Veterans of 1812
When Walter Wolcott wrote his Military History of Yates County
in 1895, he was primarily interested in the men and regiments who had served
in the Civil War. However, he did write chapters on earlier wars, and on
pages 12 and 13 he listed "the names, so far as known, ... of those soldiers
of the War of 1812 who resided in what is now Yates County:"
Samuel J. Ackley, Jeremiah B. Andrews (assistant surgeon), Daniel Baldwin,
Jeremiah Barber Jr., Captain Thomas Barden, Dr. Enos Barnes (regimental
surgeon), Daniel Barton, Peter Bellis, William Bennett, James Blair, Cyrenius
Blodgett, Cornelius Bogart, Robert McDowell Boyd, William Clark, Asa Cole,
Gamaliel D. Conklin (a regular), Dr. William Cornwell (surgeon's mate),
Caleb Cowing, Niram Crane, Philip Culp, John Decker, Pierpont Dyer, Adolphus
Eaton, Azariah Finch, Alanson Foster, Samuel Furman, Edward Genung, Isaac
Gulley, Amasa Holden (brigade fife major), Amasa Holden Jr., Abel M. Hammond,
Jedediah Haskell (15th Horse Artillery), James Hazard, Elijah
Higley, David Hill, Eliphalet Hull Jr., Captain (later General) Timothy
Hurd, William Johnson, Dr. Joshua Lee (surgeon of the 3rd New
York), Thomas Lee Jr., Sherman Lee, Peter Lamereaux, Isaac Lanning, Anthony
H. Lewis, Robert Lyon, Cornelius Masten, John Moore, John Norcott, Janna
Osgood, Zeldon Parrish, John Patterson, William L. Priest, John Pruner,
Isaac S. Purdy, Abijah Purdy, Red Jacket [the Seneca chief who kept his
people out of the fighting], Aaron Remer, William Reynolds, Henry Rogers,
Asahel Russell, Nathan Sayre, Cornelius Sawyer, Robert Shearman, Morris
F. Sheppard, Jonathan Sisson, Colonel Avery Smith, Asher L. Thompson, Amos
Tubbs, Henry Vrooman, Nathan Walton, George Wells, John W, Williams (a
prisoner of war for some months), William Wilson, Luther Winants, Dr. Walter
Wolcott (surgeon's mate), and Captain (later General) Abner Woodworth.
Wolcott quotes a speech given by the Hon. John L. Lewis before the Yates
County Historical Society in 1860: "During the late war with Great Britain,
the territory now embraced in our county furnished a larger portion of
officers and soldiers who were in actual service, than any other portion
of the State ...," while adding his own remark that "Hardly any record,
however, has been preserved from which can be learned the services they
performed or of the battles in which they participated." Wolcott's pessimistic
assessment doesn't necessarily hold true today, though no wealth of regimental
histories such as is available for the Civil War awaits the researcher
of the War of 1812.
The graves of many of the war's veterans have been marked since Wolcott's
day. The following veterans of the War of 1812 are buried in Lakeview cemetery
in Penn Yan:
Samuel J. Ackley, Jeremiah B. Andrews, Sanford B. Bennett, Asa Cole,
William Cornwell Jr., William M. Crosby, John I. Durry, John Freeman, Joseph
Frost, Abel M. Hammond, David Hill, Amasa Holden Jr., Joshua Lee, Sherman
Lee, Cornelius Masten, John Mathias, John Moore, John Norcott, Eliseph
Preston, Joel Priest, John Pruner, Abijah Purdy, Isaac S. Purdy, John Searles,
Avery Smith, Nathan Walton, Luther Winants, Abner Woodworth.
Outside Penn Yan are the following known veterans' graves:
Gilbert Baker, Thomas Barden, Enos Barnes, Richard Beard, Peter Bellis,
Thomas Bennett, Moses Bookstaver, Amos Clark, Caleb Cowing, Frederick Dean,
Abram Decker, Thomas Drake, Azariah Finch, Sylvenus Frost, Alanson Gabriel,
Leverett Gabriel, Isaac D. Gage, Benjamin Havens, Baxter C. Hobart, Timothy
Hurd, Calvin Huson, Timothy E. Jones, Isaac Lanning, David Lester, John
S. Lester, Anthony H. Lewis, Andrew Marshall, William McDowell, Luther
Meeker, Teal Millis, James E. Norton, Janna Osgood, Abel Pierce, Samuel
Pierce, Aaron Remer, George Robinson, Samuel Rodman, Elijah Rosencrans,
Samuel Ross, Reuben Royce, Bartleson Shearman, John Stone, John Stout,
Peter Supplee, Simeon Sutherland, Anthony Swarthout, Job S. Terrill, Anthony
Trimmer, William Turner, Samuel Vance, John VanLew, John W. Williams.
Stafford C. Cleveland's 1873 history of Yates
County contains many mentions of War of 1812 soldiers; some are
repeats from the lists above, but there are additional names as well:
Jeremiah B. Andrews, Col. Israel Arnold, Gilbert Baker, Thomas Barden
4th, Enos Barnes, Daniel Barton, David Bates, George Bates, Peleg Bates,
Richard Beard, William Bennett, James Blair, John Blair Jr., Warren Blair,
Cyrus Blodgett, Robert M. Boyd, Isaac Bunce, William Clark, Gamaliel D.
Conklin, Philip Culp, Caleb Cowing, Leonard Dean, James DeWitt, John DeWitt,
Alanson Foster, Michael L. Francisco, Alanson Gabriel, Leverett Gabriel,
James P. Hazard, Benjamin Hilton, Eli Hilton, Hooper Hilton, Eliphalet
Hull Jr., Simeon Hurd, Capt. Timothy Hurd, Calvin Huson, David Hyatt, Timothy
E. Jones, Caleb Keeler, Capt. Peter Lamoreaux, Isaac Lanning, Joshua Lee,
Sherman Lee, Thomas Lee Jr., Robert Logan, John Nichols, Fielden Parish,
Levi H. Parish, John Patterson, Sylvester P. Phillips, Samuel Pierce, Archibald
Porter, John Potter, Abijah Purdy, Isaac S. Purdy, Joshua Purdy, Aaron
Remer, Joseph Remer, Henry Rogers, Samuel Ross Jr., Reuben Royce, Nathan
Sayre, Jonathan Sisson, Col. Avery Smith, James Smith, Col. John J. Smith,
Peter Supplee, Roger Sutherland, Simon Sutherland, John S. Sutphen, Tewalt
Swarts 2d, Hiram Titsworth, Amos Tubbs, Abraham VanZandt, Garrett VanZandt,
Samuel Vance, Lindsey Warfield, John Warner, Caleb Wheeler, Silas Wickes,
John W. Williams, Roger Wolcott, Abner Woodworth 2d, Jesse Young.
As new names are discovered, they are added to these lists; it's interesting
how though all these lists overlap, none is particularly like another.
Additional sources would be pension applications, oaths of office, court
records and others. Most of these men were already living here when
they served, though others came afterward. A large percentage were the
sons of Revolutionary veterans who were in local militias recruited
to fight the familiar enemy. Their war was unpopular in their own time
and largely forgotten in ours; a recurring theme in American history.