State of North Carolina Buncombe County: Court of Pleas & Quarter Sessions April Term 1833.
On this 18th day of April 1833 personally appeared in open Court before the County Court of Buncombe now sitting Michael Tanner a resident of Buncombe County in the State of North Carolina, aged seventy-three years who being first duly sworn according to law doth on his oath make the following declaration in order to obtain the benefit of the act of Congress passed June 7th 1832. That he entered the service of the United States under the following named officers and served as herein stated; This declarant states that he cannot from the long space of time and loss of memory and being no scholar he cannot swear to the dates of years but recollects very well the length of time and how he served which is as follows –
When in his seventeenth or eighteenth year of age he volunteered in Captain Michael Raiders [?] company in Shenandoah County Virginia and was marched to Fort Pitt and there remained a few weeks then we marched (or was taken in Boats) down the Ohio [River] to Fort Walins [?] and arrived at that place on Sunday under the command of General Hand: and attached to Captain Masons Company by a Draft for four months to keep the Garrison at the Fort aforesaid scouting and after the four months was out regular troops had yet arrived and the Captain compelled his men to stay another month, which makes him this service above stated eight months, by first volunteering for three months and then drafted as above stated – then discharged by Captain Mason and returned home, from the best of his recollection the first of April 1777 –
Then he removed to Rockingham County Virginia and a year or eighteen months after, he again was drafted for three months under Captain John Rush in the Regiment commanded by Colonel Harris, and remained at Richmond the whole three months awaiting the enemy and when the three months was out he returned home.
Then went one month against the Tories in the South Branch of the Potomac River under Captain George Huston commanded by Colonel Sims (if rightly spelt) – and still remained under the command of Captain Houston until Cornwallis surrendered: making in this term 2 months, was in a skirmish with the enemy at the burnt Ordinary. Making the whole service as above stated 13 months, a private soldier. He hereby relinquishes every claim whatever to a pension or annuity except the present and declares that his name is not on the Pension roll of the agency of any state.
Sworn to and subscribed the day and year aforesaid
Test: S/ John Miller Clerk S/ Michael Tanner, X his mark
Interrogatories put by the Court
1st Where and in what year were you born
A. in York County Pennsylvania the 4th of September 1759 –
2nd Have you any record of your age if so where is it
A. I have a record in an old German Bible as given to me by my father –
3rd. Where were you living when called into service; where have you lived since, where do you now live
A. In Shenandoah County Virginia, and then in Rockingham Virginia since the war in North Carolina Rutherford County now in Buncombe County NC
4th. How were you called into service, were you Drafted: did you volunteer, or were you a substitute
A. First volunteered 3 months, then was drafted the balance of the time –
5th State the names of some of the regular officers who were with the troops where you served
A. I volunteered first under Captain Raider then was taken down the Ohio under the command of General Hand to Fort Wailier [perhaps, Fort Wheeling?] Then drafted under Captain Maison
6th Did you ever receive a Discharge from the service, if so by whom was it given and what has become of it –
A. I received Discharges from all the officers I was under when my time was out – and had them
until about 15 years past and thinking that they would never be of any good I burnt them.
7th. State the names of some persons who can testify to your character for veracity
A. I have no documentary evidence or any person that I can prove my services by to my knowledge: Joseph Welch & Moses Whiteside have been well acquainted with me in my neighborhood. I cannot obtain the advantage of a Clergyman's certificate without considerable trouble and expense, for no clergyman in this County has been sufficiently acquainted with me –
[Moses Whiteside and Joseph Welch gave the standard supporting affidavit.]
f p 4: On March 13, 1838 in Captain union County Georgia, the veteran applied for a transfer of his pension benefit giving as his reason for moving from North Carolina to Georgia that "my children broke up from the above named place & removed to Georgia he [being unable to provide for himself from the infirmities of old age he removed" [with them].]
f p 16: on October 25, 1853 in Captain union County Georgia, Michael Tanner, 54, a resident of Union County Georgia gave testimony that he is the son of Michael Tanner deceased the revolutionary war pensioner who died August 10, 1849; that his mother's name was Catharine Tanner, she died April 12, 1842; his parents were married July 14, 1782; that his father served 6 months on the Ohio River against the Indians in addition to the service for which he drew his pension; that there are 8 other children of his p[arents now living whose names are: Molly Rawls, Elizabeth Allison, Georgetown, Sally Tanner, Jacob Tanner, Adam Tanner, Abraham Tanner, Catherine Haskins [could be Harkins or Hankins], and himself, the only surviving children of his parents.]
[facts in file: the veteran married Catharine Barth [or Butt] July 14th, 1782 in Rockingham County, Virginia.]
[Veteran was pensioned at the rate of $43.33 per annum commencing March 4th, 1831, for 13 months service as a private in the Virginia militia.].
[S1186] Maryland Prerogative Court (Wills), 1635–1777, Series S538 (1–60). Maryland State Archives, Annapolis, Maryland, online msa.maryland.gov, 1773–1774, WD4, MSA S538-57, liber 39, pp. (folio) 788–800. "I give and bequeath unto Avoh & Michael Tanner the Sum of five pound each to be paid unto them by my Executor as they arrive at age." 5 Apr 1773.[S1186] Maryland Prerogative Court (Wills), 1635–1777, S538 (1–60). Maryland State Archives, online msa.maryland.gov, 1773–1774, WD4, MSA S538-57, liber 39, pp. (folio) 788–800. Will of Balser Heson of Frederick Co. MD, 5 Apr 1773. Names wife Margaret, son Balser, other children (in this order) Windle, Ulion, Peter, Elizabeth, Modlin, Christian, John, Catherine and Margaret; [grandchildren] Avoh and Michael Tanner. Executors Windle Heson and Balser Heson, witnesses Rudy Bruback, Henry Coonce, Rudy Bruback Jr. and Geo. Clark. Proved 24 Jul 1774. Document available at http://www.msa.md.gov/megafile/msa/stagser/s500/s538/000000/…[S891] Michael Tanner file; S32004; Record Group 15; M804, roll 2340 (Ancestry.com. U.S., Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, 1800-1900), d. 10 Aug 1849 [img 351/703].