SARAH BARKER BRANDON SWEENEY

Fact-Checking Stories About the So-Called "Mother of the Civil War"

Compiled by Linda Cunningham Fluharty.


An abundance of articles have been written about Sarah Barker Brandon, whose legal surname was Sweeney (also found as Swaney/Sweny). Many stories are laden with errors and embellishments, particularly those written after she was no longer able to speak for herself. This article, written in 1910, is the most common circulating on social media.

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The most sensationalized national stories about Sarah pertain to her age, how many children she gave birth to, and how many served in the Civil War. She was not 109 in 1910 or 111 years old in 1911, and she did not give birth to 23 children, 16 or 17 of whom served in the Civil War.

Despite the inaccuracies in publications, as well as questions unanswered, there is no doubt that Sarah was an interesting woman who lived a very long life. According to public records and her own statements, she was born in 1819, she married in 1835, divorced in 1856, remarried in 1863, and died in 1914. Based on this information, she was 95 at the time of her death.

Sarah had FIVE biological sons in the army during the Civil War: Hiram, Peter, John, Charles and Evan. Peter was Killed in Battle, and John died while a POW at Andersonville, Georgia. This refutes one article that said only two of her own sons served in the army during the war. In fact, two of her sons DIED while in the war. (Note: Hiram's birth year is in dispute and some descendants think he might have been a stepson.)

Sarah did raise at least some of her stepsons who served, but many articles erroneously state that she gave birth to all of them. Most of the names of her stepsons are not known, but in one article (1887) she named SIXTEEN SONS in the Civil War that is surely incorrect. Based on census records, some she named were actually too young to have served, and no records of their service are found.


SARAH'S LIFE

It is not known exactly when Sarah was born but SHE stated she was born on October 12, 1819 on Pipe Creek, a location near Powhatan Point, Belmont County, Ohio. She said her father was Elijah Barker. Her death certificate names her mother as Tebitha Peiat; family genealogies correct the name to Tabitha Piatt. Sarah said she was the youngest of 16 children.

On September 12, 1835, Sarah Barker married Charles Brandon. A number of articles say she married her 74-year-old husband when she was fifteen or sixteen, thus confirming her birth year of 1819.

MARRIAGE

In an 1887 biography, Sarah told an interesting history of her husband and his father. She stated that her husband, Charles, was born in England in 1761 and left for America when he was only 3 days old. She said, "When my husband was but three years old, he, with his father and eight other men, were en route up the river to join the forces of the celebrated frontier chief, Captain Foreman. The detachment was surprised by the Inidans, and eight of the nine men were killed, among the dead being my husband's father. - The ninth man escaped, but the lad who seventy later became my husband was taken captive by the redskins. - On the same day Captain Foreman and the main body of frontiersman, twenty-six in number, were surprised and massacred to a man. The date of the event and the names of the dead are inscribed on a stone in the Moundsville Cemetery, where the bones of the murdered men repose in one grave. - My husband was in captivity twelve years. In 1776, when he was fifteen years of age, he succeeded in making his escape, returning from Central Ohio, where he had been taken, to his old home on the banks of the Ohio. For many years he was an Indian fighter, hunter and scout in what is now Western Pennsylvania. Ohio and West Virginia, doing good service during the revolution."

For Sarah, in 1887, to have known such detail about the famous Foreman Massacre, it seems possible that there is at least some truth in the story told to her by her husband. Charles Brandon, Sr., however, is not named on any memorial or in any record on the subject.

Also in the 1887 article, Sarah imparted information about her husband's previous two marriages. She said he married Mary Meyers about 1790 and had two children, Josephine and Elizabeth. Mary died, and his next wife was Fannie Slusher with whom he had eighteen more children, before Fannie died between 1830 and 1835. Two of those children died, but Sarah said she gave birth to fifteen more children before divorcing Charles in 1856. She said thirty-three of her husband's children were living at the time of his death on January 6, 1866 at the age of 95. (1856 is also stated as his death year in articles, genealogies and on his gravestone.)

The fifteen children Sarah supposedly gave birth to are not all accounted for; some may have died.

Sarah is found in the census records of Belmont County, Ohio.

1850 Census, York Township, Belmont County, Ohio
Charles Branden, 67-M, Laborer & father of 29 children, b. Pa.
Sarah Branden, 30-F, Wife, b Ohio
Hirom Branden, 15-M, Laborer, b Ohio
Esteran Branden, 13-F, b Ohio
Peter Branden, 10-M, b Ohio
John Branden, 8-M, b Ohio
Charles Branden, 6-M, b Ohio
Evan Branden, 5-M, b Ohio
Andrew Branden, 2-M, b Ohio
Martin Branden, 18, Laborer, b Ohio [Sarah's stepson, Martin Van Buren Brandon]

According to documents in Sarah's 1879 application for a Dependent Mother's Civil War Pension, she petitioned for divorce from Charles Brandon for "extreme cruelty" in 1855; the divorce was final in the spring of 1856. The divorce document states she was given custody of their minor children, namely, Hiram, Pete, John, Charles, Evan, Reece, and Abraham.

1860 Census, Washington Township, Belmont County, Ohio
Sarah Brandon, 38-F, b Ohio
Abram Brandon, 7-M, b Ohio
David Brandon, 5-M, b Ohio
Wm. T. Brandon, 1-M, b Ohio
Mary Holiday, 17-F, b Ohio

In the aforementioned 1887 biography, Sarah stated that "sixteen of the boys" were in the army: Peter, two Johns, two named Charles, Evans, Josephus, Hiram, James, Van Buren, Jacob, Abraham, Alexander, David, Reese and Andrew. - Since she stated in her application for a pension that she had FIVE sons in the war - Hiram, Peter, Charles, Evan and John - the rest must have been her stepsons from her first marriage. Obviously, a few of her own sons named in the list, David, Abraham, and Alexander, were far too young to have served.

Sarah Brandon married William Swaney on April 2, 1863 in Belmont County, Ohio.

MARRIAGE

One of the "two Johns" in the Civil War was John Brandon, 19, one of Sarah's biological sons. According to the regimental history, he entered the army on September 6, 1861 to serve three years in Company "F" Fifteenth Ohio Infantry. He was captured at the battle of Chickamauga, Ga., September 19, 1863, and he died June 20, 1864 at Andersonville, Ga., Rebel Prison. His Service Record states his date of death as June 30, 1864. In 1879, Sarah applied for a Mother's Pension, based on the service and death of John Brandon.

pension index

DEPENDENT MOTHER'S PENSION FILE

Highlights gleaned from the pension application:

  • Charles Brandon, Sarah's husband, served in the Mexican War but never filed for a pension.
  • Sarah was granted a divorce from Charles Brandon in 1856 and changed her name, legally, to her maiden name, Sarah Barker. However, when she married William Sweeney/Swaney, he gave her name as Sarah Brandon and that is reflected on their 1863 marriage record.
  • Sarah had FIVE sons in the army during the Civil War: Hiram, Peter, John, Charles and Evan. Peter Brandon was killed in the Battle of Pittsburg Landing, John died in prison, and Evan, Hiram and Charles were wounded. Charles was captured at the same time as John.
  • Members of her family in 1864, stated in an affidavit, were Hiram Brandon, born July 27, 1835; Easter A. Brandon, born March 26, 1837; Peter Brandon, born January 14, 1840; John Brandon, born March 11, 1842 (died at Andersonville prison); Charles Brandon, born April 2, 1844; Evan Brandon, born July 15, 1846; Andrew Brandon, born September 15, 1848; Reese Brandon, born July 27, 1850; Abraham Brandon, born March 7, 1852; David Brandon, born July 15, 1854. [Alexander, born in 1861, isn't listed in this document.]
  • Second husband, William Sweeney, died in 1873.
  • Sarah lived in Belmont County, Ohio until 1884, at which time she moved to Moundsville, Marshall County, W.Va.
  • Sad letters from son, John Brandon, are included to show that she had depended on John for support. John was literate and quite articulate.
  • Only known daughter, Easter Ann Brooks, gave a deposition.

    Sarah's children are listed with the surname Sweny in the 1870 census.

    1870 Census, Mead Township, Belmont County, Ohio
    William Sweny, 57-M, Farmer, b Ohio
    Sarah Sweny, 51-F, Keeping House, b Ohio
    Charles Sweny, 26-M, Farm hand, b Ohio
    Andrew Sweny, 21-M, Farm hand, b Ohio
    Reece Sweny, 19-M, at home, b Ohio
    Abraham Sweny, 16-M, at home, b Ohio
    David Sweny, 13-M, attending school, b Ohio
    Alexander Sweny, 9-M, b Ohio

    The youngest son, Alexander, born in 1861, died in Wheeling, Ohio County, W.Va. in 1941. His parents are stated as Charles Brandon and Sarah Barker on his death record, based on information provided by a relative. Sarah had divorced Charles in 1856 shortly before his death, which was supposedly that same year.

  • SARAH

    Born at Pipe Creek, Belmont County, Ohio in 1819,
    Sarah died November 16, 1914 at Pipe Creek. Reports of her 100+ age are verifiably incorrect.

    SARAH

    Wheeling News-Register, November 17, 1914
    Submitted by Mary Coss Staley.

    Mrs. Sarah Brandon, known as the "Mother of the Civil War," died at her home in southern part of Belmont County, just across the river from here, last night, at the age of 113 years.

    Her death resulted from a broken hip, sustained five days ago.

    Mrs. Brandon was known all over southern Ohio as the Mother of 23 children, 22 of whom were boys. Sixteen of them saw service in the Civil War, fourteen on the Union side and two with the Confederacy.

    Most of them never returned home. One son, aged 84, not the first born, is living in Bellaire.

    Reports that Mrs. Brandon accompanied one of her sons to war is without foundation, and her title "Mother of the Civil War" was given to her because of the number of her sons who engaged in the conflict.


    KNOWN SONS IN THE CIVIL WAR

    The first three sons listed here are found in the Marshall County 1890 census of veterans and widows. Additional information added by this writer.

    BRANDON, Hiram, Private, Company "C", 38th OH Infantry. Enlisted 9/27/1864; discharged 6/10/1866 (Regimental history says he was d/c 6/10/1865). Address: Moundsville, WV. Disability Incurred: Leg poisoned. (Washington District) - Hiram, born July 27, 1835, per his mother's pension file, died June 30, 1919. His birth year is stated as 1829 in some genealogies and in the 1900 Federal Census. When he was drafted into the army to serve one year, he was supposedly 35.

    BRANDON, Charles, Private, Company "F", 15th OH Infantry. Enlisted 9/6/1861; discharged 1/19/1865. Address: Moundsville, WV. Disability Incurred: Rheumatism & Eczema. (Clay District) - He died in September 4, 1904 in Belmont County, Ohio.

    BRANDON, Evan, Private, Company "F", 15th OH Infantry. Enlisted 9/6/1861; discharged 11/21/1865. Address: Thompson, WV. Disability Incurred: Shot through right shoulder joint. (Clay District) He died on October 3, 1919 in Belmont County, Ohio. His name is also stated as IVAN and that is the spelling on his gravestone.

    PETER BRANDON, the son who died in battle, was in Company "E" 77th Ohio Infantry. The regimental history book indicates he was 21 when he entered service October 28, 1861 to serve 3 years. He was killed April 8, 1862 in the battle of Falling Timber, Tennessee.

    JOHN BRANDON entered the army on September 6, 1861 to serve three years in Company "F" Fifteenth Ohio Infantry. He was captured at the battle of Chickamauga, Ga., September 19, 1863, and he died June 20, 1864 at Andersonville, Ga., Rebel Prison. His Service Record states his date of death as June 30, 1864.

    MARTIN VAN BUREN BRANDON, the stepson living with Sarah and Charles in 1850, served in Company H, 58th Illinois Infantry Regiment, after first serving in Company "K 81st Illinois Infantry and Company "I" 6th Illinois Cavalry. He died in Missouri July 2, 1892.

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