Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application File W. 4976, Mordecai Hamm, N.C.
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N.C.  Hamm, Mordecai W.4976
Rebecca
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6009
North Carolina 
Rebecca Hamm,
widow of Mordecai Hamme
dec
who was a pensioner under the Act of-
and who died on the
Dec. 1815,-
of Stokes (o in the State of N. Carolina
who was a private in the company commanded
by Captain believe of the regt commanded
by Col. in the N.C. militia
line for 9 months
Inscribed on the Roll of N. Carolina
at the rate of 20 Dollars - Cents per annum
commence on the 4th day of March, 1836.
Certificate of Pension issued 30 day of Jany
1841, & sent to Hon. John Hill, N.C. 
House of Reps
Arrears to the 4th of March 1841 $100.00
Semi-annual allowance ending[Crossed out]
{Act July 7,
1838.}
Recorded by D.M. Turry, Clerk, Book A, Vol. Q, Page 187.
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State of North Carolina
County of Stokes          } SS

On this 4th day of May 1839 before me Charles Banner a Justice of the peace in and for the county of Stokes aforesaid, personally appeared Rebecca Hamm a resident of said county, Seventy Nine years ^ of age, who is a cripple and from bodily infirmities is unable to travel, who being duly sworn according to law, doth on her oath make the following declaration in order to obtain the benefit of the provision made by the Act of Congress passed July 7th, 1838. Entitled: "An Act granting half pay and pensions to certain widows." That she is the widow of the late Mordecai Hamm deceased, who was a private soldier & Dragoon in the Militia Army of the United States in the time of the Revolutionary War. And from the best information she can obtain, the following tours & under the following named officers. First, she states that her said husband Mordecai Hamm (dec.) was about two years older than herself, and entered the service as she was informed by himself in the County of Chatham, North Carolina in February 1776 under a Captain Colson and marched from there as a Volunteer Militia private footman to Fayetteville, N. Carolina, and there acted near the town and was stationed at headquarters (the Field officers she cannot tell the names) in this service, he served three months in routing the Tories in that section of country & guarding the towns against the Tories. He was discharged and returned home to his parent in Chatham, and some few years after that, her said husband & his parents & family removed to Guilford County, North Carolina. And some time in January or Feby 1781, there being a call for the Militia her husband said Mordecai volunteered himself under a Captain Varnon in Col. James Martin's Regiment, and was marched from Guilford to Salisbury & Charlotte, N. Carolina. & then marched back to Guilford and was engaged in the battle of Guilford on March 15th of the same year. In this service he served
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service, he states he lacked only ten days of three months & was taken ill with the measles after the Battle while he was assisting in driving beef cattle for the use of Green’s Army, and sent home — the next service served as a volunteer Dragoon under a Capt. Minor Smith from Surry County, N. Carolina as he lived near the county line and marched in the summer time or fall of the year 1781 to Wilmington, N. Carolina. When the news came to the Army that the British had surrendered to Genl. Washington & then he returned with the Army homeward in this tour he served three months. All these services amounted to eight months and twenty days as she has good reason to believe her said husband Mordecai Hamm did. Informed her and the proof of Elizabeth Tuff & John Venable will more plainly appear and also the report Lewis Wolf will now on tour to Fayetteville in 1776 – for which he claims a pension. She further declares that she was married to the said Mordecai Hamm on the 5th day of December Seventeen hundred and eighty-two by Col. Samuel Henderson a Justice of the peace in & for the County of Guilford at said Henderson's place of residence in said county, and that her said husband Mordecai Hamm died in December Eighteen hundred and fifteen in Stokes County, North Carolina, and that she was not married to him prior to his leaving the service but the marriage took place previous to the first day of January, Seventeen hundred and ninety-four, viz: at the time above stated, and that she has remained unmarried ever since his death. She further states that whilst she and her husband Mordecai Hamm deceased lived in union together as man and wife, she had the following named children born of her body, to wit: first Elizabeth Hamm was born the 13th of October 1783 — the 2nd Mary Hamm was born in September 1785. She has no record of the
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ages of her children as it was destroyed by fire, but she had twelve in all, the rest was named Hannah, the 5th was Jane, the 6th was Houson, the 7th Susanna, the 8th Stephen, the 9th Elam, the 10th Patsy, & Rebecca, living. The 11th Peter & the 12th Elane. Sworn to and subscribed this day and year first above mentioned at her own place of residence in Stokes County aforesaid before me.
Banner, J.P.  North Carolina Stokes County SS
Rebecca x Hamm mark
Personally appeared before me Charles Banner a Justice of the peace for said county, Elizabeth Tuff, widow of Peter Tuff deceased, aged seventy-eight years, a person of pious character & esteemed by her neighbors as a woman of veracity for truth. She being a half sister to Mordecai Hamm above named and, she being duly sworn according to law, declares on her oath that she well recollects that her said brother Mordecai Hamm went in the service of the United States and marched from Chatham County, North Carolina, against the Scotch Tories towards Fayetteville, North Carolina under a Capt. Colson of the Militia of said county, in the month of Feb. 1776 & he returned home on furlough for clothing & apparel after being gone about two months & went back immediately with four or five of his neighbors. They all had guns and served out the full time for which engaged as a volunteer as he turned out & said he would not stand a draft, yet the call for men to go against the Tories was he was gone three months or more. The Colonel's name she cannot exactly recollect, but thinks it was Col. Folsom. Some years after her father & family removed to Guilford County, North Carolina, and Mordecai aforesaid was often called on as a militia man to range after Tories in Capt. Varnor's Company. Sometimes he would be gone a week & sometimes longer but she cannot remember how long at each time but remembers
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of being gone two months & a half said he went over Big Eadkin river to Salisbury & to Mecklenburg & Charlotte returned with the army and was in the Battle of Guilford. This service was in the winter of the years 1780 & 1781 & the battle was in March. She remembers hearing the guns at the battle, and in the same year 1781, he served as a dragoon under Capt. Minor Smith in Col. Martin’s Regiment from Guilford to Wilmington & was gone three months with this deponent's husband Peter Tuff, Decd. And afterwards in the month of December in the year 1782, previous to marriage being finished, she accompanied her said brother with Rebecca Pratt & others to Col. Sam’l Henderson, who was a Justice of the Peace for Guilford County aforesaid, where & when the bond was taken and married her said brother Mordecai and Rebecca aforesaid as man & wife. And that the above-named Rebecca Hamm is the identical person & now the widow of her said brother Mordecai Hamm & that said Rebecca has remained unmarried ever since his death about twenty-four years past. Sworn to & subscribed this 4th day of May 1839.
(Signed) Banner, J.P.
Elizabeth [her X mark] Tuff
N.B. this deponent further testifies that she heard the Rev. Wm Hill baptised the said Mordecai Hamm & Rebecca Hamm two of their children.
North Carolina
Stokes County
I, Reuben D. Golding, Clerk of the court of pleas and quarter sessions for Stokes County, do hereby certify Charles Banner is a Magistrate as above, and that the foregoing signature purporting to be his is genuine. In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the seal of my office this 2nd day of December 1839.
(Signed) Reuben D. Golding, Clerk
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State of North Carolina
Stokes County

On this 10th day of May 1839 before me the subscribing Justice of the Peace for the County aforesaid personally appeared John Venables, Esquire, a person of respectable character for truth & veracity & resident in the County aforesaid, and being duly sworn as the law directs, declares on his oath that Mordecai Hamm served with him in the service of the United States a tour of three months as Dragoon Horseman under a Capt. Minor Smith & Col. James Martin. Commenced his Regiment in the fall of the year 1781 and rendezvoused at Guilford Court House, North Carolina & marched from there to Wilmington in N. Carolina where news came to our army that Cornwallis the British commander had surrendered to Genl. Washington, which news was saluted with great joy & firing by our army near a large brick building not far from Wilmington.

Then we returned home & was discharged. That the said Mordecai Hamm died some upwards of twenty years past in the County aforesaid Stokes, leaving his widow Rebecca Hamm who is the identical widow who is about to petition for a pension on account of her husband’s services. He further states that he has good reason to believe that Mordecai Hamm served in the service before the above mentioned from his own relation of the matter, as he heard that he was in the expedition against the Scotch Tories towards Fayetteville & Camden three months, and that he had been minute man & was in the Battle of Guilford. Sworn to & subscribed this day & year first above mentioned before me.

(Signed) Banner, J.P.
(Signed) John Venables
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State of North Carolina
County of Stokes SS

On this 23rd day of September 1839 personally appeared before the subscriber, a Justice of the peace in and for the County of Stokes aforesaid, Lewis Woolf, a respectable man of truth and veracity, and resident of said county, being first sworn according to law, declares on his oath that he was acquainted with Mordecai Hamm mentioned in the declaration of Mrs. Rebecca Hamm & John Venables, several years before his death which happened several years past — he does not remember how long. But recollects the first time they ever became acquainted was at Fayetteville, N. Carolina in the Spring of the year 1776, the expedition against the Scotch Tories, when & where this deponent acted as a musician fifer in Capt. Smith's company from Surry County, N. Carolina, and when stationed at and near said Fayetteville, the said Mordecai Hamm belonged to some other company & company but was anxious to learn to play on the fife & would frequently visit this deponent's tent to learn how to play on the fife. This is all this deponent knows of said Mordecai Hamm during the war, only what he related to him since the war after he removed to Surry County (now Stokes County). He said he was in Guilford Battle & some other tours, but he does not recollect when he said he served. Sworn to and subscribed this day and year above mentioned before me.

(Signed) Banner, J.P.
(Signed) Lewis [his X mark] Woolf
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Depo. in behalf of Rebecca Hamm

North Carolina SS
Stokes County

Be it known that on this 15th day of January 1841, before me Charles Banner a Justice of the Peace in & for the county aforesaid personally appeared John Venables, a person of respectable character for probity & truth, and resident of said county and Pensioner of the United States, who being duly sworn according to law, declares on his oath that he was well acquainted with Mordecai Hamm & his wife Rebecca ever since they were married together as man & wife, that he lived in the neighborhood of said Mordecai Hamm's uncle, Joseph Hamm, in the then Surry County (now Stokes, N. Carolina), and was invited by some of Joseph Hamm's children (who are now all dead, or removed to the West) to go with them to Guilford to Mordecai Hamm's wedding. Accordingly this deponent saith he accompanied them to a Mr. Robert Raith of Guilford, now Rockingham County, at home to Col. Henderson's with said Mordecai Hamm & Rebecca Pratt, where and when he heard and saw said Henderson join them together as man & wife, he, said Henderson being a Justice of the Peace, the banns of said marriage this deponent understood had been published by a Baptist minister some weeks before. He cannot recollect the exact date, but it was sometime two or three years after the Revolutionary War in cold weather shortly before Christmas. That said Mordecai Hamm’s half-sister, now Elizabeth Tuff (a widow), was present at the marriage. Shortly after they were married, they removed to Surry County, now Stokes, to a neighbor to this deponent on Lick Creek, where they resided many years & raised ten or twelve children, and that Mordecai Hamm died upwards of twenty years past, in Stokes County aforesaid, leaving the aforesaid Rebecca Hamm his widow, who has remained unmarried
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unmarried his widow ever since his death. This Deponent further declares that he often heard said Mordecai Hamm speak of serving as a soldier in Militia of the United States, several tours of duty & was at the Battle of Guilford, but happened at that time to be sent on one of the guards to run a drove of beeves out of the reach of the enemy, and in another tour he stated he went on an expedition to Fayetteville against the Scotch Tories, all of which this Deponent has good reason to believe was the truth. Sworn to and subscribed the day and year first above mentioned before me.

(Signed) Banner, J.P.
(Signed) John Quillen 

On the same day above mentioned personally appeared Thomas Jones, an old resident of Stokes County aforesaid & neighborhood of the widow Rebecca Hamm, he being a person of good veracity & truth. Being duly sworn, declares on oath that he was well acquainted with the late Mordecai Hamm deceased for nearly forty years as neighbors, and that he and the aforesaid Rebecca Hamm were recognized by the Baptist Church and all that were acquainted with them, as lawful man & wife, and nothing was ever alleged against them to the contrary, and that they lived in union together as such until the day of his death, which happened at least twenty-five years ago in the County of Stokes, NC, that the said Rebecca bore twelve children while they lived together as man & wife, and has remained a widow ever since his death. Sworn to and subscribed this 15th day of January 1841 before me.

(Signed) Banner, J.P.
(Signed) Thomas Jones
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Germanton NC
19th Jany

Hon John Hill of NC
House of Representatives
Washington City

Free
Hon. J. P. Banner
H.R.
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Hon John Hill
Germanton 19th Jany 1841

Dear Sir,
Enclosed I send the Deposition of [illegible] Quillen & Jones in support of Mrs. Rebecca Hamm’s claim for a pension. I have made enquiry at the Clerk’s Office of Guilford & Rockingham for a license Bond, but none can be found. The Declaration as well as the evidence in support of the same goes to show that they were published by a Preacher, agreeable custom in those days, and no records were kept by the Baptist Ministers, more than they gave a certificate that they had legally published the Banns, which certificate was handed to the Magistrate by the groom, by virtue of which he was authorized to celebrate the rites of Matrimony between the couple, in the same manner as by a license from the Clerk of a court. Such certificates or licenses are kept by the Magistrates & thrown among his promiscuous papers & finally lost or destroyed, which I expect was the case of Mordecai Hamm & his wife’s certificate. Will you please make this circumstance known to the pension Department?

Respectfully yours,
(Signed) C. Banner
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Extract – "Pension Office
May 4th 1840"

"The claim of Mrs. Rebecca Hamm has also been examined and placed upon our files. The proof in support of the date of her marriage is not satisfactory. When that shall be established, a pension for 6 months as a private will be allowed her. Any documentary evidence showing that herself and her husband were recognized as husband and wife, at any period prior to January 1, 1794, will be deemed sufficient."
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Hon. John Hill
N.C.
H.R.
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State of North Carolina
County of Stokes

I, Reuben D. Golding, Clerk of the court of pleas and quarter sessions for Stokes County aforesaid, certify that Charles Banner is a Magistrate as above, and that the foregoing signature purporting to be his is genuine.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto affixed the seal of my office, and subscribed my name this 16th day of January A.D. 1841.

(Signed) Reuben D. Golding, Clerk
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6977
Rebecca Hamm
widow of Mordecai
Letter to Hon. John Hill of N.C.
7 May 1841
23 Dec 1840
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Hon. John Hill N.C.
No 76, L. C.
Rebecca Ham
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House of Reps
Dec 16th 1840

Sir,
You will be pleased to inform me whether the claim of Rebecca Ham of Stokes Co. N.C. has reached your office and if so what disposition has been made of it.

Respectfully yours, 
(Signed) John Hill of N.C.

Col. A.L. Edwards,
Commissioner of Pensions
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Rebecca Hamm
Widow of Mordecai
N.C.
Act July 7, 1838
Married 1782
Died 1815
Allowed 6 mo $20 per annum, private of militia N.C. Capt Colson
Hon Jno Hill N.C.
H.R.
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Pension Office
December 23, 1840

Sir,

In reply to your letter of the 16th inst. inquiring what disposition has been made in relation to the claim of Rebecca Ham, I have the honor to state that it has been suspended for further proof of her alleged marriage. Enclosed you will find an extract from my letter to you of the 4th May 1840, upon this subject.

I have the honor to be,
Very respectfully,
Your obt. servt.
(Signed) J.L. Edwards

Hon. John Hill of N.C.
House of Representatives
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6977
Rebecca Hamm
Wid. of Mordecai
N.C.

Act July 7, 1838
Married 1782
Died 1815

Hon. John Hill N.C.
H.R.
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House of Reps
May 1st, 1840

Sir,
I enclose you the declarations of Rebecca Ham for a pension. Please examine into the validity of her claim and inform me of the result.
Respectfully yours, 
(Signed) John Hill, N.C.

Col. A.L. Edwards
Commissioner of Pensions
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House of Reps. Jan. 26th, 1841

Sir,
Enclosed I send you some additional evidence in the claim of Rebecca Hamm for a pension, also an explanatory letter of Charles Banner on the subject. Should your action be favorable, let me know it.

Yours,
(Signed) John. Hill

Col. A.L. Edwards
Comr. of Pensions
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Mordecai Ham d. 1815
Rebecca M. 82

Feb '76 3 mo. Colson. after tories (2)
'81 Varnon. Martin.
2.20 Whit. Guilford
Fall '81 3 Cav. Smith (3)
8.20

(1) Venable an apprisal
(2) Lewis Wolf as accompanying Venable papers for the nunc. stated Nov 1781

May allow Con. when prof. of marriage & complete
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July 1820 age 74
Wife 40 yrs. do 1820
6 Children - Eldest 14. 1820
14. 1780
Youngest - 2. 1806
1st born in 1806 - last in 1818
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Declaration
6977 of 
Rebecca Hamm for a Pension

Hon. Jon Hill
of N.C.
H.R.
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North Carolina
Stokes County

I, Reuben D. Golding, Clerk of the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions for Stokes County aforesaid, do hereby certify that Charles Banner is a Magistrate as above, and that the foregoing signature purporting to be his is genuine.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto affixed the seal of my Office and subscribed my name this 2nd day of December A.D. 1839.

(Signed) Reuben D. Golding, Clerk
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Revy WIDOW, &c.

File No. 6977
Rebecca Hamm
Wid. of Mordecai Hamm
Pvt. N.C. Line

Act: July 7, 1838

Index: Vol. 4, Page 303

[Arrangement of 1870.]