Memorial Day 2016

Elizabeth Sheafor Patton

1785 -1875

In the strictest definition,  Memorial Day is a time to remember those individuals who died while defending our country.  In 2014 I used this blog to commemorate one of my ancestors that died while being held on  a British prison ship during the Revolution.  That blog can be found HERE.   But many of us choose to remember  on Memorial Day those who have died that we particularly miss.  And since I have not found that many family members that died serving our country, I am  going to use this Memorial Day blog to commemorate three men that defended our country and that are now dead but did not die while serving in our armed forces.  And in doing so I not only hope to call attention to their service but to take time to remember the war in which they served and those individuals that did lose their lives in that war.   

The woman in the picture at the beginning of this blog is Elizabeth Sheafor Patton and she was the daughter of Peter and Catherine Sheafor.   Her father served in the revolution  and afterwards returned to Somerset County New Jersey and married her mother.  Elizabeth was born in New Jersey.  The family moved to Mercer County, Kentucky and five years later moved on to Butler County, Ohio.  In 1806 Elizabeth married Isaac Patton.  By 1832,  they had moved to Indiana where Isaac died in 1840.  He is buried in Williams Cemetery in Cass County, Indiana.  Elizabeth went to live with her son Samuel in Anderson County Kansas and is buried there.  But it is not Elizabeth that I am intending to call attention to in this blog.  It is her husband Isaac and her brothers Peter and William.  These three men in her family served in The War Of 1812.   Elizabeth would have  had two small children by the time her husband was serving in the War of 1812.  And her brother Peter would have also had two small children.   Her brother William would have been  a newly wed.  

While we are all aware that there was a War of 1812,  some of us are not as knowledgable about it as we are of some of our other wars.  So first I wanted to start with a quick over view of what the war was about and what happened.  I especially like the map in this short video and I feel the film gives a quick over view.  

The three men in Elizabeth's life that served in the War of 1812 served in three different regiments.  Her brother Peter served as a private in Colonel John Delong's 1 Regiment.  I have not yet been able to locate where this group were during the war.  Elizabeth's husband Isaac served under Captain Daniel Heston and I am not sure where all this group was either.  I know Isaac was sick some from his pay records. 

Elizabeth's brother William served as a Lieutenant and I was able to find a bit more information about his unit.  In fact his records from the war  are in a county history for Butler County Ohio.  It can be read HERE along with a story of him getting in trouble for falling asleep at his post.  In reading the portion of the county history at the preceding link,  it is clear that William's group saw action at Camp Meig.  I was able to find out about that battle as it is listed at the following link under the heading "First Siege". This battle was one that went well for the United States.  

Finally, in order to connect the dots as to where these people fit into my family history I will explain as follows.  Elizabeth and Isaac's son Vincent had a son named Samuel.  Samuel had a daughter named Clara Patton who married LeRoy Shepler.  Their daughter Georgia married William Rairigh and had a son named Loyd who was my mother's father.  

In closing, I wanted to share this video in order to honor all those who served in the War Of 1812.  It is about the Ohio grave sites of War Of 1812 veterans but also will give us pause to those from other states.