LEMONDS and LEMONS 

 

Although there were two main families with this surname in Rockingham County, North Carolina during the same period - one on Troublesome Creek and one on Buffalo Creek - there were other Lemons/Lemonds  residing on other creeks who may or may not have been offshoots of these two  families.

​

Were the two families related?  There's been no references in documents to indicate that they were.  According to 10 marker Oxford tests from three contributors, Y-DNA project coordinator Earl R. Layman has concluded that male descendants of John Lemon of Buffalo Creek and William Lemon of Troublesome Creek differ by two repeats.  That would indicate that the two Rockingham County patriarchs "were  probably not related".  According to Pat Lemonds, on the other hand, Y-DNA results would indicate a relationship between John Lemon of Buffalo Creek and William Lemonds of Troublesome Creek, but not as closely as brothers.  Whatever one's understanding of the available Y-DNA results, other questions remain: 1) What and/or where was the origin of our Troublesome Creek Lemonds; 2) How was our Joseph related to either George or William Lemonds of Troublesome Creek?    A 67 marker test could provide the answer to both. 

​

 The surname was variously spelled, Lemond, Lemmond, Lemmonds, Lemonds, Lemmons, Lemons, Lemmon, and Lemon.  The first vowel might be written or transcribed as "i".  And to further stymie the researcher, the first letter might resemble an "s", thus "Simmons".  Names in the Notes appear exactly as they did in the original document.  For chapter titles, charts, and comments, I've settled on "Lemonds" for the Troublesome families and "Lemons" for the Buffalo Creek families; but I must admit, the decision's rather arbitrary. 

​