Part of James Robinson Jr. of Chester County SC’s Revolutionary War pension application. Signed by the Gamecock himself General Thomas Sumter. There were many James Robinsons during this period in the backcountry of SC and western NC and are difficult to sort through.
Last night the local history and genealogy librarian from the Rocky Mount, NC Public Library gave a great presentation on a problem she had tracking down a patron’s Revolutionary War ancestor. The complication she had with the ancestor, who was named John Evans, was that a previous researcher had combined records of two different John Evans into one person. One lived in Anson County and one lived in Nash County. She was able to discern these two individuals by looking closely at deeds and pension applications. The pension applications really sealed the the deal and the patron was was informed that the John Evans she was looking for lived in Nash County and was forced by threat of hanging into the patriot militia for 18 months as punishment for talking about joining a band of Tories in Edgecombe County. One of the resources she used was the Southern Campaign Revolutionary War Pension Applications website. I had used the site before but for some reason I had forgotten about it, so today I’ve had a lot of fun poking around looking for my distant relations that were involved in the American Revolution. It is a great resource, go try it out!
Wilson County Public Library Local History and Genealogy Blog 