really know.

~Rachel Kissiah Lamon’s statement is copied as written with her grammar and
spelling uncorrected in most cases.

*Kissiah and Emanuel Lamon were married by Jacob Hartsell JOP (Kissiah’s Uncle).  The marriage was
not recorded until December 26, 1837.

**Other family member who traveled with Emanuel and Kissiah to Missouri were Emanuel’s brother
Thomas Lamon and family and Kissiah’s brothers Isaac and David Hartsell and families.

***William Quantrill was born in Ohio in 1837 and came to Kansas in 1857.  He joined a local group of
pro-slavery sympathizers and by late 1860 he was helping them return runaway slaves to Missouri.  By
early 1862, he had assembled a group of Missouri guerillas who wanted to retaliate for Union
attacks on their property.  They looted, stole and killed in eastern Kansas.  The Union Army declared them
outlaws.  Quantrill captured the town of Independence Missouri and the
Union troops.  Shortly thereafter, Quantrill was sworn into the Confederate Army and made a Captain.  In
August of 1863, Quantrill and his men attacked Lawrence Kansas, burning the town and killing 150+ men
and boys. Quantrill returned to Missouri and Kentucky and was shot in a surprise attack by
Union forces in 1865.

****The Missouri Compromise allowed Missouri to be admitted to the Union as a Slave State.  There was
a great deal of conflict about this within the State and
when the war broke out there were army units from both sides formed within the State.

Finally:

Emanuel Lamon died in 1863 but his estate was not settled until after the war ended.

“State of Missouri, County of Bates
In the matter of Emanuel Lamon’s Estate

James F White says that to the best of his knowledge and belief the names of the heirs of the said
Emanuel Lamon deceased and their place of residence are respectively as follows.  The minor heirs
of Mary Ann Lamon intermarried with William N. Hamby residence Henry County Mo.
Isaac N Lamon age 27 years, Martha Jane Lamon intermarried with Samuel M Hall age 25 years,
residence Johnson Co. Mo.  Nancy C. Lamon intermarried with Wm F. Williams age 17 years
residence Morgan Co. Mo.  Allen T Lamon age 9 years residence Johnson C. Mo.  Rachel K Lamon
age 6 years residence Morgan Co. Mo.  That the said Emanuel Lamon died without a will.
That I will make a perfect inventory of and faithfully administer all the estate of the deceased and pay
the debts as far as the assets will extend and the law direct and account for all assets which
shall come to my possession or knowledge. James F. White, administrator.
Subscribed and sworn January 17, 1866