Notes for Walter Brashear

Notes for Walter Brashear

******Walter dead by the 1850 Census - Elizabeth is listed with son Phillip R. Brashear (b. 1827) - see notes there*****

Walter was probably born in Sullivan Co., TN. before Tennessee became a state, for his father, Isaac, bought the "home place" on Reedy Creek from his father in 1793. But he surely grew up in Roane Co., where his father lived on the banks of the Clinch River, near where "Brashears Creek" flowed into the river. He apparently left shortly after he married, for he is in the 1820 Census of Lawrence Co., Tenn., and then in the 1830 Census of Perry Co, TN (in that section that, in 1846, became Decatur Co). In 1838, shortly after his death, the Court at Perryville, Perry Co., ordered his widow, Elizabeth, to sell the slaves and divide the money among the heirs, three of them married, five of them minors.

Walter was a War-of-1812 veteran. About Sep 1, 1813, he volunteered for three months service as a private in the company of Capt. William C. Neilson and in the Regiment of East Tenn. Militia commanded by Col. John Brown, in the "campaign against the hostile Creek Indians." His military record shows that he served from Sep 30, 1813 to Jan 1, 1814. He was discharged at Kingston, Tenn., on Dec 30, 1813. He was paid for 3 mos and 2 days service, at $8 per month: total, $24.51.

Elizabeth benefited considerably more from Walter's war service than he did. On June 25, 1851, and on the basis of Walter's Creek War service, she applied for and got a grant of 40 acres of bounty land, under the provisions of the Act of Sep 28, 1850. She swore on 28 Jun 1851 that she was 52 years of age and the widow of Walter Brashears. On March 29, 1855, she applied for more bounty land under the Act of Mar 3, 1855 and, on Oct 25, 1855, got another 120 acres. In support of the 1855 petition, John B. Rice and Sarah "Sally" (Brashears) Rice (Walter's sister) made affidavit in Decatur Co. that they were present at the marriage of Walter and Elizabeth, that they had known and lived near them since, and that Walter and John B. Rice were in the same company and fought in the same battles in the War of 1812.

(These were indeed old friends, as well as intertwined cousins. John B. Rice's sister, Polly Rice, had married Zaza Brashears Jr, in Roane Co., on 25 Mar 1808. Zaza was a cousin to Sally and Walter. John and Sally Rice's daughter, Ethalinda, later married Isaac E. Brashers, Walter's son. Walter and Elizabeth's daughter, Permelia, married Houston Roberts, son of Robert S. Roberts, Elizabeth's brother, and grandson of Elias Roberts, Elizabeth's father, for whom Isaac E. Brashears was named.)

In the 1850 Census of Decatur Co., Elizabeth was in the household of her son, Philip R. Brashears. In 1855, she deeded a gift of two acres to Methodist Church, Gray's Chapel, Decatur Co., at its founding. Elizabeth's name appears in numerous deeds in Decatur Co., indicating that, in her later years at least, she was a well-to-do woman and head of a family clan.