Austin Moody, Company I

Getting a pension benefit wasn’t easy. Character was everything. Sometimes the applicant — or the witness —  had to give more than one statement. When the applicant — or the attorney — disputed payment, it could get really messy. However, this is a boon for the researcher because disputes generate information about individuals and the community.

 

Invalid — 1,178,419 / 1,000,076
C-2,563,210 (NC)

 

Sworn Statement, Austin Moody, 23 April 1897
“… a citizen of South Mills, N.C. … was first afflicted with hernia at Brazos Santiago Texas on July the 4th 1865 while working and removing railroad iron …”

 

Sworn Statement, Edmund Proctor & Luke Smith, 24 April 1897
[Proctor] 60 years old and [Smith] 58 years old “citizens of South Mills, Camden Co., N.C. …”Proctor declares and says that he has been knowing said Austin Moody for 12 years and said Moody worked for him in 1885 and 86 and been my neighbor to the present time of times said Moody had to stop work frequently on account of misery in lower part of stomach but has had no medical attention and so the present is not able to do more than 1/2 a man’s labor.
“Luke Smith declares and says he first met claimant in 1865 in Texas said claimant then spoke of misery in lower part of stomach and since 1882 has lived as neighbors and often has had to quit work on account of said complaint. has had no medical attention and at the present time cannot do more than 1/2 of man’s labor …”

 

General Affidavit, Miles Brite & George Hicks, 1 April 1898 
[Brite] 58 years old; residence, South Mills, Camden Co., N.C.; post-office address, South Mills, N.C.
[Hicks] 33 years old; residence, South Mills, Camden Co., N.C.; post-office address, South Mills, N.C.
“[Brite states that] Austin Moody is his near neighbor … Moody has been totally disabled to earn his support by manual labor every since July 1897. His condition is of such if does not get some aid he will have to be put on the county for his support for he has no one legally bound for his support. He is now on destitute circumstances. He greatly needs help.

“G.W. Hicks states  … he is near neighbor and often sees [Moody] … he is not able to earn his support by manual labor and he has no one legally bound for his support…”

 

Sworn Statement, Edmund Proctor & Luke Smith, 11 March 1899 
[Proctor] 63 years old; residence, South Mills, Camden Co., N.C.
[Smith] 59 years old; residence, South Mills, Camden Co., N.C. … “Well known to me to be reputable and entitled to credit … they were members of Co. F, the same regiment which Moody belong [sic] to, they further state that they were personally acquainted with Moody from 1863 to now, and they were together every opportunity while in the service .. they knowed [sic] from personal knowledge that Austin Moody was a man of good moral habits, at the time of and prior to the incurrence of hernia in 1865 … ”

 

Sworn Statement, Austin Moody, 8 November 1899 
68 years old; residence, South Mills, Camden Co., N.C.; post-office address, South Mills, Camden Co., N.C. …..”He further states that he contracted hernia while in service at Brazos Santiago, Texas in January 1866. He was detailed from his company to work on the railroad. [illegible] removing said road to Clarksville in Texas. he further testified that he was overstrained by carrying heavy iron. From it he contracted hernia and it grows worse every day … ”

 

Sworn Statement, Dr. Jno. H. Pool, 24 January 1900
nearly 65 years old; residence, South Mills, Camden Co., N.C. …”states that he has been a practising [sic] physician for the past 40 years .. that he has never attended [Austin Moody] as a physician, but has on several occasions sold him as a druggist, liniments etc for rheumatism … he believes the said Moody is an honest and upright citizen … John H. Pool, M.D.”

 

Sworn Statement, Ransom Rogers & Miles Brite, 24 January 1900
[Rogers] 56 years old; residence, South Mills, Camden Co., N.C.; post-office address, Rosedale, N.C.
[Brite] 60 years old; residence, South Mills, Camden Co., N.C.; post-office address, South Mills, N.C. ” … well known to be reputable and entitled to credit …  that they are personally acquainted with the claimant … having been his near door neighbor for over 20 years. They further testify that said Moody was taken to his bed sometime in January 1896 with disability for reason of rheumatism and hernia. That he was down near the whole year…”

 

Deposition, Austin Moody, 10 September 1902
about 60 or 70 years old; residence, near South Mills, N.C. ; an invalid  … “I have been drawing a pension two and three years …. I cannot show my pension ctf for the reason that it is locked up at my home and I am now confined to my bed in the home of a neighbor some distance away.

“I had a lawyer in Washington, DC and I understand that he got ten dollars. My check for my first payment called for $360.50. When it came I paid Wylie Taylor twenty dollars but he seemed so dissatisfied that later in the day I gave him ten more and then he seemed to be in better humor. That was all that I ever paid him. I never borrowed money from him and I never owed him for anything except for writing that he did when he helped me get my claim through. He wrote some affidavits for me and that is all that he ever wrote. All that he did for me and all that he could charge me for was work that he did in my pension claim. He acted as my local pension atty. and it was for clmt work that I paid him the $30 referred to above.”

 

Deposition, Greenwood Griffin, 7 January 1903
28 [38?] years old; residence, South Mills, N.C.; occupation, “am paralyzed I can do no work”  … “Austin Moody died about last Oct. I recollect when he received his pension nearly three years ago. He received something over three hundred dollars. He paid Wyley G. Taylor about thirty dollars with the first payment for work he did on his pension claim. I was there when it was paid. The money was paid Wyley Taylor in the store of John Taylor. I did not count the bills when Wyley received them but I recollect the amount was about thirty dollars. I heard Wyley said afterwards that he got about thirty dollars and I heard Austin Moody say that he paid him about thirty dollars so I believe that was about the amount. No, it was not more than thirty dollars. That was just about the figure nor was it much if any less than thirty dollars. I only saw Austin Moody make one payment to Wyley so I did not know the amount was but I told you I heard from both afterwards that Wyley got about $30 but whether he received part of the $30 when I saw Mr. Moody give his money and part later on I am not able to say. All I know is that I saw Mr. Moody give Wyley some more out of his first payment after he had his check cashed by John Bradshaw and later on both of them Taylor and Moody said that the amount was about $30 paid and received.”

 

Deposition, Wyley G. Taylor, 8 January 1903
50 years old; occupation, school teaching, farming, I am a pension atty … “Austin Moody claimed that he paid me $30 out of his first payment but $26 is all that he paid me. The way that I came to make the charge or rather to receive the $26 is because I paid all the notary fees and I loaned him small amounts at times. I did not take receipts on what he owned but I kept an account myself. I do not recollect who was present when Moody paid me the $26. He paid it all at one payment and asked me if I was satisfied and I said yes. Before that he stated to me that he would give me $20 out of every hundred but I stated that that was too much. Austin Moody took his check to John Bradshaw and had it cashed. I had nothing to do with it. I was not present when it was cashed.
“Austin Moody died last Oct … but I cannot give exact date.”

 

Deposition, W.W. Davis, 8 January 1903
21 years; residence, South Mills, N.C.; occupation, farmer … “I know Wyley G. Taylor well and some time back I was talking to him and remarked to him that I heard that he had trouble of some kind regarding pensions and asked him if there was anything to it. He then said that the one trouble that he had was that the law allowed him to charge only ten dollars but that if the parties  … wanted to pay extra that he considered it his and that Austin Moody gave him $30 when his claim was allowed and that was  [illegible] gave him sixty. No he did not say that Moody gave him more than $30 nor did he say that [illegible] gave him $160. Said Moody promised him more but never gave it. Wyley stated that the money was given him by parties named above to pay for all writing that he did, putting on seals and furnishing paper and stamps. That’s all that I know about the matter and I saw no money change hands.”