Jacob Tanner

Jacob Tanner, my 5^th great-grandfather, and father of Frederick, was a Revolutionary War veteran. His family asserts that he died in 1781 (or early in 1782) of wounds received at the Battle of Yorktown. He was, certainly, a member of the Virginia militia. His wife, Dorothy (Zimmerman), received a pension of $26.66 per year for his service. (From a family tree page of an unidentified someone: “Dorothy Zimmerman had a hard life in that she lost her husband, Jacob, when she was about forty years old with six youngsters in the home. I believe she was also physically handicapped. Jacob had been drafted in 1781 and died while he was in the army, just after the victory at Yorktown. In 1794, Dorothy filed a petition with the House of Delegates of Virginia asking for a pension which was granted.” It isn’t only the soldiers who are the heroes.)

Jacob’s brother, Christopher, was also killed at the Battle of Yorktown. His name is on the monument at the National Park there: Sergeant Christopher Tanner. Only a few Americans  were killed at Yorktown (88, I think—though Jacob wouldn’t have been listed as a fatality of the battle). I think it is ironic that two of the fatalities were brothers.

Jacob and Christopher had 3 brothers: Frederick, John, and Abraham. All three are listed as members of various Virginia militia groups during the Revolution in Historical Register of Virginians in the Revolution. (Abraham had his request for a pension rejected—though he claimed he had fought at Petersburg during the war. I couldn’t figure out why he was rejected.)

GCBroyles52 includes this statement with his family tree of the Tanner family:

“In 1780 the Virginia Legislature passed an act requiring its counties to supply men for the Continental Army. These men would be divided into classes or divisions within the militia, each under an officer. Culpeper County had 106 classes with a total of 3,000 men.

“Many of those who signed up traced their origins to the Germanna Colonies. In fact, Jacob Tanner and his family were members of the Hebron Lutheran Church founded by members of those colonies.

“Tanner and his fellow militia members were part of the Siege of Yorktown, a combined assault involving American and French forces on land and sea. With the surrender of British forces under Lt. Gen. Lord Cornwallis, the British sued for peace. It proved to be the last major battle of the Revolutionary War.

“Of the American force of 8,000 regulars and 3,100 militia, only 88 men were killed and 301 wounded. 

“Jacob Tanner sustained wounds at the battle, and died shortly thereafter in Culpeper County.  He was 39.

 “His widow, Dorothy, was approved for an ongoing pension in 1802. The order was signed by James Monroe, governor of Virginia, Founding Father and future president. Dorothy lived out her life in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, dying in 1808.”

(By the way, for you Loughs, the Tanners are the ancestral line of my grandma, Susan Westcott Lough. Lydia Ann Tanner Wescott was Susan’s mother.)