DEARMONT HOMES

There are some cities, specific family homes, and other locations that are mentioned often, or otherwise important, in the history of the Dearmonts; they are described briefly here, and you can click on their titles for more information, including some photos. You can also click on the word "Map" next to each title, to see where each location is in relation to the others mentioned.

VIRGINIA

SOLDIER'S RETREAT or DEARMONT HALL (CLARKE CO)Photos Updated:May, 2004    [Maps]
This was the last "family home" of the Dearmonts in Virginia; formerly the home of Major Lawrence Butler, a Revolutionary War soldier who died and was buried on the property in 1812, the 400-acre property was purchased by Michael Dearmont[522] and his wife Lucinda in 1851. The property is on the Clarke County side of the Clarke/Frederick County border, just south of Route 50, and about two miles northwest of White Post, Virginia. Michael Dearmont's wife Lucinda inherited the place when Michael died; after her death, ownership passed to her oldest son, Colonel Washington Dearmont. Mamie Dearmont, daughter of Colonel Washington Dearmont, was the last Dearmont to live on the property, and she renamed it to "Dearmont Hall" in the 1950's.

WEST BROOK (CLARKE CO)[Maps]
A family very important to the Dearmonts in Clarke County, Virginia, was the family of Colonel James D. Bell (son of Revolutionary War soldier John Bell), a plantation owner who personally raised and equipped troops to help defend our country when the British burned the capitol in the war of 1812. Dearmonts married three of the daughters of James Bell's son, Strother Bell. James Bell's place, just a mile and a half north of White Post, VA, was known as "Westbrook." The "Recollections of William Strother Dearmont" fondly and pretty accurately describe this place.

WILDCAT HOLLOW HOME PLACE (CLARKE CO)[Maps] Map Added:May, 2005
We know of no special name like those above that the Dearmont family used for this place, but it was the home place of the Virginia Dearmonts prior to their move to Soldier's Retreat in 1851, and used by them as a grazing farm after the move to Soldier's Retreat. It was also used, when necessary, as a safe haven from the Union Army during the Civil War because Mosby's Rangers almost continuously patrolled this area. Located on the south side of the mountain pass between Berry's Ferry to Ashby Gap (Route 50 goes through this pass), it is up about 850 feet above sea level in the Blue Ridge Mountains, just to the east of, and possibly adjacent to, Route 602. A Ferguson family were neighbors there, and Michael's wife Lucinda was the daughter of John Diskin Ferguson, the head of the Ferguson family of Wildcat Hollow.

LOST MOUNTAIN (FAUQUIER CO)

TOWN RUN (FAUQUIER CO)[Maps]  Map Added:May, 2004
This map is the target of much of our recent research. Michael Dermont, Sr, received two land grants here in 1722-1724.  In 1722 this land was part of Stafford County, but it is now in Fauquier County. We have done some deed mapping of his and neighboring grants from 1722 and later, and a map that we're still working on will appear if you click on the Map link at the beginning of this paragraph.  More will be added later, but  some landmark names on the map are Town Run, Dorrell's Run, Negro Run. The neighbors shown here appear in several "Elk Run Neighborhood" tax lists available on the Internet and referenced elsewhere on this website. Neighboring grants plotted so far: Thomas Berry, Richard Luttrell, Michael Luttrell, Henry Norman, James Peters, Joseph Wood, William Hackney, Hackney & Allen, Charles Brent, Joseph Combs.

MISSOURI

THE PETER DEARMONT FAMILY[Maps] (Map Link is Good)
When Colonel James Bell died in Clarke County, VA, in 1851, the share of the estate left to his son Strother's children was placed in a trust until the youngest reached the age of 21, and Strother Bell was made responsible for maintaining and improving their inheritance until that time. The trust directed Strother to invest in "lands in the West", and this led to the acquisition of farm land north of Mound City, in Holt County, MO. It was to this place that Peter Dearmont and his wife Mary Eliza moved their family, and Peter's brother, James Thomas Dearmont, in 1871. The land was divided over time for individual descendants of Peter Dearmont, and much later lost in its entirety just before the depression, in 1927, as collateral for a farm mortgage, though at least some of it was later repurchased and farmed by Everett Dearmont, Peter's grandson.