Captain Samuel Brier
A Fighter From a Very Early Age
Samuel Brier was born on June 25, 1777 in Williamsburg, Pennsylvania. His father David Brier had served as a Captain in George Washington’s army during the Revolutionary War. The older Brier served Washington again in 1794. With the war with Great Britain over, Americans began to flex their muscle over how much authority the newly formed government had over citizens personal lives. The issue came to a head in 1794 with what became known as the "Whiskey Rebellion."
Ironically, the government troops led by General George Washington was now called to quell a rebellion of citizens he had led in battle against the British just a few years earlier. The Whiskey Rebellion wasn't simply a matter over citizens rights, it was the first real test of the federal governments authority.
Many of the soldiers who served at Ft. Amanda were of the Presbyterian faith, including several who were abolitionists. A large number of others appear to have subscribed to the practice of "teetotalism." (yes that's a real word). It means total abstinence from alcohol. It's impossible to know whether or not Samuel Brier was a teetotaler, but what we do know is he and his father supported the government. Both served in a local militia company to help Washington put down the new rebellion, or "insurrection" as many called it.
Here's a brief history of what the fuss was all about.
The Whiskey Rebellion
It all started with a tax. What came to be known as the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794, or the Western Insurrection, took place over a period of time beginning in 1791 by most accounts. While some would say the roots go back much further, it was not until March 3, 1791 that Congress instituted an excise tax on distilled liquors that set the rebellion of 1794 in motion.What was the root cause of this rebellion?
Having assumed the debts of the colonies from the Revolution, the government found itself deep in debt. In 1791 Congress approved a bill putting an excise tax on all distilled spirits. The tax, based on the capacity of the still rather than the quantity produced, was required to be paid in cash - something unusual for the time as whiskey was often the monetary unit westerners used to pay for their goods and services - not cash. The tax for the smaller producers was required to be made throughout the year and their cost was about nine cents per gallon. The large producers in the east took less exception to the tax, their cost to get the goods to market was less and they could decrease their tax by increasing their volume, something the farmers in the west were not able to do. They were also able to make annual payments for the tax that amounted to six cents per gallon.
Already at odds with the government with regard to Indian attacks, the farmers felt that this interference into their business was unjust and encroached upon their rights. A meeting at Redstone Fort in July of 1791 began the organized resistance to the collection of the excise tax. Many of the westerners refused to pay the tax and those coming to collect the tax were often ambushed or humiliated, some were tarred and feathered.
Violence continued to escalate and spread to other counties over the next few years. President Washington's proclamation, in 1792, condemning interference with the "operation of the laws of the United States..." did not calm matters. Despite appeals for a peaceful resolution, a militia gathered at Braddock's Field during the last week in July 1794. On August 7, 1794 the President issued another proclamation calling for the rebels to disperse and return to their homes as well as invoking the Militia Act of 1792 which allowed the President to use State military (militiamen) to put an end to the rebellion.
Approximately 13,000 militiamen from surrounding states marched with President Washington to put down the rebellion. While no real battle ensued, about 150 rebels were arrested. Most were released due to lack of evidence, 2 were convicted of treason and then later pardoned.
Why was this rebellion significant in our history? The Whiskey Rebellion was the first test of federal authority in the United States. This rebellion enforced the idea that the new government had the right to levy a particular tax that would impact citizens in all states. It also enforced the idea that this new government had the right to pass and enforce laws impacting all states.
http://www.loc.gov/rr/business/businesshistory/August/whiskeyrebellion.html
1804
On June 25, 1804, Brier married 23 year old Betsy Campbell, daughter of William Campbell. They married in Williamsburg, Pennsylvania. Five years later (1809), Samuel and his young family migrated to Ohio and settled in Dayton Township (now a "defunct township) Montgomery County. Traveling with them was Nancy Brier, Samuels younger sister who he had guardianship over until she became of age. 1812
When the War of 1812 broke out, 35 year old Brier took command of a local milita group and constructed Fort Brier, 8 miles northeast of Greenville, in Darke County. In Brier commanded a company of infantry in a battalion under the command of Major Henry Price attached to the 2nd regiment of the 3rd detachment of Ohio Militia. Note: I've wondered for years about where Fort Brier was located and now thanks to Ronald Irick, Logan County Historian, that mystery has been solved. Ron says it was probably nothing more than a blockhouse and it was located on the bend of Stillwater Creek, in the southwest corner of Section 27, Richland Township in Darke County.
Captain Briers company roster while stationed at Ft. Amanda was as follows:
Brier, Samuel Captain
Lighty, Jacob Lieutenant
Hearton, Daniel Ensign
Miller, William Sergeant (1st Sergeant)
John, Joseph R Sergeant
Ganasdol, Corneilus Sergeant Arnold, Samuel Sergeant
Heaston David Corporal Dodds, Matthew M Corporal Blair, Joseph Corporal
Hatch, Daniel Corporal Slagle, Conrad Musician Walker, Isaac Drummer
PRIVATES PRIVATES PRIVATES
Arnet, George Bay, William Blair, James S.
Brunbough, George Bucken,
Michael Coffman,
Jacob
Cox, William Crull, Daniel Casfidy, Simon
Cronn, Daniel Deiterick, Peter
Dice, Paul Enoch, John Edomes, Edmond
Coblentz. Jacob Gelelant, Emanuel Hester, George
Henry, George Harshman, Joseph Jones,
Price
Kader, Phillip Kelsen, Daniel Lawrose, John
Lechlider, George Haman, Solomon McDonald,
Archibald
McCreary, Nathan Overholser, Jacob Phillips, Thomas
Pettit, James Phlweyn, Charles Pickle, Simon
Reed, William Rickey, John Shelly,
Jacob
Studebaker, John Statler,
William Parks, Jacob
Swart, John Shively, Isaac Talbot, James
Wood, Ashbury Wolf, Jacob Westfall, John
Wood, Samuel Woodhouse,
Henry
On August 2nd, 1813, Brier and his company arrived at Fort Amanda to assume command of the fort. Schillinger wrote that Brier’s company had been raised in Montgomery County. Briers company had entered service on April 12, 1813 and their tour of duty (6 months) was to expire on Oct. 11, 1813. A mystery that remains is why Briers company was ordered to Fort Amanda when it had less than 2 months active service remaining.
Military pay records show that Brier’s pay as Captain was $40 a month. While he was at St. Marys on his way to Fort Amanda, he purchased a pair of shoes and a pair of socks from the Quartermasters department. The total price was $3.00
His mustering out pay was $237 which he received on Oct. 11, 1813. He had served 183 days and was allotted 2 rations per day at a value of 20 cents per ration.
He apparently did not use the rations because on March 30th, 1814, he was paid $73.20 for his allottment. The paperwork read: Sustenance account of Captain Samuel Brier commanding a company of Infantry in a Battalion under the command of Major Henry Price attached to the 2nd Regiment of the 3rd Detachment of Ohio Militia in the service of the United States for six months.
Records show that Brier served as a trustee for a number of years at the Rob Roy Presbyterian church beginning in 1839. They also indicate that his political affiliations aligned with the Whigs.
Samuel A. Brier, farmer, Rob Roy, is descended from Scotch and Irish ancestors, he being the fourth generation from those who came to this country. His grandfather, David Brier, was a soldier under Washington, and his father, Samuel, was one of the force called out in 1794 to suppress the whisky insurrection in western Pennsylvania, and served also in the war of 1812, as a captain nnder Gen. Harrison, by whom he was sent eighty-five miles west from Dayton, Ohio, where he built Fort Brier, on the frontier, and commanded the garrison during his term of about one year.
Mr. Brier was born in Montgomery county, Ohio, February 11, 1822, and was the youngest son of his father's family. His mother's name before marriage was Elizabeth Campbell. On September 27, 1828, they arrived in Shawnee township, and settled where Mr. Brier resides. A part of the land, the W. ½ of N.W. 1/4 Sec. 31, T. 21, R. 7, was bought from Wilson and Abel Claypoole, and his father received the patent in his own name. His parents died here; his mother in April, 1849, at the age of sixty-three, and his father in 1858, aged eighty-four.
By will of the latter, Mr. Brier was permitted to receive the homestead and buy out the other heirs. He has increased the estate to 300 acres, 240 of which are under cultivation. Besides this farm he owns 240 acres of land in Ross township, Vermilion connty, Illinois, and the same quantity near Topeka, Kansas. Contrasting the early times with the present, Mr. Brier says that when the Wabash and Erie canal was building he sold corn at his place for fourteen cents per bushel, and was paid in canal scrip at sixty per cent discount. At the same time he sold dressed hogs for $2.10 per hundred, and received payment in the same paper. This year corn has been worth forty cents in market, and he has sold live hogs the present season for $4.25 per hundredweight in gold, and at one time they commanded even a higher figure. He has known his father to pay $13 per barrel for Kanawha salt, a coarse, black article. Good farm hands were hired for $9 per month, whereas now the most ordinary help obtains $20.
Mr. Brier used to wagon produce to Chicago, usually selling flour delivered at $4 per barrel. At that time he turned his oxen loose on the north side of the Chicago river to graze overnight on the prairie. It took two weeks to make the trip with horses, and nearly twice as long with oxen. The roads were generally in wretched condition the greater part of the way, and from Thorn creek to the city, some twenty miles, nearly impassable the year round. This stretch could be traversed only by making short pulls, frequent unloadings and reloadings, and this not unusually in the water, and by doubling teams. Mr. Brier is raising better wheat and more of it to the acre than his father did on the same land broke up fifty-three years ago. The only fertilizing it has received has been by clovering a few times, which could hardly more than restore its former tilth and repair the waste of cropping. This experience is abundantly supported throughout this region, and the conclusion is obvious that prairie land now considered of little account for the production of wheat will in time become valuable for that use. Mr. Brier celebrated his marriage with Nancy Hatton, April 18, 1844. She was the daughter of William Hatton, who came from Ohio to Logan township in 1826, and was born February 1, 1822. They have had eight children, four of whom are living: Solon, Laura, wife of Joseph Gilbert, of Kansas City, Missouri, Lizzie, and Burgess B.
The Briers are an old Presbyterian family. His father and mother, who were native Pennsylvanians, and his grandfather were seceeders. He and his wife have been communicants thirty-four years, and he has been an elder twenty-five. He has filled the position of Sabbath-school superintendent, and been leader of the church choir nearly forty years. All his children, as also his son-in-law and his daughter-in-law, belong to the same church. He has been a temperate man his whole life, and a member of several organizations whose objects were to remove the temptation of strong drink from the paths of men, and to reclaim the fallen. He sent a man to the army for whom he paid $1,100, though he was not drafted, and therefore not obliged to furnish a substitute. He was raised a whig, and from education and sentiment naturally found his way into the republican party when that became an organization, and has since been an ardent supporter of its principles.
Samuel and Betsey are buried in the Rob Roy Cemetery, Fountain County, Indiana.
N40°14'16.74”,W87°15'33.49”
Other family members are buried in Buleah Cemetery, Fountain County, Indiana.
On July 22, 1892, tragedy once again struck the Brier family. The following is an account of an accident that took the life of his daughter-in-law Nancy, (Samuel Jrs wife), and caused a leg amputation their daughter.
"Jones' Crossing, one mile south of Rob Roy on the C.& I.C. railroad, was the scene of one of the most heart rendering accidents that has happened in the history of railroads in Fountain County. On last Saturday Mrs. Samuel Briar and her daughter, Mrs. David Brown, had just left the former's home to attend the funeral of Mrs. Wm. Harris, a niece of Mrs. Briar. They soon reached the railroad crossing, which is only about a quarter of mile from the home of Samuel Briar. Just at the same moment, the local freight, which was late and making up lost time, came bounding towards them.
Through the excitement, or their failure to judge of the speed of the train, they made an attempt to rush their horse and buggy across the track. The horse went onto and crossed the tracks, but on come the train, and striking the buggy, threw it about thirty feet over into a fence, completely demolishing the buggy and killing Mrs. Briar outright.
Mrs. Brown's injuries are of very serious nature, her right leg being so mangled that amputation immediately above the knew joint was necessary. Her injuries are of not a serious character, being simply flesh bruises. At last reports her condition was as favorable as could be expected, with indications favoring a recovery. The horse escaped uninjured.
Immediately after the accident, Dr. Finney, of Attica, was called to the scene and after a temporary examination, Mrs. Brown was also the dead body of Mrs. Briar were removed to the late residence of the deceased woman. Further examination was then made of the injuries received by Mrs. Brown and it was decided that her right leg would have to be amputated. Dr. Finney assisted by Dr.s Rice and Henderson performed the operation.
The coroner took the testimony of Mrs. Brown and also that of some boys, whom were working near where the accident occurred on last Saturday, and on Monday held a formal inquest at Veedersburg, the find of which has not yet been learned.
Several stories are in circulation, all supposed to explain the reason why the ladies attempted to make the crossing in the face of such danger, but the following is the one given by Mrs. Brown herself after she regained consciousness: "we were in a few feet of the railroad track when we discovered the train. Thinking that we had time to perfect the crossing, and fearing, if we did not, our horse would get frightened and start to run back, which would upset the buggy and endanger our lives, we, under such momentary thoughts, made the frightful and fatal attempt."
Mrs. Brown claims that if the train whistled she failed to hear it until the train was almost on them, when they whistled for brakes. Other persons working in the immediate neighborhood of the crossing confirm Mrs. Brown's statement, but the engineer is just as earnest in his declarations that the train whistled at the proper distance from the crossing.
The funeral of Mrs. Briar who met her death in the railroad accident last Saturday took place at Rob Roy last Saturday afternoon. A very large crowd of people manifested their sympathy for the sorrowing relatives by their attendance." The Fountain & Warren Democrat Newspaper, July 21, 1892 (Obituary provided by the Fountain County Genealogy
Society.)
Military pay records show that Brier’s pay as Captain was $40 a month. While he was at St. Marys on his way to Fort Amanda, he purchased a pair of shoes and a pair of socks from the Quartermasters department. The total price was $3.00
His mustering out pay was $237 which he received on Oct. 11, 1813. He had served 183 days and was allotted 2 rations per day at a value of 20 cents per ration.
He apparently did not use the rations because on March 30th, 1814, he was paid $73.20 for his allottment. The paperwork read: Sustenance account of Captain Samuel Brier commanding a company of Infantry in a Battalion under the command of Major Henry Price attached to the 2nd Regiment of the 3rd Detachment of Ohio Militia in the service of the United States for six months.
After the War
After returning from his duty at Fort Amanda, Brier returned to his farm in Montgomery County. In 1828 Brier moved his family moved once again, this time to Shawnee Township in Fountain County, Indiana. Several other men from Hosbrook and Briers companies eventually migrated to Fountain County so it is assumed that they were awarded land grants there for their military service.Records show that Brier served as a trustee for a number of years at the Rob Roy Presbyterian church beginning in 1839. They also indicate that his political affiliations aligned with the Whigs.
Brier's Son Samuel Brier II
Samuel A. Brier, farmer, Rob Roy, is descended from Scotch and Irish ancestors, he being the fourth generation from those who came to this country. His grandfather, David Brier, was a soldier under Washington, and his father, Samuel, was one of the force called out in 1794 to suppress the whisky insurrection in western Pennsylvania, and served also in the war of 1812, as a captain nnder Gen. Harrison, by whom he was sent eighty-five miles west from Dayton, Ohio, where he built Fort Brier, on the frontier, and commanded the garrison during his term of about one year.
Mr. Brier was born in Montgomery county, Ohio, February 11, 1822, and was the youngest son of his father's family. His mother's name before marriage was Elizabeth Campbell. On September 27, 1828, they arrived in Shawnee township, and settled where Mr. Brier resides. A part of the land, the W. ½ of N.W. 1/4 Sec. 31, T. 21, R. 7, was bought from Wilson and Abel Claypoole, and his father received the patent in his own name. His parents died here; his mother in April, 1849, at the age of sixty-three, and his father in 1858, aged eighty-four.
By will of the latter, Mr. Brier was permitted to receive the homestead and buy out the other heirs. He has increased the estate to 300 acres, 240 of which are under cultivation. Besides this farm he owns 240 acres of land in Ross township, Vermilion connty, Illinois, and the same quantity near Topeka, Kansas. Contrasting the early times with the present, Mr. Brier says that when the Wabash and Erie canal was building he sold corn at his place for fourteen cents per bushel, and was paid in canal scrip at sixty per cent discount. At the same time he sold dressed hogs for $2.10 per hundred, and received payment in the same paper. This year corn has been worth forty cents in market, and he has sold live hogs the present season for $4.25 per hundredweight in gold, and at one time they commanded even a higher figure. He has known his father to pay $13 per barrel for Kanawha salt, a coarse, black article. Good farm hands were hired for $9 per month, whereas now the most ordinary help obtains $20.
Mr. Brier used to wagon produce to Chicago, usually selling flour delivered at $4 per barrel. At that time he turned his oxen loose on the north side of the Chicago river to graze overnight on the prairie. It took two weeks to make the trip with horses, and nearly twice as long with oxen. The roads were generally in wretched condition the greater part of the way, and from Thorn creek to the city, some twenty miles, nearly impassable the year round. This stretch could be traversed only by making short pulls, frequent unloadings and reloadings, and this not unusually in the water, and by doubling teams. Mr. Brier is raising better wheat and more of it to the acre than his father did on the same land broke up fifty-three years ago. The only fertilizing it has received has been by clovering a few times, which could hardly more than restore its former tilth and repair the waste of cropping. This experience is abundantly supported throughout this region, and the conclusion is obvious that prairie land now considered of little account for the production of wheat will in time become valuable for that use. Mr. Brier celebrated his marriage with Nancy Hatton, April 18, 1844. She was the daughter of William Hatton, who came from Ohio to Logan township in 1826, and was born February 1, 1822. They have had eight children, four of whom are living: Solon, Laura, wife of Joseph Gilbert, of Kansas City, Missouri, Lizzie, and Burgess B.
The Briers are an old Presbyterian family. His father and mother, who were native Pennsylvanians, and his grandfather were seceeders. He and his wife have been communicants thirty-four years, and he has been an elder twenty-five. He has filled the position of Sabbath-school superintendent, and been leader of the church choir nearly forty years. All his children, as also his son-in-law and his daughter-in-law, belong to the same church. He has been a temperate man his whole life, and a member of several organizations whose objects were to remove the temptation of strong drink from the paths of men, and to reclaim the fallen. He sent a man to the army for whom he paid $1,100, though he was not drafted, and therefore not obliged to furnish a substitute. He was raised a whig, and from education and sentiment naturally found his way into the republican party when that became an organization, and has since been an ardent supporter of its principles.
Samuel Briers son Samuel Brier II
Death after Death after Death
On September 22, 1847, Samuel Brier’s grandson, Samuel Brier III died. Seven days later, Sept. 22, 1847, their one year old granddaughter Florence died. The following spring, April 16, 1847, grandson Buell Brier died and exactly two years later on April 16, 1849 , Betsey the family matriarch died at the age of 67. Captain Samuel Brier lived for another 9 years. His last years were spent living with his daughter Nancy (Brier) Manlove and her husband William Manlove and their five children in Shawnee Twsp. Fountain County, Indiana.
Samuel and Betsey are buried in the Rob Roy Cemetery, Fountain County, Indiana.
N40°14'16.74”,W87°15'33.49”
Other family members are buried in Buleah Cemetery, Fountain County, Indiana.
Graves of Samuel and Elizabeth (Betsey) Brier
Rob Roy Cemetery, Fountain County, Indiana.
Family Tragedy
On July 22, 1892, tragedy once again struck the Brier family. The following is an account of an accident that took the life of his daughter-in-law Nancy, (Samuel Jrs wife), and caused a leg amputation their daughter.
"Jones' Crossing, one mile south of Rob Roy on the C.& I.C. railroad, was the scene of one of the most heart rendering accidents that has happened in the history of railroads in Fountain County. On last Saturday Mrs. Samuel Briar and her daughter, Mrs. David Brown, had just left the former's home to attend the funeral of Mrs. Wm. Harris, a niece of Mrs. Briar. They soon reached the railroad crossing, which is only about a quarter of mile from the home of Samuel Briar. Just at the same moment, the local freight, which was late and making up lost time, came bounding towards them.
Through the excitement, or their failure to judge of the speed of the train, they made an attempt to rush their horse and buggy across the track. The horse went onto and crossed the tracks, but on come the train, and striking the buggy, threw it about thirty feet over into a fence, completely demolishing the buggy and killing Mrs. Briar outright.
Mrs. Brown's injuries are of very serious nature, her right leg being so mangled that amputation immediately above the knew joint was necessary. Her injuries are of not a serious character, being simply flesh bruises. At last reports her condition was as favorable as could be expected, with indications favoring a recovery. The horse escaped uninjured.
Immediately after the accident, Dr. Finney, of Attica, was called to the scene and after a temporary examination, Mrs. Brown was also the dead body of Mrs. Briar were removed to the late residence of the deceased woman. Further examination was then made of the injuries received by Mrs. Brown and it was decided that her right leg would have to be amputated. Dr. Finney assisted by Dr.s Rice and Henderson performed the operation.
The coroner took the testimony of Mrs. Brown and also that of some boys, whom were working near where the accident occurred on last Saturday, and on Monday held a formal inquest at Veedersburg, the find of which has not yet been learned.
Several stories are in circulation, all supposed to explain the reason why the ladies attempted to make the crossing in the face of such danger, but the following is the one given by Mrs. Brown herself after she regained consciousness: "we were in a few feet of the railroad track when we discovered the train. Thinking that we had time to perfect the crossing, and fearing, if we did not, our horse would get frightened and start to run back, which would upset the buggy and endanger our lives, we, under such momentary thoughts, made the frightful and fatal attempt."
Mrs. Brown claims that if the train whistled she failed to hear it until the train was almost on them, when they whistled for brakes. Other persons working in the immediate neighborhood of the crossing confirm Mrs. Brown's statement, but the engineer is just as earnest in his declarations that the train whistled at the proper distance from the crossing.
The funeral of Mrs. Briar who met her death in the railroad accident last Saturday took place at Rob Roy last Saturday afternoon. A very large crowd of people manifested their sympathy for the sorrowing relatives by their attendance." The Fountain & Warren Democrat Newspaper, July 21, 1892 (Obituary provided by the Fountain County Genealogy
Society.)
Locating the Exact Spot of the Accident.
I couldn't resist the temptation of locating the exact spot where the accident happened. The railroad is no longer there and in fact the tracks have been taken up. I found the path on an old plat map and using Google Earth I found it. Captain Samuel Briers Journey Through Life
Grave of Captain Samuel Brier(1777 - 1858)
Descendants of Captain Brier still reside in the area and when time allows, I hope to contact some of them and tell them little about their ancestor and his contribution to the story of Fort Amanda.
Excellent.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting! My ancestor, Rev. Alexander Lemon, ordained Samuel A. Brier elder of Rob Roy Presbyterian Church on Feb. 20, 1853.
ReplyDeleteNicely done! A special thanks to Ron Irick for finding Ft. Brier. That was on my bucket list but he beat me to it. My grandmother's grandfather William Morris stated that he was stationed at Ft. Brier, Ft. Winchester and Ft. Meigs during his 6 mos. of service between Oct. 11, 1813 thru April 7, 1814. Captain William Ramsay Company. Under command of Major Alex. Lanier or Maj. Price. Dave Shaw
ReplyDelete