Pension Application of Zachariah Hendricks: S38018
Transcribed and annotated by C. Leon Harris
Virginia to Wit.
At a Superior Court of Law continued and held for the County of Pittsylvania at the Court House on Tuesday the 25th day of Aril 1820
Zachariah Hendrick aged sixty years resident in the County of Pittsylvania personally appeared in court, and being sworn according to Law made the following declaration in order to obtain the provision made by the late act of Congress entitled An act to provide for certain persons engaged in the land and Naval service of the United States in the Revolutionaryy War. That he the said Zachariah Hendrick enlisted with Wood Jones a Recruiting officer in the County of Amelia in the year 1779 for the term of eighteen months, At Petersburg in Virginia he was enrolled in the company of Captain Tarlton Payne [sic: Tarleton Payne] in the first Virginia Regiment under the command of Colo. Richard Parker, from that place he was marched with his Regiment to Augusta in Georgia, from Augusta to Savannah and was present at the seige of that place, from Savannah he was marched back to Augusta where the Regiment took up winter quarters. In the month of February 1780 the Regiment was marched to Charleston and the said Hendrick was left in Augusta sick where he remained untill he was discharged by the Hospital Surgion Waelr.[?] John Shapp and having served only thirteen months of his Tour He had a discharge in writing which he has since either mislaid or lost. That he is in reduced circumstances and stands in need of the assistance of his Country for support.
Daniel Price of this County came into Court and being sworn deposed that he is well acquainted with the above named Zachariah Hendrick of Pittsylvania and his circumstances that his general character is that of an honest unoffensive man, that his Estate consists of to Horses worth about Twenty five dollars each, and some household furniture of little value, that his Estate is conveyed in trust to secure the payment of his Debts, and in the opinion of the said Price is not sufficient for that purpose
At a Superior Court of Law continued and held for Patrick County, at the Court house on Saturday the 5th day of May 1827.
Personally appeared in open Court (being a court of Record for the county of Patrick, proceeding according to the course of the common law, with unlimited Jurisdiction as to amount, and keeping a record of proceedings) Zachariah Hendricks a resident of said county, aged sixty seven 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 March [sic] 1820; that he the said Zachariah Hendricks entered for the term of eighteen months some time in the spring of the year 1779 in the state of Virginia in the company commanded by Capt Tarlton Payne in the Regiment commanded by Colo. Richard Parker in the line of the State of Virginia on the Continental establishment, that he continued to serve in said corps twelve or thirteen months, when the said Corps was ordered from Augusta in Georgia to Charleston. This Declarant was left sick at the former place with orders to join the Army in Charleston when sufficiently recovered. Before he was recovered the corps to which he belonged was captured by the enemy at Charleston in April or May 1780 which prevented him from procuring a regular discharge. That he hereby relinquishes every claim whatever to a pension except the present. That his name is not on the roll of any state, and that the following are the reasons for not making earlier application for a pension. Viz. He made a Declaration in the year 1820 as well as he now recollects in the Superior Court of Pittsylvania county Va. and gave it into the hands of the Hon. George Tucker then a member of congress. It was returned to him as being insufficient. He made a second Declaration in the same Court in 1822 and put it into the post office at Danville, he has never since heard of the second declaration, and did not know that it had not been received at the War Office untill the last winter when he heard through the Hon. Nathaniel H. Claiborne that no application had been received at the War Office, on [two words illegible] declarant since the one made through the Hon. George Tucker in 1820. The Declarant soon after he made the second Declaration above mentioned removed from the county of Pittsylvania to the county of Patrick where he now resides The he has resided in a remote part of the District at a considerable distance from the representative in Congress, and that his age and infirmity, and poverty, have prevented him from renewing his application through the representative, or through any other channel untill the last winter when the Hon. Nathaniel H. Claiborne applied on his behalf for information in relation to his claim. He declares that he is the same Zachariah Hendricks who made a declaration of the Superior Court of Pittsylvania county Virginia in 1820 and begs leave to refer to that Declaration and the accompanying certificate in support of his claim and in evidence of his services.
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 in any manner, disposed of my property or any part thereof, with intent thereby so to diminish it as to bring myself within the provisions 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 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 the property now in my possession. No land whatever, a few old tools, three chairs, a [word illegible] chest, one bedstead. to the value of five dollars That since the 18th March 1818 the following changes have been made in my property; to wit, on that day I possessed two beds and bedsteads; which were disposed of as follows, when my son James Hendricks married I gave him one. I became indebted for [word illegible] of land to Daniel Price in the sum of seventeen dollars & seventeen cents, which George Worsham undertook to pay for me on condition of my giving him the remaining bed in security which I did, and altho. I retain possession of said bed I do not consider that I have any property in it untill said debt is paid, which has not yet been done. I acquired a horse since the 18th March 1818 worth about $25, which died some years ago I also had an under bed, three chairs and a few small articles not now recollected, which was sold by Wm. Ayres deputy Sheriff for John Hall Sheriff of Patrick on the [blank] day of [blank] to satisfy a Judgement against me by John Harrison on a merchants account for necessaries bought six or seven years since. The said Harrison has left this Commonwealth and I cannot procure his Testimony I am a wheelright & chair maker by trade, but from infirmity cannot labour enough at that trade to support myself except in a very precarious manner; I have no family but my wife who is also very infirm and have no person to labour for me. Zachariah hisXmark Hendricks
NOTES:
The Siege of Savannah occurred from 24 Sep to 19 Oct 1779. After it failed, the Southern Department of the Continental Army went to Charleston SC, which was besieged by the British beginning in March 1780. During the Siege of Charleston Col. Richard Parker was fatally shot in the forehead while peering over a parapet. Hendricks may have been fortunate to be left behind ill at Augusta GA. His regiment, together with the rest of the southern army, was surrendered at Charleston on 12 May 1780, and most of the Continental soldiers were imprisoned on vile ships, in which many died.