Marriage found in War of 1812 pension

 

When researching my paternal grandmother’s ancestry, I try to keep track of what events occurred during my ancestor’s lifetime.  For example, my 3^rd great-grandfather, Peter J. Skinner (born 17 January 1784 in Cape Elizabeth, Maine and died on 23 July 1874 in Casco, Maine) was born after the Revolutionary War which his father participated in and Peter was too old during the Civil War in which several of his sons served as soldiers in the Union Army.  However, Peter Skinner was just the right age (30 years old) to serve in the War of 1812.  This representing three generations of men serving at a time of conflict.

Despite being called the War of 1812, it was a conflict between Great Britain and the United States which began in 1812 and did not end until 1815 officially.  Some of the basic reasons that began the conflict was due to British restrictions to impede trade by blockades between the States and France which Britian was at war with.  The impressment of American sailors into the British Royal Navy, claiming they were British deserters and Britain’s support of Native American resistance of American expansion further west since the Revolutionary war.  America had only gained its independence from Britian 36 years beforehand.  On June 1, 1812, President James Madison sent a declaration of War to Congress, and the War of 1812 began the day after Madison signed the measure into law on June 19, 1812.

 

President James Madison (Wikipedia)

Maine, then part of Massachusetts, was a base for smuggling and illegal trade between the United States and the British. Until 1813, the region was generally quiet except for privateer actions near the coast. In September 1813, the United States Navy's brig Enterprise fought and captured the Royal Navy brig Boxer off Pemaquid Point. On July 11, 1814, Thomas Masterman Hardy took Eastport, Maine without a shot and the entire American garrison, 65 men of Fort Sullivan peacefully surrendered. The British temporarily renamed the captured fort "Fort Sherbrooke". 

In September 1814, John Coape Sherbrooke led 3,000 British troops from his base in Halifax in the "Penobscot Expedition".  In 26 days, he raided and looted Hampden, Bangor and Machias, Maine while also destroying 17 American ships.  He won the Battle of Hampden with the loss of two men and only one American. The British occupied the town of Castine, Maine for the rest of the war.  The Treaty of Ghent returned the territory the United States. (Source Wikipedia)

 

John C. Sherbrooke (from Wikipedia)

From the Massachusetts Volunteer Militia of the War of 1812, p. 210 we find Peter Skinner’s name as a soldier in Capt. E. Cobb’s Company and Lieut. Col. J. E. Foxcroft’s regiment with service from Sept. 10 to Sept. 24, 1814; raised at Gray, Maine and service at Portland, Maine during this time of the raids occurring further north in Maine by John Sherbrooke.

After the war, Peter married his 1^st wife, Susanna Mitchell, probably a cousin as his mother was Katherine Jordan and Susanna’s mother was Sarah Jordan about 1815.  They had one daughter, Catherine born in 1816 and Susanna died in 1820.  Peter then married Sarah (Sally) Meserve.  No record of Peter’s marriage had been found in the town of Raymond, Maine where he lived or in Cumberland County marriage records.  As his first child was born in 1822, it was reasonable to assume he was married about 1821.  Peter and Sally Skinner had 11 children born in Raymond, Maine where Peter was a farmer.  The area of Raymond which they resided in was annexed to form the town of Casco, Maine which was his residence afterwards.

Vital Records of Raymond, Maine, book 1, p. 64

Fold3 has been a website where Military records for soldiers can be located.  For many years, the only record for Peter Skinner was a card showing his widow, Sally’s pension number for her husband’s service in the War of 1812.  

However, Fold3 has been adding the War of 1812 pension records to its site over the past few years.  Now the Widow’s Pension of Sally Skinner is available. 

Although I knew the dates and company that Peter had served in, it was his date of marriage to his wife, Sally that was the true gem of the record.  Sally had to show that she was Peter’s widow and entitled to a pension by proving she married him and witnesses to state she was his widow and had not remarried after his death.  The Widow’s Pension provided the marriage date of January 27, 1822, in Raymond, Maine, with eight months to spare before their first child was born.

 

The witnesses she provided were her daughter-in-law, Ellen (Gay) Skinner and Ellen’s brother, Albert R. Gay and their mother Mary Gay.  The Gay family had been the closest neighbors to Peter and Sally Skinner.  Her petition for a pension was approved in 1879.  Sally died on 20 October 1889 in Casco, Maine.  Most of the information in the pension was already known from the above published lists of soldiers of the War of 1812.  Sally included that Peter Skinner had married before their marriage in 1822, but no date which would have been another gem to have.  

Both Peter and Sally and several of their children are buried in Murch Cemetery, Casco, Maine.  Peter's first wife and daughter are buried in Skinner Cemetery, Raymond, Maine.