Revolutionary War Pension Applications

X24 MOM

Revolutionary War Pension Applications

Why was the following statement included on the Revolutionary War Pension applications "He hereby relinquishes all and every claim to any pension or annuity except the present and declares that his name is not on the pension roll of the agency of any state" ? can someone explain to me in simple terms what that means and why they had to include that? was there a pension prior to the one they applied for in 1832? if so, why did they have relinquish ?it and reapply? if not, why did they have to say they relinquish all and every claim?

 

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Dennis J Yancey

to prevent "double dipping"

simply stating that they hadn't already applied or weren't already getting a pension applied for from any other location.

 

also - just to share:

here is what the original files looked like:

http://yanceyfamilygenealogy.org/MILITARY_AustinYanceyRevWarPensionApplication.pdf

 

getting a pension was obviously a benefit

there are all sort of means by which people would play with the rules, play with the evidence, or play with the story to get their pension approved . . . . as you can imagine.

Dennis J Yancey

also - the date of 1832 was the date that a federal law was passed for the pension to be allowed in the first place.

 

Dennis J Yancey

good info here:

https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Revolutionary_War_Pension_Records_and_Bounty_Land_Warrants

LegacyUser

Additional information is found in this Google Book:

https://books.google.com/books?id=oB9yUkKZLAgC&pg=PP15&lpg=PP15&dq=revolutionary+war+relinquishes+all+and+every+claim+to+any+pension+or+annuity+except+the+present&source=bl&ots=5rMnRSo0Bd&sig=ACfU3U0Q9Z4tuNTQ2QHaDidyjBEw7rg7Gg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj4rt2tgYzpAhVPWs0KHTKvBg8Q6AEwAXoECAwQAQ#v=onepage&q=revolutionary%20war%20relinquishes%20all%20and%20every%20claim%20to%20any%20pension%20or%20annuity%20except%20the%20present&f=false

The Pension Roll of 1835

United States. War Department

Genealogical Publishing Com, 1992 - Reference - 3183 pages

1 Review

Vol I 0-8063-0352-2 Mid-Atlantic States, Vol II 0-806300353-0 New England States, Vol II 0-8063-0354-9 Southern States, Vol IV 0-8063-0355-7 Mid-Western States Index.

 

X24 MOM

Thanks guys! @Dennis J Yancey​ i had read that some dude went back and audited a bunch of those applications and deemed I think it said more than half the ones he audited to be fraudulent ... I don’t remember what The article said about the circumstances that lead to the investigation, or who he was or what gave him the authority to be the last and final answer ... I also have found some on revwarapps - which is an incredible site for these btw- and I’ve seen some where the service was vouched for in person by other folks who had served with the soldier and at the end you’d see it was denied.. they don’t really give a reason and if they do I don’t understand it lol... but back to my question.... I assumed it was prob worded that way for the same reasons you said.... but what I found strange about that was youd see some dudes who had recieved “pension money on so and so date” ... but they’d still have to include that statement... if also see some dudes who had gotten a whole bunch of land (note on the application) then he or his widow or whatever would be approved for pension.

Dennis J Yancey

"half" seems extremely high to me

but certainly it did happen.

in the case of my ancestor his service was not for the required 6 months and thats why they denied it

I think most cases the reason for denial is known. (though you might have to see the copies of thew National Archives files to see that though - I dont know)