This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/hAC.2ACE/627.679.2.1 Message Board Post: Rick wrote: In what way(s) has the Lemon(s) families made significant contributions to the county. This is a fair question to the grand statement I offered previously. Infact, I do not have direct facts to support the favorable comment. However, I was inclined to make it after a study of the public Gloucester Censuses beginning in 1810 and because I have a very high view of those that serve God and support their families faithfully over many years. From these census records, I have noticed that family surnames come and go, but those surnames that continue stand out. As a white man, I wished to express my appreciation of a family name of people of color that was sustained in large numbers over such a long period of time. I guess I should have stated that they were a distingished family, and let other write of their significant contributions. My study of the early census showed a growing number of free-colored families, and for 1850 and 1860, the given names of the entire family were listed. I assume that if they were sustained, they contributed. I would like to know how these free coloreds lived while the other coloreds were slaves. Sorry, if I mislead anyone by my grand comment. Roane Hunt