52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: #12 Charles A. Lamb, Husband of Martha J. Nash

Charles A. Lamb - Photo was taken in 1893 at a reunion of
Battery "A" First Illinois Light Artillery Volunteers

I could not ignore Charles A. Lamb when writing about Martha J. Nash Lamb earlier this month. In many of Martha’s biographies, he is mentioned only by name or, sometimes, as a cabinetmaker, but nothing more. The records suggest he was much more than that. It did not surprise me to learn that he was an older man, ambitious, already established in business, and active in his community before Martha married him.

“Cabinet Furniture,” Maumee City Express
(Maumee City, Ohio), 15 September 1838,
p. 2; digital image, Newspapers.com

Charles A. Lamb married Martha J. Nash on 8 September 1852 in Plainfield,
Massachusetts. He was twice widowed and a father of five. He appears in records as a cabinetmaker, furniture dealer, census taker, town clerk, member of the Lucas and Fulton Agricultural Society, an active member of the Whig Party, and a man active in community affairs, as shown by his service as a juror and his involvement in probate matters.

According to the 1893 memorial sketch printed in the History of Battery "A" First Illinois Light Artillery Volunteers, Charles A. Lamb was born in Salisbury, Connecticut, on 21 August 1815. As a young man, he went to Albany, New York, where he learned the cabinetmaker’s trade. He later moved west to Maumee, Ohio, where he established himself in the furniture business. The sketch describes him as a successful businessman who maintained a comfortable home and employed a number of men.

 

Charles was in Ohio as early as 1837. He married Caroline Benedict on 11 September 1837 at Sharon, Connecticut. The marriage record identifies him as “of Maumee City" at the time of the marriage. Charles and Caroline had one son, George A. Lamb. 

He next married Frances Reed on 27 July 1842 in Waterville, Lucas County, Ohio, very near his home in Maumee City. With Frances, Charles had four known children: Frederick C. Lamb, 1843-1844; Frederick Reed Lamb, 1845-1918; Anna Canfield Lamb, 1846-1930; and Fannie Lamb, 1849-1862. 

Soon after Charles and Martha's marriage in 1852, the family moved to nearby Toledo, where he opened a store but in only a few years, he was financially ruined when an uninsured cargo of furniture he had purchased was lost. By 1858, Charles, Martha, and three children were living in Chicago, where he took a sales job with a furniture company.

On 19 April 1861, Charles A. Lamb enlisted in the Union army, where he served as an artificer in Battery "A" First Illinois Light Artillery Volunteers. During those war years, Battery “A” traveled widely, serving in Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama, and Georgia. During his time, his 13-year-old daughter, Fanny, died on 7 February 1862 in Chicago.

Charles mustered out on 23 July 1864 and returned to sales in Chicago. In May  1866, Martha left Chicago and returned home to Massachusetts, where she taught for about a year before moving to New York City. 

In May 1870, Charles went to Omaha, Nebraska, to manage a branch establishment for Thayer & Tobey Furniture Company. His daughter, Anna, was in New York City, living with her stepmother, Martha. Frederick remained in Chicago, and George was a farmer in Connecticut.

Charles returned to Chicago early in 1872 and took a position with A. L. Hale & Bro. Later that year, he filed for a divorce from Martha. On 25 November 1874, Charles married Matilda Benedict, the younger sister of Charles' first wife, Caroline. They moved to Michigan, where he later retired. 

Charles A. Lamb died on 23 September 1893 in Albion, Calhoun County, Michigan. He is buried in Salisbury, Litchfield County, Connecticut, in the Salisbury Cemetery along with Charles' parents, his wife's family, and his son, George. 

These records did not answer every question about Charles A. Lamb, but they do show that he was much more than the brief references in Martha’s biographies.

If you would like to learn more about the families I research, follow my Facebook page, where I share each post along with other genealogical finds.

Diana

© 2026

“1860 United States Federal Census,” database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/7667/4213430_00067/37130394 : accessed 14 April 2026), Martha Nash Lamb, Chicago Ward 1, Cook County, Illinois.

“1870 United States Federal Census,” database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/7163/4274989_00242/33327502 : accessed 14 April 2026), Martha Nash Lamb, New York Ward 18, District 3, New York City, New York; Anna Lamb living in the household.

“1870 United States Federal Census,” database with images, Ancestry  (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/7163/records/15848855  : accessed 15 April 2026), Fred R. Lamb, age 24, Chicago Ward 1, Cook County, Illinois; born about 1846 in Ohio; occupation “clerk in store.”

“1870 United States Federal Census,” database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/7163/records/13986734  : accessed 15 April 2026), entry for George Lamb, Sharon, Litchfield County, Connecticut, dwelling 455.

“Cabinet Furniture,” Maumee City Express (Maumee City, Ohio), 15 September 1838, p. 2; digital image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/article/maumee-city-express-charles-a-lamb-cab/195601819/  : accessed 15 April 2026).

Charles B. Kimbell, History of Battery “A,” First Illinois Light Artillery Volunteers (Chicago: Cushing Printing Co., 1899), 185; digital images, FamilySearch  (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QHV-53LV-M885?view=fullText  : accessed 9 April 2026), image 102 of 177; Photograph of Charlies A. Lamb, page 202  and biographical sketch, pages 185-187. 

Clark Waggoner, History of the City of Toledo and Lucas County, Ohio (New York and Toledo: Munsell & Company, 1888), digital images, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/historyofcityoft00wagg  : accessed 4 April 2026).

Diana Bryan Quinn, “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: #11 Martha J. Lamb, an Accomplished Woman,” Moments in Time, A Genealogy Blog, 2 April 2026 (https://momentsintimeagenealogyblog.blogspot.com/2026/04/52-ancestors-in-52-weeks-11-martha-j.html  : accessed 15 April 2026).

“Died. In this city, Feb. 7, Fanny A. Lamb, aged 13 years and six months; daughter of Chas. A. and Martha J. Lamb,” Chicago Tribune (Chicago, Illinois), 8 February 1862, p. 4; digital image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-tribune-death-of-fanny-a-lamb/194362873/  : accessed 4 April 2026), clipping, “Death of Fanny A Lamb,” posted by dewquinn.

Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/228887559/anna-lamb: accessed April 14, 2026), memorial page for Anna Canfield Lamb (1846–1930), Find a Grave Memorial ID 228887559, citing Rosehill Cemetery, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, USA; Maintained by Meredith (contributor 50679338).

Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/23784442/charles_a-lamb: accessed April 14, 2026), memorial page for Charles A Lamb (21 Aug 1815–23 Sep 1893), Find a Grave Memorial ID 23784442, citing Salisbury Cemetery, Salisbury, Litchfield County, Connecticut, USA; Maintained by Jan Franco (contributor 46625834).

Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/193908140/frederick_c-lamb : accessed April 14, 2026), memorial page for Frederick C. Lamb (1837–1 Jul 1844), Find a Grave Memorial ID 193908140, citing Riverside Cemetery, Maumee, Lucas County, Ohio, USA; Maintained by Bob (contributor 47155955).

Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/184015587/george-lamb: accessed April 15, 2026), memorial page for George Lamb (1839–1930), Find a Grave Memorial ID 184015587, citing Salisbury Cemetery, Salisbury, Litchfield County, Connecticut, USA; Maintained by James Bianco (contributor 47745493).

Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/23784456/matilda_a-lamb: accessed April 15, 2026), memorial page for Matilda A Lamb (26 Oct 1836–6 May 1907), Find a Grave Memorial ID 23784456, citing Salisbury Cemetery, Salisbury, Litchfield County, Connecticut, USA; Maintained by Jan Franco (contributor 46625834).

Frances E. Willard and Mary A. Livermore, A Woman of the Century: Fourteen Hundred-seventy Biographical Sketches Accompanied by Portraits of Leading American Women in All Walks of Life, 1893, GoogleBooks  (https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_Woman_of_the_Century/zXEEAAAAYAAJ?hl=en : accessed 1 September 2024), pages 444 - 445, images 455-456).

“Judge Gary yesterday divorced Charles A. and Martha J. Lamb, and Helen M. and Wilson S. Segman,” Chicago Daily Tribune (Chicago, Illinois), 12 February 1873, p. 3; digital image, GenealogyBank (https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2:1693A43C9D787BE1@GB3NEWS-17D1F22BC66F3641@2405202-17CFBA82560C1FBA@2-17CFBA82560C1FBA : accessed 14 April 2026)

Mary Collins, “The History of Martha J. Lamb: Her Origin, Rise, and Progress” (2020), in CUNY Academic Works (https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/3545  : accessed 13 July 2024).

“Massachusetts, Marriage Records, 1840–1915,” database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/2511/41262_B139024-00025/15319546 : accessed 29 March 2026), marriage record for Martha Joanna Nash and Charles A. Lamb, 8 September 1852, Plainfield, Massachusetts. 

“Michigan, U.S., Marriage Records, 1867–1952,” database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/: accessed 15 April 2026), Chas A. Lamb and Matilda M. Benedict, 25 November 1874, Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo County, Michigan, record no. 2376.

“Salisbury Cemetery,” Find a Grave (https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/1794615/salisbury-cemetery

 : accessed 15 April 2026), cemetery page for Salisbury, Litchfield County, Connecticut, Find a Grave cemetery ID 1794615.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: #11 Martha J. Lamb, an Accomplished Woman

In 1858, John Adams Vinton, in The Vinton Memorial, Comprising a Genealogy of the Descendants of John Vinton of Lynn, 1648, described Martha Joanna Nash Lamb as “an accomplished woman.” At the time, she was the wife of Charles A. Lamb and living in Maumee City, Ohio. Still, she was only at the beginning of her life’s work, and neither Vinton nor his readers could have known just how accomplished she would become.

Martha was the daughter of Arvin Nash and Lucinda Vinton. Her paternal
grandparents were Jacob Nash and Joanna Reed. Joanna is #11 in my 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks series, where I am documenting the Reed family and related lines on my mother’s maternal side. Martha's father, Arvin, is #10.

Her name was sometimes written as 
Martha Joanna Reade Nash Lamb
or Martha J. R. N. Lamb

According to the family register shared in my last post, Martha Joanna Nash was born on 13 August 1826 in Plainfield, Hampshire County, Massachusetts. Her childhood was marked by both loss and change. Her older brother died when she was still very young, and in 1835, she lost her mother, Lucinda. In the years that followed, her father married and was widowed two more times, and the household grew into a large blended family with half-siblings, step-relations, and other family members living in the home.

Martha was well educated. In her early school years, she attended a school near her home in Goshen, and later studied at Williston Academy in Easthampton and at Northampton High School in Northampton, Massachusetts.

Marriage and Life in Chicago

Martha taught mathematics at a school in Newark, New Jersey, before accepting a teaching position in Maumee, Ohio, where she met her future husband. In 1852, she married Charles A. Lamb at the Congregational Church in Plainfield, Massachusetts. Charles, twice widowed and with five children, lived in Maumee, where he owned a furniture business.

Within a few years of their marriage, Charles’s business failed, and by 1860, Martha, her husband, and three of his children were living in Chicago. Charles supported the family through a sales position before joining the Union army. Martha’s years in Chicago were important. She was credited as a principal founder of the Home for the Friendless and Half Orphan and served as secretary of the Ladies’ Relief Society. She was also named secretary of the Great Sanitary Fair, placing her in the middle of one of Chicago’s most important Civil War relief efforts. 

This tribute to Martha J. Lamb appeared
in numerous newspapers nationwide. This
example was published in The Lansing Journal
and was found at Newspapers.com.

New York City: Building a Career and a Legacy

Martha left her husband in May of 1866. She returned to Massachusetts, where she taught mathematics for about a year at the Pollock Institute in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, before making her way to New York City.

Martha built a new life in New York City. There, she wrote children’s books, stories, and magazine articles before turning more fully to history. Her greatest work, History of the City of New York, established her as a serious historian and brought her wide recognition. In 1883, she became owner and editor of the Magazine of American History, a position that gave her a leading role in historical writing and publishing in the late 1800s.

Martha Lamb was well known in New York social circles. She belonged to many historical and patriotic societies and was the first woman member of the New York Historical Society. In this society, her paper on Mrs. Edward Livingston was the first by a woman presented at a Society meeting in 1871. In 1878, she became the first woman known to read her own work before the Society.

Her reputation extended beyond New York society. In 1886, President Grover Cleveland honored Martha at a White House dinner. In 1889, President Benjamin Harrison recognized her work for the centennial celebration of Washington’s inauguration.

The description below of Martha J. Lamb was written shortly before her death in A Woman of the Century: Fourteen Hundred-seventy Biographical Sketches Accompanied by Portraits of Leading American Women in All Walks of Life.

“She has earned her reputation of the leading woman historian of the nineteenth century. She is a middle-aged woman, a good talker and a most industrious worker in the historic and literary field. Recognition of her genius has been prompt and full. She has been elected to honorary membership in twenty-seven historical and learned societies in this country and Europe, and she is a life-member of the American Historical Association and a fellow of the Clarendon Historical Association of Edinburgh, Scotland.”

Martha J. Lamb died in New York on 2 January 1893 and was buried in Spring Grove Cemetery in Florence, Hampshire County, Massachusetts. She was a writer, editor, historian, and an accomplished member of the Reed family line.

More to Come

I am not finished writing about Martha J. Lamb. I have read some of her papers from Smith College and the New York Historical Society, but there are still family letters and photographs I have not yet accessed that may tell more of her story. When I began looking into Martha, I had hoped to find more about the Reed family in those collections, but so far, I have found little beyond the family’s awareness of a Mayflower connection through Martha’s grandmother, Joanna Reed. Even so, Martha’s life and papers seem well worth further study. Below are some of the resources I found most interesting while researching Martha J. Lamb. The full list of sources is at the end of the post. 

This Tribute, found in issue 29 of The
Magazine of American History confirmed
that Martha J. Lamb was a founder of the 
Society of Colonial Dames of America.

The Magazine of American history v.29 1893 has many nice tributes to Martha J. Lamb in this issue.  

A Woman of the Century: Fourteen Hundred-seventy Biographical Sketches Accompanied by Portraits of Leading American Women in All Walks of Life - Read the biographical sketch for Martha J. Lamb on page 444. Many interesting sketches for others are in this book, published in 1893. 

Mary Collins’s “The History of Martha J. Lamb: Her Origin, Rise, and Progress” was one of the most interesting and detailed resources I found.

The finding aid for the Martha J. Lamb Papers, 1838–1969, at Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College Special Collections, Northampton, Massachusetts, is a wonderful resource. It offers a clear overview of what is available, including some digital items found by clicking here.

Diana

© 2026

Resources

“1860 United States Federal Census,” database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/7667/4213430_00067/37130394  : accessed 3 March 2026), Martha Nash Lamb, Chicago Ward 1, Cook County, Illinois. 

Charles B. Kimbell, History of Battery “A,” First Illinois Light Artillery Volunteers (Chicago: Cushing Printing Company, 1899), contains biographical sketch of Charles A. Lamb; digital images, “Chicago, Cook, Illinois, United States records,” FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QHV-53LV-M885?view=fullText  : accessed 24 March 2026), image 102 of 177; Image Group Number 008885819.

“Diana’s Bryan-Quinn Family,” Ancestry Member Trees, tree no. 45260559, person profile for Martha Joanna Nash, person no. 412759456469, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/45260559/person/412759456469/facts : accessed 25 March 2026). 

“Family Register of Mr. Arvin Nash,” images 478–481, in “Massachusetts, United States records,” images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QHV-13RK-YFQ2?view=fullText : accessed 19 March 2026); citing Daughters of the American Revolution (Massachusetts), Image Group Number 008977924.

Frances E. Willard and Mary A. Livermore, A Woman of the Century: Fourteen Hundred-seventy Biographical Sketches Accompanied by Portraits of Leading American Women in All Walks of Life, 1893, GoogleBooks  (https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_Woman_of_the_Century/zXEEAAAAYAAJ?hl=en : accessed 1 September 2024), pages 444 - 445, images 455-456). 

“Guide to the Martha J. Lamb Papers, 1756–1892 (bulk 1876–1892), MS 362,” finding aid, New York Historical, NYU Special Collections Finding Aids (https://findingaids.library.nyu.edu/nyhs/ms362_martha_lamb/ : accessed 3 March 2026).

John Adams Vinton, The Vinton Memorial, Comprising a Genealogy of the Descendants of John Vinton of Lynn, 1648: Also, Genealogical Sketches of Several Allied Families ... with an Appendix Containing a History of the Braintree Iron Works, and Other Historical Matter (Boston: S. K. Whipple and Co., 1858), digital images, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/vintonmemorialco00vint  : accessed 3 March 2026).

Martha J. Lamb, History of the City of New York: its origin, rise, and progress Vol 1, 1877, Library of Congress (https://www.loc.gov/item/01001942/ : accessed 1 September 2024).

Martha J. Lamb, The Magazine of American History,1888, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/magazineofamericv20n6stev : accessed 1 September 2024). 

“Martha J. Lamb Papers, 1838–1969: Finding Aid,” Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College Special Collections, Northampton, Massachusetts (https://findingaids.smith.edu/repositories/2/resources/785 : accessed 3 March 2026).

“Martha Lamb: New-York Historical Society Pioneer,” New-York Historical Society Blog, 18 March 2020 (https://www.nyhistory.org/blogs/martha-lamb-new-york-historical-society-pioneer : accessed 22 March 2026).

Mary Collins, “The History of Martha J. Lamb: Her Origin, Rise, and Progress” (2020), in CUNY Academic Works (https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/3545  : accessed 13 July 2024).

 

Mrs. [Martha] Lamb, “A Poem: Addressed to the Members of Mathematical Department of the Pollack Institute,” 4 February 1867, Martha J. Lamb Papers, Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts.

“New York, New York, Death Index, 1862–1948,” database, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/9131/records/452527 : accessed 3 March 2026), entry for Martha J. Lamb, death 1893, New York, New York. 

The Lansing Journal, February 6, 1893, Page  6. via Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-lansing-journal-martha-j-lamb-trib/194306813/ : accessed March 27, 2026), clip page for Martha J Lamb - tribute by user dewquinn.

The Magazine of American History, vol. 29 (New York: A. S. Barnes, 1893), digital images, HathiTrust Digital Library (https://hdl.handle.net/2027/coo.31924065789988: accessed 29 March 2026). 

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: #2 Lucy Hugens

This excerpt, written by Cyrus Nash (1780-1850) of Abington, Massachusetts, was found in The Reed Genealogy: Descendants of William Reade of Weymouth, Massachusetts from 1635-1902 by John Ludovicus Reed. 

This week’s 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks prompt, “a record that adds color,” is a perfect fit for Lucy Hugens, the wife of Peter Reed and the presumed mother of Benjamin Reed. I did not expect to find much about Lucy. Given the time period and what appears to have been a modest economic status, she left few records of her own. What does add color to Lucy’s story is the above narrative by Cyrus Nash. In just a few paragraphs, Nash provided details that no town or land record ever could.

Nash identified Lucy’s father only as “Mr. Hugens,” an Irish immigrant who married a much younger woman, also from Ireland. According to the account, Lucy’s mother arrived in New England as a teenager, intending to meet an aunt in Pennsylvania. When her ship instead landed in Boston, she was indentured to pay her passage and later married Mr. Hugens in Abington—an experience that Nash’s description suggests contrasted with her earlier life in Ireland.

Nash names Lucy and three siblings: John Hugens, a sister married to Hosiah Porter of Weymouth, and another sister married to a man named Lot Randall. These brief references open valuable research paths.

What can be documented about Lucy comes from a small set of records. She and Peter Reed were married on 25 March 1748 in Abington, Plymouth County, Massachusetts. Later that same year, Peter and Lucy were warned to depart the town of Bridgewater. Lucy appears by name in the Abington birth records of two of her children—Sarah, born in 1757, and Samuel, born in 1760. In 1762 and again in 1763, while living in Bridgewater, Peter and Lucy were warned to remove to Abington. These records do not tell Lucy’s story outright, but together they place her firmly in time and place.

In additional remarks, Nash wrote that Peter died in 1780 and that Lucy removed to Cummington. This movement aligns with what is known about the family, as Benjamin Reed already lived in Cummington, and both of Lucy’s daughters married there in the 1780s.

When paired with marriage, birth, and town records, Nash’s narrative adds dimension to Lucy’s life and provides clues that help guide further research into a woman who otherwise appears only intermittently in the historical record.

If you would like to learn more about the families I research, follow my Facebook page , where I share each post along with other genealogical finds.

Diana

© 2026

John Ludovicus Reed, The Reed Genealogy: Descendants of William Reade of Weymouth, Massachusetts from 1635-1902 Vol. I  (no publisher named, 1901). 

Massachusetts, U.S., Marriages, 1633–1850, digital images, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2495/images/40904_263574__0005-00142

 : accessed 10 January 2026), image 142 of 192, Abington marriages, marriage of Peter Reed and Lucy Hugens, 25 March 1748, Congregational Church, Abington, Plymouth County, Massachusetts; citing Massachusetts Vital Records, Abington, Family History Library microfilm 1,409,404.

Massachusetts, U.S., Town and Vital Records, 1620–1988, digital images, image 243, entry for the marriage of Sarah Reed and Joel Hill, 30 October 1782, Cummington, Hampshire County, Massachusetts; Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2495/records/58991557?tid=45260559&pid=412222903562&ssrc=pt  : accessed 16 May 2024).

Cummington, Hampshire, Massachusetts, United States records, images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-8979-H9YZ?view=explore

 : accessed 11 January 2026), image 134 of 162, entry for the marriage of Jacob Nash and Joanna Reed, 27 November 1788, Cummington Town Clerk; Image Group Number 007009226.

Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States records, images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS41-RST6-P?view=explore

 : accessed 11 January 2026), image 396 of 407, entry for Peter and Lucy Reed warned, 1748, Plymouth County Court of General Sessions of the Peace; Image Group Number 007902905.

Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States records, images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9B2-G9G5-S?view=explore

 : accessed 11 January 2026), image 156 of 971, entry for Peter and Lucy Reed warned, 1762 and 1763, Plymouth County Court of General Sessions of the Peace, volumes 2–6; Image Group Number 007726241.