Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application File S. 5492, James Hall, Va.
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(3-1776) 

SERVICE
Va.

Hall, James

NUMBER
S.5492

CONTENTS
Carded
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12.399

Virginia
James Hall
of Powhatan in the State of Va
who was a pr. [Private] in the      commanded
by Captain      of the Regt. [Regiment] commanded
by Col. Williams in the [S.C. scratched out] *
line for 1 y months
* Va Line Records corrected May 7, 1904 SS

Inscribed on the Roll of Virginia
at the rate of 56 Dollars 66 Cents per annum,
to commence on the 4th day of March 1831.

Certificate of Pension issued the 26th day of Apr. 33
and sent to Hon  W S Archer, Elkhill, Va

Arrears to the 4th of March 1833 - $113.32
Semi-anl. allowance ending 4 Sept “ 28.33
$141.65
{Revolutionary Claim,}
{Act June 7, 1832}
Recorded by Nathan Rice, Clerk
Book E Vol. 6 Page 11
[written on other side – Letter to Hon J. W. Jones 30th March 1844
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12829
James Hall's
Declaration for a 
Pension
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State of Virginia & County of Powhatan to wit:
On this 19th day of September in the year 1832, personally appeared in open court before John Gilliam, Wm. [Illegible] and Saml [Samuel] Drake & [Illegible] Meade the Court of Powhatan County aforesaid, now sitting James Hall a resident of the same County, aged 71 years, who, being first duly sworn according to law, doth, on his oath, made the following declaration in order to obtain the benefits of the Act of Congress passed June 7th 1832.
Mr. Hall, like many very old people, seems to have a very indistinct recollection about many matters connected with his Revolutionary services – especially such things as dates; but he hereby declares that he is about seventy years of age – that though now & for the last several years a resident of Powhatan County, he was born & raised to manhood in the adjoining County of Chesterfield. That he was in the engagement at Camden, South-Carolina, at the time of the defeat of General Gates [Horatio Gates] & that in the spring after his return from this tour to the south, he went again to the South under the command of Captain Stephen Pankey & was in the battle at Guilford in North-Carolina. That on this last tour he was not all the while under the command of Capt. Pankey but a portion of the time under the command of Capt. Tom Woolridge (Thomas Wooldridge], & indeed of other Captains. That being in class No. 2 of the militia he was not called into service as early as some others & that he was probably about 17 or 18 years old at the time that he was draughted [drafted]. That he served a short time as a volunteer. That the names of some of the officers engaged in the battle of Camden that he recollects are Col. Williams, Col. Faulkner; Lieut. Hill, Adjutant Whitlocke, Capt. Booker, Archibald Walthall & Genl. Stevens. That on their way to Guilford they passed through Petersburg, & crossed the Roanoke River at Taylor’s Ferry. That in the engagement at Guilford he recollects that Col. Beverley Randolph & Major Tucker were officers. That he continued to serve from the time of Gate’s defeat, occasionally, until the end of the war – and that he doubts not all the periods of his service taken together amount, at least, to two years. That he never had any regular discharge – that he was in the little skirmish that happened near Petersburg during the war. [sentence scratched out]
He hereby relinquishes every claim whatever to a pension or annuity except the present- I declare that his name is not on the pension roll of the agency of any state.
Sworn to & subscribed the day & year aforesaid
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[whole paragraph scratched out]

I Archibald Short & Henry Jackson are well acquainted with James Hall who has subscribed & swore to the above declaration; that he is about 70 years of age, that he is reputed & lives in the neighborhood in which he resides to have been a soldier of the Revolution & that I known that he was [20?].
Archibald Short
Henry Jackson

And the Court do hereby declare their opinion after a full investigation of the [Illegible], & after putting the interrogations prescribed by the war department, that the above named applicant was a Revolutionary soldier [Illegible] as he states. And the court further certifies that it appears to them that Henry Jackson who has signed the foregoing certificate is a resident of the County of Powhatan & that Archibald Short is a resident of Powhatan County as they believe & is a credible person as far as they can believe & that their statement entitled to credit.

[whole paragraph scratched out, legible pieces include 'is attached to the certificate' and 'James Hall is a citizen of Chesterfield County. -']

I, William J Dance, Clerk of the Court of Powhatan County, do hereby certify that the foregoing contains the original proceedings of the said Court in the matter of the application of James Hall for a pension.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand & seal of office this 19th day of Septr [September] in the year 1852.
Wm. J. Dance C.
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Powhatan County, & State of Virginia to wit:
Personally appeared before me, the undersigned, a Justice of the Peace for the aforesaid County, James Hall, who, being duly sworn, deposeth & saith that by reason of old age & 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, & in the following grades. That when he went to the South as he stated in the body of his declaration, for the first time – that is at the time of Gates’s defeat, he was gone five months, having started in the earliest part of June & returned in November. At this time he went as one of the militia. Very shortly after returning home he went as a volunteer down below Petersburg under Capt. Barnet Markham & was gone five weeks. That his next tour was during his 2nd trip to the South as a militiaman, & he was then absent from home three months. This was the tour during which he was engaged in the battle at Guilford. During this tour Stephen Pankey was Capt. of his company. That his next tour, the time of performing which he does not remember, was when he went as a militiaman, under the command of Capt. Tom Wooldridge down in the neighbourhood [neighborhood] of old James-Town & in the lower country, & that at this time he served his full term of three months. - That his next tour of three months, the time again of which he does not rember [remember], was when he went to Petersburg & the Country roundabout, under the command of Capt. George Markham. During this time there was a small skirmish at Petersburg in which he was engaged. - That his next tour of three months was when he went down upon the Nansemond river, in the neighbourhood [neighborhood] too of the Dismal Swamp, Cabin Point & other places under the command of Capt David Patteson. That the periods of the war during which he served are better designated by naming the particular services that he performed, such as being engaged in the battles of Camden & Guilford &c, that he can designate them by his recollection. All his other service followed on after these – but the time that [one or two illegible words] he cannot remember. That at the foot of the body of the body of his declaration he has mention the names of many officers, such as he recollects, & that in that tour to the South during which he was engaged in the Battle of Camden, Archibald Walthall was the Captain of his company. As to the certificate of the Clergyman, he says that he has been wholly unable to procure it –There being no one at all in his immediate neighbourhood [neighborhood] here, & none that he knows of any where that knows any thing of him as a revolutionary soldier. The testimony of living witnesses he already on the face of his declaration. As to documentary evidence he says he has none – having never received any written discharge. He says that he has no record of his age – an older brother having obtained possession of the one that existed, but that according to the best of his recollection he is about 70 years of age. He says that he has already named in his
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declaration the names of all the regular officers that he remembers, of continental & militia regiments he confesses his ignorance to speak. The general circumstances of his service he says he has detailed as well as he can. As to the persons in his neighbourhood [neighborhood] who can certify as to his character for veracity, & that he is a soldier of the revolution, he names Henry Jackson who lives not far from him, & Archibald Short who lives in the same County with him, both of whom have heretofore, as will appear upon the face of the declaration, given their certificate upon oath that they have an actual knowledge of the service of s’d. [said] Hall, & the Court too, of the County have certified that said Short & Jackson are credible persons.-
Given under my hand & seal this 9th of April 1833.-
Jos B. Davis {Seal}

Virginia, Powhatan County, to wit:
I William S. Davis Clerk of the County Court of Powhatan in the state aforesaid do hereby certify that Joseph B. Davis whose signature is affixed to the foregoing declaration and affidavit of James Hall, was at the date thereof an acting Justice of the Peace in and for the county aforesaid, duly commissioned and qualified, and
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that full faith and credit are due and ought to be given too all his acts and certificates assuch [as such]: In testimony whereof I have subscribed my name & affixed the seal of the said County Court hereunto this 18th day of April 1833.
Wm. S. Dance C.
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[typed form, with handwritten responses]

5492

Rev War
Own

INVALID

File No. 5492

James Hall

Pri Rev War

Act: June 7th 32
Index:-Vol. M, Page 159

[Arrangement of 1870.]
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James Hall

[name scratched out, possibly 'Henry Jackson.']

Admit as a private
for 17 mo. $56.66

Keep the brief -

Hon W. Scheher
H. B.
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[typed form, with handwritten responses]

BRIEF objections to the admission of Pension Claims, of which those answered in the negative, in red ink, will apply to the claim of James Hall which require further proof or explanation.

1.  Does the declaration show where the applicant resides? Yes
II.  Did the declarant make the declaration in the county where he resides? Yes
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 when he served? Yes
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?  NO
No allowance will be made any service which is set forth & supported as the regulations require
VI.  Has he given the names of the officers under whom he served, in conformity with the regulations? Yes
VII.  Has he made a relinquishment of every claim to any other pension than the one under the Act of June 7, 1832?  Yes
VIII.  Has the Court given their opinion? Yes
IX.  Has the Clerk given his certificate? Yes
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? Yes
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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? No
XII.  If the cleryman’s affidavit has not been produced, is there any reason assigned for not obtaining it? No
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? No
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 a personal knowledge of the applicant’s service?
XVI.  Are the papers authenticated as the regulations direct? Yes
XVII.  Are the seven interrogatories prescribed by the War Department answered satisfactorily? And, if not, which of them is not answered? No 2d, 5th, 6th 7th 

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             ; and for such service I claim a pension.
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It is important in all cases 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 grade of 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 objectional.  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 shewn 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 in 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 officer, 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, so 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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J L Edwards
Commissioner of Pensions
Washington City
D.C.

[written sideways – Mar 29 ‘44
Mr. Swan
Hon J. W. Jones
House of Reps [Representatives]
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Washington City
27th, March 1844

Sir,

Enclosed I send you a pension paper together with a letter from William S Dance Esq. Clerk of the Court of Powhatan County, which will explain to you the object for which it was sent to me. I have enclosed on the back of the paper my own certificate as to the hand writing of Mr Dance which I believe to be his genuine signature. I must request that you will do whatever may be necessary to enable the pension or his agent, to draw the money to which he is entitled, and return the papers to me. very respectfully
Your Obt. Svt. [obedient servant]
JW Jones