Lazarus Lawson Mainous was born with the last name of "Maness". Most of the information regarding 'Laz' comes from a Scott County, Virginia Court Case called 'Bledsoe V Maness' plus family information. I am Lazarus Lawson Mainous' GG-Grandson (William James, Jr).

Lazarus Lawson Mainous' father was Vincent Maness and his mother was Rachel Hampton. Y-DNA testing shows that Laz's male descendants are descended from William Maness of Moore County, North Carolina (originally from Scotland of the Dunn Clan). Vincent and Rachel had several children (see the above court case):

1. Silas Hale Maness - Born 1805
2. Lazarus Lawson Mainous - Born in 1808
3. Absalom F. Maness (spelled Mainus) Born in 1810
4. Juriah Maness - Born in 1815 (died in McLean County, Ill)

On March 17, 1833, Lazarus Lawson Maness and his wife, Rebecca Amanda Flanery were married in Jonesville, Lee County, Virginia. Laz's father, Vincent had died a few years prior in about 1830. His mother, remarried on November 14, 1840 to Reuben Pendleton in Scott County, Virginia (about 10 years after Vincent died). In that record, the last name of Maness was mis-spelled.

Laz and Rebecca continued to live in Lee County, Virginia (in an area called 'Poor Valley') until October 1856 when he sold his farm and moved his family west to Owsley County, Kentucky. Laz and Rebecca moved, in part, because of the lawsuit above and upon moving changed the spelling of their last name from Maness to Mainous.

Children born to Laz and Rebecca are:

1. Cynthia Mainous April 16, 1834
2. Absalom Mainous September 18, 1836
3. Martha Jane Mainous June 4, 1838
4. Amanda Mainous August 23, 1841
5. S. G. Mainous may 22, 1842
6. Matilda Mainous August 15, 1843
7. William Mainous September 25, 1845 (died in infancy)
8. Walter Preston Mainous November 14, 1846
9. John Tyler Mainous December 30, 1849
10. Mary Mainous November 6, 1851
11. Juriah Mainous ('aunt honey') December 1, 1853
12. Daniel Carter Mainous February 11, 1856
13. Elbert S. Mainous August 10, 1858
14. Hampton H. Mainous September 17, 1861

Upon arriving in Owsley County in 1856, he was one of the early founders of Booneville, Kentucky. The postal station 'Vincent, Kentucky' was named by Lazarus for his father.

Lazarus Lawson Mainous came to Kentucky in a covered wagon and brought with him his, nephew of the same name, Lazarus M. Mainous ('Little Laz'). Little Laz is the son of Silas Hale Maness who had died around 1850. Silas Hale Maness' children were given to different relatives and Lazarus Lawson took his namesake, Little Laz.

The children of Silas Hale that remained in Virginia continued to spell their name 'Maness' while Little Laz and Laz L adopted the spelling of Mainous. Silas Hale Maness married Jane Bledsoe and had Lazarus M. Mainous (Little Laz), Isaac B Maness, Houston Maness, Hiram Maness, Reuben P. Maness, and Elizabeth Maness.

Lazarus Lawson Mainous, brother Absalom Mainus moved to Carter County, Kentucky and is buried there with his wife, Martha Blankenbeckler.

His sister, Juriah left Virginia and married William Johnson and died on Christmas day in 1855 in Mclean County, Illinois. Juriah's husband, William Johnson, moved to Kansas and re-married. Juriah is buried in the Gilmore Cemetery in Mclean County, Illinois.