Treasure Chest Thursday~Sarah Rivers Claims Her Deceased Husband's Pay

 
On 13 November 1861, just weeks after enlisting into Company B of the 8th SC Infantry, Dempsey Rivers died from Typhoid Fever at Petersburg, Virginia. As of today, I have found no record that points to the location of his burial. His military service records contains 31 images. I will present several of those images in which his widow exerts an effort to obtain all pay due her husband Dempsey Rivers for his service.  
 
Back home in Chesterfield County, South Carolina his widow, Sarah Massey Rivers, hires a local lawyer Thomas F. Mulloy to contact the Confederate States of America officials and obtain any moneys or pay due her husband. for his services. She received $55 dollars  and Seventy six cents.    
 













Transcription:

State of South Carolina}
Chesterfield District}
Personally appeared Sarah Rivers before me who says on oath that she is the Widow of Dempsey Rivers late a private in Capt. M. J. Hough s Co 8^th Regt S. C. V. who died in the service in Virginia and that she is the only person legally entitled to claim the arrears of pay due the said Dempsey Rivers for service in this War.
Sworn and subscribed}                                                               Sarah Rivers
Before me this Nov. 21^st 1862.}
D. Douglafs, Mag. 
 
State of South Carolina}
Chesterfield District}
Personally appeared John Purvis & William Hurst, before me who says on oath that the Statements contained in the above affidavit are true to the best of their knowledge and belief.
Sworn before me }                                         John Purvis
This Nov 21^st 1862}                                      William Hurst
D. Douglafs, Mag.

I, D. Douglafs, Magistrate in and for the District and state aforesaid do certify that the above witnefses are respectable witnefes and that there is no doubt of the facts as above stated.
D. Douglafs



Transcription:

96
State of South Carolina}
Chesterfield District}
Know all men by these presents that I Sarah [Massey] Rivers w9idow of Dempsey Rivers late a private in Company B, (Capt. Hough’s) 8^th Regt So Ca Volunteers have nominated, constituted and appointed and do hereby nominate, constitute and appoint Thomas F. Mulloy of said district my true and lawful attorney for me and in my name to ask demand and receive of and from any officer or officers whose duty it is to pay over moneys due to soldiers families, any and all sum or sums of money due or owing or in any manner coming to my said deceased Husband Dempsey Rivers at the time of his death, and receipts, and acquittances & other discharges for me & in my name to make, execute and deliver for the same—hereby satisfying & confirming whatsoever my said attorney may lawfully do in the premises.
In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this thirteenth day of January A. D. 1864.
In presence of}                                                           Sarah Rivers {seal}
Hugh Craig, Sen
Dy Clk. C. D.

State of South Carolina}
Chesterfield District}
Personally appeared Mrs. Sarah Rivers before me and says on oath that she is the Widow of Dempsey Rivers late a private in Capt. M. J. Hough s Co 8^th Regt SC V who died in the service in Virginia and that there is no other person entitled to claim the arrears of pay due him for services rendered the Confederate States
Sworn & subscribed before}                                                       Sarah Rivers
A. Austin }
Magst}


We can see that between the dates of the 1st letter (21 Nov 1862) and the date of this letter (13 Jan 1864) Sarah [Massey] Rivers has not been very successful in her efforts to acquire the pay due her husband Dempsey Rivers. 

Notice also that Sarah personally signed each and every one of these requested/responses. She was a smart and very persistent individual and in the end she did prevail.



Partial Transcription

Confederate States of America,

TREASURY DEPARTMENT,

Second Auditor’s Office

May 3, 1864

I certify that I have examined the claim of Sarah Rivers widow of Dempsey Rivers, deceased , late private of Captain Hough’s Co B, 8^th Regiment So. Carolina, and find that there is due to the said claimant the sum of fifty-five dollars and seventy six cents, ($55.76), being for the services of said deceased from September 1861, the date to which he was last paid, to November 13, 1861, the date of his death, inclusive, 2 months and 23 days at 11 per month, ($26.76) for use and risk of horse at 40 cents per day, ($ ), bounty ($ ), and 6 months and balance days communtation for clothing ($29 )-less $ stoppage.
Payable to T. F. Mulloy, attorney for Sarah Rivers, widow of deceased, Chesterfield Post Office
Chesterfield District, S.C.
W. H. S. Taylor
Auditor.

Dempsey Rivers actual date of death (13 Nov. 1861) is documented in the above document.  


 


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[1] All Images from the Civil War Service Record of Dempsey Rivers - Ancestry, "Civil War Service Records" database, Military Service Records (http://www.fold3.com/ : accessed 31 July 2013), entry for Dempsey RIVERS, Private; Co. B, 8th Infantry, South Carolina Volunteers; Confederate.
[2] Randolph W. Kirkland Jr., Broken Fortunes: South Carolina Soldiers, Sailors and Citizens Who Died in the Service of Their Country and State in the War for Southern Independence, 1861-1865 (Columbia, South Carolina: University of South Carolina, 1997), page 298.
[3] William J. Rivers, Roll of the Dead: South Carolina troops, Confederate States service (Columbia, South Carolina: South Carolina Department of Archives and History, 1994), Dempsey Rivers, alphabetical.