Oglethorpe Co. GA - Revolutionary War Pension, William Finch

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Submitted by:  John T. Hull  johnthull@aol.com
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              William Finch Revolutionary War Pension Affidavit
                                      
     State of Georgia
     Oglethorpe County
     
     On this third day of December eighteen hundred & thirty two
     personally appeared in open court before the Justice of the
     Inferior Court of the county & state aforesaid while sitting for
     ordinary purposes, William Finch aged seventy, who being duly sworn
     disposes & makes the following declaration in order to obtain the
     benefits of the Act of Congress passed on the seventh of June of
     the present year. That he entered the American service in the war
     with Great Britain for our independence under such officers &
     performed such duties as is hereinafter stated.
     
     That he was born in Cumberland County Virginia on the 15th of July
     1762 according to the information he received from his family, his
     having no record of his age. He lived in Pit(t)sylvania County when
     he was called into service or rather he volunteered the first tour
     under one Captain Jas Martin. He recollects the names of three
     colonels who were along with him during this term & they are
     Christie, Lemuel (?) and Rupel. He marched from his home to the
     Long Island of Holston in N. Carolina where he rendevouzed until
     the forces were collected together. He thinks he left home about
     the first of July the year he does not distinctly recollect but he
     believes that he was 15 or 16 years old at the time. He knows that
     the officer had to obtain his father's consent for him to enlist.
     From the Long Island of Holston we marched out to attack Cherokee
     Indians on the Tennessee River, where we took their stock, burnt
     their homes & got them so subdued that they agreed to leave in the
     following Spring. We did not remain there longer than three or four
     weeks. The army marched back to the Holston where most of the men
     were discharged, but deponent & others were kept back as a guard on
     the frontier & performed guard service during the whole Winter
     until the Spring when he was discharged. His discharge has been
     lost for many years; for he never supposed it would ever be of any
     service to him. The tour was of nine months, perhaps more, but he
     is willing to put it down at nine months, that he may state what he
     knows to be true and no more.
     
     Some three years after, he volunteered against the tories under one
     Colonel Penn & this was taken as a release from liability to stand
     a draft of three months; but we were not in service so long a time
     as three months, by a good deal.
     
     In 1781 he was drafted he thinks about the month of July to perform
     a tour of three months under one Major Waller, who conducted us to
     the main army & by some means or other, deponent knows not how, his
     company was delivered up to the command of other officers who were
     strangers whose names are now forgotten. During this last tour of
     three months deponent served at the siege of York(town) from the
     beginning to the end of the siege, then he obtained a discharge
     which is also lost. He has been a citizen of this county & state
     between forty and fifty years. He has no documentary evidence by
     which he can support his claim nor is there any one living that he
     knows of that can testify in support of the same. He can appeal
     with confidence to all his neighbors for his character as an honest
     man & a man of truth. He hereby relinquishes all claims whatsoever
     to a pension or amount except the present & declares that his name
     is not on the pension role of the agency of any State of the Union.
     ........................................................his
     Sworn to in open court.........William X Finch
     this day & year aforesaid.................mark
     William H Smith C C O
     
     William Finch was granted a pension of $40.00 per annum retroactive
     to March 4, 1831. According to the records of the Pension Office,
     he died on November 22, 1842.