Joseph & Elizabeth Harris

Pension Application

Harris, Joseph & Elizabeth W.2793
Georgia 8141
Joseph Harris of Jackson in the State of Georgia who was a private in the Company commanded by Captain Shelby of the Reg’t commanded by Col. Poke in the North Carolina line for 7 mos.

Inscribed on the Roll of Georgia at the rate of 23 Dollars 33 Cents per annum to commence on the 4th day of March, 1831.

Certificate of Pension issued the 13 day of March 1833 and sent to Hon. A. S. Clayton, Athens, Ga.

Arrears to the 4th of Mar 33 $46.66
Semi-anl. allowance ended 4 Sep 33 $11.67
[Total] $58.33

Revolutionary Claim,
Act June 7, 1832

Recorded by Geo. C. Hite(?), Clerk, Book L Vol 8 Page 134
Letter to 3rd [–?–] 7 March 1844
Dead
Paid at the Treasury under the Act of the 6th April 1838 from 4 March 1833 to 10 June 1839
Agt notified 11 April 1844



919 Georgia Elizabeth Harris widow of Joseph Harris who serviced in Revolutionary NC war as a private Inscribed on the Roll at the rate of 23 Dollars 33 Cents per annum, to commence on the 4th day of March 1848. Certificate of Pension issued the 13th day of Mch 1852 and set to J. J. McCulloch Jefferson, Ga Recorded on Roll of Pensioners under act July 29, 1848, Page 157 Vol. A. [–?–][–?–] S. S. Cox, Feby 15/58


Declaration of Joseph Harris

State of Georgia
Jackson County
On the third day of September personally appeared in open court before the inferior court sitting four ordinary purposes (now sitting) Joseph Harris a resident of Jackson County & state of Georgia aged Eighty one years next October who being first being duly sworn according to law doth on his oath make the following declaration in order to obtain the benefit of the act of Congress passed June 7th 1832.

That he entered the service of the United States under the following named officers and served as [–?–] stated under Colonel Thomas Poke & Lieutenant Colonel Adam Alexander & Captain Moses Shelvey. I entered the service sometime in the latter part of the year 1776. I was absent at this time about one month in about two weeks after my return I again went out under the same officers & was absent about three weeks. I again went out under the same officers except the Captain who was Charles Poke. I was about at this time on an expedition to Willming Town [Wilmington] Brunswick and Elizabeth Town three months. I again when out under General Rutherford and Major White to Willming Town. It was about three months all the above expeditions were against the British. I resided during the above term of service in State of North Carolina Macklenberth[sic – Mecklenburg] County on the waters of Rocky River & was here residing when I entered service as a volunteer. I marched through North Carolina. I served with Major White among the Rifle men. I have no documentary evidence whatever of my having enlisted & served as a volunteer or of the length of time which I served at either or any of the above times. & I know of no person whose testimony I can procure that can testify to my service. I hereby relinquish every Claim whatever to a pension or annuity except the present and I declare that my name is not on the pension roll of the agency of any state.

To the first interrogatory he answers I was born in the 1749 in Pennsylvania. To the second he answers I have no record of my age. Tho the third he answers I was living in North Carolina & have lived in that State & the State of Georgia ever since. I now live in Jackson County State of Georgia. To the fourth he answers I was a volunteer. To the fifth he answers there was no regular officers when I served but there were militia officers whose names I have before stated. To the sixth he answers I never received any discharged. To the seventh he states as persons who are acquainted with him & who know that I have been reputed as a revolutionary soldier Thomas C. Barrow, John Ridling, Elijah Nash, William Lord, Moses Vincen, William Dunston, Reason Bristow, William Mathews. He states as a reason for not stating more fully all the circumstances as to his service, that he is verry old & infirm that he is Hard of Hearing and that his recollection is Verry bad.

Sworn to & subscribed the day & year aforesaid in open court.

Joseph Harris
(signed by mark)



We John W. Glenn a clergyman residing in Jackson County State of Georgia & Barnabas Barrow residing in the same hereby certify that we are well acquainted with Joseph Harris who has subscribed & sworn to the above declaration that we believe him to be eighty years of age that he is reputed & believed in the neighborhood where he resides to have been a soldier of the Revolution & that concur in that opinion.
Sworn to & subscribed the day & year aforesaid
J. W. Glenn
Barnabas Barrow

Aug. J. Brown J. I. C.
David Witt J. I. C.
Joseph Hampton J.I.C.

And the said Court do hereby declare their opinion after the investigation of the matter & after putting the interrogatories prescribed by the War Department that the above named applicant was a Revolutionary soldier & served as he states. And the court further certifies that it appears to them that John W. Glenn who was signed the preceding(?) certificate is a clergyman resident in Jackson County and that Barnabas Barrow who has also signed the same is a resident in Jackson County & is a credible person & that their statement is entitled to credit.

J. W. Glenn J. I. C.
David Witt J. I. C.
Aug. J. Brown J. I. C.

I Sylvanus Ripley clerk of the Inferior Court of Jackson County adn State of Georgia do hereby certify that the foregoing contains the ordinal proceedings of said court in the matter of the application of Joseph Harris for a pension. In testimony whereto I have hereunto set my hand & private seal, having no seal of office this 3rd day of September 1832
Sylvanus Ripley

I certify that Sylvanus Ripley is what he certifies himself to be that the above is his signature.

A. J. Clayton


No. 1065
Elizabeth Harris
widow of Joseph
Act 29 July 1848
Married 1795
Has died 1839
Admr(?) 7 mos for $23.33
per annum com’g 4 March 1848


State of Georgia
County of Jackson

On this twenty third day of May one thousand eight hundred and fifty one personally appeared before the Inferior Court of said county sitting in open court, Elizabeth Harris, a resident of Jackson County in the state of Georgia aged seventy seven years who being first duly sworn according to law doth on her oath make the following declaration in order to obtain the benefit of the provision made by the act of Congress passed July 29th 1848, That she is the widow of Joseph Harris deceased late of Jackson County Georgia, and who was a revolutionary pensioner of the United States under the act of 7th June 1832 at the rate of Twenty-three dollars and thirty three cents per annum for service in the North Carolina militia, and was placed on the Roll 13th March 1833 to the original declaration of whom she now begs leave to refer. She further states that she was married to the said Joseph Harris on the _______ day of August one thousand seven hundred and ninety-four in the County of Green in the state of Georgia by Dr. Nisbet a Justice of the Peace and that her name before her said marriage was Elizabeth Cribb. That she cannot procure any public record of her marriage, that she has no private or family record by which the date of her marriage can be shown except the record of the birth of her children which record she has had sewn in a Bible and now takes out and transmits herewith, declaring that the same shows truly the ages of her children that it was made about thirty ___ years ago, and she believes is in the hand writing of Thomas Harris who has moved to Mississippi & was made for her satisfaction and has been in her power custody and control ever since. That it was made from a mutilated original record which has since become lost or mislaid so that she is unable as yet to find it. That her husband, the aforesaid Joseph Harris, died on the tenth day of June one thousand eight hundred and thirty nine at his home in the county of Jackson State of Georgia, and that she is now, and has remained a widow ever since that period.

Sworn to and subscribed on the day and year above written before us

Elizabeth Harris
(signed by mark)

Middleton Witt J. I. C.
Russel J. Park J. I. C.
Charles Witt J. I. C.

State of Georgia
County of Jackson

Personally appeared before me a Justice of the Inferior Court in and for said county and state, Robert Espy and Russell I. Park, residents of Jackson County in the state of Georgia who being first duly sworn according to law declare that Elizabeth Harris the above affiant is the identical person she represents herself to be that they were acquainted with the above mentioned Elizabeth Harris and her husband the said Joseph Harris, mentioned by her, in his lifetime, know that he died about the time stated by her in her declaration and that she is still his widow, and they further swear that are disinterested witnesses

Robert Espy
Russel J. Park

Subscribed and sworn to before me this 23rd day of May 1851 and I hereby certify that Robert Espy and Russel Park are credible witnesses.

Middleton Witt J. I. C.

State of Georgia
County of Jackson

I P. F. Hinton clerk of the Inferior Court of said County and State do hereby certify that Middleton Witt, Russel J. Park & Charles Witt whose names appear to the foregoing declaration are Justices of the Inferior Court in and for said County duly commissioned and qualified and that their signatures are genuine as well also the signature of Middleton Witt Justice of the Inferior which appears above to the affidavit of Robert Espy and Russel J. Park.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and affix the seal of the Inferior Court for the County aforesaid this 23rd day of May one thousand eight hundred and fifty one.
P. F. Hinton, Clerk


Thomas Harris was born August the 31st 1796

Sarah Harris was born Sept the 27th 1800

Joseph Harris was born 18th Decr 1802

Walton Harris was born May the 14th 1805

Nancy Harris was born 18th Nov 1807

Elizabeth Harris was born Dec the 16th 1812

[Note: This list of the children of Joseph and Elizabeth Harris seems to be written on the back of a letter. It isn’t clear when the letter was written, or by whom, and a small portion of the left side of the page appears to have been cut away. To the extent that I can read it, it says:

—te of Tennessee M—y County
— father and mother I want
— right to let you know
—t we are all in good helth
—nks be to god for it and I hope
—t these few lines ma find you
— in good helth. I have nothing
— the relating to you but [–?–]
[one line to faded to read]
— and we have got six children
five of them is girls and one son
we call his name Joseph James
I want you to remembre(?) me
—- and famley(?) and all the
—t of the children and tel them
—- we are all well and [–?–]


State of Georgia
County of Jackson

Be it known that before me the undersigned, a Justice o the Peace duly authorized by law to administer oaths within and for the county aforesaid personally appeared Elizabeth Harris, widow of Joseph Harris late of said county deceased and who was a revolutionary pensioner of the United States under the laws of 7th June 1832 at the rate of twenty three dollars and thirty-three cents per annum; who being duly sworn according to law, saith she is unable to procure any court or church record of the date of her marriage to the said Joseph Harris, nor has she any family record thereof whatever. That the said marriage did take place in the month of august 1794 and that the inclosed old family record is the original record of the ages of her children by the said Joseph Harris, her first born Thomas Harris being born on the 31st day of August 1796 (see x) that this record was contained in a Bible owned by her said husband Joseph Harris at the time of her marriage to him, that some twenty five years ago said Bible was carried to DeKalb County Georgia by one Salathiel Adams who married a daughter [words “of a first wife” crossed out] of said Joseph and Elizabeth Harris, but which has recently been returned to her for the purpose of getting said record and that the same is in the hand writing of her husband the said Joseph Harris, and is genuine .

Elizabeth Harris
(signed by mark)

Sworn to and subscribed on this seventeenth day of November 1851 before me
Thomas L. Stapler J. P.
And I hereby certify that the inclosed record of births was torn out and enclosed in my presence and that the same is genuine that Elizabeth Harris the above affiant is personally known to men and that she is a person whose statements entire confidence may be reposed. The words “of a first wife” eraced and “and Elizabeth” interlined before the above was sworn to and subscribed.
Thomas L. Stapler J. P.


State of Georgia
County of Jackson
On this 17th day of November 1851 personally appeared before me the undersigned a Justice of the Peace, duly authorized by law to administer oaths in and for the county and state aforesaid James W. Thurmond and Elizabeth Reidling and made oath in due form of law that they were personally well acquainted with Joseph Harris, late of said county, a revolutionary Pensioner, in his lifetime and his wife the above Elizabeth Harris, that they lived together as husband and wife many years, and were reputed and believed to be such by all their neighbours, that they were personally well acquainted with the children of Joseph and Elizabeth Harris, that Thomas Harris was their oldest, and that they believe said Thomas Harris to be of the age represented by the enclosed family record of Births, and that said record taken from an old bible was attached hereto in their presence, and that said Joseph Harris died on the tenth day of June 1839 in said County of Jackson, and that they saw said Joseph Harris while a corpse and saw him buried.

James W. Thurmond
Elizabeth Reidling (signed by mark)

Sworn to and subscribed before me the day and year above written

Thomas L. Stapler J. P.

And I hereby certify that James W. Thurmond and Elizabeth Reidling deponents to the foregoing affidavit are personally known to me as credible witnesses, and persons in whose statements entire confidince may be reposed
Thomas L. Stapler J. P.


[Note: These appear to be the page or pages actually torn from a family Bible, as described above.]

Jessy Harris was born August the – 1788

Thomas Harris was born August the 31st 1796

Sally Harris was born Sept 7th 1800

Joseph Harris was born December 18th

Jesse Harris was born August 15th 1788

Marry Harris was born May – 1790

Thomas Harris was born August the 31 1796

–lly Harris was born


Jefferson GA
Nov. 24th 1851

Sir:

Herewith you will please find additional proof of the death of Joseph Harris late of Jackson County Ga. deceased, and the deposition of Mrs. Elizabeth Harris widow of Joseph Harris, accompanied by the original record of her children’s ages, torn from a bible, which had been taken to Dekalb County some years ago by their son in law and attached in presence of the affiant.

In yours of August 29th 1851 you advert to “the case of Elizabeth Harris widow of Joseph Harris claiming a pension under the act of July 7th 1838” This, however, I presume, was an oversight in the clerk. The application was made, or intended to be, under Act of July 29th 1848. Mrs. Harris was not married prior to 1st January 1794 but in August 1795. You will observe Thomas Harris is her oldest. There are some older mentioned in the old record but they were children of a first wife. The date of Joseph Harris death was proven on a former occasion when his widow supplied and drew the arrearages due at her husband’s death $146.28 in 1844.

Your most obt. serv’t.
John J. McCulloch

 

Submitted by Cheryl Chasin