One More War Of 1812 Veteran

   

     No, this is not turning into a War of 1812 blog, but today was one of those days when I found something completely unexpected so I must blog about it.  Discovering that so many of my ancestors fought in 1812 made me wonder about the Galloway family on my mother's side.  Nearly all the fourth-great-grandfathers on my father's side were in Ireland in 1812, so the soldiers of that era in US military history are necessarily her line.  The grandfather in question is George Galloway.  He is the earliest Galloway I've been able to prove and I know precious little about him.  Most of his information was from the 1850 census of Phelps, New York in which he gave his birth date as 1775 and the place as Massachusetts.

     The first census George appeared in was the 1800 in Vermont with his wife Armina and firstborn son Milo, I'm confident it's my George because Milo claimed birth in Vermont in later census records.  The 1810 census showed the Galloway's living in Brownville, New York in Jefferson County near the Canadian border.  I'm sure I have the right family here, because George's son Russell, in the 1855 New York State census of Arcadia, gave his birth place as Jefferson County, New York in the year 1807.  By 1820 the Galloway's had moved further south to Lyons, New York. They were actually in Wayne County, (then part of Ontario County), in 1819 when George had a letter waiting at the Lyons, NY post office there.  George doesn't appear in the 1830 census though his grown sons do.  He was still in Lyons in March of 1828 when he witnessed the will of his neighbor Caleb Tibbits so it's doubtful he left the area.

       The Newark, NY post office in the town of Arcadia published notice of an unclaimed letter for George in 1837, and the 1840 census places him there in Arcadia where his son Milo was residing.  George's son Russell was in Phelps, NY in 1850 and so were George and Armina although in neither case did they live with their sons.  George died between 1850 and 1855.   That was the full extent of my knowledge of George's life.  I've been having fairly good luck with 1812 ancestors so I thought I'd give George a try. 

     My first search in Ancestry military records brought up a payroll abstract dated September of 1812 from the New York State Militia for a Private George "Galoway", serving in the 76th under Col. Gersham Tuttle; in service at Sackett's Harbor.  Then another abstract, this one dated

August of 1814, still a member of the 76th.  After quite a bit of searching, I discovered the 76th was associated with Jefferson County, New York, Grandfather's place of residence!  What's more, he was the only George Galloway in the area.  The 1810 census shows several other George Galloway's, but two are way down by New York City and one is in Dutchess County.

     This was looking promising, it appeared Grandfather served through the entire war, or most of it at any rate, it ended just six months after the date on that last payroll abstract. What would have made him serve that long?  This was not a popular war, many men never enlisted at all.  The reason, as it so often is, was probably money.  This notice appeared in a Jefferson County, New York newspaper:

Sept. 28, 1810   Newspaper--American Citizen
By order of Hon. Moss Kent, judge for this county of Jefferson.  Notice is hereby given to all the creditors of George Galloway, of the town of Brownville, in the county of Jefferson, an insolvent debtor, that they shew cause, if any they have, before said judge, at his office in the town of LeRay, in the said county of Jefferson, on the first day of November next, why an assignment of the said insolvent's estate should not be made, and he be discharged pursuant to the acts on such case made and provided.  Dated Aug. 31st, 1810.

     George was up to his neck in debt in mid 1810.  During that era one could be thrown into debtor's prison for being unable to pay one's bills.  That line in the news article about being discharged makes me wonder if he had been incarcerated?  Hopefully it was his debts being discharged and not George.  Either way, the militia could have looked like a way to earn some cash.  It may even have erased his debt; neighboring Vermont State forgave minor debtors in exchange for enlisting in order to encourage service in their state militia.  
     
     Given that my George Galloway was the only one in Jefferson County, I do think think the military records are his.  Since he survived the war George wouldn't be found in the pension applications.  Prior to 1871 those were reserved for disabled soldiers and widows of soldiers killed in the service.  Soldier's Compiled Service Records for the War of 1812 are not yet online though an index can be found at Ancestry.  Here's hoping NARA decides to digitize those files soon.