Revolutionary Soldiers in Alabama

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y

RALEY, CHARLES, aged 70, and a resident of Morgan County; private of Cavalry, Virginia Continental Line; enrolled on September 17, 1833, under act of Congress of June 7, 1832, payment to date from Match 4, 1831; annual allowance, $77.72; sums received to date of publication of list, $194.30.— Revolutionary Pension Roll, in Vol. xiv, Sen. Doc. 514, 23rd Cong., lst sess., 1833-34.

RANDOLPH, ABRAHAM, aged 72, and a resident of Lawrence County; private, N.C. Militia, enrolled on April 13, 1833, under act Congress of June 7, 1832, payment to date from March 4, 1831; annual allowance, $20.—Revolutionary Pension Roll, Vol. xiv, Sen. Doc. 514, 23rd Cong., 1st sess., 1833-34.

RANDOLPH, HUGH, aged 85, resided in Franklin County, June 1, 1840, with David Fuller. Census of Pensioners, 1841, p. 148.

RANKIN, ROBERT, a resident of Washington County; lieutenant, 3rd Regular Virginia Line; enrolled on September 8, 1828, under act of Congress of May 15, 1828, payment to date from March 3, 1826; annual allowance, $320; sums received to date of publication of list, $2,880; W. Crawford, agent.—Revolutionary Pension Roll, in Vol. xiv, Sen. Doc. 614, 23rd Cong., 1st sess., 1833-34.

RAY, FREDERICK, aged 75, and a resident of Tuscaloosa County; private, Virginia State Troops, enrolled on April 23, 1833, under act of Congress of June 7, 1832, payment to date from March 4, 1831; annual allowance, $36.66.—Revolutionary Pension Roll, in Vol. xiv, Sen. Doc. 614, 23rd Cong.; 1st sess., 1833-34.

READY, SHADRACK, aged 88, and a resident of Madison County; private, Virginia Continental Line; enrolled on December 5, 1820, under act of Congress of March 18, 1818, payment to date from September 11, 1820; annual allowance, $96; sums received to date of publication of list, $438.13. Died April 3, 1825.—Revolutionary Pension Roll, in Vol. xiv, Sen. Doc. 514, 23rd Cong., 1st sess., 1833-34.

REED, JOHN. aged 82, and a resident of Fayette County; private, N.C. Militia; enrolled on November 15, 1833, under act of Congress of June 7, 1832, payment to date from March 4, 1831; annual allowance, $30; sums received to date of publication of list, $90.—Revolutionary Pension Roll, in Vol. xiv, Sen. Doc. 514, 23rd Cong., 1st sess., 1833-34.

REED, NATHAN, aged 72, and a resident of Perry County; private, N.C. Militia; enrolled on September 17, 1833, under act of Congress of June 7, 1832, payment to date from March 4, 1831; annual allowance, $30; sums received to date of publication of list. $75.—Revolutionary Pension Roll, in Vol. xiv, Sen. Doc 514, 23rd Cong., 1st sess., 1833-34.

REED, ROBERT, aged 77, and a resident of St. Clair County; private and sergeant, N.C. Militia; enrolled on February 4, 1833, under act of Congress of June 7, 1832, payment to date from March 4, 1831; annual allowance, $65; sums received to date of publication of list, $195.—Revolutionary Pension Roll, in Vol. xiv, Sen. Doc. 514, 23rd Cong., 1st sess., 1833-34. He resided in St. Clair County, June 1, 1840, aged 75. Census of Pensioners, 1841, p. 148.

REESE, GEORGE (1752-1837) was lieutenant at the battle of Eutaw Springs and was captured at fall of Charleston. He was born in Mecklenburg County, N.C.; died in Chambers County, Ala.—D.A.R. Lineage Book, vol. 158, p. 64.

REESE, LITTLETON, aged 76, resided in Autauga County, June 1, 1840. Census of Pensioners, 1841, p. 149.

REYNOLDS, FIELDING, aged 70, and a resident of Dallas County; private and sergeant, S.C. State Troops; enrolled on March 8, 1833, under act of Congress of June 7, 1832, payment to date from March 4, 1831; annual allowance, $93.33; sums received to date of publication of list, $279.99.—Revolutionary Pension Roll, in Vol. xiv, Sen. Doc. 514, 23rd Cong., 1st sess., 1833-34.

RICE, JOEL "—Departed this life on Saturday morning the 22nd inst., at his residence in the Big Cove, Madison County, Alabama, of a lingering and protracted illness, Joel Rice, Esq., in the 71st year of his age. One of the first settlers in the county, Fought in the Revolution, for the liberty we now enjoy and has one down to his reward."—Huntsville Southern Advocate, June 25th, 1833.

RICE, NED—Schedule 3 of the Census of 1860, of Jackson County, Alabama, Persons who Died during the Year ending 1st June, 1860, in Division Number 1 in the County of Jackson, State of Alabama, enumerated by me, Jasper J. Jones, p. 1, No. 14. Ned Rice. age 107, sex male, color black, slave, born South Carolina, died September, occupation laborer, cause of death unknown, number of days ill 17. Remarks: Ned Rice was a servant in the American Army, during the Revolutionary War, and was present at many battles. He was taken prisoner by the British and remained with them, as a prisoner of war until he contrived to make his escape. He personally knew many of the American and British leaders, and frequently related anecdotes of them. He possessed a vivid recollection, until his death, of many of the important events which transpired during that exciting struggle.

RICE, RIGHT, a resident of Wilcox County; private, particular service not shown; enrolled on January 26, 1835, under act of Congress of June 7, 1832, payment to date from March 4, 1831; annual allowance, $20.—Pension Book, State Branch Bank, Mobile.

RICE, SPENCER—said to have been a Revolutionary soldier and the first man buried in the Old New Market Cemetery, about 1807.—Genealogy of the Harris and Allied Families, by Pauline Myra Jones and Kathleen Paul Jones, p. 93.

RIDNER, SAMUEL, aged 80, resided in Benton County, June 1, 1840, with Jos. Ridner. Census of Pensioners, 1841, p. 148.

RIVERS, JOEL --According to Miss Martha Lou Houston, this man was a veteran of the Revolution, born 1755 in Brunswick County, Va., married Rhoda Harvell, probably in North Carolina before 1785, their daughter Hannah (Rivers) Scott being born 1786 in North Carolina, and moved to Alabama, where he died. West's History of Methodism in Alabama, pages 573-4, states in part:

"The Rev. Joel Rivers, a local preacher and a native of England, but from his youth a citizen of the now United States, moved from the town of Fayetteville, North Carolina, to Fort Claiborne, Alabama, accompanied by his children, all then grown, and purchased land, and, on it, at his own expense, in 1816, the lot being at Claiborne, erected a house of worship for the Methodist Episcopal Church. The first Society of Clairborne, organized just prior to the erection of the house of worship there, consisted of the Rev. Joe Rivers, Rhoda Rivers, his wife, and a number of their children. If there were any others it is not now known. In the after time, and at an early day.... and Stephen Steele were members of that Society. Stephen Steele, in 1821, married Elizabeth Rivers, the daughter of the Rev. Joel Rivers, and was a Methodist at the town of Claiborne from 1825 till his death in 1868," etc.

The census of 1840, of Clarke County, Ala., lists as in the household of Richard Rivers (b. 1788, N.C.) one female aged 80-90, therefore born 1730-1740, who may have been Rhoda (Harvell) Rivers. She did not appear in his census return in the census of 1830.

ROANE, JAMES H., age not given, a resident of Morgan County; 2nd lieutenant, 10th Regular U.S. Infantry; enrolled on April 18, 1825, payment to date from January 28, 1825; annual allowance, $90; sums received to date of publication of list, $684.22; Acts Military establishment. —Revolutionary Pension Roll, in Vol. xiv, Sen. Doc. 514, 23rd Cong., 1st sess., 1833-34.

ROBERSON, JOHN, aged 74, and a resident of Tuscaloosa County; private, Virginia Militia; enrolled on July 20, 1833, under act of Congress of June 7, 1832, payment to date from March 4, 1831; annual allowance, $28.11; sums received to date of publication of list, $70.38.—Revolutionary Pension Roll, in Vol. xiv, Sen. Doc. 514, 23rd Cong., 1st sess., 1833-34.

ROBERTS, ASENATH ALEXANDER, real Daughter marked by D.A.R., Mobile.—See D.A.R. Report 1927-28, p. 121.

ROBERTS, DAVID, aged 89, and a resident of Shelby County; private, S.C. Militia; enrolled on March 12, 1834, under act of Congress of June 7, 1832, payment to date from March 4, 1831; annual allowance, $60; sums received to date of publication of list, $180.—Revolutionary Pension Roll, in Vol. xiv, Sen. Doc. 5l4, 23rd Cong., 1st sess., 1833-34.

ROBERTSON, JAMES, aged 71, and a resident of St. Clair County; private, S.C. Continental Line; enrolled on October 29, 1833, under act of Congress of June 7, 1832; payment to date from March 4, 1831; annual allowance, $80; sums received to date of publication of list, $240.—Revolutionary Pension Roll, in Vol. xiv, Sen. Doc. 514, 23rd Cong., 1st sess., 1833-34.

"The following tribute to 'Horseshoe Robinson' is extracted from a poem, entitled 'The Day of Freedom,' by Alexander B. Meek, and delivered as an oration at Tuscaloosa on the 4th of July, 1838:

"Valorously

He bore himself, and with his youthful arms
Chivalrous deeds performed, which in a land
Of legendary lore had placed his name,
Embalmed in song, beside the hallowed ones
Of Douglass and of Percy; not unsung
Entirely his fame. Romance has wreathed
With flowering fingers, and with wizard art
That hangs the votive chaplet on the heart,
His story, mid her fictions, and hath given
His name and deeds to after times. When last
This trophied anniversary came round
And called Columbia's patriot children out
To greet its advent, the old man was here,
Serenely smiling as the autumn sun
Just dripping down the golden west to seek
His evening couch. Few months agone I saw
Him in his quiet home, with all around
Its wishes could demand—and by his side
The loved companion of his youthful years—
This singing maiden of his boyhood's time;
She who had cheered him with her smiles when clouds
were over his country's prospects; who had trod
In sun and shade, life's devious path with him,
And whom kind Heaven had still preserved to bless,
With all the fullness of maternal wealth,
Thee mellowing afternoon of his decline.
Where are they now? the old man and his wife?
Alas! the broadening sun sets in the night,
The ripening shock falls on the reaper's arm;
The lingering guest must leave the hall at last;
The music ceases when the feast is done;
The old man and his wife are gone. From earth,
Have passed in peace to heaven; and summer's flowers,
Beneath the light of this triumphant day,
Luxurious sweets are shedding over
The unsculptured grave of 'Horseshoe Robinson.' "

"The grave of James Robertson is in Tuscaloosa County on the banks of the Black Warrior river near Sanders' ferry, in the old family burying-ground. He was the famous 'Horseshoe Robertson' of Revolutionary fame in South Carolina, and the hero of the novel of that name written by John Pendleton Kennedy in 1835. The name 'Horseshoe' was given because of a bend in a creek in his plantation in South Carolina shaped like a horseshoe.

"The following inscription is taken from his tombstone: MAJOR JAMES ROBERTSON, A native of S.C. died April 26, 1838, aged 79 years, and was buried here. Well known as Horseshoe Robinson, he earned a just fame in the war of independence, in which he was eminent in courage, patriotism and suffering. He lived fifty-six years with his worthy partner, useful and respected, and died in hopes of a blessed immortality. His children erect this monument as a tribute justly due a good husband, father, neighbor, patriot and soldier.

"James Robertson was born in 1759; and his epitaph states that he was a native of South Carolina. He was married in 1782 and 'lived fifty-six years with his worthy partner;' she died in January, 1838, and he died April 26, 1838. The name of his wife was Sarah Morris—; tradition says her maiden name was Hayden; they left several children, one daughter was living in Mississippi a few years ago. James Robertson was a famous scout during the Revolution and a terror to the Tories. After the war he settled in Pendleton district and was living there when Kennedy met him in 1818. In the preface to Kennedy's novel of Horseshoe Robinson he gives an account of the circumstances which led him to write the story.

"He says that in the winter of 1818-19 he had occasion to visit the western section of South Carolina. He went from Augusta to Edgefield, then to Abbeville and thence to Pendleton, in the old district of Ninety-six, just at the foot of the mountains. His course was still westward until he came to the Seneca river, a tributary of the Savannah. He describes how he happened to spend the night at the home of Col. T___, who lived thirty miles from Pendleton. Horseshoe Robinson came here that night. 'What a man I saw! Tall, broad, brawny and erect. His homely dress, his free stride, his face radiant with kindness, the natural gracefulness of his motions, all afforded a ready index to his character. It was evident he was a man to confide in.'

"The old soldier was drawn out to relate some stories of the war. He told how he got away from Charleston after the surrender, and how he took five Scotchmen prisoners, and these two famous passages are faithfully preserved in the narrative.

"It was first published in 1835. Horseshoe Robinson was then a very old man. He had removed to Alabama and lived, I am told, near Tuscaloosa. I commissioned a friend to send him a copy of the book. The report brought me was that the old man had listened very attentively to the reading of it and took great interest in it.

" 'What do you say to all this?' was the question addressed to him, after the reading was finished. His reply is a voucher, which I desire to preserve: 'It is all true and right—in its right place excepting about them women, which I disremember. That might be true, too; but my memory is treacherous I disremember.' "

It is a pleasure to know that this fine old hero was a real personage! and although his exploits may have been colored in a measure by the pen of the romancer, there still remains a rich stock of adventures, which were undoubtedly true, and the picture of a nature frank, brave, true and yet full of modesty.

Extract from Flag of the Union, published at Tuscaloosa, January 17, 1838:

Horseshoe Robinson-Who has not read Kennedy's delightful novel of this name, and who that has read would not give an half day's ride to see the venerable living Hero of this Tale of "Tory Ascendency," the immortal Horseshoe himself-the extermination of "Jim Curry" and Hugh Habershaw?? The venerable patriot bearing the familiar sobriquet, and whose name Mr. Kennedy has made as familiar in the mouths of American youths as household words, was visited by us in company with several friends one day last week. We found the old Gentleman on his Plantation about 12 miles from this city, as comfortably situated with respect to this world's goods as any one could desire to have him. It was gratifying to us to see him ill his old age after having served through the whole war of Independence thus seated under his own vine and fig tree, with his children around him and with the partner of his early toils and trials still continued to him enjoying in pence and safety the rich rewards of that arduous struggle, in the most gloomy and desponding hour of which he was found as ready, as earnest, as zealous, for the cause of liberty as when victory perched upon her standard, and the stars of the "Tory ascendancy" was for a while dimmed by defeat—and in which he continued with unshaken Faith and constancy until it sank below the Horizon never again to rise. The old gentleman gave us a partial history of his Revolutionary adventures, containing many interesting facts respecting the domination of the Tory party in the South during the times of the Revolution, which Mr. Kennedy has not recorded in his Book. But it will chiefly interest our readers, or to that portion of them at least to whom the history of the old hero's achievements as recorded by Mr. Kennedy is familiar, to be assured that the principal incidents therein portrayed are strictly true.

That of his escape from Charleston after the capture of that city, his being entrusted with a letter to Butler, the scene at Wat Adair's, the capture of Butler at Grindal's Ford, his subsequent escape and recapture, the death of John Ramsey, and the detection of the party by reason of the salute fired over his grave, his capturing of the four men under the common of the younger St. Jermyn, his attack up Ines' camp, and the death of Hugh Habershaw by his own hand and finally the death of Jim Curry, are all narrated pretty much as they occurred, in the old veteran's own language: "There is a heap of truth in it, though the writer has mightily furnished it up." That the names of Butler, Mildred Lindsay, Mary Musgrove, John Ramsay, Hugh Habershaw, Jim Curry and in fact almost every other used in the Book, with the exception of his own, are real and not factitious. His own name, he informed us, is James; and that he did not go by the familiar appellation by which he is now so widely known until after the war, when he acquired it from the form of his Plantation in the Horseshoe Bend of the Fair Forest creek, which was bestowed upon him by the Legislature of South Carolina in consequence of the services he had rendered during the war—this estate, we understood him to say, he still owned.

He was born, he says in 1759 in Virginia, and entered the army in his seventeenth year. Before the close of war, he says, he commanded a troop of horse, so that his military title is that of Captain. Horseshoe, although in infirm health, bears evident marks of having been a man of great personal strength and activity. He is now afflicted with a troublesome cough, which ill the natural course of events must ill a few nears wear out his aged frame. Yet, notwithstanding his infirmities and general debility, his eye still sparkles with the fire of youth as he recounts the stirring and thrilling incidents of the war, and that sly, quiet humor so well described by Kennedy may still be seen playing around his mouth as one calls to his recollections any of the pranks he was wont to play upon any of the "tory vagrants," as he very properly styles them. The old Gentleman received us with warm cordiality and hospitality; and after partaking of the Bounties of his board and spending a night under his hospitable roof we took leave of him, sincerely wishing him many years of the peaceful enjoyment of that liberty which he fought so long and so bravely to achieve. It will not be uninteresting, we hope, to remark that the old hero still considers himself a soldier, though the nature of his warfare is changed; he is now a zealous promoter of the Redeemer's cause as he once was in securing the independence of his country.

Since the above was in type we have heard of the death of the aged partner of this venerable patriot. An obituary notice will be found in another column.

"The novel Horseshoe Robinson is interesting reading even in this critical and blase twentieth century. Judge A. B. Meek, a fine literary critic, says that "Mr. Kennedy, the author of 'Horseshoe Robinson,' has in that inimitable 'tale of the Tory Ascendency' in South Carolina proved the suitableness of American subjects for fictitious composition of the most elevated kind. Although in his incidents and characters he has done little more than presented a faithful chronicle of facts, using throughout the veritable names of persons and places as they were stated to him by his hero himself, yet such is the thrilling interest of the story, the vivid pictures of scenery, manners, customs, and language, the striking contrasts of characters and the pervading beauty and power of style and description throughout the work, that we think we do not err in saving that it is not inferior in any respect to the best of the Waverly series.'

"The home of James Robertson in South Carolina, where he lived for a third of a century, is still standing. It is in Oconee County a few miles from Westminster. It is now owned by a Mr. Cox and travelers frequently visit the place, drawn thither by the fame of 'Horseshoe Robinson.'" Mrs. P. H. Mell in Transactions of the Alabama Historical Society, Vol. iv, pp. 560-564.

ROBINSON, JOHN, aged 81, resided in Benton County, June 1, 1840, with J. H. Morison. Census of Pensioners, 1841, p. 150.

ROBINSON, WILLIAM, aged 75, and a resident of Montgomery County; private, S.C. State Troops; enrolled on January 4, 1834, under act of Congress of June 7, 1832, payment to date from March 4,1831; annual allowance, $80; sums received to date of publication of list, $240.—Revolutionary Pension Roll, in Vol. xiv, Sen. Doc. 514, 23rd Cong., 1st sess., 1833-34.

ROBINSON, WILLIAM, aged 75, and a resident of Autauga County; private, S.C. Continental Line and Militia; enrolled on February 11, 1834, under act of Congress of June 7, 1832. payment to date from March 4, 1831; annual allowance, $40.—Revolutionary Pension Roll, in Part 3, Vol. xiii, Sen. Doc. 514, 23rd Cong., 1st sess., 1833-34.

RODGERS, JAMES, aged 80, resided in Pickens County, June 1, 1840. Census of Pensioners, 1841, p. 149.

ROGERS, EDWARD, aged 89, and a resident of Tuscaloosa County; private, S.C. State Troops; enrolled on August 12, 1833, under act of Congress of June 7, 1832, payment to date from March 4 ,1831; annual allowance, $80; sums received to date of publication of list, $240.—Revolutionary Pension Roll, in Vol. xiv, Sen. Doc. 514, 23rd Cong., 1st sess., 1833-34.

ROLISON, WILLIAM —Born in 1759 in North Carolina. He stated that he enlisted late in 1776; served at various times under Capt. Hally Risbean, Col. Thomas Sumter, General Moultrie, South Carolina Troops, as a private, amounting in 211 to one year and ten months. He was reared in South Carolina and during his service resided in Richland District. He moved to Autauga County, Ala., in 1822, and was residing there in 1833. He died prior to June 1, 1841.-Jones and Gandrud, Alabama Records, vol. 75, Autauga County, pp. 57-8. See also Robinson, William.

ROPER, JOHN, aged 75, resided in Benton County, June 1, 1840, with Stephen Roper. Census of Pensioners 1841, p. 148.

ROSS, CHARLES, aged 85, and a resident of Morgan County; private, Virginia Continental Line; enrolled on May 27, 1824, under act of Congress of March 18, 1818, payment to date from April 26, 1824; annual allowance, $96; sums received to date of publication of list, $670.98.—Revolutionary Pension Roll, in Vol. xiv, Sen. Doc. 514, 23rd Cong., 1st sess., 1833-34.

ROSS, ISAAC —Buried at Ft. Toulouse. Served under Marion and received pay. Mrs. Bell Allen Ross in letter to S.C. Salley, Columbia, S. C., states:

Mr. I. Ross died in 1826 at his home one mile north of the old fort site and was buried among some 66 soldiers who had served under Captain Marchand at the Post, and under Andrew Jackson in the campaign of 1813-14. The Military burials at Fort Toulouse were removed in pursuance of an order of the U. S. War Dept. in January 1897 for the reinterment at Mobile. Mr. Ross alone is today in the old French Cemetery there. A marble Marker and a 13. A. R. Bronze marker designates the site. It is 300 yards south of the Colonial Dames Marker in a woody section East of the Coosa River surrounded by property of Hardy Simmons John Crommelin. ROSS, ISAAC—Born 1764, Camden County, S.C., died January 27, 1821, Fort Jackson, near Montgomery, and buried there. Grave marked by Peter Forney Chapter, D.A.R. Pensioner.—General D.A.R. Report, 1930.

ROSS, WALTER, aged 74, and a resident of Autauga County; private, N.C. Militia; enrolled on October 29, 1833, under the act of Congress of June 7, 1832, payment to date from March 4, l831; annual allowance, $30; sums received to date of publication of list: $90.—Revolutionary Pension Roll, in Part 3, Vol. xiii, Sen. Doc. 514, 23rd Cong., 1st sess., 1833-34. He resided in Autauga County, June 1, 1840, aged 81. Census of Pensioners 1841, p. 149.

ROUNSAVALL, JOHN R., served in the North Carolina line and removed to Jackson County, Alabama in 1834 where he is buried. John R. Rounsavall was born on January 24th, 1758 in the Jersey Settlement community of Rowan County, North Carolina. John was the second child born to Josiah Rounsavall and wife Sarah Conger Rounsavall. John died on August 13th, 1840 in Scottsboro, Jackson County, Alabama at the age of eighty-two and is buried in the Woods Cove Freeman Cemetery in Scottsboro, Jackson County, Alabama.

What is known about John today comes from a Revolutionary War pension application which he filed from his home in Iredell County, North Carolina on February 2nd, 1832. , According to documents contained in this application, in 1776, John went on an expedition against the Cherokee Indians in the summer of 1776. The Cherokees at that time were fighting as allies of the British in the American Revolution. Documents indicate that under the command of Captain Joseph Cunningham, Major Joseph Smith, and Colonel Mathew Locke, the expeditionary force “passed where Asheville now (1832) stands and crossed the Pigeon and French Broad rivers to Cowee and the valley towns on the Flint, which we destroyed by fire, though there were no Indians there. At the head of the Flint, they found a good many Indians gathered, which they routed without loss of life, taking fourteen prisoners, among them two white men, Hicks and Scott, who had taken Indian wives. Having burnt their towns, taken their stock, destroyed their crops, the expedition returned in the main over the route by which it had come. An incident was recalled in the testimony of Abraham Hill: when we crossed the Swannanoa (on Cherokee expedition), or a branch of it, a man by the name of Jonathan Huff was killed by a soldier whose gun went off while he was jumping over”.

The pension file also indicates that while a resident of Rowan County, at the age of 19, John enlisted in the North Carolina line and served at various times through the year 1779, a total of approximately 15 months. Military service was a private in the States of South Carolina and Georgia near Charleston, Parysburg and along the Savannah River, under various officers including Captains Cunningham, William Lytle, David Cowan, Major Armstrong, and Colonels Mathew Locke, Archibald Lytle and Colonel Harris. Service in the war ended under the command of Major Armstrong in October of 1779, when John Rounsavall was discharged at Charleston, South Carolina.

Pension Approved: #S9091, Jackson Co. AL

The secondary source of this information is "Richard Rounsavell and His Descendants, Volume II" by Mark S. Rounsavall and Brian E. Rounsavill, (1250 pages Hard Bound), McNaughton & Gunn Publishers, Saline, Michigan; published 2002; ISBN: 0-615-12305-8, Library of Congress Control Number 2002116549

Primary source of Information: Revolutionary War Service Pension Application #S9091, filed by John R. Rounsavall, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington D.C.; "Catawba Frontier 1775-1781: Memories of Pensioners" by Mary Elinor Lazenby, 1950, pp. 87-88. "Jackson County Chronicles, Vol. 11, numbers 2 & 3, April and July 1999, pp 4-7, published by the Jackson County Historical Association, Scottsboro, Alabama

Information provided by Mark Rounsavall, Fayetteville, Arkansas.

ROWAN, SAMUEL, aged 70, and a resident of Jackson County; private, S.C. Continental Line;enrolled on November 22 1833, under act of Congress of June 7, 1832; payment to date from March 4, 1831; annual allowance, $39.44; sums received to date of publication of list, $118.32.—Revolutionary Pension Roll, in Vol. xiv, Sen. Doc. 514, 23rd Cong., 1st sess., 1833-34.

ROWE, JOSHUA, aged 79, resided in Coosa County, June 1, 1840, with Daniel Rowe. Census of Pensioners, 1841, p. 149.

ROWSEY, EDMOND, aged 71, and a resident of Fayette County; private, Virginia Militia; enrolled on February 11, 1834, under act of Congress of June 7, 1832, payment to date from March 4, 1831; annual allowance, $20; sums received to date of publication of list, $60.—Revolutionary Pension Roll, in Vol. xiv, Sen. Doc. 514, 23rd Cong., 1st sess., 1833-34.

ROY, JOSEPH—Declaration in order to be placed on the pension list under the act of the 18th March 1818.

County of Autauga & State of Alabama on this the 22nd day of March 1828, personally appears in open Court it being the Orphans Court which is a regular Court of record, for Autauga and State of Alabama, Judge McWhorter presiding, Joseph Roy a resident of Autauga County aforesaid, state of Alabama, aged, sixty eight years or thereabouts who being duly sworn according to law, doth on his oath make the following declaration, in order to obtain the provision made by the Acts of Congress of the 18th March 1818 and the 1st May 1820 that he the said Joseph Roye enlisted for the term of three years, the day and year he does not precisely recollect but well remembers that it was during the War of the Revolution say about the year 1778 or 1779 in the State of South Carolina in the Company of David Hopkins Commanded by said Captain Hopkins, in the Regiment. Commanded by Col. William Thompson, in the lines of the State of South Carolina, on the Continental establishment, that he continued to serve in said Corps from the time of his enlistment during the war for two years and a half when he was discharged from the service in Charleston in the State of South Carolina that the Army he served in as above mentioned was the Regular United States Army, commonly known by the name of Regular Army that he hereby relinquishes every claim to a pension except the present, that his name is not on the roll of any State except this and the following are the reasons for not making earlier application for a pension, while his children were alive he depended much upon their assistance and was not willing to apply for a pension while he had monies of his own or could procure subsistence for his children on whom alone he depended for support, are dead, the last dying about two years ago. He states also that within the last two years he has lost the sight of his right eye from a cancer and is now in great danger of loosing the other eye, he also states that within the last 18 months he could perform some bodily labour, but he is now altogether unable to do any kind of work or labours that while he had friends to assist him or could work he would not apply for a pension, but now having no friend to support him and being unable to work and in further proof states and proves that he won the Parish for maintenance, he therefore has made application for a pension and these are the reasons why he has not before made application and in pursuance of the Act of the 1st May 1820 I do solemnly swear that I was a resident citizen of the United States on the 18th March 1818 and that I have not since that time by gift, sales, or in any manner disposed of my property or any part thereof with interest thereby so to diminish it as to bring myself under the provisions of this 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 Paper on the 18th March 1818 and that I have not had any person in trust for me, any property as security contracts or debts due; nor have I any incomes other than what is contained in the schedules hereunto sworn and by me subscribed, Schedules, 2 doz. plates, 1 doz. cups and saucers, 1 old coffee pot, 1 doz. knives and forks, 2 pitchers, 1 old plow, amounting in all to about $10.00 also that I have no horses, cow, calf, hog or hogs, sheep or any other kind of property, I do also state upon oath that I have in my family the following persons, and no man to wit, my wife who is old and unable to work, my wife is named Ann Roy and she is the only person in my family and I am totally unable to do any kind of work or labors, on the 18th March 1818 I possessed 223 acres of Land in So. Carolina, Orangeburgh District also two good horses some cattle hogs, some household furniture, the land I sold to John Griffin in the year 1820 for a little over $300- $100 I took to pay a debt I then owed, and the balance I have spent in moving to and living in Alabama until now I have no more property of any kind than what is shown in my schedule, I do also state that the officer under whom I served and the soldiers with whom I served are all dead except the Col. Campbell and my brother, and I cannot procure other testimony than these two I do also swear that in addition to the service under Col. Thompson that I also enlisted and served in the Company Commanded by Capt. William Fad and in the Regt. of Col. Middleton it being the 2nd Regt. in the So. Carolina line the whole being commanded by Gen. Sumpter, and that it was in this latter service that I received the five dangerous wounds which so disabled me as to prevent me from serving afterwards during the War. Joseph (His X Mark) Roy. Sworn to and subscribed before me 21st March 1828, Alvin A. McWhorter, J.C.C.

RUSSELL, ALBERT—Born May 25, 1755, died June 27, 1818. Lt., Va. Troops. Buried in Maple Hill Cemetery, Huntsville. Albert Russell (1755-1818) was ensign of the Eighth, Va.; regimental adjutant 1779; promoted lt. & served to the end of the War in Virginia Continental Line. He was born in Virginia; died Huntsville, Alabama.—D.A.R. Lineage Book, vol. 31, p. 182.

RUSSELL. THOMAS, aged 74, and a resident of Jackson County; private of Cavalry, N. . Continental Line; enrolled on April 22, 1834, under act of Congress of June 7, 1832, payment to date from March 4, 1831; annual allowance, $41.66.—Revolutionary Pension Roll, in Vol. xiv, Sen. Doc. 514, 23rd Cong., 1st sess., 1833-34. He resided in Jackson County, June 1, 1840, aged 79. Census of Pensioners, 1841, p. 148.

RUSSELL, WILLIAM —was born in County Antrim, Ireland, in 1741. He sailed from Belfast, Ireland, to America. Remained in Pennsylvania for a while. Then removed to Cabarrus County N.C.; also lived for a while in Mecklenburg County, N.C. He was residing in Abbeville District, S.C. at the time of the birth of his daughter Eleanor, (Dec. 18th 1780). He is interred at Valley Creek Presbyterian Cemetery, about 6 miles north of Selma, Dallas County, Ala. Inscription on his tomb is as follows: Sacred to the memory of WILLIAM RUSSELL, who died in April, 1824, in the 83rd year of his age. He was long a member of the Presbyterian Church, and an active, and efficient ruling elder. He died with resignation and in the hope of eternal blessedness beyond the grave. A soldier of the Revolution. Cherokee Chapter. D.A.R.

"Although his neighbors in N.C. were all Tories, he became a devoted soldier of the Revolution. His former friends tried to capture him whenever he visited his family. Once suspecting that he was hid in an out house, they set it on fire, and when it was apparently all ablaze, they rode away cursing him for a dead and gone rebel. He was hid in a hogshead, and rolled out in it just in time to save his life. Another time they did capture him, and were about to shoot him. Forty rifles were pointed at him, when he bared his breast, and said: Shoot to kill boys, for I don't want to linger over this disagreeable business. They declared they could not kill such a brave man, and bade him go in peace. It has been said that William Russell said that he felt that he knew what the fires of Hell were like, during his suffering in the burning building. He carried the scars of these burns all his life. He married Jennette Roberson, and their children were as follows: Mathew Russell, born 1772, married Mary Russell (cousin); David Russell, born Jan. 7th. 1778, married Jennie Morrison; Eleanor Russell, born Dec. 18th. 1780, married James Russell (cousin)."-- Hopkins, Early Chronicles of Valley Creek Community, p. 5.

RUSSELL,WILLIAM—1741-1824, buried in Selma.—General D.A.R. Report, 1916.

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