Jones County GaArchives Photo Document.....Oliver Morton-Declaration Letter-pg. 4 April 23, 1834 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Larry C. Knowles http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00012.html#0002854 April 22, 2009, 3:38 pm Source: Unavailable Photo can be seen at: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/jones/photos/documents/olivermo15848gph.jpg Image file size: 196.1 Kb EXCERPTS FROM THE “DECLARATION LETTER” OF OLIVER MORTON-[page 4 of 7] In applying for a Revolutionary War Pension-Under the Act of June 7, 1832 "..the 23rd day of April..eighteen hundred and thirty four..before his honor Lucius Q. C. Lamar-Judge of the Superior Court..Oliver Morton a resident of Captain Warren Heart's district..aged seventy years on the fifth day of September..eighteen hundred & thirty three..doth on his oath make the following declaration..that he entered the service of the United States under the following named officers and served as herein stated..that he entered the Naval Service(on)the Brig Independence under the command of Captain Simeon Sampson, Lieutenant Thomas Studson, and sailing Master Theophelus Cotton as a private..was engaged in a battle between the said Brig Independence and the British Brig Hope commanded by Captain Dawson..near Halifax Nova Scotia..the engagement lasted more than one hour and a half..Independence was taken by the said..Hope and was carried to Halifax where applicant and others of the crew were detained as prisoners of war more than seven months..From Halifax this applicant with other of his fellow prisoners were taken to New York on the British Serene(?) Friggate and from New York were carried to Rhode Island and on Long Island Sound this applicant made his escape and went to Plymouth and joined the Militia under Captain Partridge and marched to Dochester Hill near Bos Town where he served three months as such militia man..(he)on account of loss of memory cannot state the precise time he entered the service nor the precise time he quit the service nor..length of time served upon the Brig Independence but he is certain that he served on..Independence six months or more & he further states that the services herein enumerated were performed soon after the commencement of the Revolutionary War & for such services applicant claims a pension..applicant was born in Plymouth Massachusetts on the 5th September 1763..has no record of his age but a record of his age is kept at Plymouth..was living in Plymouth when called into service. Since the Revolutionary War he lived in..County of Martin North Carolina until the year 1818 when he moved to Jones County Georgia-his present place of residence..applicant served as a volunteer on the Brig Independence and as a substitute for his father Silas Morton in the Massachusetts Militia at Dorchester Hill near Bos Town..applicant can not state any other officer than Capt. Partridge..in Militia..never received any written discharge..names Jacob Watson a clergyman & Thomas B. Slade his neighbors who will testify to his character for veracity and their belief of his(war)services..and I the said Oliver Morton hereby relinquish any claim whatever to a pension or annuity except the present and declares that his name is not on the pension roll of the agency of any state. Sworn & subscribed..day & year aforesaid" Oliver Morton [by his signature-and that of Judge Lucius Q. C. Lamar] _____________________________ Note: Date of application is clarified in other documents. The passage on the duration of the sea battle is out of sequence. The name of the “prison ship” where Oliver Morton was housed was obscure-and that reference was omitted here. Additional information: The preceding summary was taken from the “Declaration Letter” of Oliver Morton of Jones Co. GA found in his pension file in the National Archives, which is on microfilm at the NARA branch in Morrow Georgia. The associated images here(seven pages)were downloaded from the free Footnote.com site at that facility. They have been carefully cropped, resized and enhanced for this site. His “letter” was written on four pages. There were two pages for character witnesses, and another for certification(of copies)by the court clerk in Jones Co. There were at least fifty-four pages within the online file. I did not compare it to the corresponding microfilmed images for completeness. The Oliver Morton pension file shows that he was given a pension of $34.00 per year and that he died Jan 19, 1848. Subsequently, his widow Malinda Morton filed for a pension on his record in 1853. She was approved for $30.00 per year. In 1855, Malinda filed for a Bounty Land Warrant. A certificate for 160 acres was issued-but not before her death. That certificate was returned(copy in file)and another was issued to her minor children, Ezra Dyer and Malinda Ann Morton. A third child, Amanda Elinor Morton had died, married, or reached the age of twenty-one years before her mother’s death. There is a copy of Malinda’s petition, or “declaration” application for her pension, proof of her marriage to Oliver in 1831, and the dates of birth of their three children-said taken from a family bible-by guardians Oliver H. Morton and James Godard, who had also been named as co- executors in Oliver Morton’s will. I looked for the “original” declaration letter in the microfilmed Jones Co. records at the Georgia Archives- conveniently next-door to NARA, but did not find it. It may be there, or in the courthouse in Gray, GA, or it may have been lost to time. The microfilmed copy of his will was transcribed in 1931 or 1937 from the original courthouse books, which were likely getting in bad shape. I do not know if any “loose papers” from early Jones Co. court records survive. There are also several letters from government officials, and descendants in the pension file. A letter dated Feb. 27, 1928 by Mrs. Laura E. Welch of Dawson, GA(seeking DAR membership)verified Oliver’s birth place, noted he lived in VA, NC, & Jones Co. GA. And, said that his first wife was Sarah Everett whom he married in Ash Co. NC. Mrs. Welch(erroneously)said he married “1734(?)-Mrs. Lary” in Jones Co. A second page from her letter notes that Oliver’s children from his first marriage were: “Silas Morton, my grandfather David Morton married Nannie Phillips, Mary, Sarah, Oliver H., Lemuel(?), Penelope, and Thomas H.” Mrs. Welch also noted “several” children from his second marriage. There are also two obscure references to possible war service in her letter. It appears there was an Oliver Morton of Virginia, who was mistakenly assumed to be the Jones Co. man, as Oliver made no reference to having lived there. A government letter from Winfield Scott- ”Commissioner”, in a two page reply to Mrs. Welch, gives a concise summary of the pension records. Additional Comments: The summary of Oliver Morton’s declaration letter was also included in a feature story that I did for the Rockdale County Genealogical Society newsletter-February 2009. I am not a descendant of Oliver Morton, I was just fascinated by his story. In my research, I found mention that his grandfather was a Timothy Morton of Plymouth. It appears that Oliver Morton was a direct descendant of one of several Morton males who came to Plymouth on the ship Anne in 1623. I do not know if there were Mortons on the Mayflower. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/jones/photos/documents/olivermo15848gph.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/gafiles/ File size: 7.8 Kb