REVOLUTIONARY WAR PENSION PAPERS
of
RICHARD SWINSON (III)
State of North Carolina} Court of Pleas & Quarters
Washington County } Sessions May Term
1824
To the
worshipful the Justices of the Court of Pleas & Quarter Sessions of the
said County.
The petition
of Richard Swinson of said County humbly showeth;
That
in the year (left blank) he forwarded to the Secretary of War, such
papers as he thought would obtain for your petitioner a Pension under the Act
of Congress of the 18th March 1818 entitled “An act to provide for
certain persons engaged in the land and naval service of the United States in
the Revolutionary War”; that in reply to an application he received for answer
“ that the Secretary of War, did not, on account of the amount of his property
consider him entitled to a pension under the acts of the 18 March 1818 and 1
May 1820”. Your petitioner further
shows, that however properly the pension was then refused him for the reason
assigned, the objection does not, and cannot not be against his claim; and that
he is informed, if he can make this appear, and also if he can make it appear
to the satisfaction of the Court
(Page 2)
“that he did service in the
Revolutionary War 12 months, in the company commanded by Captain Stedman, in the
Regiment commanded by Col Buncombe, in the line of the State of North Carolina
on the Continental establishment”; and that he is not only so poor as to have
not sufficient property or income to support himself, but is so old and infirm
as to be unable to support himself by his labor; and that unless he can obtain
support from Public or Private Charity he must suffer under the pressures of
ordinary wants; Your petitioner says, that he is informed, if he can make this
appear, he may still obtain the Pension aforesaid. We therefore pray that the Court would hear the evidence which he
can provide; and that the Court will cause such entry to be made of Record of
the facts aforesaid, as they will be satisfied and true from the
testimony. And your Petitioner further
prays that your Worships will grant him with of subpoena to compel the
attendance of Micajah Stubbs, Thomas Con(e), Jno [------], Thomas Walker and
Daniel Leggett of Washington County and Henry Norman of Tyrrell County &
Stephen Cone of Hyde County to give evidence in behalf of
(Page 3)
your petitioner in the premises set forth in this
Petition
Signed
_______________ (Can’t Read)
for Petitioner
_______________________________________________
Richard Swinson Petition for review of Pension
Application, May 1824
National Archives; File No. S42033
(page 5)
The claim of Richard Swinson
of Washington County in the State of North Carolina, to be placed on the
Pension Roll of the United States as private in the Revolutionary Army - -
“Copy”
“War
Department
Pension
Office
3 January 1821
“Sir
“You are hereby informed that the Secretary of War does not on
account of the amount of your property consider you entitled to a Pension under
the Act of 18 March 1818 and the 1st May 1820. Your papers are retained in this Office
among rejected claims.
Respectfully
(signed)
_ L. Edwards”
For Richard Swinson
Care of Levi Fagan, Esqr
Plymouth, N.C.”
It is perceived in the letter, of which the foregoing is a copy, that Richard Swinson’s claim was rejected on the single point, that his property was of value sufficient to throw him out of the cases provided for by law; in that their questions arising
(page 6)
out of the papers submitted by him and which are retained in the Pension Office, were not [agitated?] or decided upon, or if so, that such decision has not been communicated to him.
Waiting therefore for a decision on these points, before
anything further is offered in support of them; Richard Swinson will now
proceed to show, that however properly his claim was rejected “on account of
the amount of his property” this objection cannot now lay against him,
Declaration,
In order to be restored to the Pension list, under
the Act of the First March 1823
State of North Carolina} Court of Pleas and Quarter
Washington County } Sessions February
Term 1824
On this (blank) day
of [scratched out] 182[ ] personally appeared in open Court, being a Court of
record for the County aforesaid, Richard Swinson, resident in said County aged
about Sixty Nine or Seventy Nine years , he does not exactly know his age, who
first being duly sworn, according to law, doth, on his oath make the following
declaration, in order to obtain the Pension made by the acts of Congress of the
18 March 1818 and the first May 1820, that he the said Richard Swinson enlisted
(page 7)
for the term of Twelve
months on the [blank] day of [blank]; he does not know the day or the month,
but knows that it was in the Spring of 1776 in the State of North Carolina, in
the company commanded by Captain Stedman, in the Regiment commanded by Colonel
Buncombe, in the line of the State of North Carolina on the Continental
establishment; that he continued to serve in the same corps until the 24th
of April 1777, when he was discharged from the said service in Halifax County
in the State of North Carolina, that his name has not been placed on the
Pension list on account of the value of his property, as he had been informed.
And in pursuance of the act of the 1st May 1820, the
said Richard Swinson doth solemnly swear, that he was a resident Citizen of the
United States on the 18th day of March 1818; and that he hath not
since that time, by gift, sale, or in any manner disposed of his property or
any part thereof, with intent thereby so to diminish it as to bring himself
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 the 18th March 1818; and that he has
not nor has any person in trust for him any property.
(a)
Swinson
was told that it was a minute Company when he enlisted, but they returned him
for [2 ½] years and he served 12 months…
NOTE: What appear to be answers to specific
questions asked by the Court are at the bottom of the originally numbered page
7 and abruptly cut off after the above.
Page 8 begins as follows:
…or securities, contracts, or debts due to him, nor has he any other income, other than what is contained in the Schedule hereunto annexed and by him subscribed marked [unclear]. That since the [ ] of his first Schedule the following changes have been made in his property.
Copy of the first Schedule
Amount
of Notes ----------------------------------------------------------------------------$
99.00
NOTE: Remainder of page X’d to
preclude addition of comments at a later date.
The following notation appears t the bottom of page:
Carried over $ 99.00
The last page (not numbered at the top as the others) is a photocopy of Richard Swinson’s Revolutionary Pension Claim.
[14823]?
North Carolina
Richard Swinson,
Washington
County in the
state of North Carolina
who was a private in the company commanded by
Captain Steelman of the regiment commanded by
Colonel Buncombe, in the N. Carolina
line, for the term of 1
year, (1776 – “77)
========================================
Subscribed on the Roll of North
Carolina
At the rate of 8 Dollars per month, to commence on
The 4th of August
1824.
========================================
Certificate of Pension
issued the 2d of October, 1824
and sent to Thomas
Turner, Esqr.
Plymouth, N.
Carolina
========================================
Arrears
to 4th of Sept. 1824 ---------------- $ 8.23
Semi-anl. all’ce ending 4th March, 1825 –
48.00
===========
$
56.23
===========
{Revolutionary
claim, }
{Acts
March 18, 1818,}
{and
May 1, 1820, & }
1st March 123 –
Washington County