Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application File R. 5154, James Hollis, N.C. Va.
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[Printed document with handwritten entries]

(3-1776)
SERVICE | NUMBER
N.C. | Hollis, James | R.5154
Va
CONTENTS
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Aug 10 53 Jas Hollis Tenn Not decd

{Stamped, round, containing: WAYNESBORO Te.]

J. L. Edwards Esq Commissioner of pensions
Washington City

[Stamped: FREE]
Free
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Waynesborough Tennessee
Sir
After waiting some months I am induced to write a few line to you to inquire into the case of the papers in support of the claim of James Hollis for a pension the reason why I write is that Mr. William Davis his former agent is dead and James Hollis is my father and if his claim has not been allowed please write to me such instructions as will enable and to proceed to rectify it -so that-it can be allowed agreeable to the rules of the War department.
If it has been allowed please to let me know it this July 29th 1843.
Remain your Obt Servt
Stephen Hollis
j.L. Edward Esq.
Commissioner Pensions
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A Declaration in order to obtain the benefit of an act of Congress passed June 7th 1842 
State of Tennessee } Circuit Court October Term
Wayne County } 1852
This day being the 5th day of October 1842 personally appeared in open court James Hollis aged eighty three the 22nd day of June 1842 who being first duly sworn according to law when his oath made the following declaration in order to obtain a pension under the provisions of the act of Congress passed June 7th 1842, to wit. Declarant entered the service of the United States on the 1st day of September 1776 under the command of Captain Isaac Bledsoe of the Virginia line & under the command of Col Christy of the said Virginia line & after Col Christy returned to Virginia Col Antony Bledsoe took his place as commander in Chief and that he continued to serve until the last day of March 1777, When he entered the service he resided in Sullivan County North Carolina Now Sullivan County East Tennessee. Declarant born in Bedford County State of Virginia & removed from Virginia to North Carolina before he joined the service & when Bledsoe & Col Christy came over from Virginia with the troops to Sullivan on their March against the Cherokee Indians he joined them & served the troops that they marched to to the Indian Country on the Tennessee & burned the Indian Towns the Indians having fled, that they erected a fort at the Long Islands of Holsten. We burned old Maury wards Town & Draggon Canoe Town and vaious others of smaller note but these names are not recollected. Declarant further states
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that he again entered the service of the United States in the 1st of March 1778 at the same place to wit Sullivan County North Carolina under Captain Henry Clarke whose Company was under the command of Colonel Charles 
Robertson & were conveyed by water down the Holston River to the Long Island fort & then joined Col John Montgomery of Virginia who commanded the Virginia troops They then burned the Jack, Towns and [illegible] over the Indian country in smaller companies burned the Indian huts a drove the cattle & horses they could find to the said Fort & Montgomery there went on down the River or his way with his soldiers to attack the Indians in Illinois & he declarant was discharged on the last day of April 1778 making his service in
all nine months during the Revolutionary war, Declarant states that he received a discharge from his captain at the expedition of each of his terms of service but has long since lost both of them & has no documentary evidence & knows of no living testimony or witness by whom he can prove any of the circumstance of the above services. Declarant performed all of said services as a private soldier & held no office whatsoever. Declarant removed from Sullivan County to Nashville now the capital of Tennessee, there called the French Lick in the fall of 1779 that he removed from Nashville to Montgomery County & from Montgomery to Maury County & from Maury County to what is now Wayne County Tennessee where he has lived for twenty some years having lived five or six years in said county when
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Answer I was born in Bedford County State of Virginia on the 22nd day of June 1759.
4th Where did you reside when you entered the Service. Where have you resided since & where do you now reside.
Answer I lived in Sullivan County, North Carolina when I entered the service. I removed from there to [illegible] called the French Lick thence to Montgomery, thence to Maury, thence to Way[cut off] then called the purchase where I now live.
5th Under what officers did you serve. State their names & grade. State the regular officers & troops if any with when you served & the general circumstances of your service.
Answer, the first Tour of service was under Cap Isaac Bledsoe & Col Christy & A Bledsoe the 2nd unit I served under Capt Maury Clark & Charles Roberts
6th what year did you perform said service as a private soldier or did you hold any office. Were you a regular or Militia soldier
Answer I served as a private & suppose I was a Malitiaman 
7th Were you drafted or did you volunteer were you a substitute & if so for whom
Answer I was not Drafted but turned out voluntarily & was not a substitute
Wayne County Tennessee } James Hollis
February Circuit Court AD1843 } 
And the said Court after an examination of the case and after propounding the interrigations prescribed by the war Department, declare its opinion to be real said applicant is eighty four years of age but he was soldier after Revolution &
served as stated in his declaration and [illegible] he is entitled to a pension for said services
And this having been omitted to be [illegible] at the October term of the court when said examination took place it in [illegible] in [illegible] an of the term.
Benjamin C. Totten
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it was called the purchase before Wayne County way laid off, that he has the record of his age as kept by his father, Declarant States that this is his first application for a pension from the United States and the reason he did not apply sooner for it is because he owned a valuable Negro girl & some other property & enjoyed fine health & was able to support himself but his negro girl died & he has used his other property for a support until it is manly all gone & he has been taken with the Rheumatick pains & thereby has become unable to support himself by labour & he therefore applies to the County & gratitude of his country for a support.
He declares that his name is not on the pension roll or agency of any State or Territory & he hereby relinquishes every other claim whatever to  pension except the above.
James Hollis

Questions propounded to the Declarant by the Court
1st How old are you
Answer I am in my 84th year since the 22nd of June last
2nd Have you any record of your age & if so where is it.
Answer I have the record of my age as kept by my father at my son James in [illegible] [illegible],
3rd When & where were you born. I was born
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State of Tennessee Wayne County
Circuit Court. October Tenn 1842
On this 6th day of October 1842 Levi Hurst a Clergyman & John Johnson a credible citizen of the neighborhood personally appeared in open court & made oath in due form of law that they have known the said James Hollis the Declarant for said Hurst for 20 years & said I there are for forty years that he has always been respected in his neighborhood to have been a soldier of the Revolution & in that opinion they concur, that he is a man of truth & entitled to credit.
Sworn to and subscribed Levi Hurst
in Open Court Oct 6 1842 Johon John
Tho N. East, Clk.
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Decembe 4, 1936
xxxxxxxxx
Mrs. Cecil E. Wright     James Hollis -R. 5154
3130 Meadowbrook Drive       Ba-J/EEL
Fort Worth, Texas

Dear Madaam:

Reference is made to your letter in which you request the
Revolutionary War records of James Hollis, of Virginia and North Carolina, Hesakiah Pigg and John Owen, the two last named of Pittsyvania County, Virginia.

A search of the Revolutionary War records has been made and no claim identified as that of the John Owen, in whom you are in-
terested and no claim found based on service in that war of Heze-
kiah Pigg. The record of James Hollis is furnished herein, as found in the claim for pension, R.5154, based upon his service in
the Revolutionary War.

James Hollis was born June 22, 1759, in Bedford County, Vir-
ginia. The names of his parents are not shown.

After the REvolution he moved to Nashville, Tennessee, then to Montgomery County, that state; thence to Maury County, and then to Wayne County, Tennessee.

October 3, 1842, in said Wayne County, where he had lived for 
twenty-nine years, James Hollis applied for pension that might 
have been due on account of his service in the Revolutionary War and stated that while residing in Sullivan County, North Carolina 
(which was later Sullivan County, Tennesee), he volunteered Sep-
tember 1, 1776, and joined the Virginia Troops which were passing
through his county, that he served as a private in Captain Isaac
Bledsoe's Company, Colonels Christie and Anthony Bledsoe's Virginia
Regiment, went on an expedition against the Cherokee Indians,
burned their towns and erected a fort on the Long Island in Holston
River, and that he served until the latter part of March, 1777:
that he enlisted again about March 1, 1778, still in Sullivan
County, Tennessee, and served as a private in Captain Henry Clarke's 
Company. Colonel Charles Robertson's North Carolina Regiment;
[handwritten on side]
Identified Anthony Bledsoe & Chas Robertson
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went down the Holston River to the Long Island, marched through
the Indian country, [illegible] their towns and diving their cattle
into the fort, and that he was discharged from this tour the latter
part of April, 1776.

The claim of James Hollis was not allowed as he failed to furnish of service as required by the pension laws.

In 1842, soldier's son, James was referred to, and in 1843,
another son, Stephen, was living in Waynesborough, Tennessee.
The name of their mother is not shown and no names of any other children are given.

The date of death of soldier is not stated.

Very truly yours

A. D. Hiller
Executive Assistant
to the Administrator.
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REJECTED
5104
P.O.
James Hollis
Service:
Printed list Enlisted of 1852
Enlisted: shows course, 18
Discharged: of suspension, 18
"For further proof"
Application filed:______,18
Alleges:________________
_____________
Re-enlisted:_____
_________________
Attorney:___
P.O.__
_________Recognized.______Contract.
____Cert. of Dis. Searched for_________, 18

[Handwritten on side of document]
1936- Dec 4 – Hist to Mrs Cecil E Wright
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35.465
James Hollis Ten:
[Line is crossed out]
act 7.June 32
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J Hollis 
Aug 10 1843
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Pension Office,
Aug 10, 1843

Sir,
In answer to your letter of this 27th [illegible]. I have to inform you that this
enclosed copy of a letter to the Hon. A. V. Brown, of the 3 of March last, will
show what is wanted in the case of James Hollis.

Mr. Stephen Hollis
Waynesburg
Tennessee
No. 35465
N.Y.act32
[illegible]
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Hon. A.N. Brown
March 3rd 1843
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79
Pen H
March 3rd '43

Sir
I have the honor to inform you that the claim of James Hollis has been examined this papers filed under the out of 7 - June 32 He claims for a term of 6 months
under Capt Bledsoe & Col Christy of the VA militia in an expedition in 76 against
the Cherokee Indians and for 3 months under Capt Clarke of the NC militia in 78 also against Indians in the length of the first term in not consistent with the course of the VA militia service what was limited to 3 months-and neither term is supported by any evidence- The rules require the production of the last attainable proof in all instances and if he has more difficulty in obtaining evidence now he is alone responsible for it, as no doubt many of the numerous applicants for similar 
service have died during the delay in presenting his claim
Hon. A. V. Brown
H.R.
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No. 35445
James Hollis
Act 7 - June '32
5154
Hn. A. V. Brown
HOL
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The State of Tennessee, Wayne County, T.N.
I Thomas M. East Clerk of the Circuit Court of said Wayne County, do hereby Certify that the foregoing contains the Original proceedings had in the Circuit Court of said County, upon the application of James Hollis to attain the benefit of the Act of Congress Passed June of 1842, had before the Honorable Benjamin C. Tollen
Justice of the 14th Judicial Circuit of said State, 
In testimony whereas I hereunto set my name and affix my private seal having no seal of office, at affix the fiftheeth day of February 1848.
Thomas N. East, Clerk
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[Stamped, round, containing numbers 1-12 on outer perimeter, RECEIVED NOV 20 1936 MAIL SUB-DIV. VETS ADM READER# 39]

Fort Worth, Texas
November 18, 1936.

Veterans Administration
Washington, D.C.

Gentlemen:

Do you have among your records a pension claim for Revolutionary War service for JAMES HOLLIS from Virginia or North Carolina?

This ancestor of mine was in Augusta County, Va. in 1761; then was a member of the Watauga Settlement; and still later (1780) he was in Sullivan Co., Tenn. So he evidently enlisted either in Virginia or in North Carolina.

I am very anxious to learn all I can about his
life and his family.

I also desire such information about HEZEKIAH
PIGG (son of Elizabeth Pigg) and JOHN OWEN of Pittsylvania County, Virginia. Hezekiah Pigg and Agnes Owen, daughter of John Owen, were married Oct. 12, 1785 in Pittsylvania Co., Va., and I believe that Hezekiah Pigg and John Owen both served in the Revolutionary War.

Thanking you in advance for any such data that you may be able to furnish me, I am

Very truly yours,

Mrs. Cecil E. Wright
Mrs. Cecil E. Wright
3130 Meadowbrook Drive
Fort Worth, Texas.