Lawrence Dameron

Lawrence first appears in Northumberland County records in May 12, 1652, receiving a land patent for 342 acres located on the Yeocomico River. A second patent for 450 acres in the same area also appears, and on August 20, 1655 there is a third Patent conveying 500 acres of land adjoining these properties. On February 21st, 1659 Lawrence received 450 acres of land in Northumberland County for the transport of nine people including; himself, his wife, James Sibble, Joane Jones, William Rule, Joseph Jepson, Katherine Shawe, Richard Fenner and Edward Stanford. Many early writings on Lawrence seems to confuse the Yeocomico and Great Wicomico Rivers. The first lands granted to Lawrence were in the northern part of the county, when those lands were later passed to Bartholomew they were called "Mattapony." Through these patents and other land purchases, Lawrence eventually owned about 2,600 acres, for the most part in Wicomico Parish which was in the southern part of Northumberland County. On this land located just south of the Great Wicomico River, was a peninsula and that came to be known as Dameron Marsh. This is where Lawrence built his home. Lawrence’s house was probably wooden, and it may have been large because in his will he mentions the great room and the chamber. The will also mentioned multiple other houses on the property to be divided.

Lawrence Dameron’s name does not appear on the 1652 Oath of Allegiance to England taken in Northumberland County. He may not have been in Northumberland at the time the list was signed, even though his first patent was in 1652 it may have been later in the year or maybe he had already returned to England to prepare for another crossing. If he had the opportunity and purposefully did not sign, it could be taken as a sign of why he chose to move his family to the colony.

A fragment of Lawrence's will still survives though the book it was kept in was badly damaged. He will was signed on May 1st, 1660. It appears that Lawrence was able to write, because he signed the will. The will was proven on December 17, 1660. In two damaged section of the will Lawrence refers to "man servants." Slavery was not fully institutionalized in Virginia until later in the 1660s though examples existed much earlier and it is unknown if Lawrence was talking about indentured servants or Black slaves.

In a fully preserved paragraph near the beginning of the will he names his son, Bartholomew:

“I bequeath unto my sonne Bartholomew Dameron one halfe of five hundred acres of land situated in Great Wicomico which I bought of Mr. Peter Knight, the said land to be enjoyed peaceably by said Bartholomew and his heirs for ever, and to be delivered to him at the death of his mother with one cedar Bedstead, one long table with forme and benches to it, and one Couch, all which stands in the Great Roome.”

Lawrence bequeathed the other half of that 500 acres to George. He was a Processioner of the Vestry for Wicomico parish, and his duties in that capacity consisted in assisting in periodic surveys of parish lands, and the renewal of boundary markers so that ancestral land boundaries could be maintained. he was active in the Wicomico parish Church. Thomas Dameron, a son of George, built a large brick manor house next to the original home of Lawrence and it was dubbed "The Brick Walls" a two story, high-ceiling manor house that had deep set windows, a large fireplace, wide staircase and upstairs bed chambers. The grounds included gardens and an orchard. The Brick Walls plantation remained in the hands of the Dameron family until 1849. During that time Dameron Marsh was often called Guarding Point or Garden Point. Dameron Marsh was used as a lookout point during Bacon's Rebellion in 1679 and at other points by the Colonial Army before the Revolution. The Dameron-Damron Family Association placed a marker at Dameron Marsh in 2009 in memory of Lawrence.