From the 1885 History of Steuben County, Indiana

pages 834 - 836

Clay Lemmon, youngest son of Maurice and Lucinda Lemmon, was born in Otsego Township, Aug. 18, 1844, and was here reared and educated. His early educational advantages were, however, meager, and his time for securing an education brief, for at the age of seventeen he entered the service of his country as a soldier in the civil war. He enlisted in Company K, Forty-fourth Indiana Infantry, Oct. 10, 1861. His company being left at Henderson, Ky., he was not present at the battle of Fort Donelson, but joined his regiment previous to the battle of Shiloh, and participated in that engagement, the siege of Corinth and all the marches and duties of the regiment until it encamped at Battle Creek, Tenn., in July, 1862. On account of ill health he was sent to the hospital at Nashville, Tenn., Aug. 17, 1862; was discharged Oct. 2, and reached home the 25th of the same month. He attended school the following winter, and having regained his health, on Nov. 26, 1863, he again enlisted as a veteran in Company H, Seventy-fourth Indiana Infantry, joining the regiment Feb. 14, 1864, at Chattanooga; was under fire the most of the way from there to Atlanta, and took part in the battles of Jonesboro, the last of a series of battles culminating in the fall of Atlanta, following the banners of Sherman on his march to the sea and through the Carolinas, thence to Washington via Richmond. He was in line at the time of the grand review of the army at Washington, May 22, 1865. Having enlisted as a veteran he was transferred June 9, 1865 to the Twenty-second Indiana Veteran Volunteer Infantry, and was discharged with them at Louisville, Ky., July 24, 1865. After his second enlistment, he was not absent from his regiment a day, and was in the ranks in all the marches and engagements of the regiment. He returned home in the month of his twenty-first birthday, and in November, 1869, shortly after his marriage, settled on the farm on section 20, Otsego Township, where he now lives. He has always taken an active interest in all public affairs of his township and county, and has been honored with several positions of trust and responsibility. In the fall of 1874 he was a non-partisan candidate for the office of Township Trustee, but was defeated. In 1876 he was elected to this office, and was again elected in 1878. During his last term he was instrumental in having built the convenient and tasty school building at Hamilton, and in establishing there a graded school which has proven of great benefit to the town and township. In 1880 he was elected Justice of the Peace for his township, and in 1884 Treasurer of Steuben County for the term beginning in September, 1885. In politics he is an earnest Republican and an active worker in the party's ranks. He was married Sept. 19, 1869, to Jane Cameron, who was born in Richland Township, Jan. 27, 1846, daughter of William and Sarah Cameron, early settlers of the county and of Richland Township. To them have been born four children, three of which number are living -- Sarah E., Edith R., Earle C. Their second child, Ernest C., died Feb. 20, 1876, aged ten months and fifteen days.

Submitted by Kim Davoli

E-mail: davoli82@juno.com