James S. Talbot

Pension File Application R10377

{Following is a collection of sworn affidavits submitted in support of a pension for James S. Talbot arising out of his service in the American Revolution during the years 1780 and 1781.  The affidavits are presented in the order that they were sworn and not necessarily in the order that they were originally presented in support of his application.  The final entry by Mr. J. L. Davenport recapitulates the collection.}

 

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Carroll County, Kentucky

March 4, 1848

 

I, W. O. Butler, of the County and State aforesaid certify that I have known Mr. James S. Talbot for near forty years, that I have frequently heard him spoken of as a soldier of the Revolutionary War, and that I have always looked upon him as one of the most truthful and honest men with whom I have ever met.

 

                                                                        W. O. Butler

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Carroll County, Kentucky

This is to certify that I have known James Talbot for about thirty years and lived nearby to him on Carroll County, Kentucky and to my knowledge and the opinion of the neighbors, he was a high-minded strictly honest man, a man proverbial for truth in the strict sense of the word.  I have frequently heard him tell about what occurred to him whilst in the Army of the Revolution, in particular the Battle of Guilford Court House and many other of his campaigns or actions.  I have likewise heard Ishum Talbot, his brother, speak of James being in the Army which I believe to be a fact as both men were of high standing as men of truth.  Given under my hand, this ________of March 1850.

 

                                                                        William White

 

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I hereby certify that in 1809 or 10 in Boone County, Kentucky, I was introduced to Captain James S. Talbot by Major Urial Teaborg as a soldier and Patriot of the Revolution War, they were then neighbors.  In 1815, when I returned from the War of 1812, I found Captain James S. Talbot settled on the Ohio River, then Gallatin Co., now Carroll County, KY my neighbor which he continued for near thirty years, he then sold his farm and moved to the State of Missouri.  In 1812 at New Orleans, I became acquainted with Isham, older brother of James S. Talbot, he informed me when he came to Kentucky, he left his brother, James S., in the service of the Revolutionary War, he (Isham) returned and James S. Talbot came to Kentucky

 

In all my acquaintance with Captain James S. Talbot for forty years, I have always found him a man of the strictest probity, a high minded patriot, and was always spoken of as a former soldier of the Revolutionary War.

 

Given under my hand, March 1850, Carroll County, Kentucky.

 

                                                                        Moses T. Hoagland

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I do certify that I have known James S. Talbot for twenty or thirty years and as a man of veracity and truth.  I can say and that no man in this section of the County stands higher and anything he would say or tell to be true, I should put complete confidence in.

 

                                                                        March 3, 1850, Carroll County, Kentucky

                                                                        George Jones

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State of Missouri

County of Buchanan

 

Be it remembered that on this 17th day of March 1852 before me the undersigned a judge of the county court within and for the County of Buchanan and in the State of Missouri personally appeared James S. Talbot, a resident of the County of Buchanan and state aforesaid aged Eighty Eight years and nearly ten months old who being by me first duly sworn according to law doth on his oath make the following declaration in order to obtain the benefit of the pension made by the Act of Congress passed June 7th 1832 – that he was born in Bedford County in the State of Virginia on the 24th day of May in the year 1763 – That on the ____ day of July 1780, he was draughted to serve in the Army of the United States in the Revolutionary War in the State Troops of Virginia and on the 1st day of August in the year 1780 he was enlisted to serve in said Army in said State Troops of Virginia and rendezvoused at Hillsbourough in North Carolina in Company of Thomas Leftrage in the Regiment commanded by Col Joseph Spencer in Gen’l Stephen’s Brigade – That on the 14th day of August 1780 he was regularly received into said service to serve the term of three months -  That he was in the Battle of Camden or what is more generally know as Gen’l Gates defeat near Camden ( a said soldier and private in said state troops of Virginia) on the 15th day of August 1780 – and served in said company and regiment until the 14th day of November in said year 1780 when he was regularly discharged and honorably from said service but never took any care of his discharge and consequently cannot now provide the same -  That at the time of said service he was a resident of Bedford County in the state of Virginia – That sometime about the last of February 1781, he volunteered as a Rifleman for an indefinite period in the Company commanded by Captain Jacob Moon in the Rifle Regiment commanded by Col Charles Lynch and the said Regiment was attached to the command of General Greene on the 8th day of March 1781 and upon joining Greene’s command was then attached as infantry to Col. William Washington’s command – That on the 15th day of March 1781,he was with said company and regiment and said command under General Greene in the Battle of Guilford Court House in the State of North Carolina and that after the retreat of Gen’l Cornwallis, the Regiment to which he belonged, being volunteers, were discharged from further service and that sometime in the month of March in the year 1781, he as well as said regiment was regularly and honorably discharged from said volunteer service – That he knows not what has become of said discharge as he took no care of it and has consequently lost it – At the time he volunteered and rendered last service, he was still a resident of Bedford County in the State of Virginia – That about first of August 1781, he again for the second time volunteered for the term of six weeks to serve in the state troops of Virginia and did serve said tour of six weeks in said service in November in the Company commanded by Captain Alexander Cummins in the Regiment commanded by Col John Holcomb and was attached to the command of General Lafayette – and at the end of six weeks was honorably discharged from said service and received a regular discharge but he lost that also – and that for the fourth time he volunteered in the State Troops of Virginia in the month of September 1781 and was regularly mustered into the said service as a private in the company commanded by Captain Charles Callaway in the Regiment commanded by Col William Callaway and rendezvoused at New London in Bedford County, Virginia – that said regiment marched to Yorktown in the State of Virginia and was there attached to the Army of the United States under the command of General George Washington and that upon the arrival of said Regiment at Yorktown it was left without field officers by said Col Callaway and all other officers of higher grade than Captain being discharged – That he remained in said company in the Army under General Washington at the siege of Yorktown until after the surrender of Yorktown on the 19th day of October 1781 and was then and there honorably discharged from said service, that he received said discharge from the Captain of his said company, Captain Charles Callaway, on the evening of the same day of the surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown on the parade ground for the purpose of taking care of his wounded brother, wounded in said siege.

 

That he served as a private in each and all of four said tours of military service in said state troops or militia of Virginia in the Revolutionary War with Great Britain – That during all of the time of said service he was a resident of Bedford County in the said State of Virginia – and that from bodily infirmity and old age, residing some twelve miles from the County Seat in the County of Buchanan the place where the courts of said county are held he cannot safely make his declaration in open court as required whenever practicable.

 

And the said Affiant and applicant hereby relinquishes every claim whatever to a pension or an annuity except the present and further declares that his name is not on the pension roll of any agency or any state and that this is his first application for a pension under Act of Congress whatever.

 

                                                                        James S. Talbot

 

Sworn to and subscribed before me the undersigned, this 17th day of March 1852.

                                                                        Robert Jessee

                                                                        Justice

Buchanan County Court

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State of Missouri

County of Buchanan

 

We, Barnes Clark, a clergyman, residing in said County and State aforesaid, Isaac Thornton, a resident of same County and State aforesaid hereby certify that we are well acquainted with James S. Talbot who has subscribed and sworn to the the above and foregoing declaration – that we believe him to be Eighty Eight years and about ten months of age, that he is respected and believed in the neighborhood where he resides and we reside to be a soldier of the Revolution and that we concur in that opinion.

 

                                                            Barnes Clark

                                                            Isaac  X (his mark) Thornton

 

Sworn to and subscribed before me the undersigned this 17th day of March 1852

 

                                                            Robert Jessee

                                                            Justice

                                                            Buchanan County Court

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District of Columbia

County of Washington

 

Personally appeared before the undersigned, a Justice of the Peace, within and for said County and District, on this 23rd day of April 1852, Thornton S. Talbot, a person entitled to Court, having been duly sworn, deposes and says that he is the son of James S. Talbot who applies for a pension as a soldier in the American Revolutionary Army and that the said James S. Talbot has not heretofore applied for a pension because the said James S. Talbot was in easy circumstances and did not need the said pension, and the said James S. Talbot also has heretofore maintained his expenses that are necessary. A pension from the United States Gov't. I......as a patriot. The affiant further states that the situation of the said James S. Talbot is such at this time as to make the pension to which he is entitled necessary to his comfort  which circumstance alone forced the said James S. Talbot  to make his application for a pension.

 

                                                                                    Thornton S. Talbot

 

 

District of Columbia

County of Washington

Subscribed and sworn to before me this 23rd day of April 1852 in said County and District and I further certify that the said Thornton S. Talbot is {entitled to court}???

 

                        Franklin S. Myer

                        Justice of the Peace

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County of Daviess

State of Kentucky

 

Personally appeared before me the undersigned a justice of the peace within and for said County and State on this Seventeenth day of June AD 1852, Williston Talbot, who first being duly sworn according to law, deposes and says that he is now Eighty One years of age (since the 18th day of November 1851) that he is the brother of James S Talbot of Buchanan County in the State of Missouri, who has made application for a pension as a soldier in the American Revolutionary Army of the State of Virginia, that this affiant knows that his brother, James S. Talbot, was a private in the Army but does not recollect the Company, Regiment, or Col to which he belonged nor does he now recollect the day or year on which he was drafted but that he served under General Gates at the South and was at Gates defeat and was also in service as a soldier in the American Revolutionary Army under General Greene and was at the Battle of Guilford.

 

This affiant further states that the said James S. Talbot is also the identical James S. Talbot who served in the Virginia Militia for the period of six weeks in the lower part of the State of Virginia but does not recollect the company or Captain to which he belonged nor the Regiment or Col in command.  Whether the said James S Talbot was drafted or volunteered for said period of six weeks.

 

This affiant also states that the said James S. Talbot is the identical James S. Talbot who was a private in the Virginia Militia as before stated and that he was drafted or volunteered for a period of service not now recollected nor does this affiant recollect the day or date not the Company or Regiment or Officers but has always understood brother, James S. Talbot, was at the Battle of Yorktown.

 

This affiant states that he did not serve the said James S. Talbot as aforesaid, he being too young to do so.  But that he knows of the said James S. Talbot entering the service as aforesaid of his leaving home as aforesaid of his remaining away from home as aforesaid and that he verily believes that his service as above set forth is correct and that such was the understanding and belief of the community in which the said James S. Talbot lived at that time, To Wit, in the County of Bedford in the State of Virginia and that said James S. Talbot was always respected a good a faithful soldier and an honest man.

 

                                                                        Williston Talbot

 

County of Daviess

State of Kentucky

 

I, William H. Davis, a justice of the peace within and for said county certify that the above named Williston Talbot is a man of credit and veracity that he subscribed and swore to the foregoing affidavit before me this seventeenth day of June AD 1852 and that he is as I believe 81 years of age since 18 November 1851.

 

                                                                        William H. Davis

                                                                        Justice of the Peace

 

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