Sunday, July 4, 2010

Only One Who Fought

He was born in Culpeper County Virginia in 1764 and moved with his family into North Carolina where they settled in what is now Guilford County in about 1770, less than ten years later he turned out as a volunteer in Surry County, NC under Captain A Bostick and was placed in the charge of a Captain Shepherd at the Courthouse there, he remained nearly two weeks before being discharged and allowed to go home before beginning his service in the Revolutionary War.

He was drafted to join Colonel Charles Porterfield’s Light Artillery under the charge of Captain Brashears who was wounded and died at the Rugeley's Mills Battle in Camden South Carolina on August 16 1780, so at the age of 16 he was involved in the Battle known as Gates Defeat and saw his first Captain die. He served a tour of three months out of the State of North Carolina and upon returning home he substituted in the place of another man who was also from Surry County N.C. Under the command of Capt Edwin Hickman he went with General Nathanael Greene to the South where he was wounded and put into the hospital or else he would have been in the Battle at Eutaw Springs SC on Sep 8th 1781 where his General was defeated, this was also the last major engagement of the war in the Carolinas. He remained until the army returned over the Congaree River when he joined them and went Northward to where he was discharged at a place about thirteen miles South of Salisbury NC.

On his return home he was drafted and turned out again as himself for about a month before being sent home only to be called out again this time in the scouting service for another three months, This last mentioned service he performed he found his own horse and was in the service as a Horseman although there is no evidence to prove this fact, other than the testimony of those who served with him according to his pension application dated March 12th 1833 in Pickens District South Carolina where he had moved at the end of the Revolutionary War.

He was sixty nine years old when he applied for this pension for his service to the United States during the Revolutionary war; his pension was approved on May 16th 1833 at the age of 70 his pension of a $20.00 Annual Allowance began and he lived for another ten years before his death in what is now Pickens County, South Carolina.

This is only one of the fine men who fought, suffered and sacrificed to give us the freedom we still fight for and defend today, take a moment to remember what men like this man went through to assure us of the privileges we now enjoy and possibly take for granted. I gathered this information from this mans pension records and what drew me to this particular man is the fact that he is my 4th Great Grandfather who was born with the same name I proudly carry today.

13 comments:

  1. This is awesome! What is your biggest (best) source of genealogy information, I'm very curious. Do you use Ancestry.com? Rootsweb?

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  2. That is so awesome that your family is so rich with history. $20 a year! I wonder if that was good money or is like my dads V.A benifits just barely survivable.

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  3. I have got to get started on my families genealogy.. this is fantastic, Jimmy. So many interesting facts and tidbits. You wrote it awesome too!!!

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  4. And this is the perfect story for Independence Day. I can't help but think that discovering your history must give you some sense of destiny and connection. It also occurs to me that this blog provides valuable fodder for your future generations to pull the family story together.

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  5. You have really done your research...your ancestors will be proud of you.

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  6. This is absolutely the BEST 4th of July post I read this year!

    I wholeheartedly agree with Heather...it's awesome that your family is so rich in history!

    OMG...$20.00 per year?!?!?

    Hope you and Cindy had a super 4th!

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  7. Thank You Ms A, I have used them all but lately Ancestry.com has had the best information, the actual images on census records and death certificates have blown me away, I was so tickled to find this pension application I spoke of here because it verified a lot of information and also told of things I had no way of knowing.

    Hey Heather, I believe there is a rich history in all of our families and 20.00 a year could have been decent pay back in 1833, don’t sound like much now does it :)

    Hi Lynne, Once you get started you will be hooked, a lot of information is out there we just have to find the information that tells the story on our family, and that is where the research drags you in because so many others tie in there also. Thank You my Friend.

    Thank You Jerry, I actually stumbled across this application yesterday and the information in it confirmed a lot of guesswork I had on him, actually gave a timeline so to say as to how my family migrated to where they are now, I am gradually printing each one out to place into a binder thinking some of the kids just may take interest one day.

    Good Morning Joe, Yes Sir I have several years tied up in my research and this one document made sense to a lot of what I have struggled with, Thank You my good Friend I appreciate you.

    Morning Ron, I am honored Buddy and I am so proud you enjoyed it, Yes Sir 20.00 a year don’t sound like much but I guess we are looking at nearly 180 years ago. We had a Great Day and hope you had a better one than us :^)

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  8. And a wonderful name to carry! Don't you just love genealogy?! Hope your fourth was wonderful.

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  9. Thank You Susan, Yes I do Love genealogy it is so facinating to learn where you actually come from, my name I see in every generation going all the way back and that just makes you more proud to carry it :^)

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  10. Love these old stories about your family.

    I will have an award for you on my blog tomorrow.

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  11. AWESOME!
    I love these posts Jimmy...
    Do you have a mormon church near you that has a family history center in it? If you don't know, you should check it out. I'm not a mormon and they let me use all their stuff. You can access their entire databank for free. Check it out!

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  12. Hey Pat, I am not sure about that and will have to look into it, I have used their LDS website in the past and got a lot of information back then.

    Thank You Sir

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  13. Thank You Peg, I'll be there

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