The name of LAVENDER of French origin and is derived from the occupatlon of its first bearers as launderers. Hollyband's Dictionarie, 1593, gives "Lauender, washer, or lawndere, lotrix. In ancient French and English and early American'records the name appears in the various forms of Lauender, Launder, Lawndere, Lawnder, Larnder, Lauendre, Lavendre, Lavander,Lavandier Lavendar, Lavinder, Lavender, and others. Of these variants, the last is that most often used in America in modern times. According to some historians, the English Famllies of the name removed from France to that country in the early sixteenth century, but the fact that the name is found in the ancient records of the English Counties of Somerset, Bedford, and Cambridge makes it probable that the families of the name later settled in those places, in London, and in the Counties of Hereford and Hertford were of English ancestry, although possibly of French origin at a considerably earlier period. These-families belonged chiefly to the yeomanry of Great Britain.

As early as the year 1273 Alice la Lavanider was living in Bedforshire, England; and about the same time appear the records of Cecilia la Lavender and Peter le Lavender, of County Cambridge. William le Lavender was living in Somersetshire in 1327; and Isabel la Lavendre also appears on the records of that period. In 1538 a William Launder was registered at the University of Oxford. These records are, however, only fragmentary.

One William Lavender was living at Standon, County Hertford, about the middle of the sixteenth century. He is said by some historians to have been one of two Huguenot brothers, originally named De La Vinder, who escaped the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre and went to England. This, however, seems highly improbable, since William was established at Standon. prior to 1560 and the St.. Bartholomew massacre of the Huguenots took place in 1572.

However this may be it is known that William was the father of two children, Elias and Judith, of whom the son became a citizen and merchant taylor of London. Elias married Ellen, daughter of Henry Bennett, of London, and had issue by her of three children, Nathaniel, Hester, and Sarah of whom the first was living at Chesthunt, Hertfordshire, before the year 1630. By his wife Judith, daughter of Thomas Tyler, a London haberdasher, Nathniel was the father of at least two sons, Nathaniel and Elias Lavender. Richard Lavinder or Lavender was living at Felmersham, Bedfordshire, before 1580 and is sometimes called a brother of the first William Of Hertfordshire. Richard married Anne P. Riseley, by whom he was the father of William, John, Thomas, Richard, and Anne. 0f these, William and Richard made their, homes in Bedford; John settled at Stewkley, in Huntingdonshire; and Thomas made his home at London about 1630. This Thomas Lavinder or Lavender married Margaret, daughter of Ambrose Salisbury, of Leicestershire and had issue by her of six children, Thomas, Elizabeth, Margaret, Mary, Anne, and Sarah Lavinder or Lavender.

Some writers beIieve the familes, of the name in America to have been descended from the before mentioned English lines, while others maintain a French-Huguenot origin. The earliest segtlements of the family in this country appear to have occurred at about the time of the Revolutionary War, which makes it seem possible, at least, that some bearers of the name came over out of sympathy for the struggle of the American Colonies for freedom.

Possibly the original Lavender immigrants to America were Charles and William, who served with the Virginia Revolutionary forces. Of these, William is listed as a resident of Amherst County, Va.; and was 'Probably identical that William "Lavinder", concerning whom one historian writes that he came with a brother named Richard to America near the close of the Revolutionary War. A Thomas Lavinder appears to have settled at about the same time in Roanoke County, Va.; and a John Lavinder or Lavender made his home in Franklin County, Va., before the close of the century. This John married Mary Depity and had issue by her of eleven children, Thornton, William, James, Joseph, Chilton, John, Mary, Frances, Nancy, Emily and Jesse.

The records of all of the last-mentioned brothers are not at hand, but Jesse, the youngest of the lot, is said to have died in 1876, aged eighty-five years. He married Jane Hickey Davis and removed with her to "Park Place", near Martinsville, Va. Their' children were Mary, Letitia, John Peter, Sam Henry, Emma Jane, Margaret Alzira, and Jesse Ben.

Of these, John Peter first married Mary Louisa Jones and later had a second wife, Annie Fleming, but left no issue: Sam Henry married a Miss Hill and had at least two children, Mary Catherine and Janie Hickey; while Jeese Ben left issue by his wife, Alice Peters, of' Henry George, Mary Peters and Alice-Greyson.

One branch of the Virginia family was early settled in Norfolk County, where Andrew Lavender was married in 1805 to Elizabeth-Hanbury. The records of this line are not, however, complete. One Hugh Lavender served with the South Carolina militia in the Revolutionary War and later settled in Greene County, Ala. Among the probable members of this family were William Lavender, of Greensboro, N.C, who married Nicie Hellen in the early nineteenth century and had issue by her of a son named William Hellen Lavender, who removed to Alabama; and John S. Lavendar, who was born (parentage unknown)·in McDowell County, N-.C., in 1851 and was the father by his wife, Harriet Priscilla Green, of Julius Arthur, Winslow, Ed Cornelius, Thomas Young, Ada Lenoir, Jasper Elisha, Alfred William, James Logan, John Lee, and Letha Ashworth Lavendar.

A talented, often highly intellectual race,in many cases of a scientific and scholarly turn of mind, the Lavenders in America have been particularly successful in the fields of law, literature, medicine, and scholarship. Thanks to: Media Research - Washington D.C. and DO-IT-SO Automation

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