I made a trip to New England in the fall of 1998, and visited the Mark Twain home and museum in Hartford, Connecticut while I was there. I’ve always liked his writing, having read and re-read Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn many times as a boy, and some of his more biting works later in my life. Seeing his home, and hearing more about him as a man, and as a husband and father, inspired me to find out more about his life and his ancestry.
What follows is not a complete ancestry report on Samuel Clemens, but a beginning. I got much of the material from his biographies, but also found a lot about his ancestors in Hinshaw’s Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy. Some of Twain’s ancestors were Quakers, thank goodness -- they kept such good genealogical records.
I’ve concentrated on Twain’s paternal ancestors so far, but will add more about the Lampton family as I do further research. Here is what I’ve found:
1. Samuel Langhorne Clemens b. 30-Nov-1835, Florida, Monroe County, Missouri, m. 2-Feb-1870, in Elmira, Chemung County, New York, Olivia Louise Langdon, b. 27- Nov-1845, d. 5-Jun-1904, Florence, Italy, buried: Elmira, Chemung County, New York. Samuel died 21-Apr-1910, Redding, Fairfield County, Connecticut, buried: 24- Apr-1910, Elmira, Chemung County, New York.
2. John Marshall Clemens b. 11-Aug-1798, Campbell County, Virginia, m. 06-May- 1823, in Kentucky, Jane Lampton, b. Abt 1803, Columbia, Adair County, Kentucky, d. 27-Oct-1890, Keokuk, Lee County, Iowa, buried: Hannibal, Marion County, Missouri. John died 14-Mar-1847, Hannibal, Marion County, Missouri, buried: Hannibal, Marion County, Missouri.
3. Jane Lampton b. Abt 1803, Columbia, Adair County, Kentucky, d. 27-Oct-1890, Keokuk, Lee County, Iowa, buried: Hannibal, Marion County, Missouri.
4. Samuel B. Clemens b. Bedford County, Virginia, m. 29-Oct-1797, in Bedford County, Virginia, Parmela Goggin, b. ??-Oct-1775, Bedford County, Virginia. Samuel died ??-___-1805, Mason County, Kentucky.
5. Parmela Goggin b. ??-Oct-1775, Bedford County, Virginia, m. (1) 29-Oct-1797, in Bedford County, Virginia, Samuel B. Clemens, b. Bedford County, Virginia, d. ??- ___-1805, Mason County, Kentucky, m. (2) 25-Mar-1809, in Adair County, Kentucky, Simon Hancock.
6. Benjamin Lampton b. ??-___-1770, Virginia, m. Abt 1800, in Clark County, Kentucky, Margaret Casey, b. Virginia.
7. Margaret Casey b. Virginia.
10. Stephen Goggin m. 21-Dec-1773, in Bedford County, Virginia, Rachel Moorman, b. Bedford County, Virginia. Stephen died Abt ??-Oct-1801, Bedford County, Virginia.
11. Rachel Moorman b. Bedford County, Virginia.
12. William Lampton
14. William Casey
20. Stephen Goggin b. Ireland, m. ---- ----. Stephen died Aft 1773.
21. ---- ----
22. Thomas Moorman b. ??-___-1708, m. Abt 1730, Rachel Clark, d. ??-___-1792. Thomas died Abt 25-Nov-1766, Bedford County, Virginia.
23. Rachel Clark d. ??-___-1792.
44. Charles Moorman b. ??-___-1690, m. Elizabeth Reynolds.
45. Elizabeth Reynolds
46. Christopher Clark d. Aft 1762.
88. Thomas Moorman m. Elizabeth ----.
89. Elizabeth ----
176. Zachariah Moorman
The Moormans were a prominent Quaker family in early-day Virginia, members of the South River, Cedar Creek, and Camp Creek Monthly Meetings. Stephen Goggin was said by one of the Twain biographers (Sanborn: Mark Twain, The Bachelor Years) to have been a member of the Established Church when he came to Virginia from Ireland. The Samuel B. Clemens family were said to be members of the Established Church by Rachel Varble, a biographer of Jane Lampton.
Two articles about the Clemens and Moorman families were especially helpful. They were both written by Charles O. Paullin, who is himself a relative of Mark Twain. These articles were:
I found some good information about the Clemens and Clement families in the book Cambell Chronicles and Family Sketches, Embracing the History of Campbell County, Virginia, 1782-1926 by Rugh Hairston Early (1927).
I also found a manuscript in the Seattle Public Library called Mark Twain’s Relatives, by P. O. Shelby (1969), which consists of descendant charts for some of Twain’s ancestors.
None of the sources above have any definite ancestors for Samuel B. Clemens, partly due to the loss of records in Virginia during the Civil War.
I’ve searched the 1790 Virginia Census index, and found the following Clemens names:
STATE COUNTY SURNAME NAME COMMENTS -------------- -------------- ----------- ------------ ----------------------------------------- Virginia Amelia Clement Jno. Heads of Families--Virginia, 1782 Virginia Amelia Clement Stephen Heads of Families--Virginia, 1782 Virginia Amelia Clements Edmd. Heads of Families--Virginia, 1782 Virginia Amelia Clements Isham Heads of Families--Virginia, 1785 Virginia Amelia Clements John Heads of Families--Virginia, 1785 Virginia Amelia Clements Mrs. Heads of Families--Virginia, 1785 Virginia Amelia Clements Sarah Heads of Families--Virginia, 1782 Virginia Amherst Clements James Heads of Families--Virginia, 1783 Virginia Amherst Clements Stephen Heads of Families--Virginia, 1785 Virginia Amherst Clements William W. Heads of Families--Virginia, 1785 Virginia Amherst Clements William, Jr. Heads of Families--Virginia, 1785 Virginia Charlotte Clements Benjamin Heads of Families--Virginia, 1782 Virginia Cumberland Clements Edward Heads of Families--Virginia, 1782 Virginia Cumberland Clements Edward Heads of Families--Virginia, 1784 Virginia Fairfax Clements Jacob Heads of Families--Virginia, 1782 Virginia Mecklenburg Clemmonds Edmund Heads of Families--Virginia, 1782 Virginia Pittsylvania Clements Isaac Heads of Families--Virginia, 1782 Virginia Pittsylvania Clements Isaac Heads of Families--Virginia, 1785 Virginia Pittsylvania Clements Susannah Heads of Families--Virginia, 1785 Virginia Sussex Clemons Thomas Heads of Families--Virginia, 1782
Note: There were no records in this index for Bedford or Campbell counties.
I've also found an excellent source for additional information about Mark Twain's ancestry, especially for his Clemens ancestors, maintained by the Mark Twain Museum in Hanibal, Missouri.
This file was last updated on 7/13/2019.
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