Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application File S. 3,592, John Williams, N. C.

SERVICE
NUMBER
N.C.
Williams, John
S.3592
Home in N.C.
CONTENTS
Carded.

1265.
West Tennessee
John Williams
of Bedford in the State of Tennessee who was a pt. of Co. in the Compy commanded by Captain Fuller of the Regt commanded by ————— in the N. Carolina line for 6 months from 1781
John H. Maynard Secy 9/60
Inscribed on the Roll of West Tennessee at the rate of 25 Dollars — Cents per Annum to commence on the 4th day of March, 1831.
Certificate of Pension issued the 30 th day of October 1832. and left to Samuel Anderson, Shelbyville, Tenn.
  Arrears to 4th of Sept 1832  37.50    Semi-annual allowance ending 4 th March 1833.  12.50     $50.00  
{ Revolutionary Claim, } { Act June 7, 1832. }
Recorded by Nathan Rice Clerk, Book D Vol. 9 Page 163.

1330
John Williams Tennessee.
from 1781.
Six months as a private of Cavalry. $25.

BRIEF in the case of  John Williams  of Bedford County in the State of Tennessee  (Act 7 June, 1832.)
 1. Was the declaration made before a Court or a Judge? a Court,  2. If before a Judge, does it appear that the applicant is disabled by bodily infirmity?  3. How old is he? 70 years,  4. State his service, as directed in the form annexed. 
   Period. Duration of Service. Rank. Names of General and Field Officers under whom he served.   Years, Months, Days.     In 17 upwards 2 2 As a  Gen. Grafton  Capt Brannon Fuller Com d Light Horse  Capt Jacob Williams  Capt John Knight  " " "     2 as a Substitute for James Latham a little upwards of 6 months
 5. In what battles was he engaged?  6. Where did he reside when he entered the service? Randolph County N. Carolina  7. Is his statement supported by living witnesses, by documentary proof, by traditional evidence, by incidental evidence, or by the rolls? by traditional evidence & by living witness as to his having entered the service.  8. Are the papers defective as to form or authentication? and if so, in what respect? 
I Certify that the foregoing statement and the answers agree with the evidence in the case above mentioned.
Examining Clerk.

State of Tennessee Bedford County
August Session 1832 of the Court
of Pleas & Quarter Sessions of the County of Bedford and State of Tennessee
On this 10th day of August 1832 personally appeared before the court of Pleas & Quarter Sessions for the county of Bedford now in Session being a court of Record John Williams a resident of the county and state aforesaid aged 70 years who being first duly sworn according to law doth on his oath make the following declaration in order to obtain the benefit of the provisions made by the act of Congress passed June 7th 1832.
That he was drafted on the day of for a term of three months in Randolph County North Carolina to serve in the army of the United States during the revolutionary war. At the period he was drafted there was a regulation that drafted men might furnish a horse join the light horse and serve two months in lieu of the three they were drafted for. He did furnish his own horse and joined a light horse company commanded by Cpt. Britain Fuller who took sick and in a short time went home when he was commanded by Cpt. Jacob Williams. He was employed in ranging along the British lines thru Rowan & Mecklenburg counties and on to Charlotte. The British had been to Charlotte but had left that place and went to South Carolina a short time before the American troops got there. This applicant was in no regular battle or skirmish they had some firing at the Tories and thinks killed some few of them

2 Applicant was discharged by Genl Morgan whom he knew at the expiration of the two months as he thinks some five or six days before owing to his taking sick. Some four or five months after he was discharged the Tories became troublesome and he volunteered his services again and joined a company commanded by Cpt John Knight of horsemen. He does not recollect whether he volunteered for any definite period but they marched thro Randolph Chatham and Guilford counties to protect the inhabitants. He was sent with a detachment to guard the members of the assembly to Hillsborough. that he was in no engagement or battle and nothing done except some firing at the Tories during this tour he thinks his Cpt received a wound but while he was with the detachment guarding the members of assembly to Hillsborough after being in service upwards of two months he was verbally discharged by his Captain.
Soon afterwards other men were drafted from Randolph County to serve a tour of three months this applicant took the place of James Latham who had been drafted and entered as before in a company of light horse commanded by the said Cpt John Knight. They ranged as before thro Randolph Chatham & Guilford counties guarding the inhabitants against the Tories. He thinks he was sent again as a detachment to guard the members of assembly to Hillsborough. He has a recollection of being there in that service but cannot be certain in which tour of service he went on that duty after serving two months and he was verbally discharged by his Cpt John Knight.
This applicant has lost his discharge given by Genl Morgan and he has no documentary evidence and he knows of no person whose testimony he can procure who can testify to his service further

then the proof contained in the affidavit of Mary 3 Mary Harn accompanying this declaration His memory is very frail from age and infirmity and he cannot state either the month day or year he entered the service whether of the terms of duty he performed. He thinks he did not enter the service until after the battle at Camden nor can he recollect the day month or year of either of the times he was discharged but he recollects the war ceased soon after he was discharged the last time. and he served in all the three different terms he has described a little upwards of six months
He was born in Randolph County N. the Carolina on the 16 th April 1762. according to the account given by his mother but he has not himself any register of his age it is now in existence and does not know whether He resided in Randolph County from his birth to the revolutionary war he lived in that county during and after the war until October 1795 when he removed to Blount County East Tennessee he resided in Blount County about eleven years He then removed to Bedford County West Tennessee where he lived about five years he then removed to Lincoln an adjoining county where he lived about ten years after which he returned back to Bedford County where he has resided ever since
This applicant knew Col. Washington and Lee was with them and under their command during a part of his service. He also recollects there was a Col. Williamson in service at the time he was but thinks he commanded a regiment of Militia
This applicant is known to Andrew Reed Benjamin Cunningham Robert Hastings Elijah Williams Edmund Green and many others in his neigh- -borhood who he believes can testify as to his character for veracity and their belief of his services Sworn to subscribed 10 th August 1832 John Williams for M c Donald

4 State of Tennessee } Court of Pleas & Quarters P Bedford County } Superior for Bedford County Tennessee August Superior 1832.
Mirsey Mary. I am aged sixty six years personally appeared in open court and made oath that she was raised in Randolph County North Carolina in the same neighborhood where John Williams was raised the present applicant and was well acquainted with him at that time and has known him ever since she states she recollects distinctly of hearing at the time and during the Revolutionary war that the said John Williams had entered the service on behalf of the United States and was in the service of his country has long continued in service she does not remember sworn to and subscribed this 10th of August 1832. -
Mary X Horn J. W. Woodcock
We Jeremiah Cunningham and Andrew Reed residing in the County of Bedford and State of Tennessee hereby certify that we are well acquainted with John Williams who has subscribed and sworn to the above declarations that we believe him to be 70 years of age that he is reputed and believed in the neighborhood where he resides to have been a soldier of the Revolution and that we concur in that opinion Sworn and subscribed this day and year aforesaid.
A. Cunningham Andrew Reed J. W. Woodcock

The said John Williams hereby relinquishes every claim whatever to a pension or annuity except the present and declares that his name is not on the pension roll of the agency of any state whatever
Sworn to subscribed this 10 th August 1832
John Williams
C. W. Wheaton
The following questions were asked the said John Williams in open court who was sworn to answer truly such questions as might be asked him under the direction of the court which were answered by the said John Williams the answers to each of which are embodied in the accompanying declaration which was also subscribed and sworn to in open court viz
 1 st Where and in what year were you born  2 d Have you any record of your age and if so where is it  3 d Where were you living when called into service where have you lived since the revolutionary war and where do you now live 

4 th How were you called into service were you drafted did you volunteer or were you a substitute and if a substitute for whom
5 th State the names of some of the regular officers who were with the troops where you served such continental and militia regiments as you can recollect and the general circumstances of your service
6 th Did you ever receive a discharge from the service and if so by whom was it given and what has become of it
7 th State the names of persons to whom you are known in your present neighbourhood and who can testify as to your character for veracity and their belief of your services as a soldier of the revolution
[Faint, illegible handwriting at the bottom of the page, possibly bleed-through from the reverse side.]

7 And the said court do hereby declare their opinion after the investigation of the matter and after putting the interrogatories prescribed by the War department that the above named applicant was a revolutionary soldier and served as he states and the court further certifies that it appears to them that Jeremiah Cunningham and Andrew Reed are residents of the county of Bedford and state of Tennessee and are credible persons and their statement is entitled to credit
J. O'Neill Samuel Phillips John B. Armstrong
I James McRieuk clerk of the court of Pleas & Quarters Sessions for Bedford County in the state of Tennessee do hereby certify that the foregoing contains the original proceedings of the said court in the matter of the application of John Williams for a pension
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal of office at Office this 11 th day of August 1832.
E. M. Mitchell

Reuben
3592
INVALID.
am
File No. 3592
John Williams Pat. S. C.
Act: June 7, 1832
Index:—Vol. 24 , Page 407
[Arrangement of 1870.]

Shelbyville Ky August 12
Stearns
Aug 31 - Pg 1
Hon. Lewis Cass. Secretary of War Washington City
Ms A 330

Shelbyville Tennessee
August 12 th 1832
Dear Sir
Enclosed is John
Williams' declaration and accompanying documents to be placed on the pension list
You will please communicate on Messrs. C Whiteside with me at this place the reception this application meets with and if favorable forward the certificate which will entitle him to draw a pension. Mr Williams thinks he ought to draw for the full three months each term as the circumstances of finding his horse are serving two months and equivalent to three months at that time but he leaves that question to the department
Yours respectfully Saml Anderson

BRIEF objections to the admission of Pension Claims, of which those answered in the negative, in red ink, will apply to the claim of which require further proof or explanation.
I. 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? No 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  yes, 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, has a device

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 clergyman's affidavit has not been produced, is there 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 has produced a witness or witnesses as to his service, has the magistrate who administered the oath certified that he, she, or they are persons of credibility? no 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? no  yes. XVII. Are the seven interrogatories prescribed by the War Department answered satisfactorily? And, if not, which of them is not so answered? yes
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.”

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 objectionable.
† 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 affidavits must be properly authenticated, as above directed.
‡ 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.