Equal Time For Private Thomas Garner Jr.

Fort Brown in upper left 

     Now that John Vincent's war has been fairly well researched, I'm reminded I failed to do much more than family research for another 4th great-grandfather Thomas Garner Jr.  He too fought in the War of 1812 and this farmer tuned soldier has a story apart from his parents, wife and children.  Born at Tisbury, Massachusetts on January 17th in the year 1773 to Thomas Garner Sr. and Ann Williams, Thomas Jr. was the oldest child in his family.  A sister, Elizabeth, was born at Tisbury 5 October 1776, but I've found nothing more about her.  There were probably other children as well. 

     The Garner home, located on the island of Martha's Vineyard off the coast of Massachusetts, was very exposed to the English navy during the American Revolution.  On several occasions Tisbury was threatened by British sailors who helped themselves to livestock and other provisions.

The Garners moved to the more secure mainland Massachusetts at some point, but tracing Thomas Sr. has proven difficult.  He may or may not be the Thomas Garner enumerated at Marblehead, Massachusetts in 1790.  He's the only Thomas Garner found north of the Carolinas so it could be him;  but a soldier of the Revolution named Thomas "Gardner" from Martha's Vineyard reportedly died in 1777, so perhaps not.  I've seen his name mistakenly spelled Gardner before.  Nothing else is known of the Garners from 1776 until 1797 when Thomas Jr. married Prudence Lamphere, at Hartland, Vermont about one hundred forty miles from Marblehead. 

     Thomas Jr. can be found in the 1810 census about twenty miles north of Hartland in Sharon, Vermont with Prudence, their daughter Lucy and another daughter, probably Clarissa.  When war with England again broke out in June of 1812 Thomas Jr. remained at home in Sharon for nearly two years, not enlisting until 22 March 1814.  After seeking the answer as to why Thomas would suddenly decide to join the army at so late a date, I discovered that two months before he enlisted congress approved a large increase in the cash bounty paid to soldiers with the goal of encouraging enlistments and re-enlistments as well.

     Three months after leaving home Thomas found himself a patient in the hospital at Plattsburgh where he remained for several months, returning to duty in late August; just in time to be present for the Battle of Plattsburgh.  From his application for an invalid pension we learn Thomas was not fully recovered at the time of the engagement but he stated, "...I continued to do duty during the battle".  His regiment, the 31st US Infantry, drew the unenviable assignment of duty in the trenches fronting Fort Brown during the fight but Thomas survived the battle, returning home to Prudence in Vermont.

1812 Cockade and Eagle

     His pension application is an interesting document, full of detail.  It even contains an inventory of the clothing and equipment Thomas was given when he reported for duty; one hat, one coat, one vest, two overalls, three pairs of shoes, one pair of stockings and one of socks, one blanket, one frock, one pair trousers and one pair gaiters, along with a cockade and eagle. 
It includes the testimony of a doctor describing his digestive system as, "much deranged", and that of his captain, Ethan Burnap, who speaks of Thomas Jr. being, "attacked by camp distemper", [dysentery] and relapsing after the Battle of Plattsburgh. Burnap blamed the relapse on exposure to the brutal far northern winter, as the regiment was forced to live in unheated tents until their barracks were completed at the beginning of December.  There are also statements from Thomas Jr.'s two daughters, Lucy and Clarissa providing their married names and addresses.

     At some point after the war Thomas Jr. moved his family to New York State, settling in Summerhill in Cayuga County.  They were there by the time of the 1840 census.  His wife Prudence passed away in Summerhill in December of 1848 and their daughter Lucy Garner Robinson died six months later from consumption, also at Summerhill.

     One remaining mystery in the story is whether Thomas Jr. married again after his wife Prudence died.  The last census he appeared in is New York State's 1855 census of Summerhill in which can be found Thomas Garner age 84, (really 82), and his "wife" Laney Garner aged 59.  The 1850 census of Summerhill is in terrible condition and Thomas cannot be located in it.  I believe he was there but his entry is among the illegible. It's doubtful, at least to me, that Laney was his wife.  Thomas had severe health problems involving a paralyzed sphincter which caused very disagreeable symptoms and in his pension application he claimed he had no money, I can't believe anyone would have found him an attractive candidate for marriage, but stranger things have happened...