Pension Application of James Harrison: W548
Transcribed and annotated by C. Leon Harris
At a Court held at the Courthouse for the County of Botetourt on Monday the 12th day of December 1821 personally appeared in open Court being a Court of record for the said County of Botetourt James Harrison resident in said County aged seventy six years who being first duly sworn according to Law doth on his oath make the following declaration in order to obtain the provision made by the act of Congress on the 18th March 1818 and the 1st May 1820 that he the said James Harrison enlisted for the term of two years on the [blank] day of [blank] the year 1776– in the state of Virginia in the company commanded by Captain John Thornton in the Regiment commanded by Colonel Hugh Mercer [see note below] in the line of the State of Virginia on the Continental establishment that he continued to serve in the said corps untill about 1777[?] when he was discharged from service at the Valley Forge in the State of New Jersey [sic] that he hereby relinquishes every claim whatever to a pension except the present that his name is not on the roll of any state and that the following is the reason for not making earlier application for a pension. that until old age and infirmity compelled him he was not willing to become a burden to the Country by asking that assistance which he was able to render himself — And in pursuance of the act of the 1st May 1820 I do solemnly swear that I was a resident Citizen of the United States on the 18th day of March 1818 and that I have not since that time by gift sale or in any manner disposed of my property or any part thereof with intent thereby so to diminish it as to bring myself within the provisions of an act of Congress entitled “an act to provide for certain persons engaged in the Land and Naval service of the United States in the Revolutionary war” passed on the 18th of March 1818 and that I have not nor has any person in trust for me any property or securities contracts or debts due to me nor have I any income other than what is contained in the Schedule hereto annexed and by me subscribed That since the 18th of March 1818 no changes have been made in my property
Sworn to and declared on the 12th day of December before the Court}
I James Harrison do declare that I own no property at this time my wearing apparel my Bedding and one cow a Gun and two [word illegible] excepted altogether not worth forty Dollars
NOTE: Gen. Hugh Mercer’s 1st Virginia Regiment was engaged at the Battle of Trenton on 26 Dec 1776 and the Battle of Princeton on 3 Jan 1777, where Mercer was killed.
State of
On this 30th day of May 1855 personally appeared before me, Mary Harison a resident of the County and state aforesaid aged seventy three years who first being duly sworn according to Law doth on her oath make the following declaration in order to obtain the benefits of the provisions made by the act of Congress passed on the 3rd February 1853, granting pensions to widows of persons who served during the revolutionary war– That she is the widow of James Harrison who was a soldier in said war, a pensioner who lived and died in the County of Bottetourt state of Virginia, who re’d his pay of a private agent (Ferdinand Wiley Esq.) residing at Fincastle in said state and supposes he was paid at the nearest Government agency to that place. She further states that she has been informed that said Ferdinand Wiley has left Fincastle, that she is unable to obtain any information of him as to her husbands certificate of pension which she supposes said Wiley had in his possession at the time of her husbands death.
She further declares that she was married to the said James Harrison on the 12th day of December eighteen hundred and twenty three that her said husband died on the ____ day of September 1841 that she was not married to him prior to the 2nd of January eighteen hundred but at the time above stated she further declares that she is now a widow
Sworn to and subscribed to on the day and year above written} Mary her X mark Harison
State of
On this 17th day of October A.D. 1872 Personally appeared before me Joseph R. Armstrong Clerk of the County Court of the County in the state aforesaid which is a court of record having custody of its Seal and duly authorized by law to administer oaths, Burem Harrison a resident of the County and State aforesaid aged 47– years. Who being by me duly sworn deposes as follows to wit:
That his mother Mary Harrison was pensioned under the act of Congress passed the 3rd February 1853. (second section) in right of the services of his Father James Harrison a revolutionary soldier who was likewise a pensioner and who had died leaving his said Mother his widow surviving. that she was regularly paid from the date of the passage of said act at the Jonesboro Tennessee Pension Agency at the rate of eight dollars per month up to the 4th day of September 1860 since which time she was not paid. that her Certificate of Pension was handed to one N. T. Beal of said County in the year 1866 for the purpose to restore said widow and pensioner to the rolls and to obtain a new certificate, and if said Beal did not send the same to the Pension Department in the application made by said Pensioner in that year affiant alledges the same to be lost or destroyed, and that he is unable to produce the said original Certificate but herewith presents in his affidavit a copy of the same.
Copy
“Department of the Interior. Widows Pensions.
I certify that in conformity with the 2nd Section of the act of February 3, 1853, Mary Harrison widow of James Harrison, who was a private in the revolutionary war, is [word illegible] on the Pension list at the rate of Ninety Six dollars per annum commencing on the 3rd of February 1853 and continuing for life unless she should again marry in which case the Pension is not payable after the time of such marriage. Given at the Department of the Interior. This nineteenth day of September one thousand eight hundred and fifty three
Examined and countersigned R. McClellan
L. P. Waldo Secretary of the Interior
Commissioner of Pensions”
That said Mary Harrison resided at the time of her said last payment in the County of Hawkins State of Tennessee and had resided there ever since the year 1834 And that she continued to reside there till her death which took place on the 11th day of February 1868 and that previous to the year 1834 she resided in Bottetourt County Virginia. That at no time since the death of her said husband the said James Harrison did she ever again marry but died a widow. that at the date aforesaid to wit in the year 1866 affiant as the son and agent of said Widow at the instance of said N. T. Beal to whom he handed said Certificate employed said Beal to make out the necessary papers to restore said widow to the roll of Pensioners, the said widow did make affidavit and obtain that of witnesses under the advice of said Beal in order for application therefore, but the allowance has never been made.
Affiant further states that the said Mary Harrison widow and
Pensioner aforenamed during the late rebellion
neither voluntarily aided or sympathised with the enemies of the government but at all times during its
continuance was in Sympathy with the
That at the April term of the County Court of the County aforesaid affiant was sworn and bound as Executor of the last will and testament of said Mary Harrison having been so appointed by said decedent in the instrument. And that such has been the conditions of the estate that a final statement of said trust has as yet not been made nor affiant [word illegible] thereof.
Notwithstanding
affiant sets up his right under said will to the entire arrears of Pension due
said testatrix at her death, yet he reports the following as the surviving
heirs at law of said decedent, to wit, Libby Hentz,
(a femi[?] Sol.)
Sally Miller (widow.) both residing in the County of
Hawkins State of Tennessee. Alexander Armstrong and his wife Betsy
residing in the state of
That during
the late rebellion against the authority of the United States at no time did
affiant voluntarily adhere to the cause of the enemies of the Government giving
them aid or comfort or exercise the functions of any office whatever under any
authority or pretended authority in hostility to the United States. And that he
will support the Constitution of the
Affiant further states that the said James Harrison the revolutionary soldier and pensioner aforementioned and in right of whose service his said Mother was pensioned as aforesaid was his father that his said father and mother were married in Bottetourt County Virginia about the year 1823 and that affiant is the only issue of said marriage and that he was born on the 11th day of December 1824. That both his said father and said mother had before been married and they each had children as the issue of such prior marriage.
Affiant therefore alledges.
1st That his said mother the said Mary Harrison was rightfully and legally allowed a pension under said 2nd Section of said act of 3rd Feby 1853. And for proof in the premises he refers to the testimony filed upon which her said Certificate issued.
2nd That the witholding said pension from payment to her from the date of her said last payment to wit the 4th day of September 1860 to the day of her death on the 11th Feby 1868 was erroneous and that she was entitled to have received the same. Because she was not obnoxious to the act of Feby 4, 1862 directing to the Secretary of Interior nor to any like statement.
3rd. Because the rebellion evoked[?] a suspension of said Pension the said widow so soon thereafter as practicable made application for payment by and through her lawfully constituted agent the said N. T. Beal. and because the stipend was not paid to said widow in her lifetime the same is rightfully due to her representative and heirs.
4th Because Affiant herewith thinks himself the lawful
executor of the estate of said deceased, He insists most respectfully for
payments on account of the premises. And makes the foregoing statement on oath
and allegation therewith in order to obtain the arrears due said Mary Harrison
at her death and in support of the claim respectfully presents to the Pension
Bureau at
And for the
prosecution of this claim affiant hereby constitutes and appoints A. L. Burem of Burem’s Store Post Office Hawkins County