On Saturday, May 12, 2018 at the Lyons Cemetery the Craig Austin Rowley Chapter, The Society of the War of 1812 in the State of Texas, and the John Cavet Chapter of the United States Daughters of 1812 honored Samuel Sylvester Beeman (1795-1877) for his service in the War of 1812.
(Photos courtesy of Paul Ridenour, unless otherwise indicated)
Biography of Isaac Nation:
Isaac Nation was born about 1790 in Burke Co NC, son of William and Jane Nation. On 27 Feb 1812 he married Margaret “Peggy” Tillman in Preble Co OH. Isaac served there in the War of 1812 as a Private in the 2nd Regiment of Ohio Militia commanded by Maj. Henry Price.
Isaac and Peggy had 7 children. About 1822 they left Ohio and moved to Overton Co TN. In 1825 he paid $6.25 for 50 acres of land on the waters of Obed’s River. After Peggy’s death about 1830, Isaac married Jane Robbins. Her sister Elizabeth was the wife of Rev. Arthur Ledbetter. Isaac and Jane had 5 children.
In 1848, Isaac joined Rev. Ledbetter’s family to go to Texas where they planned to receive land and settle in Peters Colony. Isaac’s wife Jane was probably dead by then as he left two young daughters in the care of an older sister Catherine, child of his first wife.
The party left Overton Co TN in the spring of 1848. They arrived in the State of Texas in June of that year. They would have traveled along the Central National Road of Texas after crossing into Texas at the Red River. They would have crossed the East Fork of the Trinity River at McKenzie’s Ferry, later to become a toll bridge known as Barnes’ Bridge.
The deadline for arriving in Peters Colony in time to qualify for the free land was 1 Jul 1848. Shortly before the deadline, when they were within a few miles of the eastern boundary of Peters Colony, several members of the family became ill with smallpox. Isaac Nation was one of those stricken by the disease.
The party was detained near Duck Creek, a branch of the East Fork of the Trinity River. On 18 Aug 1848, Rev. Ledbetter’s wife Elizabeth and their 6-year old daughter Cynthia died and were buried there on the banks of the creek. Ten days later Isaac Nation died of smallpox, along with Rev. Ledbetter’s daughter Mary Ann and her baby.
The graves would have been marked with wood from the bois d’arc tree, a common practice in northeast Texas at that time, because of its durability and immunity to rot.
On 23 Oct 1851, Arthur Ledbetter petitioned for land and explained why the family was delayed in their trip from Overton Co TN and missed the deadline for entry into Peters Colony.
“They broke up their home in Overton County, Tennessee in the Spring of 1848 and emigrated to Texas…A short time prior to the expiration of the contract of said Peters and his associates, and in a few miles of the line of said colony, his family became sick and he was detained thereby until after the expiration of said colony contract, unable to proceed by any possibility from the malignancy of the disease that afflicted them, of which several died.”
Rev. Ledbetter later received a 640-acre headright grant and settled in the Cedar Hill area of southwest Dallas County.
