Revolutionary soliders with local ties
As we prepare to celebrate the Fourth of July, it seems a good time to look back to the men who were there for the American Revolution of 1776 and later settled in Fayette County.
The veterans who eventually moved to the “far west” of Illinois were from various states, and as we study the names, we see the family names still represented within our county.
James Starrett Carson was 14 when the first shots of the Revolution were fired. A native of South Carolina, he and wife, Betsy West Carson, moved to Bowling Green Township in 1834. James wrote his will one week before he died. The burial place of this veteran is unknown date.
James Cheshier was born 1749 in Prince William County, Va., and was a member of the county militia before being drafted into service just before the Battle of Bunker Hill in July 1775. After serving his enlistment, James returned to his home. After a five-day rest, the Battle of Guilford Court House sparked on March 15, 1781, and James was back into the fray.
James saw service at battles of Cowpens, Brandywine, Gate’s defeat, Yorktown and Williamsburg. On Dec. 25, 1843 he sat before the fire with Asahel Lee, a justice of the peace, and when asked by Lee why he had waited so long to apply for a pension for his service, James told him that as long as he was able to do his own work, he didn’t figure he needed the help.
James first applied for a pension while living in Shawneetown in Gallatin County, which was suspended under the Act of 1832. One year later, he sat with Lee to again apply for a pension.
A veteran marker was placed on his grave in the Cheshier Family Cemetery in May 2005.
Samuel D. Davis, a native of York County, Pa., enlisted on June 10, 1777, as a substitute for his father, Joseph. A few months past his 16th birthday, he reported to the recruiting station, and George Washington patted him on the back and told him he would rather have him than two like his father. Samuel was attached to the regiment commanded by Col. Steele, and Samuel recalled that they marched to join the main army under Gen. Washington near Valley Forge, and was present and engaged in the Battle of Brandywine.
Samuel was living in Fayette County in 1851 when he requested a raise in pension, because he was “old and feeble and entirely unable to do any kind of manual labor.” He died soon after, but his place of burial is unknown.
Following his death, his widow, Nancy Crowder Davis, moved with her family to Jefferson County, Ind. In 1872, his daughter, Phoebe Davis Touhig, now living in Jefferson County, Ind., was recognized as a “real daughter” of the American Revolution by the National Daughters of the American Revolution and awarded a monthly pension of $20.
Henry Ginger was born on April 4, 1758, and was 74 years old when he applied for a pension. He enlisted for a term of three years at Philadelphia in the fall of 1776, serving with the 7th Pennsylvania Regiment.
Henry saw action at the Battle of Trenton, in which the colonials were successful, and was present at two defeats – Brandywine and Germantown.
Along with about 40 other men, Henry was taken prisoner at Doylestown, Pa., and marched to New York City, where they were held captive in a church for three months and three days. He was released in a prisonervexchange.
His marriage to Chana Jane Luster produced at least 16 children. Henry died at the home of his daughter, Chana Britton, on Feb. 8, 1842, and was buried in Britton Cemetery in Kaskaskia Township.
His place of burial was known, and with a descendent, John Ginger of Decatur, this writer participated in having a veteran marker set at his grave in 1994.
Benjamin Jones was born on March 23, 1762 in Tennessee and died on July 26, 1844, in Hurricane Township, age 82. He is buried without a marker in the Bowling Jones Family Cemetery, Section 20, Carson Township. A wrought iron fence surrounds the graves of his son, Bowling and wife, Elisabeth Thomasson Jones.
Much information about his family has been uncovered by family searchers, but Benjamin, the soldier, remains an enigma. The name of his wife is unknown, as is which state he was drafted or enlisted from.
Thomas Mahon was 17 years old when the drums of war began beating. Born near Richmond, Va., he was the son of Irish emigrant John Mahon, who came to America in the mid-1700s, settling in Spottsylvania County, Va.
He married Susan Johnson in February 1795 in Amherst County, Va., and we have names of seven of their children: William, Susan, Thomas, Delaware, Pliant, John and Elizabeth.
Family legend tells us that John Mahon was killed by a British soldier who demanded the silver knee buckles on his breeches and the silver buckles on his shoes.
Thomas served as a private in the 2nd Virginia Regt. throughout the Revolutionary War in several enlistments. He was taken prisoner and held in Canada, later being released in an exchange of prisoners. He never applied for a pension for his service.
Thomas Mahon did not become a citizen of Fayette County until he was 76 years of age.
He and his wife, feeling their years, made the trek west, settling on the Illinois prairie in Wheatland Township with their children and grandchildren.
He died in 1840 and was buried in Mahon-Stephens Cemetery in Wheatland Township. On July 26, 1976, his grave was marked by the Old State Capitol Chapter of NSDAR. His wife, Susan, who also died in1840, is buried beside him.
Isaac Martin was born in 1736 in Middlesex County, N.J., and as all men of military age at this time in our country’s history, he was a member of the county militia. He enlisted in the Continental Army and was a private at the time his enlistment ended.
He married Phebe Webb Harland, and they moved to Fayette County, making their home in Otego Township.
He died here, date not known, and was interred in Griffith Cemetery, the first to be established in this area. No stone marks his place of burial.
John Morrell saw service with the Pennsylvania troops as well as Virginia. He applied for a pension for his service while living in Vandalia. His claim for pension was suspended under the Act of June 7, 1832, for further proof and more consistent statement. John died before he could reapply. Prior to 1871, the only cemetery in Vandalia was the Old State Burial Ground, and he was probably interred here.
Benjamin Todd, ancestor of many Hurricane Township residents, applied for a pension for his service in the Revolution, stating he was living in Rowan County, N.C., at the time he entered service in 1777.
He further stated that he was born in Northampton County, Pa., in 1759 and had lived in Rutherford County, Tenn.
Benjamin received an annual pension of $26.66 while living in West Tennessee that began on March 4, 1831.
Under the Act of June 7, 1832, he made application for an additional pension in the Rutherford County, Tenn., Court of Pleas. This time he gave even more information, stating that he had served four terms, three of them in the militia under the command of Col. Francis Locke for a total of eight months.
His fourth enlistment was as a substitute for his brother, Peter Todd, in Col. William Cole’s company of militia.
He also stated that he was living in Rowan Co. in North Carolina at the time he was called into service. From there, he moved to Madison County in Kentucky, living there for 10 years before moving to Rutherford County in Tennessee.
Benjamin Todd retired with some of his children to Hurricane Township, exact year unknown, and died here, with burial in Ables/Isbell Cemetery in South Hurricane Township.
James Verden (Verdin) was born on Aug. 25, 1756, in Newberry Dist., S.C., and enlisted June 1, 1778 for three months service under Capt. Francis Boykin in Col. William Thompson’s Regt. for 15 months.
In the Illinois Pension Census of June 1, 1840, James, age 88,
was living in the Western District of Illinois, Fayette County. His widow, Sarah nee Carter, was on the pension roll of Fayette County on June 19, 1843.
James filed for a pension for his service from Scott County, Mo., but by 1843 had moved to Ramsey Township to be nearer his children. He died there.
Henry Walker was born on Oct. 8, 1759, in Prince Edward County, Va., and served in the Continental Army. He enlisted two years before the Battle of King’s Mountain and later volunteered for spy service in Capt. George Parry’s company under Col. William Preston, for which he received a pension. Henry told that he fought in several North Carolina skirmishes with the Tories, but never received a written discharge.
Henry was a Baptist minister, and after moving to Fayette County, he preached in Wheatland Township long before the first church was built at Loogootee.
His first application for a pension was dismissed; however, he was later pensioned for his service as a spy in Virginia’s Continental service and appears on the Pension Roll dated April 9, 1833, age 74. Henry died on September 30, 1832.