Robert Larimer, Born and Died in July

One of the notable July births and deaths in my husband's family is that of Robert Larimer. He was born on July 15, 1792 and died on July 30, 1850, at the age of 58. Robert was the oldest son of hubby's 4th great-grandparents, Isaac Larimer (1771-1823) and Elizabeth Woods Larimer (1773-1851).

Both Robert and his father Isaac, then living in Fairfield county, Ohio, enlisted to fight for the United States in the War of 1812.  According to the History of Ohio, Isaac enlisted in Capt. George Sanderson's Company of Ohio Militia and was captured in Detroit. As a militiaman (not a regular US Army soldier), Isaac was paroled to return home and permitted to keep his sword, which became a treasured heirloom in the Larimer family for generations.

According to a June, 1921 letter to the newspaper written by Robert's nephew, Aaron Work (1837-1924), both Robert and Isaac Larimer were with General Hull's division of the US Army at Detroit. The letter explains that when "the old Tory" (meaning Hull) surrendered to the British, Robert was also paroled but instead of going home, he fought for the US side until the war ended in 1815.

Military service in the War of 1812 entitled Robert to land bounty--which he used to acquire land in Ohio in September, 1834, for his growing family.

By the way, Robert's brother, John Larimer (1794-1843), served in the War of 1812 as a "90-day man," according to his nephew Aaron Work. Both John and his brother Robert are buried in Eldridge Cemetery, Middlebury, Elkhart county, Indiana.

Tombstone Tuesday: John Larimer and Rachel Smith of Wabash, IN

John Larimer (1794-1843) was born in Mifflin, PA and moved west with his family to Ohio. He met and married Rachel Smith (1799-1838) in Fairfield county, OH in 1818. By the mid-1830s, they had moved further west to become pioneers in Wabash, Indiana.

Rachel Smith Larimer, 1799-1838

John bought land there in 1836, alongside property owned by his brother Moses Larimer (1804-1857).

John Larimer, 1794-1843

When Rachel died at 38, he had her buried in Eldridge Cemetery. Two years later, he remarried to Nancy Orr, in Fairfield county, OH, and brought her back to Wabash, along with her three children.

In 1843, John died from "an infection of his throat caused by a deer bone splinter which lodged there," and is buried in Eldridge Cemetery, Millersburg, IN.

John's father Isaac Larimer served in the War of 1812, part of Capt. George Sanderson's Company from Fairfield, OH. Others in the Larimer family and related families also served in the same company, including: Robert and James Larimer (John's brothers) and Samuel Work (part of the family that John's sister Cynthia Hanley Larimer married into).