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Thomas Abel, of Shenandoah County, VA
Facts and Events
Military Service
- American Revolutionary War Veteran
Revolutionary War Pension Information
Information from “Virginia/West Virginia Genealogical Data from Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Records”, Vol. 1, compiled by Patrick G. Wardell, Lt. Col. U.S. Army Ret. :
Abel, Thomas - entered service in Shenendoah County, Virginia; born abt. 1759; died 8/30/1822 in Haywood County, North Carolina; married 9/1/82-85 to Elizabeth, born 3/9/1763; widow granted Pension 1839 in North Carolina; soldier's will in 1822 listed son Samuel, 7 daughters, step-son John Woodfin; 2nd child Delia (Abel) Hughes was born 1/3/1788, resided in Buncombe County, North Carolina, 1845. R4.
References
- ↑ Graves, William T. Southern Campaign Revolutionary War Pension Statements & Rosters.
Pension Application of Thomas Able (Abel) W4109
Transcribed and annotated by C. Leon Harris. Revised 5 July 2011.
State of North Carolina } Court of pleas & quarter Sessions, June Sessions
Haywood County }
Be it remembered that Elizabeth Abel aged seventy six years on the 9th day of March last Widow & relict of Thomas Abel Deceased who was a soldier of the Revolution in the service of the United States made the following declaration on oath in open court (it being a court of record) in order to obtain a pension for the services of her said Deceased husband in the war of the revolution under the acts of Congress passed in favour of the Widows of Deceased Soldiers of the revolution
Your Petitioner & applicant respectfully represents to the Secretary at war & war department of the United States, that about the 1st of September 1782 on Pidgen River [sic: Pigeon River] in that part of North Carolina now forming part of the State of Tennessee & Cocke County she your Petitioner intermarried with with her said late husband Thomas Abel Dec’d. that they lived together as husband &
wife untill the 30th day of August 1822 when the said Thomas Abel departed this life in the County of Haywood in the State of North Carolina where he & your Petitioner with their numerous family had lived for seven or eight years never having received a pension from the United States or from any of the states of the union or from any other quarter for his revolutionary services. that previous your Petitioner & her husband removal to the said County of Haywood they resided in the County of Buncombe in the state of North Carolina where they resided as nearly as she can remember about twenty seven or eight years This Declarant or Petitioner further represents that during forty years while she & he said Husband lived together as husband & wife she very often heared him speaking of his services in the revolutionary war in favour of the United States that he spoke of it so often & conversed with his friends & many other soldiers of the revolution so frequently & fully of the particulars of his service that this petitioner has not a doubt that he was a faithful soldier of the revolution & that he served the United States as he stated. She does not remember the precise period but is certain that it was not a shorter time than two years & she thinks it was about three years & in this she is confirmed by all her old neighbours & acquaintances with whom she has conversed recently This applicant often heard her said husband talking over the incidents
& particulars of his service with other soldiers of the revolution that with some of them he had served, they always agreed in their accounts of the service & of the circumstances under which they were placed at different times, that were before your Petitioners marriage with her said husband it was generally understood in the Country in which he lived that he had long been a true & faithful soldier of the
revolution, that during the whole of her subsequent acquaintance with him this seemed to be the universal opinion of the people where he lived. that it seemed to be notorious, was much spoken of and never has your Petitioner heard it doubted by one person that he was in the service of the United States & that he served as he stated. Your Petitioner does not believe that one acquaintance of his entertains a
doubt on the subject. Your Petitioner is illitterate, was not acquainted with the geography of the country described in the conversations & declaration herein before alluded to nor with the revolutionary history of the Country or mode of receiving soldiers into the service or the manner of the service so as to fully comprehend & at this late day to detail very correctly the accounts given by him of his said service (IE) as to times places &c. But as nearly as this Declarant can now remember her said Deceased Husband said that he entered the service of the united states in Shanandore [sic: Shenandoah] County in the State of Virginia but whether he belonged to the Virginia line or to the regular army of the United States she does not know The name of the Captain under whom he served at least part of the time declarant thinks was Ovelton but her friends now here present say it was Overton. She does not positively know which.
Declarant often heard him speak of the field & other Officers under & with whom he served but at this late period (her mind & more especially her memory having much failed), she cannot name any of them.
She cannot give the dates of his entering the service. She only knows that his whole service was before her marriage to him in 1782 but she thinks he had not been more than a year or two out of the service at that time. it may have been more. He often spoke of seeing General Washington in the service of his personal appearance, of the different accasions of seeing him, of his having the Chief Command over them &c.
That he was at the Siege of York [28 Sep – 19 Oct 1781], that he saw the surrender of Cornwallice [sic: Cornwallis], he often described this to his fellow soldiers & others, they always concured, he served principally (at least) on foot. he often spoke of an excursion he took to Wheeling after the Indians in which the soldiers came near starving &c. Declarant further states that her said Husband had papers
connected with his service. She thinks he had his discharges but that they were lost or mislaid she thinks before his death at all events she has not any of them in possession nor does she know of their existence anywhere She remembers that some time before his death he made application for a pension under the then existing act of Congress, that he then had the papers aforesaid, that he ascertained that he could not draw without making oath that he was not worth two hundred dollars or some other very small sum, this tho he was poor he could not do & abandoned all idea that the papers could be of service to him & she thinks took no further care of them Sworn to & subscribed in open court June 21st 1839
Elizabeth [her X mark] Abel
State of North Carolina } June 26 1839 This day appeared before nd me Niniva Edmonston an acting Justice of the peace for said County Daniel Henson pensioner [application W3991] of the united states under the act of Congress of 1832 Resident on Pigeon River in the County of Haywood aforesaid at his own house he being so infirm & Disabled that he cannot travel to court and made the following affidavit
in order to Enable Elizabeth Able widow and relict of Thomas Able Dec’d to Draw a pension from the united states for the Revolutionary Services of her said Dec’d. Husband (viz) affiant entered the servise of the united states in the year one thousand seven Hundred & Eighty one in the state of Virginia he served untill Eighty two October That about the 10 day of march Eighty one affiant became acquainted with the said Thomas Able Dec’d who was in the sevise of the united in the company commanded by Capt Overton the Regiment Commanded by Boolard that affiant and the said Thomas Abels served untill some time in the month of July in the 3rd Regement Affiant was well acquainted with the said Thomas Able in the servis of the united states in the war of the Revolution and knew him up to the time of his death about August 1822 he then lived in the same neighbourhood with affiant and is the Identicle Thomas Abele with whom affiant served with in the war of the Revolution and further affiant does not Recollect Sworn to and subscribed before me the day & date above written
[signed] Daniel Henson
NOTES:
I could not confirm the names of officers mentioned in the declarations. Henson did not mention officers named Boolard or Overton in his own pension declaration.
A size roll on noncommissioned officers and privates taken at Albemarle Old Courthouse lists Thos. Able/ age 22/ height 5’ 8”/ brown hair/ grey eyes/ fair complexion/ planter/ born and residing in Shenandoah County where he enlisted as a substitute on 19 Mar 1781 for 18 months.
On 19 Feb 1840 John Woodfin, stepson of Thomas Able, deposed that he was four years old at the time of the marriage of Thomas and Elizabeth Able, that they raised nine children, that shortly before his death Thomas Able made “a will or distribution of his little property apearing with one regard to be eqully between his Eight living Childring,” and that they were “Esteemed as Industrious… Citizens & belonged to as ordely members of the Babtist Church for more than thirty years.” The will refers to a son, Samuel W. Able, and seven daughters.
On 22 Jan 1845 in Buncombe County Delila Hughes, second child of Thomas and Elizabeth Able born on 3 Jan 1788, submitted the following family record:
Robert Hugh was born June the 8th day 1787
Deliah Able was born August the 19th January the 3rd day 1788
Hariet Heieret Huge was Born October the 2 1826
On 14 Aug 1848 Elizabeth Able applied for a pension under a later act stating that she was married to Thomas Able in 1784 or 1785.
http://www.revwarapps.org/w4109.pdf
- ↑ Ancestry.com. Public Member Trees: (Note: not considered a reliable primary source).
- Ancestry.com. Public Member Trees: (Note: not considered a reliable primary source).
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