Amanuensis Monday
is a daily prompt at Geneabloggers which encourages the family historian to
transcribe family letters, journals, audiotapes, and other historical
artifacts.
In 1832 Leonard Davis of Albemarle and Rockingham
Counties, Virginia applied for a pension promised to all soldiers who had served
in the Revolutionary War. He had been
denied on the grounds that two of three witnesses were not credible. He applied again in 1833. Among the records
in his pension application file are two affidavits.
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State of Virginia
Orange County towit:
I Isaac Davis do hereby that in the year 1781 Leonard
Davis marched in the militia under Capt. John Hunton of Albemarle County State
of Virginia and served two months [unreadable due to seal bleeding through the
back] & February, I believe. I was a
lieutenant in Hunton’s Company ; after the two months service we were
discharged. In April or May following I
marched as a Captain & said Leonard Davis was one of my company, to join
the army under Lafayette. We did join
said army & continued about a month or six weeks, and was discharged, and I
left the said Leonard Davis in camp & do not know how long he continued
given under my hand this 11th day of October 1832
[??] It would be very inconvenient for me to attend
[here record is cut
off ]
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[here beginning of
record is cut off]
who made the foregoing affidavit and that he is a
credible person and a gentleman of great respectability.
{Seal} In Testimony of all which I have put my hand and
affixed the seal of the said Court, this 25th day of December, one
thousand eight hundred and thirty two, and in the 57th year of the
Commonwealth .
Reynolds Chapman
OBSERVATION:
This affidavit is dated October 1832. Leonard Davis’s application for a pension is
dated June 1833. Therefore, it is likely
Isaac Davis’s affidavit accompanied the first application and that he was
considered the one credible witness.
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John Hall of Albemarle County Virginia being qualified on
the Holy avingalist {??} by me a Justice of the Peace of said County deposeth
and sayeth that he John Hall went down into the service of his Country he
thinks in the year 1781 in company with Leonard Davis of said County two
different Towers [tours] the first Tower [tour] they went down under Capt. John
Hunton served the tower [tour] under him.
The next Tower [tour] they marched under Capt. Isaac Davis but Leonard
Davis was detached to some other Company and he does not recollect how long he
served but believes he served the Tower [tour] out as he never heard anything
to the contrary. John Hall further
states that he has been acquainted with said Leonard Davis since he was a small
boy until he moved to the County of Rockingham some 18 or 20 years since that
he believes him to be a man of truth and may be relied on as to any statements
that he would make given under my hand this fifth day of March in the year 1833.
Edmund Davis
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I Edmund Davis a justice of the peace for the County of
Albemarle Va do hereby Certify that I am well acquainted with John Hall the
deponent in the preceding affidavit, that he is an old and respectable Citizen
of said County that his statement on oath is entitled to full credit given
under my hand this fourth day of May 1833.
Edmund Davis
State of Virginia
County of Albemarle towit:
I Ira Garrett, Clerk of the County Court of the said
County, do hereby Certify that Edmund Davis Esq. whose name is annexed to the
foregoing Certificate is now and was at the time of making the same, an acting
Justice of the Peace in and for the said County duly commissioned and qualified
as the law directs and that due faith and credit is and ought to be paid to his
official acts, and that his signature is genuine.
{Seal} In Testimony whereof I have hereunto set my name
at my office and affixed the seal of said County Court this 6th day
of May 1833 in the 57th year of the Commonwealth.
Ira Garrett, C.C.
OBSERVATION:
Since the date of John Hall’s affidavit is closer to the
date of the second application, Hall was either a new witness or this is a
renewed attempt to certify his credibility.
It is interesting that he is certified by the justice of the peace who in
turn is certified by the Clerk of the County Court. So not only did someone have to certify that
the witness was credible but also that the certifier was credible. Evidently
the Justice of the Peace didn’t carry much clout.
©2014, Wendy
Mathias. All rights reserved.
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