Cornelius Gray Lamb Sr. was a prominent farmer and land owner during the antebellum period of Camden County. He was born abt 1798, son of Cornelius Lamb and Chloe Lurry (Leary). He was the grandson of the Lamb Family patriarch Capt. Luke Lamb and his first wife Mary Gray. He inherited a substantial estate and managed to increase the value. In the 1860 census, his estate was valued over $70,000 and was listed as owning 39 slaves.
Linwood, was the name of his plantation, and the beautiful home once stood at Lambs Corner, on the Southside of Lambs Road and North 343. Sadly the home burnt down in the late 1930’s. Linwood was a gathering place for scholars, statesmen and prominent families of Northeastern North Carolina.
About 1825, Cornelius G. Lamb married Margaret Mackie (Mackey) daughter of Capt. John Mackie and Mary Gregory of Currituck County, North Carolina. She died in 1834. He married 2nd, Judith Gregory Mackie Ferebee, sister of his first wife Margaret, and the widow of Thomas Cooper (Cowper)
Ferebee Sr. of Currituck. Two Children of his marriages lived to adulthood. A daughter, Mary E. Lamb who married Dr. Samuel I. Brown of Norfolk County on January 15,1852 and a son Cornelius Gray Lamb Jr., who graduated from the University of North Carolina.
Cornelius G. Lamb Jr. joined the Confederate Army and was captured at the Battle of Hatteras Island. He was a prisoner of war until his exchange in February of 1862. He never recovered his health and died sometime in 1863.
Cornelius G. Lamb Sr. was reported to have been beaten and robbed by Yankee soldiers at his home in Camden. He made it through the war years and died in 1866. The Cornelius G. Lamb Family Cemetery is located in the corner of the woods about 6/10 of a mile southwest of Lambs Corner. The last time I was there, 1983, the graves had been desecrated. One tall marker marks the graves of his wives. A brick lined grave had been broke into and the cast iron coffin was laid out on the ground.
The tall marker reads:
In Memory of
Margaret Lamb
Born Dec. 25, 1803
Died Feb. 2, 1834
Judith G. Lamb
Born March 3, 1794
Died Oct. 10, 1853 The stone was made by M.P. Butcher Norfolk, Va.
John M. Lamb Thomas Lamb Cornelius G. Lamb Sr.
B. Oct 24, 1827 B. Dec.1,1829 Cornelius G. Lamb Jr.
D. Sept. 21,1833 D. Oct 5,1832 believed to be buried here.
Contributed by D. G. Owens