I believe that Cintha Hall was the fourth daughter born to Thomas and Sarah Mily (Williams) Hall. Cintha’s given name may have been Cynthia. Census records and the Sarah Literal notebooks all refer to her as Cintha, Cyntha, and Sintha. Her name is listed as Cynthia in the newspaper obituary of one of her daughters, on the death certificate of another daughter, and on one deed record relating to the sale of property by Cintha and her husband.
Census records consistently list Alabama as Cintha’s place of birth. The 1850 and 1860 census records suggest that Cintha was born about 1819-20, while the 1870 and 1880 census records suggest a birth date of 1817-18. Cintha's death record does not list the date of her birth, but lists her date of death, and her age at death in years. The death record was apparently in error regarding her age at death, as her date of death and age provides a calculated date of birth of 1809‑1810. I suspect that the error was a 10‑year error in her age, suggesting that Cintha was born in 1819 or 1820.
The 1840 census record for the household of Cintha’s mother, Sarah Hall, includes a female aged 15-20, who I suspect was Cintha Hall. If this assumption is true, the 1840 census suggests a birth date for Cintha of 1820-1825. Until more accurate information becomes available, I will assume that Cintha Hall was born in Alabama about 1820.
Cintha was probably the first of the children of Thomas and Sarah Hall be born after they moved their family from Tennessee to Alabama. We suspect that Cintha’s father, Thomas Hall, died while Cintha was a young child. There is every reason to suspect that Cintha was raised by her mother on Larkins Fork, in the northwest corner of Jackson County, Alabama. And it was probably on Larkins Fork that Cintha met and married John R. Brewer.
We have no record of Cintha’s marriage to John, but speculate that they were married approximately 1838. That approximation is based solely on the fact that the oldest child in their household in 1850, a daughter they named Celia Ann, was born in Alabama in 1839 or 1840. And a marriage date earlier than 1838 seems unlikely, based on the fact that John was mustered out of the service in September of 1837. If they were married in 1838, John would have been about 19 years old, and Cintha about 18. We don't have any proof of where they were married, but it seems safe to assume that they were married in the Larkins Fork area, in Jackson County, Alabama. We have no way to confirm this, as the marriage records of Jackson County prior to 1851 were destroyed by a courthouse fire.
Census records consistently list Alabama as John R. Brewer’s place of birth. More specifically, there is some evidence to suggest that John was either born in the area that is today Jackson County, or moved there at a very early age. On the basis of John’s military service in 1836 and 1837, he later applied for a government pension. John’s pension application was rejected. However, after John’s death, his second wife applied for, and received, a widow's pension, based on John’s military service. The pension file created by John’s attempt to obtain a pension, and his second wife’s successful application for a pension, provides a number of helpful documents. John enlisted in the military at approximately 18 years of age. In an affidavit he signed in 1883 in pursuit of a service pension, John stated that for 18 years preceding his enlistment in September of 1836, “I resided in Jackson County Alabama my post-office was Larkins Fork". Larkins Fork was a small village located near the confluence of a creek called Larkins Fork with the Paint Rock River, near the current site of Swaim, Alabama. Finally, in an affidavit signed by John R. Brewer's second wife after his death, she stated "that Mr. Brewer claimed he was born in the state of Alabama, the exact date being in doubt, but supposed to be about the year 1817".
I suspect that John R. Brewer also grew up in the Larkins Fork area. From his pension application, we know that John enlisted for service in the Seminole War on September 8, 1836. I don’t have confirmation of my suspicion, but at this point I have reason to believe that John may have enlisted at Bellefonte, which was then the county seat for Jackson County, Alabama. The conflict in which John fought is referred to in the records of the men who served as the Seminole War, the Florida Indian War, or the Creek War. But these various terms all describe a single extended conflict—one the historians refer to as the Second Seminole War. The World Book Encyclopedia describes the conflict as follows:
“The Seminole originally belonged to the Creek confederation of tribes, and lived in what are now Alabama and Georgia. But, in the early 1700’s, they moved into Florida, then occupied by the Spanish. They became known as Seminole, meaning runaways. The English took Florida in 1763, and often incited the Seminole against American settlers. Black slaves who escaped from their masters sometimes found safety with the Seminole. For these reasons, American forces under Andrew Jackson invaded Florida in 1818. This first Seminole War ended in defeat for the Seminole in that year.
“The United States acquired Florida in 1819, and began urging the Indians there to sell their lands and move to Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) along with other southeastern tribes. Some Seminole leaders signed a treaty in 1832, and part of the tribe moved. They became one of the Five Civilized Tribes. But other members of the tribe refused to recognize the treaty, and fled into the Florida swamps. The Second Seminole War, fought to force the Seminole west, began in 1835 and lasted for seven years. It cost the United States 1,500 men and more than $20 million. Osceola led the Seminole until he was tricked into discussing peace terms under a flag of truce with General Thomas Jesup. Instead, Jesup seized and imprisoned the Seminole Indian chief, who died in prison in 1838. Although many of the Indians finally agreed to move west to join their fellow tribe members in Indian Territory, a small group remained in the Everglades of Florida.”
John R. Brewer was one of many men from north Alabama who served in this Indian War. John served as a Private in Captain Joshua Scurlock's Company (also referred to as the 5th Company), in Caulfield's Battalion of Alabama Mounted Volunteers. After serving for a year, John was discharged on September 13, 1837. Affidavits filed in pursuit of John's claim for a pension indicate that "he was ruptured in the Seminole War...in both right & left side by being thrown upon the horn of his sadle while in actual service in said war about the 25th day of January of the year 1837" ... "at Coopertown Florida".
In an addidavit filed by his widow after his death, John's widow indicated "that among the papers of her late husband, John R. Brewer, she finds a receipt, in his own handwriting...that James Hendon, whose P. O. address is Martin's Creek, Sharp Co., Ark., served with Mr. Brewer during the Florida Indian war in Shurlock's Company of Alabama Mounted Militia".
There is some evidence that John R. Brewer returned to the Larkins Fork area after the completion of his military service. In an 1883 affidavit, John stated that after his discharge (in September of 1837), he resided for about three years in the same place, with the same Post Office, where he had lived prior to his enlistment (Larkins Fork, in Jackson County).
In that same affidavit, John also stated that he moved to Ripley County, Missouri in 1840. John R. Brewer doesn't appear in the 1840 census of either Jackson County, Alabama, or Ripley County, Missouri. It is possible that he left Alabama before the 1840 census of Jackson County was enumerated, and arrived in Missouri after the 1840 Ripley County census was enumerated. But I believe that another possibility is more likely. The household of Cintha’s mother, Sarah Hall, was listed in the 1840 census of Jackson County. The household consisted of one female aged 40‑50, one female aged 15‑20, one male aged 20‑30, and one female under five years of age. If we assume that Cintha was born about 1820, the ages of the four residents of this household would match the ages of Sarah Hall, Cintha (Hall) Brewer, John R. Brewer, and the daughter born to John and Cintha Brewer about 1839 or 1840. Cintha may have been the last of Sarah Hall's children to marry. Rather than leave her mother to live alone, it would have been logical for John and Cintha to live with Cintha's mother following their marriage.
When John and Cintha migrated from Jackson County to Ripley County in 1840, they did not make the trip alone. At the very least, they were accompanied by two of Cintha’s sisters, Elizabeth and Lydia, and their families. See Josiah Stogsdill and Lydia Hall for an account of their journey to Missouri. It is likely that other family members made the trip with them.
We don't know precisely where John and Cintha Brewer settled when they first came to Missouri. John stated, in his affidavit, that he "came to Ripley Co Mo which this county of Oregon was taken from...and resided here until 1848 Jobe P.O.". This would seem to suggest that he lived in that portion of Ripley County that became Oregon County in 1845, and that he lived in that area served by the Post Office of Jobe. The Jobe Post Office was located approximately two and one-half miles east of the present site of Myrtle, Missouri.
Though John and Cintha had only one young child with them when they made the journey from Alabama to Missouri, their family grew once they settled down in Ripley County. Sarah Elizabeth was born in September of 1842, and Margaret was born in 1844 or 1845. Another daughter, Mary Jane, was born in Oregon County in February of 1848.
John's affidavit states that in 1848 he "went to Dade County, Missouri resided there 18 years my P. O. adress was Rock Prarie". The family was probably living in Dade County when another daughter, Rebecca M. Brewer, was born in November or December of 1849.
In October of 1850, the census of Dade County included the household of John R. and Cintha Brewer. Their household consisted of John and Cintha, their five children, as well as Cintha’s mother, Sarah Hall. In the census records, their household was separated by only three other households from that of Cintha’s brother-in-law and sister, Josiah and Lydia Stogsdill.
The early land records of Dade County provide evidence of the location where John and Cintha made their home in Dade County. In an affidavit signed by Cintha after John's death, Cintha stated that "Mr. Brewer, about the year 1851 or 52, received a bounty land warrant". An Act of Congress dated September 28, 1850, authorized the issuance of bounty land warrants to certain officers and soldiers who were engaged in the military service of the United States. John Brewer applied for, and received, a bounty land warrant for 160 acres of land, based on his service in Captain Scurlock’s Company in the Florida War. On December 3, 1851, John used this bounty land warrant to purchase 160 acres of land in the southeast corner of Dade County. This tract[1] is located two miles south and two miles east of Everton, Missouri. The farm was one mile south and one mile east of the Sinking Creek Baptist Church. The U. S. patent for this land was issued on August 4, 1852.
To the best of our knowledge, this was the first land that John R. Brewer ever purchased. Until this purchase, it is probably safe to assume that John and his family lived, as most families did, as squatters. That is to say, they lived on public land that had no private owner.
In January of 1853, John and Cintha became parents again with the birth of Martha Emily. Another son, John W., was born in 1854 or 1855.
About four years after John purchased his 160-acre Dade County farm, he purchased an additional 40 acres of public land[2] from the U. S. Government. This second tract was located about one mile south, and one mile east, of the tract John purchased in 1851. John paid cash for this land, which he purchased on November 2(1), 1855. The U. S. patent for this land was issued on May 15, 1857.
The last of the children of John and Cintha Brewer, a son they named James Thomas, was born approximately 1857.
When the next census of Dade County was taken in 1860, John and Cintha were listed as residents of Polk Township. John valued his real estate at $1500, and his personal property at $750. The John Brewer household consisted of John and Cintha, and seven of their eight children. Their oldest daughter, Celia, married approximately 1857, and was living with her husband and baby daughter about 40 miles south of John and Cintha, near Capps Creek, in Newton County (see Celia Ann Brewer). It appears that John and Cintha still lived in the same neighborhood as Josiah and Lydia Stogsdill, as their households were separated by only seven other households in the census records. But, Cintha’s mother was no longer living with John and Cintha. Instead, Sarah Hall was listed as a member of the Josiah Stogsdill household.
John and Cintha apparently survived the Civil War, fought between 1861 and 1865, as residents of Dade County. John was 42 years old when the war began. In one of his affidavits in pursuit of a pension, John stated "I never voted for Secession or aided in the rebellion that took place from 1861 to 1865". This may not be totally true, however. In an affidavit completed by his second wife after his death, John’s widow addressed his service in Alabama during the Indian Wars. In doing so, she stated "that Mr. Brewer never rendered any other military or naval service, so far as she knows, except about six months service in Missouri State Guard of the Confederate States Army, at the termination of which he took the oath of allegiance to the United States". A search of Civil War service records by the Missouri State Archives did not turn up any record of military service by John R. Brewer. But, we know that many of the Dade County residents fought with the Missouri State Guard. Unfortunately, few records of the men who served in the Missouri State Guard survived. The Fifth Infantry Regiment, Eighth Division, Missouri State Guard, was primarily raised in Dade County in July of 1861. This regiment participated in the Missouri engagements at Carthage, Wilson’s Creek, Dry Wood Creek, Lexington and at Pea Ridge, Arkansas. It is certainly possible that John R. Brewer served as a member of this regiment.
To date, we have discovered only one record confirming John R. Brewer’s residency in Dade County during the Civil War years. When his wife’s brother-in-law, Josiah Stogsdill, was arrested by the Provost Marshal about mid-way through the war, Josiah was required to post a $2000 bond in order to obtain his release from prison. John R. Brewer and James Taylor signed Josiah’s $2000 bond, as sureties, on January 24, 1863 (see Josiah Stogsdill and Lydia Hall).
John Brewer stated in his 1883 pension application that he moved to Dade County in 1848, lived there for 18 years, "then came back to Oregon Co Mo". Among the Dade County land records is a deed dated September 4, 1865, by which John R. Brewer sold the 200 acres of land he had purchased from the U. S. Government in 1851 and 1855. He sold the land for $1200. John signed the deed of sale "John R. Brewer". Cintha apparently could not write her name, and signed the deed with her "X". Her name was recorded by the Dade County Recorder as "Cynthia Brewer".
At least one of John R. Brewer’s children may have been reluctant to move from Dade County back to Oregon County. On September 28, a Mary Jane Brewer was married in Dade County to William Bennett. William Bennett was the son of Welcome Bennett and Elizabeth ‘Betsy’ Stogsdill, and was about 19 years old. I believe that the Mary Jane Brewer who William married was John R. Brewer’s 17-year-old daughter.
Among the Oregon County land records is a deed dated November 9, 1865, by which John R. Brewer purchased 40 acres of land from Elijah Holt for $60. This tract of land was located one mile west and one‑half mile north of the current site of Myrtle, Missouri[3]. The Dade County and Oregon County deeds strongly suggest that John and Cintha Brewer moved from Dade County to Oregon County in the fall of 1865, five to seven months after the end of the Civil War.
Eight days later, on November 17, John purchased 130.41 acres of land from Joseph T. and Rozita Catherine Holt for $375. The land consisted of two tracts. One tract of roughly 40 acres was located about one mile north and three miles east of the present site of Myrtle. The second tract, of about 90 acres, was located about one mile north and two miles east of Myrtle[4].
John and Cintha Brewer celebrated the marriage of a third child in January of 1867, when Sarah Elizabeth was married to William A. Campbell in Oregon County. In December of 1868, their 15-year-old daughter, Martha Emily, married Caleb Jobe. And, in January of 1870, their 21-year-old daughter, Mary Jane, whose first marriage to William Bennett ended in divorce, married Reverend Hiram Clinton Kirkpatrick, who had been ordained only four months earlier as a Baptist minister.
John R. Brewer was apparently a well-known and respected member of his community in Oregon County, as he was serving as a Justice of the Peace in 1869. When John and Cintha were enumerated in the 1870 census of Oregon County, John valued his real estate at $800, and his personal property at $800. To date, we have located only two deeds conveying Oregon County land to John R. Brewer prior to 1870, for the total purchase price of $435. The fact that John sold his Dade County land for $1200 in 1865, and valued his Oregon County land at $800 in 1870, suggests that he probably purchased additional land between 1865 and 1870.
Cintha (Hall) Brewer's mother also moved from Dade County back to Oregon County between 1860 and 1870. The John Brewer household in 1870 consisted of John and Cintha, their three unmarried children, and Cintha’s mother, Sarah, who was listed as 81 years of age.
We can speculate about the reappearance of Sarah Hall in the John R. Brewer household in 1870. In 1860, Sarah was living with the Josiah and Lydia Stogsdill family in Dade County. Josiah Stogsdill died in 1867, and Lydia Stogsdill died in 1869. Following their deaths, the Josiah Stogsdill household no longer existed, and Sarah may have been without a home in Dade County. That would explain her move back to Oregon County to live with her daughter, Cintha.
On February 23, 1872, John and Cintha sold 40 acres of land to George W. Robertson for $55[5]. This land probably abutted the 90-acre tract that John R. Brewer purchased in November of 1865, but I don’t know when or how John obtained title to this 40-acre tract.
Dorothy Brengartner reports an Oregon County deed dated February 21, 1873, by which John R. Brewer purchased 75 acres of land from Joseph and Elizabeth C. Brewer for $500[6]. This tract of land is located two miles east of the current site of Myrtle.
In June of 1873, 23-year-old Rebecca M. Brewer, the youngest daughter of John and Cintha, was married to William T. Wilkerson. Their son, John W. Brewer, was married to Alice M. Holt in February of 1874. And, in March of 1878, their youngest son, James Thomas Brewer, married Sarah Louise Sammons. All three of these marriages were performed in Oregon County.
On June 24, 1878, John R. Brewer was issued a patent for an additional 27.77 acres of Oregon County land[7]. This lot was located two miles east and one mile north of Myrtle, immediately north of the 90-acre tract that John purchased in November of 1865. While the patent was issued in June of 1878, John obtained the 27.77 acres of land under the Homestead Act of 1862, so it is likely that he established residence on the land approximately 1872.
In June of 1880, John and Cintha again appeared in the census of Oregon County. Their household was composed of four generations of Cintha’s family. In addition to John and Cintha, the household included their daughter Rebecca (now separated or divorced from her husband), Rebecca’s three young children, and Cintha’s mother, Sarah Hall.
Approximately 1883, John W. Brewer, oldest son of John R. and Cintha, passed away at about 28 years of age, leaving a widow and several young children.
On June 14, 1883, John R. Brewer filed his application for an Invalid Pension, based on his military service in 1836 and 1837. His application alleges "hernia, both sides". The affidavits submitted in pursuit of John R. Brewer's claim for a pension suggest that he was in poor health. In one of his 1883 affidavits, John stated that he had "not been able to work at manual labor for the last thirty years". In another affidavit, John described his injury: "my wound was in the right groin of my body & extending to near my naval & that since that time said wound has extended to & now affects the left side of my body".
The affidavit, signed by John R. Brewer's own hand at Jobe, Missouri, in the summer of 1883, suggests that John had continued to live in Oregon County since moving back there from Dade County about 1865.
An affidavit signed by M. C. Nixon, "a Reputabel Physician" from Myrtle, Missouri, stated that "I have known John R. Brewer three years, and know that his disabilities are such that he is rendered entirely dependant at the mercy of his neighbours and friends. I further state that his physical ailments and disabilities are such that he is liable to dye at anytime". Dr. Nixon, in reference to John, also mentioned "his relatives he lives with". This may have been a reference to John’s son-in-law and daughter, Hiram C. and Mary Jane (Brewer) Kirkpatrick, as we have evidence that John R. Brewer was living with them when he died eight years later.
On page 513 of Oregon County Deed Book 15, there is a deed by which John R. Brewer purchased about four acres of land[8] from Berry F. Wilkerson, and his wife, Sintha Ann Wilkerson. Dorothy Brengartner reports another Oregon County deed, also dated December 8, 1883, by which "John R. Brewer and Sintha Brewer" sold a rectangular tract of land, comprising four acres, to Oliver S. Wilkerson for $12.00. The land was located in the extreme southeast corner of Section 31 in Township 22 North of Range 2 West, about two and one-half miles east of Myrtle. Did John R. and Cintha Brewer, on December 8, purchase four acres of land from Berry Farmer Wilkerson, and sell a different four acres of land in the same section to Berry’s son, Oliver S. Wilkerson?
On October 10 of 1884, John R. and "Sintha" Brewer sold the 27.77 acres that John obtained by homestead to their youngest son, James T. Brewer, for $50. John R. Brewer signed the deed of sale, while "Sintha" make her mark.
We know that John R. Brewer was literate. One of the records in his pension file is a letter, written in his own shaky handwriting. The letter, written to the Commissioner of Pensions four years after John first filed his pension application, clearly conveys his frustration with his lack of success in obtaining a pension. See John R. Brewer's letter.
An early Oregon County death record indicates that Cintha Brewer died at Myrtle on March 1, 1888, less than a year after John wrote his letter to the Commissioner of Pensions. Cintha’s death record lists the cause of her death as general debility, and indicates that she was buried at Myrtle. No gravestone exists today.
There is a small discrepancy regarding the date of Cintha's death. In John R. Brewer's pension file, there is an affidavit, completed after John R. Brewer's death, and signed by H. C. Kirkpatrick, age 46, and J. M. Hall, age 50, in which they both stated that they were present at the death of John R. Brewer's first wife. A second affidavit, signed by H. C. Kirkpatrick, age 46, and O. S. Wilkerson, age 30, stated "that Sinthey Brewer former wife of J. R. Brewer died March 11th 1888 witness both present and assisted in her burial".
John was a widower for less than a year. His second marriage was to Mrs. Sarah Angeline (Pierce) Redwine Douglas. H. C. Kirkpatrick and J. M. Hall stated, in an affidavit provided in support for Sarah's claim for a Widow's Pension after John’s death, that Sarah was "recognised as the widdow of Wm Duglis". In an affidavit in her pension application file, Sarah stated "that she first met Mr. Brewer, her late husband, during month of October, 1888, being at that time a resident of Oregon County, Mo.: that Mr. Brewer's personal appearance at that time was as follows: Height, about six feet: complexion, fair: color of hair, white: color of eyes, blue.....that Mr. Brewer resided in Oregon County, Mo., when she first met him in 1888, and continued to reside there until his death..."
Sarah Angeline Pierce was probably born in Tennessee on October 22, 1837. She had been married twice before her marriage to John R. Brewer. Sarah’s first marriage was to Benjamin Franklin ‘Frank’ Redwine, son of Travis Redwine and Sally Ann Harrison. Sarah Pierce was 22 years old when she and Benjamin Redwine were married in Randolph County, Arkansas, on July 19, 1860. Sixteen months after their marriage, on November 17, 1861, Frank Redwine was mustered into service as a Private in Ballard's Company, 30-day Volunteers (CSA). This Company was raised in Randolph County. The company was mustered into Confederate service on November 17, and discharged 30 days later, on December 17, 1861, at Pitman’s Ferry, Arkansas. After his discharge, I believe that Frank enlisted as a Private in Company K of the 6th Missouri Infantry (CSA), and was probably with that regiment when he died at Okolona, Mississippi, on September 9, 1862, leaving Sarah a 24-year-old widow with one child.
Sarah did not remarry until October 20, 1869, when she was wed to William Douglas. Sarah and William Douglas were also married in Randolph County, Arkansas. William had at least five children from a prior marriage, and William and Sarah later had one son, John M. Douglas. It was after William Douglas’ death that Sarah met and married John R. Brewer.
John R. Brewer and Sarah (Pierce) Redwine Douglas were married at Supply, in Randolph County, Arkansas. In support of Sarah’s later claim for a pension, the Randolph County Clerk provided a facsimile of their Marriage License and Certificate of Marriage. That facsimile indicates that their marriage license was issued on January 17, 1889, to John R. Brewer, age 73, of Davidson Township, Randolph County, and to Mrs. Sarah A. Douglass, age 52, also of Davidson Township. That same document indicates that they were married on January 24, 1889, by Elder John Yarbrow, and that their marriage license was filed in the office of the Randolph County Clerk on February 5, 1889.
Statements in John R. Brewer's pension file, signed by John on April 16 and July 20, 1889, indicate that he was still trying to obtain a pension as an invalid. In the April 16 affidavit, written by the Clerk of the Oregon County Court, John swore "that he was ruptured in the Seminole war AD 1837, in both right & left side by being thrown upon the horn of his sadle while in actual service in said war about the 25th day of January of the year 1837 as aforsaid, further that the said injuries has so disabled him that he cant do half the manual labor that he could have done had he not received such injuries". But John was never able to provide evidence that his injuries existed on the date of his discharge from service, and his claim for a pension was rejected, reopened, and eventually rejected a second time.
The same year that John R. Brewer remarried, and struggled in his attempt to obtain a pension, he lost his youngest son. James Thomas Brewer died in 1889, at approximately 32 years of age, leaving a wife and three young children.
An Oregon County deed dated April 9, 1890, documents the sale of 90 acres of land to Hiram C. Kirkpatrick by John R. Brewer and "Sarah A. Brewer his wife". The price of the land was $250. Hiram C. Kirkpatrick was John R. Brewer's son‑in‑law, and this tract of land[9] was adjacent to the land John R. and Cintha Brewer sold to their youngest son, James T. Brewer, in 1884.
John R. Brewer's gravestone indicates that John died on December 29, 1891. However, this date may not be correct. John's widow, in her claim for a widow's pension less than a year after her husband's death, stated that John died at Myrtle, Missouri, on December 19, 1891. An accompanying affidavit, provided by John Brewer’s son-in-law, H. C. Kirkpatrick, age 46, and by J. M. Hall, age 50, who listed their post office address as Myrtle, Missouri, stated that John R. Brewer died at 2:00 p.m. on December 19, 1891. In that same affidavit, H. C. Kirkpatrick and J. M. Hall also stated "that they were both attendants at the bed of J. R. Brewer and saw him die and helped bury him his home at the time of his deth being with the said H. C. Kirkpatrick and the said J. M. Hall a near neighbor". John is buried in the Walnut Grove cemetery near Elm Store, Arkansas, not far from Myrtle.
On September 10, 1892, John Brewer's widow, Sarah A. Brewer, completed a Declaration for Widow's Pension, Indian War. Sarah listed her residence as Supply, in Randolph County, Arkansas. She signed the Declaration with her mark. The pension certificate was issued June 27, 1893, and Sarah was granted the standard pension of $8.00 per month, commencing July 27, 1892, the effective date of the Act authorizing the pensions.
Sometime between 1910 and 1920, Sarah moved to Pine Bluff, Arkansas, to live with the family of her son from her second marriage, John M. Douglas.
At some point after it was first granted, Sarah's pension was increased to $12 per month. And, when a new pension act was passed on May 1, 1920, Sarah apparently wrote to her Representative in an attempt to have the amount of her pension increased again. Her request was denied, as she was receiving the maximum pension provided under the law for widows of the Indian wars. Sarah listed her mailing address in 1920 as Reyno, Arkansas.
In April of 1930, Sarah was still living with the family of her son, John M. Douglas, in Pine Bluff. Sarah (Pierce) Redwine Douglas Brewer died on September 2, 1930, at the age of 92, and was buried in the Johnston Cemetery, located southwest of Reno, in Randolph County, Arkansas.
NOTE TO READERS: This biographical sketch was last revised in November of 2011. If you are interested in updates to this information, have questions about the content, or can add anything to the material provided by this sketch, please contact me at [email protected].
[1] The land was described as the southeast quarter of Section 22 in Township 30 of Range 25,
[2] This land was described as the southwest quarter of the southwest quarter of Section 25 in Township 30 of Range 25,
[3] The land was described as the Southwest quarter of the Northwest quarter of Section 34 in Township 22 North of Range 3 West
[4] The land was described as the S 1/2 of Lot #1 of the SW 1/4 of Section 29 and N 1/2 of Lot #1 & Lot #2 of the NW 1/4 of Section 31 in Township 22, Range 2.
[5] This tract was described as the SW Lot #1 in Section 30, Township 22, Range 2.
[6] The land was described as all parts of Lots #1 and #2 lying north of Mill Creek in the northwest quarter of Section 6 in Township 21 North of Range 2 West.
[7] The land was described as the South ½ of Lot #2 in the Southwest ¼ of Section 30 in Township 22 North of Range 2 West.
[8] Described as part of Lot One in Section 31 of T22N in R2W commencing at the North West corner and running East ten chains thence South 3 chains thence West 10 chains thence North 3 chains to the beginning point.
[9] The land was described as the north one‑half of the Lot #1 of the northwest quarter and the Lot #2 of the northwest quarter of Section 31 in Township 22 North of Range 2 West, with the exception of four acres in the northeast corner of the northeast quarter of the northwest quarter of Section 31 deeded to B. F. Wilkerson, and part of Lot #1 in Section 31 commencing at the northwest corner and running east ten chains, thence south three chains, thence west ten chains, thence north three chains to the beginning place.