Statement by Wm Harrison of his Rev. War Service

On May 15th of 1820 William Harrison appears before John McNairy, judge of the East & West Districts of Tennessee as part of his application for a military pension based on his service in the Revolutionary War.  After McNairy takes the statement and signs off on it he then sends it on to the Secretary of War, John C Calhoun.  These papers are included in the pension folder of Elvira Harrison(widow of William Harrison)

Image 386:  The "envelope" portion of the documents.
Image 387:  First page of statement by Wm Harrison to John McNairy

Image 388:  Last page of statement by Wm Harrison to John McNairy
Image 389:  Note to John C Calhoun from John McNairy with details

of enclosure from Wm's Capt. Macon and of where to send certificate.

These are just some of the details and the source list below contains information

on where to find the full file.  

Transcription Images 387 & 388

Image 387
District of West Tennessee
On the  15th of May 1820 before me the 
subscriber, a judge of the courts of the United 
States for the Districts of East & West Tennessee
Personally Appeared William Harrison
aged seventy years, resident in the county of
Bedford in the said District who being by
me first duly sworn, according to the law doth
on his oath make the following declaration
in order to obtain the provision made by
the law act of Congress entitled "An act
to provide for certain persons engaged
in the land & naval service of the 
United States in the revolutionary war"
that he the said William Harrison
was appointed and commissioned a
Lieutenant of Captain John Macon's com
pany of the continental army of the United
States during the revolutionary war in 
November 1776 of the North Carolina
continental line in the seventh Regt
commanded by Col. James Hogan
and that he faithfully served his
country until February 1778 at the
Valee(sic) Forge, when he was placed as
a supervisory officer subject to be called
into service when called on, that he was

Image 388
in the Battles of Brandywine and German-
Town, and that he is in reduced cir-
cumstances and stands in need of 
the assistance of his country for support
& that he has no other evidence now 
in his power that what now accompanies
this of his said services.  That he hath
long since lost his commission
sworn to and declared before 
me the day & year given
John McNairy  District Judge
Wm Harrison (signature)
I John McNairy judge do officially
certify that it appears to my satisfaction
that the said William Harrison did serve
in the revolutionary war as stated in the
preceding declaration against the common
enemy for the term of 9 months & was
at one time in the continental establishment
I am also satisfied that he needs the 
assistance of his country for support and
I now transmit the proceeding & testimony
taken & had before me to the secretary
for the department of War.  Witness my
hand the date above
John McNairy
District Judge

This is the back side of the papers which contain the statement

of Wm Harrison to John McNairy detailing Wm's service in the Rev. War 

as well as a note from McNairy to Calhoun and a statement from Capt Macon.

The papers were folded and the back addressed to the Sec. of War, John C

Calhoun.  Note the postmark:  Murfreesboro Tenn May 20 1820

[This was during the time period when Murfreesboro was the capital of TN(1819-1826)]

Source:  
"U.S., Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, 1800-1900," database with images, Ancestry(https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/26267:1995 : accessed 12 February 2023), H  > Harris, William - Hawley, James > Harrison, Sarah - Harsin, Garret > image 381-473 of 1112: citing NARA microfilm publication  M804, Records of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Record Group 15. National Archives, Washington, D.C.

Links of Interest: 

Wikipedia entry of John C Calhoun 

FindAGrave entry of John Macon

Wikipedia entry of James Hogun

Checking in: A Few Thoughts on Various Genealogy Topics

I am thoroughly enjoying Legacy Family Tree Webinar's Best of ESM Series which is a perk of their webinar membership.  Each lecture is thought-provoking and motivational in so many ways it's hard to explain.  That said, I'm not going to try but I will recommend that you look into a webinar membership to have access to that series and many more wonderful webinars.  There are so many opportunities for education when it comes to genealogical research methodology and techniques--many of them free.  Just Google your interest.

I've also been revisiting some of the record books from my earlier research armed with my more recent discoveries. Names of previously unknown ancestors and family associates help to pull things together and provide a clearer picture of our family stories.

I also need to revisit the YDNA results of my Cook(e) line.  My brother tested for us and over the years I upgraded it to the BigY.  If only YDNA testing was as popular as autosomal testing.  The cost is what prohibits many from testing. Hopefully that will change and more folks will want to have representatives from their family lines test--especially some of the more common surnames doing that. This would be a good way to prove or disprove a lot of the older research where DNA testing was not available as evidence.  In the Cook(various spellings) YDNA project we most closely match descendants of Shem Cooke of Amelia VA and later of Granville Co NC.  Our group is Rlb and is broken down into further grouping however there is a group of testers who also claim descendance from that same Shem Cooke who are J2.  One of us is obviously wrong (or there is a split after Shem maybe?) but which one remains to be seen.