52 Ancestors: #40 - Jacob FOLAND

Amy Johnson Crow of No Story Too Small has issued a challenge:  write one blog post each week devoted to a specific ancestor.  It can be a story, a biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem – anything that focuses on one ancestor.

My 4X great-grandfather Jacob FOLAND was the third generation of Folands born in America and the second to be born in Virginia.  Jacob’s great-grandfather Johan Phillip Foland arrived in New York in 1715, at the age of 12.  Nine years later he married Eva Switselaar, also a German immigrant.  While they remained in New York for the rest of their lives, their son Jacob joined the migration of Germans moving south along the east coast.

Before 1755, Jacob and his bride Anna Zufelt settled in Rockingham County, Virginia where they raised their family.  Their son Jacob Valentine Foland was born there in 1756.  Church records for the Rader Lutheran Church suggest the family lived in or near what is now Timberville, Virginia. 

Valentine lived his entire life in Rockingham County, but perhaps it was during the Revolutionary War that he wound up in Frederick, Maryland where he met and married a nice German girl, Anna Christina Schuckmaeninn.  They married in 1775 and raised about 15 children, among them my 4X great-grandfather Jacob. 

Flag from Fort McHenry War of 1812
from wikimedia commons

Jacob was born in February 1786.  At age 19 he married Mary Elizabeth Hinkle, and the two raised thirteen children.  In 1814, Jacob was drafted into the Virginia Militia engaged in “Mr. Madison’s War,” the unpopular War of 1812.  He served as a private under Captain Reuben Moore for 60 days between September 1 and December 1.  How quickly new recruits were sent into battle is not known, but the timing was right for Jacob to have been a part of the defense of Fort McHenry, preventing the British from entering the Baltimore Harbor.  This was the battle that inspired “The Star Spangled Banner” which became our national anthem.

Jacob mustered out at Camp Crossroads near Baltimore, Maryland, and headed back to Rockingham County.

Jacob Foland's discharge from the Virginia Militia

 He qualified for bounty land, but I’m not positive he applied for it.  In fact, the Folands remained in Virginia until sometime after 1835 when the whole clan –except one – took off for Jefferson County, Tennessee.  The lone exception was Helena, my 3X great-grandmother who married William EPPARD in 1835.

The rest of the Folands settled in Tennessee, Indiana, or Missouri.  Jacob died in Tennessee on September 8, 1846.  Fortunately his wife Elizabeth lived long enough to see the Act of February 1871 which granted pensions to widows of servicemen from the War of 1812 based on service alone, provided they had served sixty days and were honorably discharged.  Before then, only those whose husbands had died in service received any pension. 

Elizabeth Foland was 82 when she began jumping through the government’s hoops.  The pension file contains over twenty pages, but the best tidbit is the description of her address: 

Her P.O. is Erie, Roane Co, Tenn, her domicile or place of abode
is on wagon road leading from Kingston to Athens, & 16 miles from Kingston.

Kingston is just west of Knoxville, Tennessee.  If the Folands were alive today, no doubt they would vacation in Gatlinburg and visit the stomping grounds of Dolly Parton in Pigeon Forge. 

THREE GENERATIONS:

Jacob FOLAND ( 14 Feb 1786 Virginia – 08 Sep 1846 Jefferson City, Jefferson, TN ) & Mary Elizabeth HINKLE  (15 May 1789 Virginia – 12 Dec 1876 Jefferson, TN)   Feb 1807 Shenandoah Co, VA

1.  Maria FOLAND ( 1807 Rockingham Co, VA – 1812 Rockingham Co, VA )

2.  Valentine FOLAND ( 20 May 1810 Rockingham Co, VA – 31 Oct 1893 Indianapolis, IN ) & Jane Ann SMITH 07 Mar 1855 Jefferson Co, TN

3.  Nimrod FOLAND ( 13 Dec 1812 Rockingham Co, VA - Before 1850 Jefferson Co, TN ) & m1) Lucretia BAUGHER ( 1814 Rockingham Co, VA – 1840 Jefferson Co, TN)  11 Dec 1834 Rockingham Co, VA ; & m2) Emeline HINKLE 23 Jun 1842 Jefferson Co, TN

4.  Solomon FOLAND ( 1814 Rockingham Co, VA – Before 1900 Indiana ) & Sarah Belle FRANCISCO (1824 – 1905 )  19 Aug 1844 Montgomery Co, OH

5.  Helena FOLAND ( 02 Apr 1818 Rockingham Co, VA – 1880 Page Co, VA ) & William EPPARD ( 1803 Rockingham Co, Va – 24 Feb 1872 Page Co, VA )  24 Dec 1835 Rockingham Co, VA

• Thomas Alfred EPPARD ( 30 Jan 1837 Page Co, VA – 19 Jun 1908 Page Co, VA ) & m1) Mary Jane “Polly” MONGER  (15 Apr 1846 Rockingham Co, VA – 20 Mar 1884 Page Co, VA ) 10 Sep 1865 Rockingham Co, VA ; & m2) Elizbeth HAM (08 May 1846 Page Co, VA – 02 Jan 1903 Page Co, VA ) 08 Apr 1886 Page Co, VA ; & m3) Annie MERICA 14 Nov 1907 Page Co, VA
• George Harvey EPPARD ( Sep 1839 Rockingham Co, VA – 13 Jan 1917 Rockingham Co, VA ) & Segourney F. SHIFLETT (1851 Virginia – 09 Feb 1926 Washington D.C.)  28 May 1870 Rockingham Co, VA
• Sarah Elizabeth “Betty” EPPARD ( 1843 Rockingham Co, VA – 18 Mar 1924 ) & William Lewis BAKER ( 1837 – 13 Apr 1905 ) 24 Sep 1869 Rockingham Co, VA
• William Henry EPPARD ( Jan 1850 Page Co, VA – 14 Aug 1916 Muncie, IN ) & Pamela Ann ROGERS (03 Aug 1848 Rockingham Co, VA – 22 Apr 1939 Page Co, VA )  16 Sep 1867 Page Co, VA

6.  Esau FOLAND ( 1820 Rockingham Co, VA – 1897 Indiana) & Jeanette A. MCDEVITT  01 Jan 1873 Wayne Co, IN

7.  Sarah FOLAND ( 1823 Rockingham Co, VA – 1892 Missouri ) & William J. PUTNAM 18 Sep 1847 Jefferson Co, TN

8.  Henrietta FOLAND ( After 1825 Rockingham Co, Virginia – )

9.  Matilda FOLAND ( 19 Jan 1825 Rockingham Co, VA – 28 Dec 1903 Roane, TN ) & William B. SELLERS  Jan 1852 Jefferson Co, TN

10.  Erasmus FOLAND ( 17 May 1826 Rockingham Co, VA – 29 Dec 1891 Vernon Co, MO ) & m1) Mary Ann TUCKER  (10 Feb 1837 Kentucky – 1878 Vernon Co, MO )  15 Jun 1858 Vernon Co, MO ; & m2) Ida Wentworth ANDERSON ( 29 May 1858 Kentucky – 02 Feb 1927 Vernon Co, MO )

11.  Harriet FOLAND ( 18 Oct 1827 Rockingham Co, VA – 26 Jan 1880 Jefferson Co, TN ) & John SELLERS  Dec 1850 Jefferson Co, TN

12.  William FOLAND ( 1832 Rockingham Co, VA – 1885 Jefferson Co, TN ) & Mary SMITH  17 Jun 1848  Jefferson Co, TN

13.  Jacob FOLAND ( 1833 Rockingham Co, VA – 1925 Vernon Co, MO ) & Sarah Elizabeth JONES  05 Feb 1857 Jefferson Co, TN

© 2014, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.