ce with
the request for a contribution to the publications of this Society. It
is hoped that the publication may serve to elicit further information
concerning the alleged "Notes," the existence of which has become a
subject of more or less interest to historians. The compiler merely
presents the materials at their face value, without assuming to pass
critical judgment upon them.

W. C. M.

INTRODUCTION {p.07}

RELATIONS OF JAMES LEMEN AND THOMAS JEFFERSON IN THE EXCLUSION OF
SLAVERY FROM ILLINOIS AND THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY

In view of the approaching centennary of statehood in Illinois, the
name of James Lemen takes on a timely interest because of his
services--social, religious, and political--in the making of the
Commonwealth. He was a native of Virginia, born and reared in the
vicinity of Harper's Ferry. He served a two-years' enlistment in the
Revolutionary War under Washington, and afterwards returned to his
regiment during the siege of Yorktown. His "Yorktown Notes" in his
diary give some interesting glimpses of his participation in that
campaign.[1] His Scotch ancestors had served in a similar cause under
Cromwell, whose wedding gift to one of their number is still cherished
as a family heirloom.

Upon leaving the army James Lemen married Catherine Ogle, daughter of
Captain Joseph Ogle, whose name is perpetuated in that of Ogle county,
Illinois. The Ogles were of old English stock, some of whom at least
were found on the side of Cromwell and the Commonwealth. Catherine's
family at one time lived on the South Branch of the Potomac, although
at the time of her marriage her home was near Wheeling. Captain Ogle's
commission, signed by Gov. Patrick Henry, is now a valued possession
of one of Mrs. Lemen's descendants. James and Catherine Lemen were
well fitted by nature and training for braving the hardships and
brightening the privations of life on the frontier, far removed from
home and friends, or even the abodes of their nearest white kinsmen.

During, and even before the war, young Lemen is reputed to have been
the protege of Thomas Jefferson, through whose influence he became a
civil and religious leader in the pioneer period of Illinois history.
Gov. Reynolds, in his writings relating to this period,[2] gives
various sketches of the man and his family, and his name occurs
frequently in {p.08} the records of the times. He was among the first
to follow Col.