Descendants of First LANDRUM in North Central Louisiana

First Generation

1. First LANDRUM was born in Scotland.

Posted by: Bruce C.Lendrum RPh Date: September 05, 2000 at 15:32:17
In Reply to: Re: Lendrum of Fyvie Aberdeenshire by Waboose of 1236
The History of the Landrum
from the name of a Celtic people.
The Landrum Family
The Landrum family name is derived from Lendrum, from a place of that name near Turriff, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Lendrum itself is from the Gaelic leathan druim meaning "broad ridge" or according to another authority it means "moor of the ridge" from the Celtic lon meaning "moor" and droma, the genitive of druin meaning "hill or ridge". The Lendrum farm is situated between Turriff and Fyvie in northeastern Aberdeenshire. Turriff is 38 miles northwest of the city of Aberdeen and the Lendrum farm itself measures about 250 acres in the parish of Monquhitter about four miles south of Turriff. Numerous farms in Aberdeenshire are known by names which they have borne for centuries. The land in this area has been cultivated by man continuously from the Neolithic age six to eight thousand years ago.
The Lendrum farm has had its present name from at least as early as the eleventh century when the Battle of Lendrum was fought there. This was a bloody three-day battle between the forces commanded by the mormaer(earl) of Buchan, "the Thane of Buchan", and the army of the usurper, Donald Bane, "Donald of the Isles", brother of King Malcolm Canmore. The decisive third day of the battle was fought in a six-acre field which tradition covers with gore. The field is located in Monquhitter parish in Aberdeenshire. The mormaer of Buchan prevailed and Donald, after losing most of his forces, was forced to flee. Down to at least 1793 it was firmly believed locally that "corn" (i.e. grain) grown on the "bloody butts of Lendrum" could not be reaped without strife and bloodshed among the reapers.
The site of the battle was marked by cairns and tumuli until some time in the first half of the nineteenth century, when a tenant put the heath under plow. In the course of this he removed the hillocks which had marked the graves of the slain and preserved the memory of the battle, in many of which he found corroded iron and other evidence of conflict. The tenant unknowingly destroyed battle memorials which he regarded as merely encumbrances in his field.
Some sources have the Lendrums originally with the Comyn family, but when Robert Bruce defeated Comyn, the name Comyn was banned. Some of the Comyns took the name Lendrum.
The "Lendrum" tartan is registered with the Scottish Tartan Society and is better known as the "MacFarlane" tartan. The latter name is the one by which all of the setts were first known, and when and why they also became Lendrum tartans is unclear. There can be no connection between the names, historically speaking, the MacFarlanes are from the area around Arrochar at the top of Loch Lomond while the Lendrums come from a place of that name near Turriff in Aberdeenshire.
The Lendrum coat of arms is on record in The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. It is confirmed to George Lendrum, Esquire, of Jamestown, county Fermanagh, son of James Lendrum, and grandson of George Lendrum, Esquire of Moorfield, county Tyrone. These are Irish counties and as such, we are not directly descended from this line. The coat of arms is described as "Gu. three garbs or, on a chief argent three wool packs sa. Crest-on a mount vert, a dove close holding in its beak an olive branch, all ppr. Motto-La Paix. The tie between the Irish and Scottish Lendrums is described later.
The first Landrums of record in America appear in Virginia in the 1600's. John and James Landrum appear in deeds and wills in old Rappahanock county which became Essex county, Virginia. Although the relationship between these two men is not conclusively proven, some people have made the assumption they were brothers. Additionally, it is assumed that these two men arrived from Scotland.
The stories regarding the origin of the Landrum family can be traced to a book called The Life and Times of Rev. John Gill Landrum by H.P. Griffith published in 1885. In this book, two relatives of John Gill Landrum recall family legends that the Landrums descended either from two brothers from Scotland or five brothers from Wales. Neither story has been conclusively proven but most Landrums in America can trace their lineage to these two Landrums from Virginia that researchers refer to as John 1st and James 1st. There is also a reference in The Landrum Family of Fayette County, Georgia by Joel Shedd published in 1972 that attributes the Landrum descent from Scotch-Irish blood. Shedd accepts the story that John and James Landrum were brothers who emigrated to America from Scotland. The most direct evidence of this is related by Dr. Samuel Landrum of Edgefield, SC, great-grandson of the first John Landrum. "The original Landrums were two brothers who came over from Scotland and settled in Virginia; one named John, the other James."
What is known is that there were Lendrums in Scotland and Ireland at the time John and James Landrum arrived in America. The Lendrums of Ireland are attributed to the Lendrums of Aberdeenshire, Scotland. I prefer to accept the most widely held theory that John and James Lendrum came from the Scot line. There is a reference to a John Lendrum being a deserter in Scotland in 1685.
Why the Landrums left Scotland for America at this time can only be speculated. As previously mentioned, clan warfare was prevalent during the late 17th century. Around this time in Aberdeenshire history was a period known as "The Troubles". A bitter war was waging between the Covenanters who adhered to strict Presbyterianism and the Cavaliers who followed the traditional Episcopal form of religion typified by the Established Church of England. The wave of Presbyterianism that swept over Scotland in the time of John Knox did not extend into Aberdeenshire, where Presbyterianism was less generally acceptable than episcopacy, and Aberdeenshire remained the stronghold of episcopacy in Scotland for generations.
The bitter conflict in Aberdeenshire between the Presbyterians Covenanters and the Episcopal Cavaliers started in 1638 when the National Covenant (prescribing Presbyterianism throughout Scotland) was ordered to be subscribed. This demand was met with resistance in Aberdeenshire and an armed force was sent to the shire the following year to enforce compliance. The Cavaliers, not being disposed to yield, dispersed an armed gathering of the Covenanters in a battle at Turriff on May 14, 1639. This affair known as the "Trot of Turriff" was the first bloodshed in the Scottish religious civil war and marked the beginning of The Troubles in Aberdeenshire. The religious war continued intermittently for many years and Presbyterianism did not gain ascendancy in Aberdeenshire until the eighteenth century and the Turriff area was a stronghold of episcopacy.
Religious civil wars were not confined to Scotland during this time. The Glorious Revolution, in which James II (James VII of Scotland) was dethroned and William of Orange and his wife, Mary, were installed in place of James, was basically a struggle between Protestants and Catholics. The predominantly Protestant English and Scots opposed the pro-Catholic policies of James. The predominantly Catholic Irish supported him. At the invitation of English parliamentary leaders, William of Orange came over from Holland with an army and landed in England on November 5, 1688. On February 13, 1689 William and Mary accepted the crown proffered by vote of parliament.
James II took refuge in Ireland and sought to regain the throne with the aid of an Irish army. On June 14, 1690 William landed in Ireland and led an army that defeated James II at the Battle of Boyne. Captain James Lendrum fought with William's forces in Ireland in 1690 and received a grant of land confiscated from Irish nobility that had supported James II. This gave rise to the Lendrums of Ireland. The tie between the Lendrums of Scotland and Ireland is confirmed in The Surnames of Ireland, which states that the Lendrum name in Ireland is "a Scottish (Aberdeenshire) toponymic associated with Cos. Tyrone and Fermanagh since mid-seventeenth century.
Whether it was the pressure to subscribe to Presbyterianism, being on the losing side of the battles between the Cavaliers and Covenanters, the fighting between William of Orange and James II, or a result of clan warfare that caused John and James Landrum to move to America we may never know. Whatever the specific reason, the end of the seventeenth century was a tumultuous time in the British Isles. America offered opportunity for a new start. The earliest record of the Landrum brothers in America is a deed dated December 8, 1688.
John Landrum I married Jane or Sofronon Evans and they had four children: Thomas born in 1690, Elizabeth born in 1693, John II born in 1696, and Martha born in 1699. The name Sofronon is speculative based on the interpretation of the writing in the will. John Landrum II married a woman whose name may have been Mary Buckner, born in 1700. John and Mary had seven children: John Jr. (III), Charles, Benjamin, Thomas born in 1720, Reuben born in 1729, Joseph born in 1730, and Samuel born in 1737. John Landrum I died in 1708.
In 1663 Charles II granted to eight English noblemen most of the land in what is now the southern half of the United States. In 1728 all of these Lord Proprietors surrendered their interests in this land to the Crown, with the exception of John Carteret, soon afterward made Earl of Granville, who refused to surrender his one-eighth interest. In 1744 Lord Granville's interest was satisfied by having surveyors cut out for him a strip of land sixty miles wide adjoining the Virginia border and extending from the Atlantic Ocean westward to the Blue Ridge mountains. It proved to be the most fertile part of North Carolina, and two-thirds of the population lived there.
Orange County, North Carolina like Orange County, Virginia was named for the Prince of Orange who became King William during the reign of William and Mary. The earliest record pertaining to a Landrum in Chatham County, NC is a land grant by Lord Granville to John Landrum on August 28, 1754, covering 640 acres of land in the part of Orange County that subsequently became Chatham County. The 1755 tax list of Orange County, North Carolina contains the following entry: "John Landrum with sons and 1 negro, 6 white, 1 negro." In addition to the above-mentioned land grant in 1754, North Carolina records show the following land grants by Lord Granville to the Landrums:
Notes for UNKNOWN:
The following relates to the below referenced work:
Shedd, Joel P. 1972 The Landrum Family of Fayette County, Georgia. Moore and Moore, Inc.: Washington, D.C., Library of Congress Catalog No. 75-189982., pages 62-3
Shedd develops a theory that the John Landrum of Orange County, Virginia is the John Landrum who appears in Orange County, North Carolina. Part of his argument revolves around the fact he no longer appears in Orange County, Virginia records after 1748. However,
A. A John Landrum begins appearing in Essex County records, starting 22 May 1751 (Essex County Orders 16, p 318). The last record identifiable with this John appears in Essex records in 1756.
B. A John Landrum appears in Chesterfield County, Virginia records in 1757, as a witness to a deed (Chesterfield Deeds1764-8, p 7). The last record I could find for this John was in 1764.
C. A John Landrum again appears in Essex records beginning in 1765, and relatively continuously until 1788.
Shedd’s theory concerning the John Landrum who moved to North Carolina in the mid 18th century may be correct. However, in fairness, Shedd should have mentioned the above records.
I should also point out that I have no idea, which, if any, of the above John’s is the one who stopped appearing in Orange County, Virginia in 1748.
The following relates to the below referenced work:
Shedd, Joel P. 1972 The Landrum Family of Fayette County, Georgia. Moore and Moore, Inc.: Washington, D.C., Library of Congress Catalog No. 75-189982., page 40
“The earliest statement I have been able to find about the origin of the two Landrum brothers of Essex County has as its source Dr. Samuel Landrum of Edgefield County, South Carolina, a grandson of the original John Landrum of Essex County. He moved from Chatham County, North Carolina to Edgfield in about 1775. According to a statement made by him, as reported by his grandson, Dr. John Landrum of Edgefield, ‘the original Landrums were two brothers who came over from Scotland and settled in Virginia; one name (sic) John, the other James.’ According to this statement, James remained in Virginia, but John moved to Chatham County, North Carolina. This error about the original John going to North Carolina has been repeated many times since. However, it is now well established that John died in Essex County in 1707/8 and that the John Landrum who moved from Virginia to present Chatham County, North Carolina did not go there until about 1754.”
Shedd cites as the Griffith’s biography of John Gill Landrum (The Life and Times of Rev. John G. Landrum, by H.P. Griffith; H.B. Garner pub, Philadelphia, 1885) as the source of the information concerning the two original Landrums. He also cites the portion of the Worth Stickley Ray collection (95 Ray Research Collection, p 38-9 )that purports to abstract Griffith’s book.
Dr. John Landrum of Edgefield actually said: “I have heard my father, Rev. John Landrum, say that his father, Samuel Landrum, told him that the original Landrums were two brothers, who came over from Scotland and settled in Virginia; one named John and the other James. James remained in Virginia, and John, my great-grandfather, moved to Chatham county, N.C., where my father was born May 10th, 1765. My grandfather, Samuel Landrum, had five sons…” (Griffith, p 5-6)
Griffith’s book does not contain the words “Essex County, Virginia”. It simply says that the original John and James were came over from Scotland and settled in Virginia, with no county specified.
Thus, Griffith said nothing about Essex County. Only Shedd
The following relates to the below referenced work:
Shedd, Joel P. 1972 The Landrum Family of Fayette County, Georgia. Moore and Moore, Inc.: Washington, D.C., Library of Congress Catalog No. 75-189982., pages 26-8
On page 28 Shedd states that the Landman’s lived on the north side of the Rappahannock and the Landrum’s lived on the south side. This statement is inaccurate.
On page 26-7 Shedd says that John Landman patented 650 acres on the Rappahannock. This statement is true, as far as it goes. The location of the 650 acres is described in the patent itself as being on the south side of the Rappahannock (Patents 2, p 241). Additionally, Bagge to Talyoe, 392 acres in Essex County, part of which was patented by John Landman 22 May 1650 is recorded in Essex Deeds 20, 20 Jun 1738, p 380-5; plats showing the location of this land are found in Smith v Rowzee, Essex County Land Trials 1715-1741, p 42-48. The creek shown in the 1737 plats as Gilson’s Creek is Mount Landing Creek in modern Essex.
On page 27 Shedd says that a 1693 lease of land in Richmond County shows a John Landman of Essex, married to a Jane Landman with son Thomas. Shedd, to his credit, says the name may be Landrum rather than Landman. He cites Fleets Abstracts as his source, from which he accurately quotes.
As abstracts tend to be, this one was inaccurate. In the original (Richmond County Deeds 1692-4, 50 acres at Cabbin Point, recorded 23 Jun 1693), the names are recorded as John, Jane and Thomas Landram of Essex County.
The following passage is found in the below cited work: “He is identified as the John Landrum of Spottsylvania (sic) County, Virginia, who, together with his wife, Mary, executed a deed dated July 17, 1720 conveying a 100-acre tract in Essex County, described as being that tract of land left to Jane Landrum under the will of Martin Johnson. This John Landrum is clearly identified by the deed as the son of the original John Landrum of Essex County, and his wife Jane.”
The above quotation is from the following work:
Shedd, Joel P. 1972 The Landrum Family of Fayette County, Georgia. Moore and Moore, Inc.: Washington, D.C., Library of Congress Catalog No. 75-189982., page 34
At Genforum Message #1185, titled “John Landrum 1720 Deed” is a transcription of the deed found in the above cited quotation. Comparing the text of the above cited quotation concerning the 1720 deed, with the actual text of the deed, the following observations are made:
1. The deed does not mention Jane Landrum
2. The deed does not mention Martin Johnson, or his will
3. The deed does not identify John Landrum as the son of anyone.
At Genforum Message #1186, titled “John Landrum 1720 Deed History”, I trace the history of a piece of land which seems to me to have the same metes & bounds as the land sold by John Landrum in the 1720 deed. It should be noted in the 1701 deed, Nicholas Copeland leaves the 100 acres to his grand daughter, Mary Adkinson, after the decease of ‘son and daughter’ Charles and Anne Adkinson.
We therefore find that title to this 100 acres of land passes, in the last instance that I could find in Essex County records, to Mary Adkinson. Since it is a John Landrum with his wife Mary who are selling 100 acres of land with these metes and bounds, it seems reasonable that Mary is, in fact, Mary Adkinson, daughter of Charles and Anne Adkinson, and granddaughter of Nicholas Copeland.
As I said in my Genforum Message #1012, Martin Johnson’s land in Essex is discussed in Hawkins v Thomas. The citation for this suit is: Essex County Land Trials, 1741-1760, p 162-172a. Examining all of the purchases and sales of land made by Martin Johnson in Essex and its predecessor counties (I can provide citations, to those interested) show the land discussed in the suit is the only land he owned at his death. The Johnson land mentioned in Hawkins v Thomas had Landrum’s Creek as its western boundary. The suit also tells us that the land on the western side of Landrum’s Creek, that had been Martin Johnson’s was in possession of a Butler.
In sale of land that abutted Landrum’s Creek (Thomas to Hawkins, Essex County Deeds 29, p 306-8, 16 Jul 1764) we find the Butler who owned the land to be Thomas Butler. I think it’s interesting that this Thomas Butler’s will (Essex Wills 12, 1762-5, p 406, 21 Jan 1771) mentions a brother named Landrum Butler.
To characterize what Shedd said about the 1720 deed as ‘errata’ is charitable, indeed. there is a significant amount of it, as it relates to the Landrum’s of early Essex County, Virginia.
Perhaps the most misleading data he discusses concerns his attempt to link the first John Landrum of Essex County to subsequent generations. When discussing a John Landrum Shedd claims to be descended from the first John he says: “He is identified as the John Landrum of Spotsylvania County, Virginia, who, together with his wife Mary, executed a deed dated July 17, 1720 conveying a 100 acre tract in Essex County, described as being that tract of land left to Jane Landrum under the will of Martin Johnson. This John Landrum is clearly identified by the deed as the son of the original John Landrum of Essex County, and his wife Jane.”
In fact, the deed does not mention Martin Johnson’s will or Jane Landrum at all. It is wholly silent on the provenance of the land. Further, it says nothing at all regarding the parentage of the John Landrum making the sale. Using the description of the land (the metes & bounds) actually found in the deed, it is possible to partially identify Mary’s ancestors for two generations, as it was she who inherited the land, and not John.
The land that really was in Martin Johnson’s estate is mentioned in a land suit recorded in Essex in 1762 (Hawkins v Thomas). Interestingly, a Landrum’s Creek is mentioned as a boundary between the properties disputed in the suit.
Shedd’s discussion of the Landrum-Landman controversy is misleading in several respects. One of the most glaring is his statement that the Landrum’s owned land on the South side of the Rappahannock and the Landman’s on the North. One of the documents he cites, a 22 May 1650 patent to John Landman, clearly states that the 650-acre patent is on the South side of the Rappahannock. Landman’s patent is further mention in at least two Essex County documents.
One final example concerns Shedd’s discussion of Dr. Samuel Landrum of Edgefield. It is a part of a discussion of the origins of the two Landrum brothers of Essex, and reports that Dr. Samuel Landrum is a grandson of the original John Landrum of Essex County. Shedd cites Griffith’s book as his source of information. Griffith’s book simply states that the original John and James Landrum settled in Virginia. The important point here is that no specific county in Virginia mentioned, and certainly not Essex County.
Portions of two chimneys of the Landrum House remain at the Spotsylvania Court House Battlefield. It is alternatively spelled Landram and Landrum in the materials available. There is also a very nice brass marker describing the action which occurred there. The National Park Service has a small file on the house. I believe there is a photo showing the house before its destruction. The NPS file says in 1860 the site was owned by Willis Landrum, aged 63. Willis Landrum’s daughter Lucy gave an interview to the NPS in 1939 relating what she recalled of the battle, which took place in May, 1864. Lucy was shown as being age 4 in the 1860 census data provided.

Landrum Family Papers
John C. Pace Library Special Collections Department - The library website is A map of the campus may be found at: You must visit the police station near the parking lot for the library to obtain a parking permit, each time you visit. Hours are: Monday - Tuesday, 8:00-12:00, 12:30-4:30, 5:00-9:00; Wednesday - Friday, 8:00-12:00, 12:30-4:30.

Correspondence, diaries and papers of Frank Coleman Horton (b. 1872), of Mobile and Pensacola, and his wife Esther Landrum Horton. Includes papers of Judge James Landrum, family photographs and account books, and documents reflecting the social life of the Gulf Coast in the period 1888-1910. With genealogical notes on the Dickson, Coleman and Landrum families, 1819-1940; a framed sampler, 1807; letters of John Coleman Horton, a student at the University of Alabama, ca. 1890; letter from family members in Mobile and Brewton, Alabama; medical records of Dr. Stephen M. Gonzalez, 1896; cash books and records of the Pensacola Evening Journal, 1887-1889; criminal docket of the Escambia County Justice of the Peace, 1899-1901; correspondence of Miss Kate Landrum, 1905; and of a small group of Florida Newspapers. 2,007 items (1.92 c.f.). Gift of Mr. W. D. Horton. Accession M1971-03

He had the following children:

+ 2 M i James LANDRUM
+ 3 M ii John D. LANDRUM Sr.

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