Sunday, June 28, 2009

Military Pension File - Josiah Puckett



The Act of Congress of 1818 provided that all indigent persons who had served for nine months or longer or until the end of the Revolutionary War would receive a pension. The following document was found in Livingston County Clerk’s Loose Papers (1818) in the Livingston County Clerk’s Office, Smithland, Kentucky.

"At a County Court held at Salem in the County of Livingston State of Kentucky Appeared Josiah Pucket applying to be heard as an Indigent Soldier of the revolution entitled to the provision made for such person under the law of Congress of the 18th of March 1818 and made Solemn oath that he inlisted in the Continental army for during the War in March 1781 the same year that for of the battle of Gilford in a Regiment Comanded by Col. Cambell that he fought in that battle & that after [illegible] serving 18 Months in that Regiment he Entered into a Corps of Continental Light Horse commanded by Col. White & continued in the Service until the End of the War when he was furloughed home ------ and that from his reduced circumstances he needs assistance of his country for support."

Josiah Pucket, whose name is also listed as Puckett, received a pension of $8.00 per month from 1818; pension claim R.8510. In August 1820, Puckett, age 68, appeared in Montgomery County, Tennessee Circuit Court and requested his file be transferred to Montgomery County, where he had married Martha, surname unknown. He died 9 September 1843 in Madison County, Tennessee. His children were listed as Peter P. Puckett of Madison County in 1853, Mary Stove and Sarah Thedford.

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