New Trees, Old Trees, Lemon Trees...

 

I've been trying to eliminate Lemons in Michigan.  That sounds bad, doesn't it?  Eliminate them as possible matches to my Lemons, I mean.  But what I'm finding is that it's not easily done.  Starting in the early 1700s, there was a Lemon explosion, kinda.  Joseph Lemon and his wife, Prudence, had 4 children; two girls and two boys.  All were fertile.  My own ancestor from that line, John Lemon, had 14 children with his wife, Elizabeth Titman.  Most of those children had large families also.  Some in Pennsylvania, some in Canada.  LARGE families. 

I started a tree with an Isaac Lemmon as the home person because he was in Macomb County the same time as Abner Lemon, if not earlier.  I thought I had eliminated him, but then discovered that he could possibly be a Lemon "cousin" from Pennsylvania, and maybe the reason the Lemons in Ontario, Canada came down into Michigan in that area.  I have no proof, but my spidey senses are a-tingle.  Then I discovered that that Lemmon family (note difference in spelling from my own Lemons) had married into a Ruby family.  That got me working backwards to see if they could possibly have any connection to MY Rubys.  They could.  That was exciting. 

I believe the person who gave the parents of Silas Nelson Ruby on his death certificate perhaps inadvertly gave the name of Silas' BROTHER, not his father.  It fits time-wise.  I'm not sure how to document the connection for sure.  I do have the coincidence of naming patterns, but that's not really proof.  To think that those Rubys, who married into the Lemmons, could possibly be MY Rubys married into MY Lemons boggles my mind. 

I've started a half dozen new trees for the purpose of elimination or confirmation.  Knapps, Rubys, Lemmons, Lemons...it's fascinating work.

For instance:  Isaac Lemmon had a son, John B. Lemmon who had a son named Frank.  So John M. Lemon (my 2nd great-grand uncle) had a Frank William Lemon (who died relatively young.), John B. Lemmon (who may be related, they were in the same area at the same time.) had a Frank Lemmon (Franklin Pierce Lemmon.), and my own great-grandfather, Isaac B Lemon had a son Frank John Lemon.  Frank was a popular name.  And there's the mystery of the John B. Lemon who was the reporter for Abner Lemon's death certificate.  Could it be John B. Lemmon? 

The quest continues.