Pension #15921-Survivor Pension, War of 1812, Elmira Lisenbee, Widow of James B. Lisenbee

James B. Lisenbee, War of 1812, Index Card

James B. Lisenbee  enlisted to serve in the War of 1812 from 24 Sept. 1814 to 12 March 1815 a total of 182 days.* He served as a private under Capt Welch and Lt. D[uncan] Campbell, South Carolina Militia. ¹ 

James married Elmira French in July 1822 in Montgomery County, Tenn. John was listed as age 55 (b. 1795) in the 1850 Montgomery County, TN Census and Almira was listed as age 40 (b. 1810). There are 8 children in the household.

1850 Montgomery Co., TN

James B. Lisenbee left Chesterfield County, SC after the War of 1812 and was in Montgomery County, Tennessee in 23 July 1822 when he married Elmira/Almira French. ² He remained in Montgomery County from the date of his marriage until his death on 27 March 1875. ³ 

The pension file shows that he received 80 acres of land in Montgomery County for his service during the War of 1812. He made Bounty land claims on 8 November 1850 and 1 May 1855 in Montgomery County, Tennessee.  Each claimed was signed by use of his mark. The two claims were assigned numbers 126273 and 35066.

0n 17 April 1878, Elmira Lisenbee submitted her claim for a widow's pension. ⁴  She was assigned Claim #26,932.

The government repeatedly rejected and requested more information from this poor Widow. On Image 56, her children give testimony stating that James B. and his brother Henry Lisenbee both served in the War of 1812. ⁵ This discharge paper was presented as proof of service.

Discharge Papers

There is a lot of genealogical information in these 60 pages. I highly recommend you review this file if you are a Lisenby descendant, by any spelling of the surname from Chesterfield County, South Carolina. 

One added note: I haven’t covered a fraction of the information contained within this record in this web post. On-line there are claims that Hezekiah Lisenby is the son of James B. Lisenby. The most common date of birth for Hezekiah Lisenby is 1815. James B. Lisenbee CANNOT be his father because he wasn’t married until July 1822, seven years after the birth of Hezekiah. James went to Tennessee as a single man and married after being there for some time.

Beware of what you copy from on-line websites.


_____________________________
* His record says 147 days served but the correct calculation based on stated dates is 182 days.
** Surname spelled: Lisenbee, Lisenby, Lisemby, Lysenbee
[1] https://www.fold3.com/image/247/315326493
[2] https://www.fold3.com/image/247/315326507
[3] Ibid.
[4] https://www.fold3.com/image/247/315326523
[5] https://www.fold3.com/image/247/315326548