Jonathan Fair

**Jonathan H. “John” Fair** (July 16, 1845 – January 13, 1908) served as a private in Company A, 13th Tennessee Volunteer Cavalry.

## Personal life

Jonathan Fair was born July 16, 1845 in Carter County, Tennessee to Sherrod and Amanda Jane (Hyder) Pharr. He married Elizabeth Fletcher (1847-1917) with whom he had 10 children.

## Civil War service

Fair enlisted as a private in Company A on September 22, 1863 in Carter County, Tennessee for a period of three years and mustered in October 28, 1863 at Strawberry Plains, Tennessee. He was appointed corporal on October 1, 1863 by order of Colonel Miller. Fair was promoted to sergeant on July 25, 1864. He was reduced to private March 27, 1865 by order of Lieutenant Colonel Stacy.

He is described as 18 years old, 5' 7" tall, dark complexion, gray eyes, dark hair, and by occupation a farmer.

Fair is listed as present for duty until March 29, 1865 when he was left sick “near” Elizabethton, Tennessee. By July 1865 he was transferred to U.S. General Hospital No. 1 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The date Fair returned to the regiment was not recorded.

When the regiment mustered out on September 5, 1865 at Knoxville, it was noted that he had last been paid to August 31, 1864, was owed $28.24 for clothing, had received a $25 bounty, and was owed a $75 bounty.

## Post-war life

### Pension issues

Fair applied for an invalid's pension on August 5, 1889 while living in Barber County, Kansas. His move to Kansas—sometime after March 1, 1885--was likely due to Kansas being one of the few states that paid Civil War veterans an additional pension. Fair's original pension application was approved in July 1891.

Both the *Medicine Lodge Cresset* and the *Barber County Index* briefly noted in early June 1893, that Fair was examined by the board of pension examiners for an increase to his pension. The increase was apparently denied. On May 25, 1894, a correspondent for the *Medicine Lodge Cresset*--known only as “Sincerity”--wrote:

> “[T]he pension office ordered Jonathan Fair to be examined by the board of examiners with a view to diminish the rate of pension he is getting. I ardently hope the result will be an increase of his pension. Jonathan Fair is a good citizen as well as an old soldier and rightly deserves every cent he is getting. I do not know any old soldier who in my judgment is getting more pension than he deserves, but on the contrary I do know several soldiers whom I believe to be justly entitled to an increase.”
>
>

Returning to Tennessee by 1896, Fair continued efforts to have his pension increased. *The Mountaineer* reported: “Jonathan Fair … [was] before the pension board Wednesday.” The following year, the *Morristown Republican* published a notice that many veterans, including Fair, had received increases to their pensions, courtesy of Representative W. C. Anderson.

### Death

He was admitted to Mountain Home National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers in Johnson City, Tennessee on July 24, 1907 diagnosed with arteriosclerosis and “viscaral growth, probably cancerous”. At the time of his admission, Fair was noted as a sergeant, which he was not at the time of his discharge, and his pension was $17 per month. Fair died at Mountain Home on January 13, 1908. He is buried at Jones Cemetery in Elizabethton. His wife applied for a widow's pension on February 17, 1908.

## Notes

1. ↑ His surname is spelled in military records as Pharr, but by 1880 was spelled “Fair” on all documents.
2. ↑ 1900 U.S. Census, 6th Civil District, Carter County, Tennessee.
3. ↑ See, Kansas Adjutant General's Office, Kansas Enrollment of Civil War Veterans, Book 42: Maryland and Tennessee, 1889.
4. ↑ *The Leavenworth Times*, July 21, 1891, p. 1, c. 3.
5. ↑ *Medicine Lodge Cresset*, June 9, 1893, p. 3, c. 3; *Barber County Index*, June 14, 1893, p. 3, c. 3.
6. ↑ *Medicine Lodge Cresset*, May 25, 1894, p. 3, c. 6. Fair was a resident of Sharon, Kansas at the time of this article.
7. ↑ *The Mountaineer* (Elizabethton, TN), May 22, 1896, p. 3, c. 2.
8. ↑ ”Hon. W. C. Anderson Has Made Many Soldiers Happy.”, *Morristown Republican*, February 27, 1897, p. 2, c. 6.