Monday, March 14, 2022
It has been a while since I wrote a family history post. This one is about my gggg-grandfather Judge Isaac Crofoot, a county judge and postmaster in Lewis County in New York, a veteran of the War of 1812, and a Wisconsin pioneer. Here is his story. I wrote it for a book about veterans of the War of 1812 published by the Daughters of the War of 1812.
Isaac Crofoot, son of Elisha Crofoot (28 Feb 1754-29 Mar 1813) and Rachel Higby (21 Sep 1752-16 Mar 1813), was born in Connecticut. He died in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin on 19 Oct 1867 and his gravestone reads that he reached 85 years, seven months, and five days old which establishes his birthday to be 14 Mar 1782.
Between 1795 and 1797, when he was a teenager, Isaac moved with his parents to Turin, Lewis County, New York, from Middletown, Connecticut. The two oldest children of the Elisha and Rachel Crofoot family, Mary and John, who were Isaac's older brother and sister, remained in the old home in Connecticut. Isaac was the third child in the family. His younger brother James, then 10 years old, later shared a story about how the family came from Whitetown in Oneida County, New York with an ox team. When they arrived at Sugar River, at a place called Talcottville, the river was very swollen and they had nothing more than a large tree, submerged a foot below the surface, which had fallen across the stream, to use to attempt to cross.
Their father Elisha and Isaac carried the family and goods over the perilous bridge. Their sled was floated across and the oxen swam, being guided by a bed cord attached to their horns. Having safely crossed the stream, a fire was kindled, their clothes were dried, and a meal was prepared for which they had a definite appetite after their arduous labor.
The nearest grist mill was at Whitetown, about forty miles away, and James, when only 11 years old, took this journey alone, guided only by marked trees.
Isaac became a hotel keeper and farmer and kept the Checkered Tavern on the road between Utica and Rome in New York. He was also a probate judge of the county court in Turin, Lewis County, New York, and was known long afterward as “Judge Crofoot”. On 16 Mar 1838, he was named postmaster in West Leyden, also in Lewis County.
Isaac’s first wife, Sally, was born in 1783. Isaac and Sally married young in Turin, probably by 1803. Isaac and Sally Crofoot had four children who survived to adulthood: Juliana (Julia Ann) Crofoot Elliott, my ggg-grandmother; Elbert Crofoot; Lewis Crofoot; and Anson Crofoot.
Isaac Crofoot was a veteran of the War of 1812. The War Certificates and Applications of Claim and Related Records show his service. He was a private in the company commanded by Captain Hezekial Scovill, in the militia commanded by Oliver Bush. He was drafted and defended Sackets Harbor and was honorably discharged.
Sackets Harbor is on the eastern end of Lake Ontario in New York state. It was a critically important location during the War of 1812--a U.S. naval base and major shipbuilding community on the Great Lakes and the third largest population center in New York state at the time. The British wanted to eliminate America's shipbuilding capacity so they could control the lake and five British naval ships fired on Sackets Harbor in July 1812. The militia responded, returned canon fire, and the British ships were seriously damaged. American forces suffered no losses.
The British tried again in 1813 to attack Sackets Harbor to establish naval superiority on Lake Ontario and the presence of the British fleet prompted the call for area militias to support the regular army. Isaac Crofoot was in the militia called up for this support. He served first from 1 Mar to 20 Mar 1813. He furnished, at his own expense, his clothing and equipment at a cost of $50 and traveling expenses and subsistence at a sum of $10 with no repayment. (This is equivalent to about $933 today.) In the battle that followed, British losses were 49 killed and 216 wounded and 35 taken prisoner. American casualties were heavier--307 killed, 84 wounded and about 180 missing/captured, however, it was considered an American victory.
While away on military duty, Isaac's mother died on 16 Mar 1813 and his father passed 15 days later, on 29 Mar 1813. His infant child died on 13 Apr 1813. Isaac was appointed the administrator of his father's estate six days later, on 19 Apr 1813.
Isaac returned to service to defend Sackets Harbor from 30 Jul to 22 Aug 1814. A historian later concluded that the events at Sackets Harbor were crucial to the development of the American Army.
His brother, David, died that autumn, in September, and three months later, Isaac's wife, Sally, died on 10 Dec 1814.
Sally, his first wife and mother of my ggg-grandmother Juliana (Julia Ann), died at age 31, when Juliana was only four years old, in East Turin, New York and is buried in the Constableville Cemetery in Lewis County. Isaac Crofoot’s parents, Elisha and Rachel Higby Crofoot, and his grandparents, Ephraim (1730-1795) and Mary Hilliard (1725-1808) Crofoot are also buried in the Constableville Cemetery in the village of Constableville, West Turin.
Isaac married second, Sarah, his dead brother’s young widow.
Judge Crofoot’s daughter Juliana married George W. Elliott in 1832 and her family left New York state in 1836 traveling through Canada to Michigan. They had a three year layover in Michigan on their way to Wisconsin. They were able to move on, arriving at Fort Howard (Green Bay) by steam boat in 1840 and relocated their family a year later to Fond du Lac County in Wisconsin. Isaac’s son Lewis (Juliana’s brother) had travelled with the Elliotts from New York.
In New York state, Isaac lived in Turin and West Turin, New York. In 1848, when he was 66 years old, Isaac Crofoot’s family, including his son David, left New York and removed to Fond du Lac County in Wisconsin. His daughter Juliana and son-in-law George W. Elliott lived in Taycheedah, then moved a few miles to a farm in nearby Peebles, in Fond du Lac County. Isaac and his second wife, Sarah, and their son David settled on farms four miles west of the city of Fond du Lac (in the town of Fond du Lac) near Isaac’s son Lewis. Enumerated in the 1860 U.S. Census of Fond du Lac, Isaac's age is confirmed at 78 years and Sarah was 65.
"In testimony whereof, I, Abraham Lincoln, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, have caused these Letters to be made Patent and the Seal of the GENERAL LAND OFFICE to be hereunto affixed, GIVEN under my hand, at the CITY of WASHINGTON, the first day of June in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty one and of the INDEPENDENCE OF THE UNITED STATES, BY THE PRESIDENT, Abraham Lincoln, pursuant to the Act of Congress approved March 3, 1855 entitled "An Act in addition to certain Acts granting Bounty Land to certain Officers and Soldiers who have engaged in the military service of the United States" there were deposited in favor of Isaac Crofoot, 160 acres at St. Peter, Minnesota.
Isaac Crofoot received U.S. Land Warrant number 76732 for 160 acres of Bounty Land in Wabasha County, Minnesota for his service in the War of 1812. The land was described as 145 and 40/100 acres, located south of Minneapolis. He sold his bounty land to James Butts and Mary J. Wright who appear as assignees on the land record since he had bought the 80 acres of his farm in Fond du Lac on 1 Jun 1848 instead.
When their nephew James Crofoot, Jr. of Turin, New York visited his uncle Isaac and aunt Sarah in Fond du Lac in 1851, James' diary shares a glimpse of the life of Isaac and Sarah Crofoot. James wrote on 25 Aug 1851: "...Aunt Sarah is very kind to me...Uncle Isaac is building a barn. They have 50 acres of handsome land in good condition as to fences, etc and a good garden. Appear to enjoy life very well." and on 28 Aug, he wrote, "With Uncle Isaac and Cousin Eliza (youngest daughter of Isaac and Sarah) go to Fond du Lac, 4 miles distant." On 29 Aug they went 32 miles to Oak Grove to visit other relatives and stayed overnight, returning to Isaac's home by 6 p.m. on the 31st.
The Fond du Lac Commonwealth newspaper on 3 Oct 1904 published an article called “Some Pioneer Experiences: More Stories of Frontier Life in Wisconsin”. In the article, Mr. Forbes Homiston, Isaac’s neighbor, related a time during pioneer days in Fond du Lac when Judge and Mrs. Crofoot and Homiston’s wife planned to drive a carriage consisting of a two-wheeled cart drawn by a yoke of white oxen to visit Mrs. Elliott (Juliana Crofoot Elliott), the daughter of Judge Isaac Crofoot, at Peebles.
The Homiston Cemetery was on or near the property that was the farm of Isaac Crofoot’s neighbors, the Homistons. When Isaac died in Fond du Lac in 1867, he was buried in what was once called the Griswold and Homiston Cemetery and is now called Oak Grove Cemetery.
Isaac Crofoot’s wife Sarah survived until 1874. Isaac and Sarah are buried side-by-side in the Oak Grove Cemetery in Fond du Lac.
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