Monday, August 6, 2012

Amanuensis Monday: Leonard Davis Pension Application part 2


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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