Loving Lexington - Mary Elizabeth Dimond Probert

It's only in the past couple of years that I have been able to trace my family to  Lexington, Kentucky. I discovered that my great-grandmother, Lucy Probert, was born there to Thomas H. Probert and Mary Elizabeth Dimond. Tragically, her mother died of consumption and complications of childbirth at the age of 29. 

I've only been able to prove that Thomas and Mary Elizabeth had three children:  Addie, Lucy, and baby Thomas. However, another online genealogist insists that they had a first-born son, William, in 1848.  Based on Irish naming patterns and the fact that Thomas father was named William, I think she is probably right.

In searching for death information on Lucy, I discovered her mother and newborn brother were buried in the Lexington Cemetery.  They are both listed in the Lexington Cemetery online database. This past Friday I had the opportunity to take a day-trip to Lexington and explore my Probert/Dimond roots.

I cannot describe the beauty of this historic cemetery.  It includes a National Cemetery with veteran graves, a mausoleum housing the remains of Henry Clay and his wife, and the family of John Hunt Morgan of Morgan's Raiders fame.  I was surrouded by old-growth trees that made it pleasant on a day with a heat index of more than 100 degrees.

The people in the office graciously assisted me with records pertaining to my family.  Much to my surprise, the unreadable yet unmistakable graves of my gg-grandmother and her infant, Thomas, were worn but visible.  They provided me with a plot of the cemetery and a list of additional names of family members buried in the plot.  Taking this information to the library and using City Directories, I was able to confirm that an online family tree was, in fact, accurate.

There were so many clues!  I now know that another family member died as a result of his participation in the Civil War.  He was in a Kentucky regiment that fought for the Union. Another grave memorialized a young man who died in the Spanish-American War in 1898.  I also learned that the family spelling for "Dimond" was interchangeable with "Diamond".  The lot was purchased by James L. Dimond.  I believe he was Mary Elizabeth's uncle and the brother of her father, Joseph.  I can find no record for Joseph beyond his second marriage in 1844 and I presume he was dead at the time of his daughter's death in 1854. 

But wait . . .  there's MORE!  Stay tuned.