John Williams, Company K*

Five soldiers in this regiment have the same name and all five are associated with pension applications. One of them was a witness in this application. Today’s post is about a soldier was born enslaved in northeastern North Carolina. He settled in Norfolk, Virginia after discharge and worked as a house carpenter. For three years veterans, neighbors, and friends provided testimony — and some repeatedly. Names and locations of close to 40 people have been identified. Though the applications were rejected, the interviews provide detailed information nowhere else recorded e.g. name changes, half-siblings, aunts and uncles, a fiancee, a disreputable attorney and notary public, occupations and trades, living conditions, customs, and so on.

*This might be the longest pension application I’ve examined. Today’s post includes research notes for documents dated 1892-1893. Future posts will include research notes for 1894-June 1895 and July 1895-1896.

Invalid — 918,580 / —–
Mother — 567,311 / —– , Juda WIlliams

General Affidavit, Emma Allen, 12 July 1892
residence, Norfolk, Norfolk Co., Va.
“John Williams died indebted to me in the sum of $159 for board, eating, and waiting on for 13 months. Also she paid for medicine … John Williams boarded with her at least 13 months and the soldier was sick all the time. He was not able to work and she trust him … he died on the 20 of June 1892”

General Affidavit, Emma Poole and John Hardy, 27 January 1893
[Poole] 48 years old; residence, Norfolk, Norfolk Co., Va.; post-office address, 83 Liberty St., Norfolk, Va.
[Hardy] 52 years old; residence, Norfolk, Norfolk Co., Va.; post-office address, 208 Cumberland St., Norfolk, Va.
“That each of them were well and intimately acquainted with the claimant and were also with her deceased son”

General Affidavit, Moses Massenburg and Raphael Wright, 27 January 1893
[Massenburg] 61 years old; residence, Norfolk, Norfolk Co., Va.; post-office address, 120 St. Paul St., Norfolk, Va.
[Wright] 48 years old; residence, Norfolk, Norfolk Co., Va.; post-office address, 58 Smith St., Norfolk, Va.
“That each of them is well and intimately acquainted with the claimant.”

Deposition, Emma Poole, 30 May 1893
50 years old; occupation, washing and ironing; residence and post-office address, 83 Liberty St., Norfolk, Va.
“I first knew [John Williams] over 15 years ago. I knew him up to the time of his death. When I moved into this house on September 15, 1889, he was living here and had been living here for about four years. … He died on June 20, 1892 very suddenly in a neighbor’s house. He had gone out a few hours before. I was sent for and he died with his head in my hands. He died at Mrs. Price‘s on Scott St. He had been ailing a long time. He had shortness of breath. I think it was asthma, heart disease or something of the sort. He was a single man. He had told me he was never married. His mother is living. Her name is Julia Williams. She lives on the Western Branch. … Witnesses: Willie Poole and C.A. Holley“

Deposition, Thomas Norris, 30 June 1893
73 years old; occupation, inmate, National Home, P.O. National Soldiers Home, Va.
“I was in Co. I in USC Cavlry during the war. …[John Williams] never put in a claim that i knew anything about. He was never confined in hospital while in service that I ever knew of. I know Robert Brickhouse. I do not know B.A. Richardson, Jr., Notary Public, Norfolk, Va.”
“I never knew John Williams mother. In 1863 John Williams father married a woman on Hawk Street, Norfolk, Va. named Lucy after her husband John’s father died but I never knew him.
“John Williams first wife died as much as six years ago. I don’t know her name. Later he married another woman who was very nearly white. I don’t know her name. She and John Williams were living on Lamberts Point road about two years ago. I did not know until now that John Williams was dead.”

Deposition, Juda Williams. 7 July 1893
66 years old; occupation, job work; residence and post-office address, Churchland, Norfolk Co., Va.
“I was married to the father of John Williams, Decatur Williams, by masters consent many years before the war and I lived with him until his death about fourteen years ago as near as I can now remember. My son was born in Currituck, Va. … I was the mother of four children. All of whom are now dead but James Williams with whom I now live.”

[My son] told me once that he was going to be married but the girl he was waiting on died and he did not marry anyone that I ever heard of. I saw my son on average ten or twelve times a year”

Deposition, Robert Brickhouse, 12 July 1893
63 years old; occupation, light job work; residence and post-office address, Lamberts Point R.R., Barboursville, Norfolk, Norfolk Co., Va.
“I do not know John Williams of Co I of same regiment. I never knew him… I sometimes write my name and sometimes sign by mark but I was never a witness for a person I do not know.”

Deposition, Raphael Wright, 11 July 1893
50 years old; occupation, selling on the market; residence and post-office address, 58 Smith Street, Norfolk Norfolk Co., Va.
“I was intimately acquainted with [John Williams] and if he had been married I should have known it. Except when he was out on Western Branch with his father or on the boat he was in Norfolk where he always lived.
“I saw him often the last three or four years and he did not live on the Lamberts Point rd. … I know [John Hardy] mighty well. He drives a hack”

Deposition, John Hardy, 11 July 1893
about 50 years old; occupation, hackman; residence and post-office address, 208 Cumberland St., Norfolk, Norfolk Co., Va.
“[Juda Williams] was my uncle’s wife. I knew her son John Williams since we were boys together. … I was never in [Luther C. Williams] office in my life.”

Deposition, Luther C. Williams, 12 July 1893
31 years old; occupation, notary public; residence and post-office address, 308 Bute Street, Norfolk, Va.
“I knew [John Williams] all my life … He was never married to my knowledge … [Juda Williams] executed an application for pension … six or seven months ago…..I know Raphael Wright and two men of the name John Hardy”

Letter from J.W. Montgomery, Special Examiner to Commissioner of Pensions, Washington, DC, 13 July 1893
“As there have been some suspicions cast upon the official actions of Luther C. Williams before whom the mother of this soldier executed her application I thought it well enough to test the validity of it also.”

Sworn Statement, Samuel B. Humphries, 21 July 1893
“the claimant is the mother of John WIlliams … [the soldier] died unmarried and leaving no children neither whole or half-blood and that his mother the claimant is a person that I have intimately known for the past thirty years and that she is a widow and during the time when her son’s health permitted him to work he always contributed to the support of his mother … have known her son since his boyhood in fact we served together in the same Company and Regiment”

Sworn Statement, Elizabeth Lee, 21 July 1893
55 years old; residence; 51 Pulaski Street, Norfolk, Va.
“the claimant is unmarried … she has known the claimant for the past fourteen years”

Sworn Statement, Raphael Wright, 21 July 1893
“became acquainted with [the claimant] shortly after I left the service of the late war … have known [her son] to send her money as she had no one legally bound for he support … I was also a member of the same regiment”