Pension Application of William and Anna Chappel Drake: W8675
Transcribed and annotated by C. Leon Harris
Virginia Franklin County S.S.
On this 8th day of March 1827. the following declaration and schedule of William Drake an applicant for a pension from the Government of the United States as a revolutionary soldier was exhibited into Court, being a Court of record, constituted such by the laws of this state; which declaration and schedule follow in these words and figures towit, “
State of Virginia
Franklin County Sct.
On this 31st day of October 1826 personally appeared before the subscriber a Justice of the Court of said County, William Drake resident in said County aged seventy 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 of March 1818 and the 1st of May 1820; that he the said William Drake enlisted in the town of Fincastle in the County of Botetourt and State of Virginia on the 6th day of April 1777 for the term of three years, in a company commanded by Captain Perkins in the 7th Regiment Commanded by Colonel Samuel Haws [sic: Hawes] in the line of the State of Virginia on the Virginia Continental establishment, that he continued to serve said Corps until the month of May 1780 that during said term he acted in the capacity of Sargeant and was discharged from the service in the state of South Carolina at Camden, that he hereby relinquishes every claim whatever to a pension except the present, that his name is not on the roll of any state except the State of Virginia, and that the following are the reasons for not making earlier application for a pension – First the declarant was ignorant of those provisions being granted; Secondly ignorant of the course to pursue in order to establish his claim Thirdly the great difficulty others met with in establishing their pensions; and fourthly he had resolved never to call upon his country for assistance until compelled by a failure of his bodily strength and a total inability to support himself and family. 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 other wise 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, 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.
Schedule of property
Twenty acres of land on Stanton [sic: Staunton] river, one horse, three head of sheep, three cows and calves and seven head of hogs. – And that no change has taken place in the applicants property since the 18th of March 1818. The declarant is a farmer by profession, but is by old age and a disease called the gravel rendered incapable of pursuing it so as to support himself and family without the aid of his country.
He has no family except his wife who is sixty years old and quite infirm – And I do further swear that I am not able to attend personally in Court in consequence of old age and a disease called the gravel. William Drake
NOTES:
On 18 Aug 1851 in Hardin County KY, Abram Drake swore that he had often heard his father, William Drake, speak of serving under generals Daniel Morgan & Nathanael Greene and at the battles of Cowpens SC (17 Jan 1781), Guilford Courthouse NC (15 March 1781), and Hanging Rock SC (6 Aug 1780). William Drake, however, stated that he was discharged at Camden SC in May 1780. It appears likely that this 1780 date of discharge was in error. Col. Hawes and Gen. Greene had not arrived in the Carolinas by May 1780, but they were at Camden following the Battle of Hobkirk’s Hill on 25 April 1781. It is unlikely that Continental soldiers from Virginia were at the Battle of Hanging Rock.
In the same document Abram Drake stated that his mother, formerly Anna Chappel, married William Drake in Chesterfield County VA in June 1783, and that she died 15 Aug 1847, leaving five surviving children, all living in Hardin County. An accompanying document states that “Nancy, alias Anna Drake” died in Hardin County KY on 13 Aug 1847, and that William Drake died in Franklin County VA on 6 Jan 1829. It lists the surviving children as James Drake, 60; Anna Minter, 58; William Drake, 56; Cad Drake, 54; Abram Drake, 50. This document includes pages from an old book listing the names and dates of birth of these and four other children.