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Thursday, June 29, 2023

Samuel Davis, Sr.–Revolutionary War Soldier

Samuel Davis, Sr. was borne abt 1757, a son of  David Davis and Jane Miles. He married Lucinda R. Munsey about 1783. This marriage most likely took place in what is today Marion County, South Carolina. About 1818-1819, Samuel and Lucinda with some of their children moved to Warren County, Tennessee. 

Pension Application of Samuel Davis S39406 NC

Transcribed and annotated by C. Leon Harris. Revised 24 Oct 2014.

The representation of Samuel Davis a resident of the State of Tennessee Warren County To the Honorable the Secretary of War of the United States. Humbly shews that in April in the year 1776 in the State of North Carolina in Bute County he enlisted as a soldier in the service of the United States under Captain Jacob Turner in the Third Regiment of North Carolina in the continental establishment commanded by Colo Jethro Sumner. that he continued in service in said company and under the same Captain until the battle of German-Town [Germantown PA, 4 Oct 1777] at which time Captain Turner was killed. he was then attached to the company of Captain Keader Ballad [sic: Kedar Ballard] and remained in his company during the next winter at Valley Forge [sic: Valley Forge] and in the next spring was transferred to Captain Benj’n. Williams [Benjamin Williams’s] company belonging to the 2d No Carolina regiment and continued there untill October 1778. when he was discharged by Colo Patton [sic: John Patten] having served two years & six months. he was in two engagements at Valentines Hill in the State of New York [in Westchester County near Pelham; possibly during Battle of Long Island, 27 Aug 1776]. he was not in the battle of German Town in consequence of being ordered as one of the guard to guard the baggage of Gen’l. Washington after he was discharged he served six months in the militia of South Carolina during the Revolutionary War. after the peace he lived in North Carolina about fourteen years and then he lived in South Carolina about fifteen years since which time he has been in Tennessee State. he is aged about Sixty two years. he represents that he is a very poor man and that he is not able to support himself by labor without much difficulty and stands in need of the aid of his government by receiving a pension agreeable to the act of the Congress of U States passed in 1818. he also represents that he has not in his possession his discharge the same having been sent formerly to the office of the Secretary of North Carolina & lost or mislaid by length of time so that he cannot now furnish the same he has never received any pay or pension from the United States & relinquishes any which he may been titled to under any other or former law than that passed in 1818. and prays to be placed on the pension list for the State of Tennessee agreeable to said act [9 Oct 1819]

[William Douglass, pension application S38667,  certified Davis’s service.]

State of Tennessee}
Dickson County } Sct.. On this first day of January 1821 personally appeared in Open Court, being a court of record for the said County Samuel Davis aged sixty four years resident in the said County of Dickson & State of Tennessee who being first duly sworn according to Law doth on his Oath declare that he served in the Revolutionary war as follows; That he enlisted as a private in the month of April 1776 in the Third Regiment of the North Carolina line in the Company of Capt Jacob Turner and that he served two years and a half; That he has received a pension & that the number of his pension Certificate is 15, 798.And I do solemnly swear that I was a resident Citizen of the United States on the 18th day of March 1818 and that I have not since that time by gift sale or in any manner disposed of my property or any part thereof with intent thereby so to diminish it as to bring myself within the provisions of an act of Congress entitled “an act to provide for certain persons engaged in the land and naval service of the United States in the Revolutionary War” passed on the 18th day of March 1818 and that I have not nor has any person in trust for me any property or securities contracts or debts due to me nor have I any income other than what is contained in the Schedule hereto annexed and by me subscribed to wit: one Land Warrant of 228 acres Indebted Justly Fifty four dollars That my occupation heretofore was farming, but I am now so disabled from age & infirmity as to be totally unable to pursue that occupation and that I have no family residing with me.

[The following is on a separate sheet, undated and unsigned, but it appears to have accompanied a letter to the Pension Commissioner dated 4 May 1822.]my Land warrant I obtained after proving my Service for which location I was compel to give 45 acres To another for a hors 4085 leaving a Ballance to my self of 134 acres which I was compeld to sell at $3 pr acre in consequence of Being struck of the pension List I think after I pay all my Just debts & git me som clothing the Ballanc will be 200 dollars – I have never drew But 37 dollars

State of Tennessee }
Davidson County } Sct. On this eighteenth day of May in the year 1824, personally appeared in open court being a court of record, for the fourth Judicial Circuit of the State of Tennessee held in said County, Samuel Davis,resident in said County, aged sixty seven years, who being first duly sworn according to law, doth on his oath, make the following declaration in order to obtain the provision made by the act of Congress of the 18th March 1818, and the 1st May 1820. That he, the said Samuel Davis enlisted in the month of April 1776 in the State of North Carolina in the Company commanded by Captain Jacob Turner in the regiment commanded by Colonel Jethro Sumner in the line of the State of North Carolina in the third regiment in the continental establishment, that he continued to serve in the said corps until about two years & a half had elapsed after his enlistment, when he was discharged from the said service, in Fredericksburg (or Fredericktown) in the State of New York, that his name has been placed on the pension list, and drop there from on account of his property.

And in pursuance of the act of the 1st of May 1820 I do solemnly swear that I was a resident citizen of the United States on the 18th day of March 1818; and that I have not since that time, by gift, sale, or in any manner, disposed of my property, or any part thereof, with intent thereby so to diminish it as to bring myself within the provision of an act of congress entitled, “An act to provide for certain persons engaged in the land and naval service of the United States in the Revolutionary war,” passed on the 18th day of March 1818, and that I have not, nor has any person in trust for me, and property, or securities, or debts due to me, nor have I any income other than what is contained in the schedule hereto annexed, and by me subscribed
  –One horse, saddle & bridle worth $40.00
-One note of hand on E. Turner for sixteen dollars & fifty cents sent to J. Allen of Montgomery County, who is entitled out of it to 2.50 dolls 14.00
-One note on E. Davis (my son) which I do not expect to get, because he has gone out of the state, & I do not know where he is gone 49.50
$103.50
I am in infirm state of body, and have been for many years, and cannot pursue my occupation whereby to gain a support. My infirmity is in some measure owing to a hurt on the back received by a fall from a horse. I have not had any certain place of abode for some time past, & have had to shift the best way I could in order to obtain a scanty support. I have had but one dollar since last November. All my family are separated from me, and are unable to afford me a decent sustenance, having to provide for themselves, and some of them for their families. I am now indebted according to the best of my present information in about the sum of sixty dollars. That since the exhibition of my first schedule the following changes have been made in my property.

Names of persons to whom sold
Robert Dickson of Dickson County, Tennessee Bartlet Stuart - the location of the warrant of Madison County Tennessee
Time of Sale.
1st September 1821 – sold to Dickson. Deed was made about a year afterward. When a deed was also made to a Maj’r Lynn for the locations part due Stuart.

Amount of money, or description of property received in return.
Forty five acres given to Stuart as his charges for location. The balance of the land (183 acres) sold for $3 per acres,amounting to $549– in notes of hand,and in a horse & colt.

In a few days after I received the above amount I paid R. Harris in notes the sum of – $120.00 which I owed him.
at another time paid same man – 14.50
1822 July Pd. S. Davis for board – 57.87½
at different times to Kumble for board &c about – 50.00
To B. Whitehead in part of 1822 & 1823 – 15.00
to W. Balthorp in part of 1823. for board &c – 20.00
To E. Turner in 1822 & 1823 for clothing &c – 12.25
To H. Larimore for improvement of land sold – 25.00
1823 in October & November paid for expenses arising from sickness – 43.50
Note given my son, which I do not expect to get – 49.50
1822. paid S. Allen for H. Moody for board – 10.00
To note sent L. Allen (mentioned above) – 14.00
$428.62½

The balance of the price of the land has been in handed by me, in small sums which have escaped my recollection. The deeds which I made for the land should by a law of this state, be registered in the County of Madison where it lies. owing to the distance at which I am from the persons to whom I sold,and from that county, I cannot without great trouble and expense, attain authenticated copies of them, & I would throw myself in my countrys generosity to have that done, if it is considered essential to my being reinstated on the pension list. I came into this county in the fifth day of this month & have ever since been residing with Mr. Isaiah Johnson in this county —
Sworn to, and declared on the 18th day of May 1824, before me Jacob McGavock, Clerk of the Circuit Court held for the County of Davidson Sworn to in open Court       Sam’l Davis

NOTE: On 13 Nov 1824 Samuel Davis made an additional accounting of his finances in which he stated that, “He does not know, nor can he learn, where his son Samuel Davis is.” I note in the file states that Davis’s pension was restored on 27 Dec 1824.

https://revwarapps.org/s39406.pdf

Samuel Davis, Sr. and his wife Lucinda R. Munsey had at total of 10 children.

The West Tennessee U.S., Revolutionary War Pensioners, 1801-1815, 1818-1872 document shows that Samuel Davis died on 8 June 1840 at the age of 83 years.


Samuel Davis, Sr. is my 4th Great Grand Uncle.










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1. Revolutionary War App transcribed by C. Leon Harris; https://revwarapps.org/s39406.pdf

2. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/1408:1116

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