Union City and the War of 1812
Apart from Oliver Hazard Perry and the Battle of Lake Erie, Union City and Erie County have a treasure trove of veterans of the War of 1812 and 1812 lore. The United States celebrates the 200th Anniversary of the War of 1812 this year of 2012. Finding out more about these Erie County veterans would be a fun and instructive school assignment or research project for someone who loves Union City History.
War 1812 Veterans
Henry C. Bacon
Jonathan Bacon was a pioneer of Gennessee and Chenango Counties in New York and a soldier of the Revolutionary War. He died in Gennessee County in 1833. His son, Henry C. Bacon, was a native of Whately, Massachusetts and a soldier of the War of 1812. Of his children, three survived: Daniel S., Chester W. and Wells W. Chester W. married Rosana Hale in 1840 and they had two children. Chester W. has always lived on his homestead farm in Union City and is well and favorably known among the citizens and pioneers.
Reverend Levi Barnes
Rev. Levi Barnes was born on February 25, 1796, in North Canaan, Connecticut. In 1818 he was married to Susan Capron and in 1820, with his wife and one child he homesteaded on a farm in Union City. They journeyed to Union City from Utica, New York in a sleigh.
Levi Barnes was converted when he was eighteen and licensed to exhort in 1822. He was ordained a Deacon in 1853 and an Elder in 1863. The pioneer preacher always found a warm welcome at his home. He spent 57 years in Erie County enduring many hardships.
Levi Barnes took an active part in establishing schools and churches, and in 1834 he was elected, and for several years served as Captain of a company of militia. His son, Levi G., preserved his sword. Levi stayed on the homestead farm. In 1857 he married Mary M. Shelmadine and they had six children.
William Boardman
William Boardman of Union City is over eighty years old. He was born in Washington Township in Erie County and was among the first, if not the very first, white child born in the county. After his birth, his father moved to Waterford and opened a tannery for a while.
During the War of 1812, William's father took his wife and six children, of which William was the oldest, down the river to Cincinnati. They sailed across the country to the Auglaize, a branch of the Maumee River, where Mr. Boardman built or procured a boat in which he embarked with his family.
The season was far advanced and in the wilderness his boat became fastened up in the ice where he had to remain until spring. William's father hadn't anticipated this predicament, so the family ran out of provisions and would probably have starved to death had they not captured a hog which had escaped from the Commissary Department of General Harrisons army during his campaign of 1813.
Spring came at last, the ice went out of the river, and the Boardmans came down to Lake Erie, then to Cleveland and through the country back to Waterford. After that, Mr. Boardman died and it fell to William to care for his family.
Care for his family William did, but he had early developed a yearning to sail the waters. He made many trips down French Creek and the Allegheny River with boats carrying lumber, potatoes, etc. The most memorable of his trips was the one he made in the winter of 1829. He heard that cherry lumber was bringing the fabulous price of $50 per thousand feet at New Orleans. At Waterford it brought only $6-7 per thousand feet. He collected three or four boat loads at French Creek Bridge, and in the fall of 1829 he and his brother Robert and eleven others formed a crew of thirteen choice young men, all noted for their strength and hardihood. They ran his lumber to New Orleans.
At New Orleans he found the price high for lumber, but the demand limited, so he dismissed all but two of his hands, including Nathaniel Wilson. The others came back up the river in steam boats. The two hands that stayed, William Smith and John Wilson, hired to the captain of a schooner and worked their passage round to New York. This took them forty days and after that they walked home. After waiting until John sold his lumber and boats for about $700, William had his money stolen from him and returned home poor.
Sometime after he returned, he married Miss Betsy Carroll and they raised a family. For many years he lived in Union, farming, attending grist mill and saw mill and serving in township offices when called upon. (Union City Times, February 27, 1879)
David Boyd
David Boyd was one of the first settlers of Erie County and a prominent farmer. He served in the War of 1812.
Charles Capron, Sr.
There are two Caprons in Captain Samuel D. Culbertson's Company.
Charles Capron, Jr.
Inscription Thompson Cemetery, Union City.
Samuel Carroll
The son of Ferdinand Carroll or his grandson. Samuel served in Captain Thomas Atkinson's Company of volunteers attached to the 137th Regiment of Pennsylvania Militia. Ralph Martin, Lt. Colonel Commandant from the 28th of August to the 10th of September 1812.
Thomas Carroll
Thomas Carroll was one of the six sons of Ferdinand Carroll who settled in Union Township in the fall of 1801. Thomas grew up on the family homestead and served in the War of 1812. He settled on his own farm near the west line of Union Township. He married Elizabeth Mulvin and they were the parents of nine children. He died at the age of 64.
Daniel Chapin
He served six months in the United States Army during the War of 1812. In 1827, he and his wife Alice and children moved to Venango Township, Erie County, Pennsylvania.
Thomas Church
Thomas Church was born June 26, 1786. He enlisted as 3rd Lieut. Co. 2 Artillery. Connecticut State Troops. He died December 17, 1864, and he is buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Union City, Pennsylvania.
Benjamin Cotrell
Benjamin Cotrell was a soldier in the War of 1812. HIs father was a Revolutionary War soldier and his son Benjamin served in the Civil War. His daughter Sophronia married James S. Moore. He is related to the Thompsons.
Benjamin Grant
Julia Sedgwick was the daughter of Benjamin and sister of William. Benjamin and William C. Grant were soldiers in the War of 1812. They settled in Waterford.
Matthew A. Gray
Matthew was a soldier in the War of 1812. He lived and died in Beaverdam.
James Gray
James Gray was a soldier in the War of 1812. It is claimed that James was the strongest man in Harrison's Army and that one of the tests which he successfully met was the lifting of a cannon from the ground by main strength of hands and arms. James was drafted and served in General Harrisons's campaign of 1813. He moved to Warren.
William Gray
He was drafted and served in General Harrison's campaign of 1813. He lived and died in Beaverdam, Pennsylvania.
Amos Hare
Amos Hare was the father of James Hare, son of Michael Hare. James settled on Oak Hill and later lived in Union City. Two of his sons served in the Civil War and were killed in battled.
J.H. Hazen
Dr. H.H. Hazen of Marshall, Illinois, died Saturday night of old age. He was 91 years old and spent about 40 years in Erie County.
Dr. Hazen was born at North Hero, Vermont in 1799. When the War of 1812 broke out, he joined a company of boys organized to protect the town while the men were away at war.
Early in 1813, he went to Ohio and fell in with Perry's Company of ship builders, joined them, and went on board the Lawrence. He was one of those who accompanied Perry in his perilous passage from the disabled flagship, the Lawrence, to the Niagara in an open boat. He was severely wounded on the Niagara and carried the ball in his body during the remainder ofhis life. (Union City Times, Thursday, September 5, 1889)
Moses Himrod
Moses Himrod was a native of Northumberland Co., Pa. and came to Erie County in 1800. He reared a family of eight children. He was a captain in the War of 1812 He was a prominent farmer and held nearly all of the township offices. He died in 1865.
James Kirk
James Kirk lived in Fairview. He was a solider of the War of 1812 and died at Mt. Sterling, Illinois, on February 21, 1858. He was born August 18, 1776.
Simeon Leete
Simeon Leete came to Erie County in the fall of 1812 and bought a farm in Harbor Creek Township bordering on Lake Eire. From this point could have been seen during the War of 1812-1815, the British ships watching the building of Perry's fleet in the harbor of Erie, hoping to destroy it in its passage out to the lake. The channel was so shallow that the British commander anticipated Perry would find much difficulty in getting his fleet through.
Mr. Leete brought with him to this farm the apple seeds from which sprang a splendid orchard, the first orchard in the county. He and his wife Hannah had six children.
James Moorhead
James Moorhead was a settler in Harbor Creek Township. He and his wife Eliza had seven children. He was a teamster in the War of 1812 and also helped to get Perry's fleet out of port. He received a pension.
William Mulvin, Sr.
William’s wife was Margaret. They had a son, William Mulvin, Jr. He died April 22, 1848, aged 92 years.
Enos Northrop
There is a story about the farm of Enos Northrop in David Wilson's history. He had a son named Alvin. Alvin Northrop was a member of the Union City Presbyterian Church.
James Powell
James Powell came to Erie County in March 1837, with his family of eleven children. James was a prominent man and held the offices of Justice of the Peace and Poor Master in New York. He was a captain in the War of 1812. He died in August 1860.
John Range
John Range was a soldier during the War of 1812 and was the first frontier settler of Forest County, Penna. He was the father of James L. Range who was born in Venango, Penna. The Ranges are related to the Thompsons from Union City.
C.L. Rockwood
There is a Caro P. Rockwood in the Erie County Atlas of 1876. He lived on Tract 159 in Union Township. He was from New York, a farmer and had farmed in Erie County since 1854.
John Ross
Resided in Erie City. He was a soldier in the War of 1812.
Jacob Rouse
In the death of Jacob Rouse, at the home of his son near Wattsburg last week, the last pensioner of the War of 1812 has joined the great majority. Jacob Rouse was born in 1794 and had been a resident of Amity Township since 1828.
In the War of 1812, he was one of the first to enlist and was an eye witness to the burning of Buffalo by the British when the entire city was destroyed. He was much respected by his neighbors and his death was deeply mourned by all. (Union City Times, Thursday April 2, 1885).
William Russell
He was born in 1781 and a soldier of the War of 1812. He came from New Jersey to western Pennsylvania about 1800, and settled near Titusville. Here he married Charlotte Reynolds. After living at various places in Erie County and along Oil Creek where he followed lumbering for several years, they finally purchased a farm in Bloomfield Township. They had a family of eight children.
James Sherwood
Served in the War of 1812 in Henry L. Coryell's Company, commanded by Col. Joel B. Southerland. He was discharged on January 3, 1815. He began his service on September 5, 1814.
John Sherwood
Same as James.
William Sherwood
Same as James.
James Smiley
James Smiley was a soldier in the War of 1812 who served under General Harrison in Captain Jacob Achey's Company. A miller by trade, he came to Union Township in 1816 with his wife and six children. He was in charge of the mills of William Miles. He moved to the foot of Conneaut Lake where for several years he was employed as a miller at the only mill then existing in that section. A few years later he located permanently near Union City, Pa. He married Margaret Kirkpatrick near Carlisle, Pa. in 1800. She died in Union City on July 16, 1849. He died in Union City on January 13, 1840 and is buried in Waterford Cemetery.
Matthew Henry Smith
He came to Venango Township in 1801 and cleared up a farm. He was a soldier in the War of 1812. His son John was also a soldier in the War of 1812. His grandson, Matthew, John's son, was a Civil War Veteran. He served in the 102nd Penna. Regt., returning home in 1865. John's uncle, George D. was soldier in the 18th Penna. Cavalry who died at Cumberland, Maryland on June 27, 1865. Matthew owned and occupied the homestead entered by his grandfather Matthew Henry Smith. He had a farm of 150 acres of well improved land with good buildings.
On Saturday last, Mr. Charles Bacon bought of Mrs. W.T. Everson her farm and which is located in Amity Township, and which is one of the best farms in Erie County, paying $8,000 for it.
When a deed was made and handed to Mr. Bacon, he was also given an old soldier's deed for the same piece of land, made to Matthew Smith by the Supreme Executive Council of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on the 13th day of August 1787. The deed was executed 101 years ago last Monday. The deed is made on parchment and is in an excellent state of preservation. At that time this was Westmoreland County. During all that time there has never been anything entered against this piece of land. This old deed is valuable as a keepsake. (Thursday, August 16, 1888, Union City Times).
Timothy Stancliff
Timothy Stancliff was a soldier in the War of 1812. He was drafted by the British. Timothy drove his team and brought his family to Waterford in 1836. He raised a family of 12 children and was a prominent farmer.
G.J. Stranahan
John Stranahan, a native of Rhode Island, was born in 1737 and died on March 23, 1786. In September 1752, before the Revolution, he married Lucy Bock, and settled in Cameron, New York. Their son Gibson J. Stranahan was born in Canan in 1785. He married Dolly Deverdorf of Herkimer County New York in 1807. In 1803 he and his family came West and settled in Concord Township in Erie County.
Caleb Thompson
Caleb Thompson served in Captain John Fulmer's Company. It was a militia regiment commanded by Colonel John Thompson from the 9th of November 1814, when last mustered to the 5th of January 1815. Caleb was a son of Abel and Jemima Thompson. He was born on January 30, 1790. He came to Union township in the year 1802 with the rest of his family. He was a farmer and a carpenter and joiner who finished many of the first houses in Union City. According to the 1820 Federal census in Union Township, he was then married with two children. He died on October 15, 1863 at 74 years of age. He was buried in the Thompson burying ground outside of Union City.
Joel Thompson
Joel Thompson was one of the five sons of Abel and Jemima Thompsons. He was a veteran of the War of 1812, serving under Perry.
Thomas Thompson
There is a Thomas Thompson in Capt. Peter Hartzog's Company of drafted militia attached to the Second Regiment commanded by Col. Patterson. It served from October 2, 1812-April 2, 1815. Andrew Thompson had a son named Thomas.
Andrew Wilson
He served in the War of 1812 in Captain Jacob Achey's Company.
Hugh Wilson
Hugh Wilson served in the War of 1812 in Captain Jacob Achey's Company. He was a lieutenant.
Pensioners
R794 8r94 1989
Early History of Western Pennsylvania in the Western Campaigning, 1754-1833
William L. I. Scrope, Shirley G.M. Scrope
Southwestern Pennsylvania Genealogical Services
Laughlingtown, PA 1989
p. 355
Some early Western Pennsylvania Records
Pensioners For Revolutionary (or other military) services residing in Western Pennsylvania in 1840
p. 360
Gideon Roberts Age 83 Erie County Amity Township
Nathan Parker Age 80 Erie County LeBoeuf Township
Nathaniel Mallory Age 79 Erie County Le Boeuf Township
Nathaniel B. Gordon Age 72 Erie County Washington Township
Joseph Walker Age 82 Erie County Washington Township
Michael Hare Age 114 Erie County Union Township
Darius Orton Age 84 Erie County Union Township