Oglethorpe-Talbot-Upson County GaArchives Biographies.....Smith, Larkin [Sr.] March 6, 1760 - October 20, 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: T. Bradford Willis http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00031.html#0007638 December 19, 2013, 5:00 pm Source: Smith family records, Pension record, Mt. Pleasant Methodist Church of Oglethorpe County, Georgia centennial history Author: T. Bradford Willis By Bradford Willis Larkin Smith, Sr. was born Mar. 6, 1760 in Cumberland County, Virginia, the son of Robert Smith, Sr. and Elizabeth "Betty" Smith. Larkin Smith, Sr. was the husband of Ava/Avey Bradley Smith (Apr. 6, 1767 - Oct. 10, 1807), and they were the parents of Charles Lee Smith, Sr. (Feb. 10,1795 - Dec. 4,1877), a pioneer of Talbot County, Georgia. Larkin Smith, Sr. and his brother, Robert Smith, Jr. (Feb. 7, 1749 - Dec. 9, 1834), served in the American Revolution, and they later moved to Oglethorpe County, Georgia where they were charter members of the Mt. Pleasant Methodist Church in 1820. In his later years, Larkin Smith applied for a pension for his service during the American Revolution. Recently, the writer transcribed these court records. They provide an interesting account of his military service and his personal life. ++++ Georgia Oglethorpe County Before me, Jesse Carter, one the Justices of the Peace in & for the 236th District of said County & by virtue of our office, holding pleas of Debt of thirty dollars & under & qualified to administer the oaths required by law, personally appeared, Robert Smith, an aged & infirm person, before us in open Court & being duly sworn, maketh oath & saith that he & his brother Larkin Smith (who has called on him to state what he knows concerning the services rendered by said Larkin in the Revolutionary war) lived not far apart in Cumberland County Virginia & that Larkin volunteered against the British & performed one year’s tour beginning in the early part of the year 1778, & ending in the early part of year 1779, in the North towards New York & Philadelphia. That not long after his return home from the army in the North, he & this deponent were called upon to perform a three months tour of service in the lower part of Virginia & North Carolina & the deponent employed his brother in law as a substitute for $75. to serve in his place & Larkin he believes served in his own place. Deponent does not know the date of this three months service, precisely, but he knows that his substitute had not been gone many days before his own name was drawn to perform duty at Guilford & this deponent took his place, so that this deponent in truth had to perform duty in two ways by himself & his substitute. Deponent does recollect whether Larkin ever performed any other duty than that described, but has no doubt that he did if he says so, for he believes him to be a man of the strictest truth & so has a better memory than deponent. Sworn to & subscribed this 25th day of August 1832. before us. Robert Smith Jesse Carter J. P. We the undersigned Justices of the Inferior Court hereby testify that Jesse Carter who has taken the above affidavit as a Justice of the Peace for the county of Oglethorpe State of Georgia & that his signature as such is entitled to full faith & credit. Given under our hands in open court this fourth of September eighteen hundred & thirty two. John Banks Edw. Cose Burl Pope J.P. Justices of the Inferior Court of Oglethorpe County Georgia. ++++ Georgia Oglethorpe County On the third of September eighteen hundred and thirty two personally appeared in open court before the Justices of the Inferior Court of the County & State aforesaid now sitting for ordinary purposes Larkin Smith a resident of said county aged seventy three or four years who being duly sworn according to law doth on his oath make the following declaration in order to obtain the benefit of the act of Congress passed on the seventh of June of the present year _______ an act supplementary to the act for the relief of certain surviving officers and soldiers of the Revolution That he entered the military service of the United States against the mother country in the revolutionary war under the following named officers & served as herein after stated. That he was born in Cumberland County Virginia & that according to the information received by him from his mother there being no family record he is seventy three or seventy four years of age – he volunteered in the United States service against England on the twelfth day of February seventeen hundred seventy eight with a fixed determination if his life was spared to serve his country as a soldier from the space of twelve months without intermission. This purpose he accomplished under the command of the following officers whom he particularly remembers – he belonged to General Woodford’s brigade was a member of the seventh Virginia regiment (afterwards called the fifth or third regiment but not until after he had left it) commanded by Colonel Heath a one eyed man but is keen a fellow as ever lived. The names of the majors he does not recollect & name of his Captain was James Baytop – he marched from Cumberland County in Virginia to Valley Forge in Pennsylvania under the command of Leutenant Major Carrington – his services that year were performed in the North and consisted principally in marching from place to place & guarding different points as necessity required – he was in but one battle and that was at Monmouth under the same officers he thinks whose names are before mentioned – on the twelfth of February seventeen hundred and seventy nine he was discharged at Middlebrook in New York near a small town called Brunswick a river separating between the two places – he had received something for his services & there was a small balance due on his discharge when he gave in to Carrington (the Captain Carrington) who said he was going to Richmond & promised to collect that balance & pay it over but applicant has never seen the discharge from that day to this. He had not been at home very long but cannot say precisely how long before it fell to his lot to serve a town of three months in the lower part of Virginia and North Carolina - this he did perform and through there (?) was no battle (better?) the labors of this town were exceedingly onerous and oppressive consisting of continued and heavy marching some of which was through the dismal Swamp guarding & defending from the beginning to the end of the town – the time of this tour he cannot fix as to months and days but thinks it was between the last of the year seventeen hundred and eighty – and the spring of seventeen hundred and eighty one – his officers on this occasion were Colonel Downman (?), Major Edmonds or Edmondson & Captain Richard Allen – he does not know that he ever got a discharge from this service. Thinks it probable that his captain got a discharge for the whole company if there was any given as any _______ officers & soldiers all went home together, being dismissed at Cabin Point. Afterwards but during the same year (1781) he served two months now under General Lawson, Colonel Thomas Watkins and Major Philip Holcombe recollects to have been made to wait on this Major Holcombe as a nurse during his illness in quarters at Williamsburg was at Jamestown when the French landed guarding some prisoners that had not been carried down to Williamsburg assisted in escorting them to that place & continued scouring the country between Williamsburg and little York. And even after the expiration of the two months service last mentioned he was for the same span of time occupied in going over the country in every direction collecting beef for the army – thinks there was a law in those days requiring every man who had beef cattle to give up such a portion of his stock according to number to provision the army and it was made his business to drive these cattle & bring them within reach of the camp. He thinks he can establish a part of his service by the testimony of his brother Robert Smith and he hereby relinquishes every claim whatever to a pension or annuity except the present & declares that his name is not & has never been on the pension roll of any state in the Union. Sworn to and subscribed the day and year of aforesaid. P. W. Hutcheson, J. I. C. Larkin Smith Edw. Cose, J. I. C. John Banks, J. I. C. Burl Pope, J. I. C. We Miller Bledsoe a clergyman residing in Oglethorpe County and John Moore residing in the same place hereby certify that we are well acquainted with Larkin Smith who has subscribed & sworn to the above declaration that we believe him to be of the age therein stated that he is reputed & believed in the neighborhood where his resides to have been a soldier in the Revolution & that we concur in that opinion. Sworn to and subscribed the day and year of aforesaid. P. W. Hutcheson, J. I. C. Miller Bledsoe, M. G. Edw. Cose, J. I. C. John Moore John Banks, J. I. C. Burl Pope, J. I. C. ++++ Larkin Smith, Sr. died Oct. 20, 1834 in Oglethorpe County. 150+ years after the death of Larkin Smith, the writer was in contact over a lengthy period with Ms. Allene Hewell, a trustee and historian of the Mt. Pleasant Church. The members of this historic church and the writer wanted to honor the memory of Larkin and his brother, Robert Smith, Jr., as veterans of the American Revolution and as charter members of the Mt. Pleasant Church. It was a joint project to apply for memorial marble markers from the V.A. for both brothers in August of 1987. The writer preferred requesting flat markers, but Ms. Hewell wished for the heavier and more prominent upright markers. The V.A. markers were later placed beside each other in the church cemetery. In 2012, a dream was fulfilled when the writer visited for the first time this historic church, the V.A. markers, and the Robert Smith, Jr. family cemetery in Oglethorpe County. He also visited the grave of Ms. Allene Hewell (1941-1994) at the church cemetery. This project would not have been completed without her dedication and assistance. 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