Pension Application of John and Nancy Vinander Coombs W1828
Transcribed and annotated by C. Leon Harris
Virginia }
Loudoun County }
On this 27th day of February 1834 personally appeared before me a magistrate for s’d. County John Coombs a resident of said County and State, aged about eighty 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 7, 1832
1. To the first interrogatory he replies, that he was born in Loudoun County , Virginia about 1754.
2 To the second, he replies, that he has no record of his age, his father’s family Bible, which contained a record of the ages of the family, was carried away by his eldest Brother when he removed to the West, many years ago. He was at the Surrender of Cornwallis [19 Oct 1781], was then a married man & had three Children & thinks he then was about twenty seven, perhaps he may have been a year or two more.
3. To the third interrogatory – He answers, Loudoun County, Va. to all three of the Questions [where he was living when called into service, afterwards, and at present] —
4. To 4th interrogatory he says, he was drafted in the militia in Loud’n. County early in the Spring of 1781 – he believes, to the best of his recollection, from the middle to the latter part of March 1781. He march’d under the command of Capt. John Henry & Col. Jno. Alexander [John Alexander], to Dumfries, Fredericksburg & Richmond to York Town. He was subsequently placed under other officers – he remembers a Major Quarles & Col. [Charles] Dabney who commanded him. He continued doing duty as required in the neighborhood of Richmond & York Town and at the Siege of Lord Cornwallis, till his Surrender in October 1781 when he was discharged & returned home having been absent seven months, to the best of his recollection..
5. To the 5th interrogatory he says in consequence of his infirm memory he recollects only Genl. Washington & the officers above mentioned —
6. He says he did not receive a written discharge. On recollection he relates one circumstance connected with his service: When in the neighborhood of Richmond, on a dark & stormy night, himself & several Companies took shelter in a large Tobacco House being pursued by the British Troopers – they were however orderd out & pursued their march – was inform’d that the same night another party alarmed by a false report of the British Light Horse, scatterd in every direction & one of the fellows in attempting to cross a fence, was stopped by his clothes becoming entangled & he supposing a British Soldier had hold of him, cried out “Quarter, Quarter, I’m only a poor militia man – a good Tory when at home ,my name’s Crowley” – This story coming to the knowledge of his Companions was a source of severe mortification as long as he lived.
7 To 7th Interrogatory he replies, that there is no Clergyman living in his immediate neighborhood, but he says he doubts not the following persons would testify to his character for veracity & to their belief of his services as a soldier of the Revolution — Col. John Simpson, Robert Cox, William Licky, Conrad Lickey, Dr. Isaac Eaton, Martha Holmes, Peyton Powell, Jesse Atwell, Ezekiel Mount, John Might – Some of these persons will give the required certificate & all would, but they reside, in some cases too far from one another to apply to them, without great inconvenience.
This applicant saith he hath no documentary evidence & knows of only John Queen [pension application S5962] who could personally testify to his service — Queen, if living, resides in Hampshire Co’y. Va. but of this he is not certain. — He hereby relinquishes every claim whatever to a pension or annuity, except the present & declares that his name is not on the pension Roll of the agency of any State.
Sworn to & subscribed the day and year aforesaid before me John hisXmark Coombs
John Simpson J.P.
NOTE: On 29 August 1849 Nancy Coombs, 82 or 83, applied for a pension stating that she had married John Coombs more than 50 years previously, and he died 16 Jan 1849. In the file is a copy of a bond signed on 18 Jan 1797 in Loudoun County by John “Combs” and Mahlon Combs for the marriage of John to Nancy Vinander, a widow. On 6 Apr 1855 in Morgan County OH Nancy Coombs, said to be 84, applied for bounty land, adding that John Coombs died at the home of Henry Young.