Wayne County, NC - Heritage Series Reprinted with permission of the Mount Olive Tribune and cannot be reproduced without permission. Revolutionary War Pensioners - Duplin "Our Heritage" By Claude Moore Friday, July 10, 1992 Soon after the American Revolution the various states provided pensions for the officers & men of their respective states who had been disabled during the War. Many states, including North Carolina, had paid their soldiers in land grants for their service in the Revolution. In 1789 the U.S. Congress passed legislation & the federal government assumed the pensions for the disabled. Much later, pensions were granted by Congress to widows & daughters of soldiers of the War. The last surviving soldier of the War was Frederick Bakeman of Fredomia, New York who died in 1869 at the age of 109. The last surviving widow was Esther S. Damon of Vermont, who died in 1906 at the age of 92. The total amount distributed in Revolutionary pensions was around seventy million dollars. In 1834, the Bureau of Pensions was established by Congress & in 1835 an official pension roll by states was completed by the War Department. This roll was reprinted in 1992 in four volumes with an index. These are valuable for research. It is interesting to see how many North Carolina soldiers of the War were living in other southern states. Pensions were granted to continental troops, to state troops & to members of the local militia who actually fought for the American cause. The records of the soldiers of the Continential Army are now with the Veterans Administration in Washington & the militia records are mostly in the archives of the states. This week I am listing the Duplin pensioners & next week, I will list the Wayne pensioners. The list of pensioners for Duplin County (1835): William Alphin, N.C. Militia, age 73 Isaac Baker, N.C. Continental Line, age 74 Joshua Blake, N.C. Militia, age 99 Burrell Branch, N.C. Militia, age 77 Hilary Branson, N.C. Militia, age 76 (died 1834) Bezzant Brock, N.C. Militia, age 76 Jesse Brown, N.C. Militia, age 71 John Bryan, N.C. Continental Line, died 1822 at the age of 72 David Carlton, N.C. Militia, age 77 William Carr, N.C. Continental Line, age 79 Hardy Carroll, N.C. Continental Line, died 1826 at age of 68 John Davis, N.C. Militia, age 70 Samuel Goff, Continental Line, age 75 Joshua Goodson, N.C. Militia, age 80 Thomas Gowey, N.C. Continental Line, died in 1826 at age of 74 Kidder Harrell, N.C. Militia, age 85 James Holland, N.C. Militia, age 89 Elisha Jones, N.C. Militia, age 73 Thomas Kennedy, Continental Line, age 72 James Moore, 10th Reg. Continental Line, age 76 Merritt Murrell, Continental Line, age 86 John Page, N.C. Militia, age 75 David Quinn, Continental Line, age 79 John Rigby, Continental Line, age 71 Frederick Rivenbark, N.C. Militia, age 87 William Roberts, Sr., Continental Line, age 77 Robert Sloan, N.C. Militia, died at the age of 69 in 1833 Samuel Stanford, private, later a Presbyterian minister, N.C. Militia, died at the age of 69 in 1834 John Stuart, N.C. Militia, age 100 Jesse Swinson, private & musician, N.C. Militia, age 75 Theophilus Swinson, N.C. Militia, age 80 William Taylor, N.C. Militia, age 77 James Wallace, N.C. Militia, age 77 James Wallace, N.C. Continental Line, age 91 Jacot Wells, N.C. Militia, age 75 James Wright, N.C. Militia, age 79 Thomas Wright, S.C. Militia, age 73 Many of the applications of the pensioners carry a detailed account of their services in the Revolution. ============================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. The electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Guy Potts ==============================================================