Perry County, Indiana - Chapter 5: Revolutionary Veterans and Soldiers of 1812, 1916

Six months after the first term of court on record as held at "Rome," or in February, 1820, James R. E. Goodlett succeeded Richard Daniel as president judge, with Samuel Hall as prosecutor. It is related of Judge Goodlett that he was neither ready nor brilliant as a practitioner, thus lacking two of the qualities essential to a successful advocate; but, always forming his opinions after mature deliberation, he was in his proper sphere upon the bench and continued as judge until 1832, residing for several years of this time in Paoli, Orange County.

Several certificates of service in the American Revolution were entered in the court records during Judge Goodlett's term, and reference will here be made to those "venerable men - come down from a former generation," who had lived, as Webster eloquently said, "to see their country's independence established, and to sheathe their swords from war." The data given has been drawn from various sources wherever possibly available, in the wish to give the fullest credit due each individual.

Premier mention must be awarded to Terence Connor, a Virginia scion of that distinguished O'Connor family whose name occurs on well-nigh every page of Irish history. Not, however, on such account is he listed first here, but because of his own personal value as a pioneer resident of Perry County and the extensive progeny surviving him. His direct descendants maintain the Connor name in many other states besides Indiana, and, through the female line as well, perpetu-

Terence Connor was born in 1757, in Virginia, and there married Sarah Speaks, the mother of his eight children, whose names, with their marriages, follow: 1. Dade, married Sadie Huff. 2. Samuel, married (a) Elizabeth Claycomb; (b) Nancy Hyde. 3. William, married Elizabeth Green. 4. John, married (a) Elizabeth Crist, (b) Sinclair. 5. Terence, Jr.,

Terence Connor enlisted in September, 1776, in Prince William County, Virginia, in the Virginia Line Continental Troops, under Colonel Daniel Morgan, in the brigade commanded by General Woodford, serving three years and two months, or until honourably discharged by General Woodford, at the Bush encampment on North River.

Some time prior to the beginning of the nineteenth century he came with his family across the mountains into Kentucky, having received from Virginia bountylands in what was "Fincastle County" when a part of the mother state.

As in the case of many other families, Kentucky was but a stopping place for the Connors, and in 1807 they settled permanently in Indiana, Samuel Connor then entering lands in Perry County and Terence Connor, Sr., taking up more, five years afterward. By Act of May 25, 1819, he became eligible to an annual pension of $96 and was placed upon the rolls September 10, 1819, some twelve years after his earliest recorded residence in Perry County.

He continued a pensioner until his death, December 16, 1841, which occurred at Troy, although his remains were interred near Rome, in the "Connor Buryingground," on a portion of the land he had taken up in 1817, which estate has never passed out of the Connor blood, his descendants in the sixth generations now re-

George Ewing was born March 16, 1754, at Greenwich, Cumberland County, New Jersey, the greatgrandson of Finley Ewing, of Dumbarton, Scotland, and County Derry, Ireland, who had been an officer under William of Orange at the battle of Boyne Water, 1690.

His military services in the American Revolution had their beginning November 11, 1775, when he enlisted in the Fifth Company, Second Battalion, First Establishment, New Jersey Line, Continental Troops, and as he kept from thence forward a diary which is still in possession of his descendants, the full details of his career are easily traced, including Montgomery's ill-fated expedition against Quebec ; the battles of Germantown and the Brandywine, and the winter at Valley Forge.

He was commissioned an Ensign, February 5, 1777, and August 10, 1778, married Rachel, daughter of Nathaniel and Abigail (Padgett) Harris, at Greenwich. They removed in 1786 to Ohio County, Virginia (now West Virginia) and six years later into the state of Ohio, whence they came in May, 1818, to Indiana, taking up land as recorded.

He was placed on the Pension Roll, January 31, 1820, under Act of April 20, 1818, at $240 per annum, drawing this amount until his death, January 15, 1824 ; Rachel, his wife (born September 2, 1750), following him September 29, 1825. They were buried near the bank of the Ohio River, in Tobin Township, in Section 8, Township 7 South, Range 3 West; but their headstones err slightly in the dates of death and in the ages given, the particulars here stated having absolute authority. Their burial place having passed out of the family and through many changes (being now a part of "Sunnycrest Farm," Captain I. H. Odell's estate), in 1907 the remains were removed by a descendant, John G. Ewing, of Roselle, New Jersey, to Cliff Cemetery, Cannelton, where the ashes now repose in the Latimer family plot, descendants through the female line.

Many other names are in the direct line of descent from George Ewing, Sr,, but the only Ewings of his blood in Perry County are those living in the vicinity of Magnet, the grandchildren of Lafayette Ewing, son of George Ewing, Jr., eldest son of George and Rachel (Harris) Ewing. Their second son was Thomas Ewing, one of Ohio's notable lawyers, twice a United States Senator from that state, and twice in the Cabinet, as Secretary of the Treasury under William Henry Harrison, and under Taylor the first to hold the newlycreated portfolio of Secretary of the Interior. His daughter, Ellen Ewing, married William Tecumseh Sherman, the famous general.

Other Revolutionary veterans living in the county at this time, or somewhat later, will be here enumerated for convenience, though it is impossible to give in each case the authentic official particular of their service.

Richard Avitt enlisted in the navy at Newcastle, Pennsylvania, serving on the ship "Alpea," under Commodore Hopkins, and later on the black brig, "Andariah," under Captain Courtney. Afterward he enlisted in the artillery, under Colonel Thomas Proctor, of the Pennsylvania Line Continental Troops, where he served three years and became a sergeant.

As such he was placed on the pension roll September 16, 1819, under Act of May 24, 1819, at the annual rate of $96. He drew this up to his death, June 12, 1826, but the place of his burial can not be identified, though he had lived in Tobin Township at or near Rome, and had, on August 3, 1818, cast his ballot in an election held at the house of Lemuel Mallory. Prob-

Lemuel Mallory, who came in 1817 into Tobin Township, had been a private in the Connecticut State Troops. He was born May 22, 1763, at Ripton Parish, Stratford, Fairfield County, Connecticut, and at the age of only fifteen volunteered, during the summer of 1778, serving for eight months with Captain John Yates, under Colonel Heman Swift. 'In March, 1780, he re-enlisted under Lieutenant Pinto in General Stark's Brigade.

He made application for pension May 16, 1833, under Act of March 4, 1831, and was placed on the rolls October 18, 1833, at an annual rate of $80. He lived until February 16, 1851, dying at Rome where he was buried in the "Shoemaker Cemetery." Although blind in his last years he was said to have retained his memories of battle experiences with close accuracy.

He was twice wedded, and descendants of his first marriage are yet living in Perry County, as well as the descendants of his brothers, Lanson and Moses Mallory. There were no children by his second wife (whom he married August 15, 1819, in Corydon), Mrs. Rebecca (Reagan) Lang, born November 15, 1767, in Frederick County, Virginia, and herself the daughter of a Revolutionary soldier, Michael Reagan, by his wife, Nancy O'Connell.

Michael Reagan was born 1743, in Ireland, and came in young manhood with other North-Ireland Presbyterians into the northern end of the Valley of Virginia, where he married, his wife belonging to the same family as the Irish "Liberator", Daniel O'Connell. Frederick County lying close to the state line of Pennsylvania, Michael Reagan (Regan) enlisted for the war, September 9, 1778, in Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Miller's company in the Second Pennsylvania Regiment, commanded by Colonel Walter Stewart. His name also further appears on the roster of the same company

Through this record of service, on file in the Record and Pension Office of the War Department at Washington (Pennsylvania Archives, 2d Series, Volume 10, Page 424), his descendant, Mrs. Isabelle (Huckeby) de la Hunt, became the first member in Perry County (No. 39017) of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Michael Reagan died 1823, in Sevier County, Tennessee, where he is buried, his descendants abounding in the Southern Atlantic and Gulf States. A distinguished representative and close relative to Rebecca (Reagan) Lang-Mallory, was John H. Reagan, of Texas, Postmaster-General of the Confederacy, afterward United States Senator from Texas and the last survivor of the Jefl^erson Davis Cabinet.

Lemuel Mallory's pension was continued to his widow from November 16, 1853, until her death, February 21, 1856, at Rome. Her first husband, John Lang, had been like herself, a Virginian, and they came with their family and household effects across the Blue Ridge mountains to the Monongahela River, thence by flatboat down that river and the Ohio to Jefferson County, Kentucky, where they lived for a time before crossing into Indiana and establishing themselves in Harrison County. John Lang rode away from Corydon in 1811 to join the forces of General Harrison at Vincennes, but never came back - shot by the Indians early one morning when on duty as sentinel.

His widow continued to reside in Corydon during several of the years when it was the territorial and state capital, making her home with a married daughter, Mrs. Samuel Littell (Rachel Lang) until removing to Rome after her own second marriage. The elder Lang children, by their father's first marriage remained in Harrison County, others going on into Spencer County, where the name is still widely repre-

Jeremiah York enlisted as private in the Eighth Regiment Pennsylvania Continental Line, Captain Springer his commanding officer, and was pensioned August 27, 1833, at $80, under Act of March 4, 1831. Neither date nor place of his death could be verified, though the York name is still in existence near Derby.

Thomas Green Alvey was a private in the Maryland Continental Troops, under Colonel Ramsey, and fought at the battle of Paramos. He was given a $96 annual pension, September 29, 1819, under Act of May 24, 1819. Many of the Alvey family live in different parts of the county, but the location of his grave was nowhere identified.

Abraham Hiley closes the list of authenticated Revolutionary pensioners who were residents of Perry County, receiving an $80 annual bounty, under Act of March 4, 1831, from March 14, 1834, in recompense for his services as private in the Pennsylvania Militia. His grave is beside that of his wife, near Bear Creek in Tobin Township, on the "Hardin Grove" estate, now the home of Mr. and Mrs. Sydney Kepler Groves (Mildred Dessa Ramsey). His descendants remain only under other names through the female line.

Jacob Weatherholt, while not a pensioner, was a Tobin Township pioneer whose military service is authenticated by W. T. R. Saffell's "Records of the Revolutionary War" (pp. 280-281). Born 1758 in Virginia, he enlisted in the Western Department, and March 1, 1780, was honourably discharged from the Detachment of Colonel John Gibson, who served from January 1, 1780, until December 6, 1781, when he surrendered his command to Brigadier-General William Irvine.

Jacob Weatherholt died April 23, 1837, and was buried in the "Upper Cemetery" at Tobinsport, beside his wife, Sarah ( ) Weatherholt. Their descendants are many in both Perry and Breckinridge Counties, and their youngest child, Mrs. Milicent

(Weatherholt) Pate, died in Cloverport in only 1915, one of the very few then living to claim the distinction of being a "real" Daughter of the American Revolution.

This same Tobinsport burying ground is one of the few cemeteries in Southern Indiana where two authenticated veterans of the War of Independence are buried, and the first interment taking place within its bounds was that of John Lamb in 1818. Rude stones which have never felt the chisel are the grave's only markers at head and foot, but its location has always been distinctively identified from the circumstance that it lies at a peculiar angle wholly different from any others in the cemetery. Steps are being taken (1915) to procure for it an oflScial Government headstone suitably inscribed.

John Lamb was born May 22, 1757, in Albany County, New York, and had not quite attained his twenty-first birthday when he enlisted as a private in Captain Barent J. Ten Eyck's Company, Second New York Regiment, Continental Troops. He served from May 5, 1778, until February 5, 1779, and we may reasonably assume that the causes then interrupting for awhile his military career were of a sentimental nature, since on March 21, 1779, he was married to Beulah Curtis, by whom he became the father of twelve children. Within the same year he re-enlisted, serving 1779-80-81 in Yates' Regiment of the New York Militia. In 1808 he removed from Nev/ York to Indiana, entering land the following year in Perry (then Knox) County, near Tobinsport, where he died in 1818.

The twelve children of John and Beulah (Curtis) Lamb were: 1. Solomon. 2. Beulah. 3. John, Jr. 4. Katherine. 5. Ezra. 6. Israel Thompson. 8. Bathsheba. 9. John Willis. 10. William B. 11. Dorastus. 12. Rudolphus. From these sprang such an extensive progeny that scarcely a pioneer family of Tobin Township has not now some descent from or connection with the Lamb line.

In the northern portion of the county but two Revolutionary graves have been located. Thomas Rhodes was said to have served with the army of General Gates. He came into Oil Township as a homeless man, and was cared for by the family of James Reily, the pioneer, among whom he died. A plot of ground on his farm had been set apart and given to the public by James Reily as a free burying ground, but Rhodes' was the first and only interment ever made on the spot, as the cemetery was located a little later at what is now known as the "Walker Grave-yard." Joshua Deen, who married Helena, daughter of James and Catherine Ewing (Jamison) Reily, and purchased the farm from the Reily heirs, cleared the ground originally proposed for a cemetery and cared for it as long as he lived there, cutting the name of Thomas Rhodes on a large tree at the head of the grave. He later removed to Pike County, and James Goldman is now (1915) owner of the property.

The second Revolutionary grave referred to as in Oil Township is that of Jacob Shaver, buried in the Oil Creek Cemetery, about a mile northwest of Asbury Meeting-house. He had married Nancy Allen, an own cousin to General Ethan Allen, the hero of Fort Ticonderoga, and their daughter Sarah was the wife of Jonathan D. Esarey, with whom the Shavers came into Perry County in the second decade of the Nineteenth Century.

David Harley enlisted at Philadelphia under Captain Shay. He was captured at Fort Washington and held prisoner by the British until paroled. Afterward re-enlisting, he saw service on Long Island.

Silas Taylor had enlisted in Pennsylvania under Captain Lenox, serving at Germantown and Chestnut Hill, and was finally present at the Surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, October 19, 1781.

Benjamin Rosecrans enlisted in New York under Colonel Morgan, and was with him at Short Hills, Red Bank, Princeton, Trenton, York Island and White

Plains. It was told of him that he claimed to have often seen George Washington, who spoke to him, and once took him by the hand. This may or may not have been true.

Thomas Bolin, who had enlisted as a private in the North Carolina Militia (no date found), was granted a pension October 15, 1833, under Act of March 4, 1831, but its rate $60 per annum, might seem to indicate his service as having been performed in the War of 1812, especially as his age was then given as 67, 7^*?^ which would place his birth in the very year of the " ^j Declaration of Independence. t\0 : ^ ^ ^ ^

Perry County's most conspicuous representative in the War of 1812 was Captain Samuel Connor, who raised a company in the county, with some reinforcements from the Kentucky side of the river opposite Tobin Township, the home of most of the privates. Captain Connor's company was mustered in for three months' service, in August, 1812, at Princeton, as part of the regiment commanded by Colonel Ephraim Jordan.

They were sent to Vincennes and assigned for duty north of that point, although their actual service could not be more definitely ascertained. Squads of the company were engaged as guards for transport wagons and mail carriers in their course along the banks of the Wabash between the post at Vincennes and Fort Harrison near Terre Haute. Skulking Indians, of course, were often seen, but it is not knov/n that any of the company were killed or wounded by the redskins.

Among the enlisted men are preserved the names of John B. Alvey, Terence Connor, Jr., Richard Deen (son of William and Mary (Hardin) Deen, of Oil Township), Thomas Drinkwater, Robert Gardner, Daniel Hays, Hart Humphrey, Samuel Kellums, Solomon Lamb, Edward Morgan, Robert Niles, Edmond Polk, Stephen Shoemaker and Joseph Tobin. Edmond Polk, who was a son of the Rev. Charles and Willey

(Devers) Polke, married Mary, daughter of John and Rachel (Avery) Winchel, and their two children, Avery Polk and Miss Margaret Polk, are yet living (1915), a direct link with the Second War with England.

In a company raised by Captain David Robb at Hardinsburg, Breckinridge County, Kentucky, were several men probably then and certainly afterward residents of Perry County, although accredited to Kentucky; John Crist, Alexander Cunningham, James De Jarnett, Philip Jenkins, John Riggs and William Weatherholt. The company lost several men at Tippecanoe, fighting in the Kentucky regiment commanded by a Colonel Allen, in whose regiment was also a company commanded by Captain Joseph Allen. It served three months, and among the privates mustered out at Shakertown were Philip Miller, Peter Miller and Benjamin Smith, who lived at a later date in Perry County.

Thomas Royston served in the east under Captain Rutledge, of Maryland, enlisting at Baltimore. He died June 25, 1855, at Rome, aged 82, and was buried on the Jehu Hardy lot in the Connor Cemetery.

Thomas Gilham was in Captain Pittman's company, raised at Winchester, Kentucky, for Colonel Taylor's regiment. William Dodd enlisted at Louisville, serving in the "Hopkins Campaign," under Captain John Jones, under Colonel Wilcox. John Courcier, who is buried near Leopold on what is now the estate of the Marcilliat family, received a grant of land in that township of his services. His descendants under his own and other names reside in Perry and Spencer Counties, and through his approved records the lineage is registered in the Indiana Society United States Daughters of 1812.