Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application File S. 3,727, for James Prim, North Carolina
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(3- 1776) 

Service
N. C. 

Prim, James 

Service 
S.3.727

Carded

Contents
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James Primm

1876 8
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State of Tennessee
Wilson County
Circuit Court
October Tour 1832
On this 25th day of October 1832 personally appeared in open court before the honourable James C. Mitchell one of the Judges of law and equity for the State of Tennessee, James Primm aged 76 years (having been born on the 25th of December 1775 according to the family register) & who being duly sworn according to law doth on his oath make the following declaration in order to obtain the benefit of the provisions of the Act of Congress passed the 7th of June 1832. That he entered the service of the United States in the Revolutionary War in the summer of 1778 in Franklin County in the State of North Carolina under Captain Cader Parker of the Continental Establishment for the period of thirteen months his corps rendezvoused at Halifax in said state where they were attached to the 4th Regiment of the continental line commanded by Colo Armstrong the command in chief was under General Pinckney Eaton they marched from Halifax to Purrysburg in South Carolina where the[y] joined the main army under the command of General Lincoln they went into winter quarters at that place after the heating up of winter they marched up the Savannah River towards its head to a place called
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Black Swamp where the[y] raised encampments preparing to entering the interior of Georgia after going about one hundred and fifty miles up the Savannah River they then returned recrossing said River in pursuit of the Brittish who it was said were marching for Charleston in South Carolina & they overtook the Brittish at a place called Stono being where an active engagement took place between the American and Brittish Armies – Declarant was engaged in that action (and saw a cousin of his Abraham Primm fall by his side who died from his wounds about ten days afterwards) after this engagement he marched towards Savannah to a place called Beaufort where General Lincoln formed an encampment at this place he was discharged having been in actual service for thirteen months. After he was discharged he returned to home in Franklin County North Carolina – in the month of June or July 1780 Josiah Johnson was drafted for three months and declarant entered the service as a substitute in his place in the militia of North Carolina they rendezvoused at Louisburg in Franklin
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County and was placed under the command of James Richards as Captain, and William Woolbright Lieutenant Benjamin Seawell the Colo. of the County commanded the detachment they marched towards South Carolina with a view of joining General Gates when they got to Peedee River in said state they heard of Gates’ defeat Colo-Seawell returned into North Carolina where they remained until declarant was discharged at the expiration of his term making a service of three months. Declarant was again drafted and entered the service under the above named officers in the month of January 1781 they marched on towards Guilford Courthouse to join the main Army under the command of General Green. A few days before the Battle of Guilford Captain Richards had his hand cut of[f] in a volunteer with one Benjamin Eaves who was likewise a militia captain, as declarant’s captain was rendered unfit for service the company to which he belonged was placed under the command of Captain Harris under whose command Declarant was engaged in the Battle of Guilford a short time after the Battle of Guilford Declarant was discharged at Ramsay’s Mill having served out his tour of three months
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making in all nineteen months service applicant has long since lost or mislaid his discharges – he knows of no living witness by whom he can prove the length of his service – Benjamin and Jessee Hunt & Matthew Johnson know that he entered the service in the Revolutionary War – but perhaps are unable to state how long he served in the absence of better proof he must rest his application on his character for truth and honesty which he hopes can be [?]tained by all who know him – applicant was born and raised in Franklin County in the State of North Carolina – from there he moved to Wilson County Tennessee where he has resided for the last thirty years. He hereby relinquishes every claim whatsoever to a pension or annuity and declares that his name is not on the pension roll of any Agency in any state in the Union. Sworn to and subscribed in open court this 25th day of Oct. 1832
James Prim
Wm. L. Martin Clerk of the Circuit Court for Wilson County
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Jessee Hunt aged sixty two years a citizen of Wilson County in the State of Tennessee hereby certifies that that he was born and resided in Franklin County in the State of North Carolina within two miles of where the applicant James Primm lived and has known him from his childhood up to the present time he knows that he was a soldier of the Revolution the father of affiant was a soldier of the Revolution did marched into South Carolina at the same time that the applicant did to join the Southern Army under the command of General Lincoln – he cannot state how long with certainty applicant served on this tour of duty but remembers he was absent from home a considerable length of time perhaps a year or more he well remembers to have heard his father say and the applicant on their return from the South that Abraham Primm was wounded in the battle of Stono and lived but a few days afterwards – he knows that the applicant went on two other tours of duty how long he served he cannot say – he understood from the applicant and from a [illegible] of his neighbours that [illegible] out in these last tours of duty that the applicant was
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in the Battle of Guilford – affiant saw Captain Richards after his hand was cut off and always understood that he had lost his hand in the encounter with Captain Eaves as stated by applicant – affiant further states that the applicant James Primm has always sustained a good character for truth and honesty and he has no doubt but that he has served as stated in his Declaration – it has never been doubted in his neighborhood but what he was a faithful soldier of the revolution.
Jessee Hunt
Sworn to and subscribed in open court this 25th Oct. 1832 Test
Wm. Martin Clerk of the Circuit Court for Wilson County
Mathew Johnson a citizen of Wilson County aged 58 years certifies that he knows the applicant James Primm – from his childhood to the present time – having been born and raised in Franklin County in the State of North Carolina where the applicant was born and raised – although he was then very young he has a distinct recollection of his father Josiah Johnson’s having hired said Primm as a substitute on a three months tour in the militia raised in Franklin County in the said State of North Carolina – he recollects to have seen the applicant on his return home at his father’s house
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where he had come to receive his pay as a substitute which he received partly in cattle it was always understood in the neighborhood that the applicant performed important services in the Revolutionary War – the applicant has always sustained a high character for truth and affiant has no doubt but that he served as stated in his declaration.
Mathew Johnson
Sworn to and subscribed in open court this 25th day of Oct. 1832
Wm. L. Martin Clerk of the Circuit Court of Law and Equity for Wilson County
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State of Tennessee
Wilson County
John Jones a clergiman of Wilson County hereby certifies that he has known the applicant James Primm for about twenty years who has subscribed and sworn to the above declaration that he believes him to be about 76 years of age that he is reputed and believed in his neighborhood to be a soldier of the Revolution and he concurs in that opinion – affiant is now in his sixtieth year
James Prim application for a pension
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State of Tennessee
Wilson County
John Jones a clergiman of Wilson County hereby certifies that he has known the applicant James Primm for about twenty years who has subscribed and sworn to the above declaration that he believes him to be about 76 years of age that he is reputed and believed in his neighborhood to be a soldier of the Revolution and he concurs in that opinion – affiant is now in his sixtieth year applicant has always sustained a good character for truth and honesty
John Jones
Sworn to in open court 31st Oct – 1832
Wm. L. Martin Clerk of the circuit court for Wilson County
James Prim application for a pension
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And the said Court do hereby declare their opinion after investigating the matter and after putting the interrogatories prescribed by the War Department that the above named applicant James Primm was a soldier of the Revolution and served as he states. And that the said court further certifies that it appears to them, that John Jones is a clergiman resident in the County of Wilson and that Jessee Hunt, Mathew Johnson and Benjamin Hunt are all citizens of the said County of Wilson – they are all credible persons and their statements are entitled to full credit
J. C. Mitchell
Presiding Judge
I William L. Martin Clerk of Wilson Circuit Court, do hereby certify that the foregoing contains the original proceedings of the said court – in the matter of the application of James Prim for a pension.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal of office, at Lebanon this once day of November AD 1832.
Wm. L. Martin.
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13709
West Tennessee
James Prim of Wilson in the State of Tennessee who was a private in the company commanded by Captain Parker of the regt commanded by Col. Armstrong in the NC Militia for one year 7 months
Inscribed on the Roll of Tennessee at the rate of 63 Dollars 33 Cents per annum, to commence on the 4th day of March, 1831.
Certificate of Pension issued 6th day of June 1833 and sent Prov. M. Burton Lebanon Tenn.
Arrears to the 4th of Mar 1833 $126.66
Semi-anl. allowance ending 4 Sep 33 31.66
$158.32
{Revolutionary Claim,
Act June 7, 1832.}
Recoded by Geo. B. Whiting Clerk,
Book E	 Vol. 7 Page 92
Order to pay & letter to Powr 14 April 1838
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Rev War
3727
INVALID.
File No. 3727
James Prim
Pvt. N. C. Militia
Act: June 7, 1832
Index:- Vol. A, Page 302
[Arrangement of 1870.]
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James Prim
Wilson Co.
Ten
$63.33
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BRIEF objections in the admissions of Pension Claims, of which those answered in the negative, in red ink, will apply to the claim of James Primm which require further proof or explanation.
I.	Does the declaration show where the applicant resides?
II.	Did the declarant make the declaration in the county where he resides?
III.	If the applicant did not make the declaration in the county where he resides, is there any reason assigned for his not doing so?
IV.	Has the declarant mentioned the period or periods of the war where he served?
V.	* Has he mentioned with precision the length of his service, and the different grades in which he served, in language so definite as to enable the department to determine to what amount of pension he is entitled?
VI.	Has he given the names of the officers under whom he served, in conformity with the regulations?
VII.	Has he made a relinquishment of every claim to any other pension than the one under the Act of June 7, 1832?
VIII.	Has the Court given their opinion?
IX.	Has the Clerk given his certificate?
X.	Is the Clerk’s seal affixed? And if so, has it a device or inscription by which it can be distinguished from any other seal?
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XI.	* Has the applicant obtained the evidence of a clergyman and another respectable citizen as to their belief respecting his age and the general belief in his neighborhood relative to his revolutionary service?
XII.	If the clergyman’s affidavit has not been produced, is their any reason assigned for not obtaining it?
XIII.	If the applicant has no documentary evidence, and has not obtained the testimony of at least one living witness, has he stated in his declaration that such proof cannot be had?
XIV.	If the applicant’s name is not found on the rolls of military service, has he produced a witness or witnesses as to his service? 
If he has produced direct proof as to service, has the magistrate who administered the oath, certified to the credibility of the witness or witnesses?
Has the proper officer certified to the official character and signature of the magistrate as the regulations direct?
XV.	Does it appear from any of the papers that the witness was in such a situation, or of such an age, as to have personal knowledge of the applicant’s service?
XVI.	Are the papers authenticated as the regulations direct?
XVII.	Are the seven interrogatories prescribed by the War Department answered satisfactorily? And, if not, which of them is not so answered?
EXPLANATORY NOTES.
*QUERE V. In a case where the applicant cannot, by reason of the loss of memory, state precisely how long he served, he should amend his declaration by making an affidavit in the following words:
“Personally appeared before me, the undersigned, a Justice of the Peace, &c. A. B. who, being duly sworn, deposeth and saith, that, by reason of old age and the consequent loss of memory, he cannot swear positively as to the precise length of his service, but according to the best of his recollection, he served not less than the periods mentioned below, and in the following grades; For ----- year ------ months and ---- days I served as a ---------. For ------ months and --------- days I served as a -------; for such service I claim a pension.”
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It is important to determine with precision the period for which each applicant served, and the particular rank he held, as the law directs the pension to be paid according to the pensioner and the length of his service. The use of the phrase about three or four months is too indefinite, and all such qualifying expressions are objectionable. Some persons who apply for pensions merely state they served two years in the militia, &c. without specifying the tours; the names of the officers, and other particulars respecting their service. This form of a declaration is highly objectionable. It must in every case be clearly shown under what officers the applicant served; the duration of each term of engagement; the particular place or places where the service was performed; that the applicant served with an embodied corps called into service by competent authority; that he was either in the field or in garrison; and for the time during which the service was performed, he was not employed in any civil pursuit.
QUERE XIV. Proof of Service
In a case where the name of the applicant is not found on the records of the Department, he must prove his service by two credible witnesses, who are required to set forth in their affidavits the time of the claimants entering the service, and the time and manner of his leaving the same, as well as the regiment, company, and line to which he belonged. The magistrate who may administer the oaths must certify to the credibility of the witnesses, and the official character and signature of the magistrate must be certified by the proper officers, under his seal of office.
QUERE XVI. Mode of authenticating papers.
In every instance where the certificate of the certifying officer who authenticates the papers is not written on the same sheet of paper which contains the affidavit, or other paper authenticated, the certificate must be attached thereto by a piece of tape or narrow ribbon, the ends of which must pass under the seal of office of the certifying officer, as to prevent any paper from being improperly attached to the certificate
In every case where the clerk of the court, or other certifying officer, has no public seal of office, the certificate of a member of congress, proving the official character and signature of the certifying officer, should accompany the papers.
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State of North Carolina
Secretary of State’s Office
I William Hill Secretary of State in and for the State aforesaid do certify that I find in a book of settlements of the army accounts of the Revolution, that James Primm was allowed for his services as a Corporal in the line of this state, by a Board Commission, the sum of forty five pounds eighteen shillings and five pence (£45.18.5)
Given under my hand this 2nd day of April 1833.
W. Hill
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Union Bank of Tennessee
Nashville 3d April 1838
J. L. Edwards Esq
Dear Sir
At the request of Mr. James Prim a Revolutionary Pensioner under the act of the 7th June 1832 and to whom there is one year pension due to up the 4th ultimo
Identity for your examination & permission of his payment, Mr. Prim says owing to bad health he was not able to come for his money sooner. He wishes his claim returned to him at Silver Spring Post Office Wilson County Tenn with your instructions, and should the claim be allowed to him, he will then make his power of attorney & send for [illegible] should he not be able to come himself
I am very respectfully sir
Your obt servt
John M. Bass Prest
& Pension Agent
By S. Cantrell