The Lanhams of Maryland and the District of Columbia

Compiled by Dr. Howard G. Lanham

Migration of Lanhams within the United States

A major part of the story of North America is the migration of its people. The point of origin of many of those named Lanham was the state of Maryland and the parts of it that became the District of Columbia.

The pattern of movement changed over time. Prior to the industrial revolution the availability of farm land drove the movement. As land was taken up and became unavailable to all the male children in the family some of the children and occasionally the entire family moved to a place where opportunity was better.

During the early 18th Century most of the movement was south from Maryland into what is now Virginia and West Virginia or into even deeper southern states: the Carolinas and Georgia. Toward the late 18th Century and early 19th Century the pattern changed to a more westward movement: Kentucky, Ohio and the mid-west.

By the 1850 census only a handful of Lanhams remained in Maryland and the District of Columbia.

Fanny Lanham born c. 1849 was the granddaughter of John Murphy Lanham
and lived in Jefferson Co., Indiana (period carte de visite)

Disclaimer- The above compiled from multiple sources and subject to error.