Paldo Wilson, Company E****

****This is one of the longest pension applications I’ve examined. Today’s post includes research notes for documents dated 1890-1911. Previous posts included research notes for documents dated 1866-1885, February 4, 1886 and February 5-19, 1886.

This soldier was killed in a skirmish in Fort Powhatan, Virginia on January 25, 1865. Action on his mother’s pension application continued for more than 30 years. Her application was complicated by conflicting information about a second marriage which was further complicated by the fact that two men shared the same name. Witnesses in support of the mother’s application included childhood friends, neighbors, and former enslavers. They reported names of those enslaved with her as well as the names of enslavers and their relatives, They described the mother’s efforts to remain independent and details about her church membership. Dates for specific events were framed within the 1855 Yellow Fever Epidemic and President Lincoln’s assassination.

General Affidavit, Sarah Butts, 7 November 1890
“I have been intermatly [sic] acquainted with Mrs. Fannie Wilson … for over 28 years … we used to be about one hundred yards apart from 1862 to 1866. I know since that time she she has been living at the same place corner of Pine & Griffin Streets in Portsmouth. I have on different occasions visited her and administered unto her. … I further know that if it is required for her to obtain the signature of hundred of her church members which composes of more members of color than any other in town, she could obtain them.”

General Affidavit, Jesse Whitehurst, 7 November 1890
“I am personally acquainted with Mrs. Fannie Wilson … and have been very near 29 years. She used to keep a cook shop on the wood dock lower end of County St. in the years of 1862, 1863, 1864, & 1865. I have known her personally since 1862. … I have been living within a stone’s throw of her ever since 1883 and between the years of 1865 [?] 1883 [?]. I used to visit her some time….. I knew her son before he went in the Army, he used to work for one David Owen hauling wood from my lighter. I am a lighterman.”

Sworn Statement, Jesse Whitehurst, 5 January 1891
57 years old; residence, Griffin Street Extended
“I have known Fannie Wilson 28 years … She used to keep a cook shop & boardinghouse not 60 feet from where my lighter landed in in those years … on the lower end of County Street in the city of Portsmouth …. [Paldo Wilson] went in the U.S. Service … he was employed by one David Owens now dead who was a drayman in the city Portsmouth.
“I further declare that I have frequently seen Mr. David Owens on Saturdays pay Paldo Wilson $2.50 two dollars & a half for his week’s work. And he Paldo Wilson would run across the street & give it to his mother Mrs. Fanny Wilson.
“Paldo Wilson used to haul wood from my lighter before he went in the U.S. Service.”

Sworn Affidavit, John Bracy, 20 January 1891
51 years old; residence, cor of County and Blount Streets Extended
“I have known [Fannie Wilson] ever since 1863 … in the fall of 1863 I was a lighterman and I hired Paldo Wilson from his mother Fannie Wilson and paid $2.50 per week to his mother for his services…. I further declare that she is old and is to be pitted [sic] … I further declare that she belongs to Zion Baptist Church Colored, the same church which I am a member and the congregation numbers over 2,000 souls … I further declare that in the years of 1863 & 1864 Mrs. Fannie Wilson use [sic] to keep a boarding house & cook on the old wood dock in the city of Portsmouth.
“I further declare that the said Paldo Wilson … was employed by one David Owens as a drayman and he paid him $2.50 per week.”

General Affidavit, Chloe Holloday, 7 March 1891
45 years old; residence, Pine Street, Portsmouth, Va.
“I known Mrs. Fannie Wilson I have lived right here by her every since the year of 1873…. I have visited her both night and day. .. I am at her house almost anytime night and day”
“Witnesses: Norman W. Rutter and Z.T. Hutchings, Sr.“

General Affidavit, J.W. Rutter, 9 March 1891
“I have known Fannie Wilson ever since 1869 and during all these years she has lived in the neighborhood … our dwellings being within a few rods of each other and my position as a merchant and an officer in the community is of such a nature as to know her intimately.”

General Affidavit, Z.T. Hutchings, Sr., 11 March 1891
44 years old; post-office address, Portsmouth, Va.
“I have known the applicant since 1867 … She has lived quitely [sic] on the corner of Pine & Griffin Streets since 1867 in the month of January … I lived within three hundred feet of the said applicant 18 years … she has been sick during these weeks, laid there in the house weeks after weeks, and a month at a time, and no one to look after her or to attend to her, only what my wife and the community would do for her.
“I further declare that if there is one applicant in the United States, which the general government ought to look after according to its promise I think this is one…. I further declare that she is very old and sickly.”

General Affidavit, Missouri Watkins and Antinette Elliott, 13 July 1892
[Watkins] 45 years old; residence, Portsmouth, Va.; post-office address, Portsmouth, Va.
[Elliott] 48 years old; residence, Norfolk Co., Va.; post-office address, Portsmouth, Va.
“I have known Mrs. Fannie Wilson over 26 years, part of this time I lived 220 feet from her. Part of this time I lived within the same square with her. I have visited her in her sickness and administered unto her needs. She is very old and broken down in health. I further say that she has a good reputation in the community where she lives. … She owns the little house which she lives in but she had to morgauge [sic] it to get some money to live on.
“I live [right here] at the back of her, the said Fannie Wilson’s lot. … I have aided her again and again … I have been personally acquainted with her over 20 years. I live hear [sic] next door to her and have been hear [sic] over 6 years. I see her every day twice a day. She ownes [sic] her little house which she lives but it is got a lean [sic] on it.”

Deposition, Fannie Wilson, 24 July 1902
about 70 or 75 years old; residence, 936 Griffin St., Portsmouth, Norfolk Co., Va.
“I became acquainted with the father of Paldo Wilson long before the war. His name was America Wilson. He was a slave so was I. We were married according to slavery custom. … I heard that he was dead but he was sold away from me before the war and left me with seven children one of whom was the soldier.
“I had a man boarding with me by the name of George Morrison who died about 12 or 13 years ago. … He wanted to marry me but I didn’t want to … He paid for his room and lodging … Morrison married Rebecca Dixon and she lives on Clifford St near Chestnut st. She knows me ever since I have been living here.
“Q. When did Morrison start to live with you?
It was during the war and after my son Paldo was killed, soon after the war I should have said. I have been here over 33 years and he never saw me until my son brought him to this house. My son John is dead … I have no property except this little hut.
“My son Paldo was 16 years old when he enlisted. He was not married.
“My witnesses were Moses Barrington, Lovie Smith, E.G. Corporal (dead). They are all I can recollect.”
“Mr. J.W. Rutter, Washington, DC, executes my pension vouchers on the 4th and I pay him 50 c.
“The man Morrison whom I lived with married 15 or 20 years ago at Portsmouth, Va.”

Memo from J.W. Rutter, Notary Public, 1012 South Street, Portsmouth, Va. [on letterhead] to the Commissioner of the Pension Bureau, 13 March 1911
Fannie Wilson “died Oct 26th 1910 and burried [sic] Oct 28th
“Her daughter Letticia Taylor now a resident of New York City left these papers in my office so I return them to the Pension Bureau.”

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Paldo Wilson, Company E***

***This is one of the longest pension applications I’ve examined. Today’s post includes research notes for documents dated February 5-19, 1886. Previous posts included research notes for documents dated 1866-1885 and February 4, 1886. Research notes for documents dated 1890-1911 will be published next week.

This soldier was killed in a skirmish in Fort Powhatan, Virginia on January 25, 1865. Action on his mother’s pension application continued for more than 30 years. Her application was complicated by conflicting information about a second marriage which was further complicated by the fact that two men shared the same name. Witnesses in support of the mother’s application included childhood friends, neighbors, and former enslavers. They reported names of those enslaved with her as well as the names of enslavers and their relatives. They described the mother’s efforts to remain independent and details about her church membership. Dates for specific events were framed within the 1855 Yellow Fever Epidemic and President Lincoln’s assassination.

Mother — 119, 679 / 94,739, Fannie Wilson

Deposition, Zachariah T. Cutchings, 5 February 1886
39 years old; occupation, laborer; residence, cor Pine & Griffin Sts, suburbs of Portsmouth, Va.; post-office address, Portsmouth, Norfolk Co., Va.
“That he is son-in-law to the clt Fannie Wilson whom he has known intimately since December 1865 at which time he began to visit her daughter. She was then living on Dinwiddie st bet Crab & South st., Portsmouth, Va. He had however known her personally as early as 1862 before he entered the army and she has lived with him and in his house since his marriage to her daughter now about nineteen years ago ….
Q. Did you know the claimant when she lived on the Wood Wharf here in Portsmouth.
A. In 1862 my mother kept a stand in the market which is just across the street from where the claimant lived and I became acquainted with clt’s daughter and I was at or about her cook shop. In 1863 I went to school with her daughter, now my wife, and I was often ….
Q. Who else eat at her table on the occasions when you eat there
A. Myself clt and two daughters, Joe Wheeler and a girl named Mary. Joe Wheeler was visiting. Mary Kee is dead (Mary is somewhere in the northeast …
Q. Was it usual for young men to visit their sweethearts 3 or 4 times a week.
A. I was employed in the U.S. Navy Yard and I was attending the same night school with my wife and I would call and take her to school & bring her back and on Sundays I took her to church and brought her home. Her mother, the clt, went with us to church as she was a member of the church we attended.
Q. When the clt kept her cook shop on the Wood Wharf did she have regular boarders or or did she keep a stand for public use.
A. It was almost wholly transient, just like any small house, she sold to anyone who applied.”

Deposition, Thomas Peden, 5 February 1886
45 years old; residence, “South St. near Pine in the suburbs of Portsmouth, Va.”; post-office address, Portsmouth, Norfolk Co., Va.;
“That he has known the claimant intimately since July 1863. That about the 1st day of August 1863 while at work in the U.S. Commissary Department at Portsmouth, he began to board at the clt’s snack house on the Wood Wharf in Portsmouth and he continued to take his dinners and suppers at her eating stand for four months following. Then he transferred across the river to Norfolk to work in the warehouse there but was frequently sent back & forth to Portsmouth and where in Portsmouth he always took his meals at clt’s house.
“Q. Did she keep lodgers as well as boarders?
“A. No, sir.
Q. Have you ever known a man by the name of Samuel Wilson?
A. No, sir.
“[Peden] for the past 17 years I have lived as a neighbor to her.”

Deposition, James Copeland, 5 February 1886
38 years old; occupation, insurance agent; residence, suburbs of Portsmouth, Va.; post-office address, Portsmouth, Norfolk Co., Va.
“That he has known the claimant Frances Wilson, since in 1868, he was an intimate friend of her son-in-law J.T. Hudgins, and with him he frequently visited clt’s house where she now resides. Subsequently he knew her (1870) as a member of Zion Baptist Church of Portsmouth of which he was church clerk five years and also as a deacon in said church. According to the rules of the church, it was a part of his duty to visit the members in case of absence from church etc.”

Deposition, Polly McPherson, 5 February 1886
55 years old; occupation, housekeeper; residence and post-office address, London between Green & Effingham st, Portsmouth, Norfolk Co., Va. That she became acquainted with the clt Fannie Wilson about a year and a half ago after the Yankees took Norfolk, Va.) (May 1862). The way I became acquainted with her was by renting a room in her house … and I moved with her and lived with her on Dinwiddie St between Crab & South and I lived with her until she moved to Newtown, a suburb of Portsmouth. This was in the year 1866 as near as I can remember. While we lived at the Wood Wharf I took in and done washing and she (clt) kept a snack house….It was a small two story brick house containing three rooms. I rented and occupied the back room on the ground floor & the claimant and myself cooked in the front room and her & her two daughters slept upstairs. The stairway leading to clt sleeping room ran from the cook house…there was an old wood house back of my room.”

Deposition, John W. Dowdy, 6 February 1886
35 years old; occupation, carpenter; residence and post-office address, 315 Harrison St., Portsmouth, Norfolk Co., Va.
“That he has known Fannie Wilson since the clt since in 1862 or 63. She having been a customer at his father’s grocery and that he remembers very distinctly that a man by the name of Ragsdale brought this claimant to his father’s store.”

Deposition, Sarah Barrington, 6 February 1886
41 years old; occupation, housekeeper; residence and post-office address, Griffin Street extended just outside the city limits, Portsmouth, Norfolk County, Va.
“I have known the clt Fannie Wilson for the past 25 years while she was yet a slave and I knew her very intimately while she resided on the Wood Wharf in Portsmouth, Va. I lived in the adjoining house and saw her almost every day while she lived there. I was not living there at the time the clt left the wharf but was still intimate with her. … I have lived within speaking distance of her for nearly since. She left Newtown which has been now 20 years.”

Deposition, Mary White, 13 February 1886
50 years old; occupation, housekeeper; residence, cor Queen & Court sts, Portsmouth, Norfolk Co., Va.; post-office address, Portsmouth, Norfolk Co., Va.
“That I have known the claimant since in the second [sic] of late war, soon after the federal forces took Norfolk, Va.
“My husband, now dead, and I occupied a room which my husband rented from her in the house on the Wood Wharf, Portsmouth, Va. I occupied that room 18 months. My room was the front room upstairs. There was two other rooms upstairs occupied by the claimant & these two rooms were used by the claimant’s sister … Her sister’s name is Lavinia but I have forgotten her last name and I don’t know where she is. Downstairs of the house on Wood Wharf was occupied in the front by Hon. C.V. [illegiblea]Wilson and the back room was occupied by Polly McPherson.”

Deposition, Lester Brown, 15 February 1886
50 years old; occupation, laborer; residence, 126 Hawk St., Norfolk, Norfolk Co., Va.
“That I am one of the former slaves of Dr. Samuel Brown who owned land in Norfolk Co., Va. about 20 miles south of the city of Norfolk and he was a fellow servant … she was the wife of Americus Wilson who was sold from her six or seven years before the war. Fannie Wilson took up and lived with one Lamb Billie Wilson as his wife for about two years and then he died in about 1860. … Her youngest child was named Paldo Wilson.”
“I have known Fannie Wilson since she came to live at Portsmouth, Va.”
“I also knew another Lamb Wilson but I do not know what he done for a living. I come home from the navy in 1864 and I never saw him about Fannie Wilson’s cookshop. …This Lamb Billie Wilson died about as I have stated in 1860 out at Bear Quarters in this Co. about 20 miles from here. He has a daughter by a former wife now living in Norfolk who can tell when he died.
“I came here [to Norfolk] that year after the place was taken over by the Yankees. I must be mistaken as to when I heard of his death. I know I left him up there when I left. I presume his old master Geo. B. Wilson could tell us when he died.”

Deposition, Eliza Hopper, 15 February 1886
40 years old; occupation, housekeeper; residence and post-office address, 28 Wilson Ave., Norfolk, Va.;
“I am the daughter of Lamb Billie Wilson who belonged to George & Billie Wilson at Great Bridge, Norfolk Co., Va. I belonged to the Foreman family and lived about 15 miles from where my father lived and I do not know whether he and Fannie Wilson ever lived together or not. I was present at the death of my father but I do not know when it was, whether before or since the war. I remember this — that I was then living out at my old house where I lived before and since the war and I am unable to to say when he died.”
“Q. You were present at the funeral of your father?
A. I was living on David Foreman‘s place at the time he died and he died on David Foreman’s place.
Q. At which place was David Foreman living when your father died.
A. He lived at that time on a part of the old horse farm right across the road from the old horse house.”
“Q. Did your father Lamb Billie Wilson ever live in Norfolk or Portsmouth, Va.?
A. Not to my knowledge. He always staid [sic] up about where he was raised.”

Deposition, Letitia Hutcheson, 15 February 1886
34 years old; post-office address, Portsmouth, Norfolk Co., Va.;
“I am the daughter of Fannie Wilson, the claimant … I have lived with my mother … all my life was raised here in this house 19 years ago and I have lived here ever since. I was a small child when my mother brought me away our old home in Norfolk Co. and I have but a limited recollection of of the place and the people we left behind. My first distinct recollection dates from our residence on the Wood Wharf at Portsmouth. I remember when my brother Paldo went into the army.”

Deposition, Sophia Nichols, 18 February 1886
65 years old; post-office address, Wallaceton, Norfolk Co., Va.
“I knew Fannie Wilson long before the war and I knew Lamb Billy Wilson before the war and I know they lived together and husband and wife.”

Deposition, Reuben Saunders, 18 February 1886
65 years old; post-office address, Wallaceton, Norfolk Co., Va.
“I became acquainted with Lamb Billy Wilson and his wife Fannie during the late war… After the war Lamb Billy Wilson came back here and did not return to his wife. I think I must have been back here two or three years before he came back. I also helped bury him when he died … [Fannie] often came to see him when aboarding his lighter.”
“Q. Have you known another colored man who went by the name of Lamb Wilson?
A. Yes. I knew one who sometimes went by that name but his right name was Lamb Williams. He was also a lighterman and was down about Portsmouth at the same time Lamb Billy Wilson was there with his wife. He is also dead.”

Deposition, Alexander Foreman, 18 February 1886
60 years old; occupation, farmer; post-office address, Wallaceton, Norfolk Co., Va.
“I have known [claimant] about all her life. I knew her when she was the wife of Americus Wilson and when she lived with Lamb Billy Wilson…Soon after the Yankees took Norfolk, Va. in 1862 (May) [the couple] went to Portsmouth, Va. to live and I often visited them there where they lived in a brick house on the Wood Wharf”
“During the war my white folks were afraid to go inside the Yankee lines so I done their marketing and trading for them and in doing this was in Portsmouth very often”
“Lamb Billy and I were like brothers. We had worked together at lighting long before the war.”
“Q. Was there another Lamb Wilson?
A. No, sir. His name was Lamb Williams. He was also a lighterman He died right here in this house where you are now.”

Deposition, John Nichols, 18 February 1886
67 years old; post-office address, Wallaceton, Norfolk Co., Va.
“I have known Fannie Wilson … a former slave of Dr. Samuel Brown for the past 35 years.”

Deposition, Geo. A. Wilson, 18 February 1886
63 years old; occupation, farmer; post-office address, Great Bridge, Norfolk Co., Va.
“I was the owner of a colored man by the name of Lamb Billy. I also knew Fannie Wilson who formerly belonged to Dr. Samuel Brown … the man Lamb Billy died several years ago at Bear Quarter, Va.”

Deposition, Lavinia Webb, 19 February 1886
50 years old; occupation, housekeeper; residence, Dinwiddie St bet County and Crabb sts., Portsmouth, Va.
“I have worked [at this address] about two months. I live in the suburbs of Portsmouth, Va. … I am [the claimant’s] sister … I lived at house on Dr. Brown’s place (my owner) and Fannie was hired out and lived about two miles from us….[Fannie] lived in Bear Quarter before the war.”
Q. Who came with you when you came to Portsmouth?
A. My husband Joe Webb, Ben Lee & Levi Foreman.”

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Paldo Wilson, Company E**

**Today’s post includes research notes for a single document dated February 4, 1886. Last week’s post included research notes from 1866-1885. Future posts will include research notes from the remaining documents.

This soldier was killed in a skirmish in Fort Powhatan, Virginia on January 25, 1865. Action on his mother’s pension application continued for more than 30 years. Her application was complicated by conflicting information about a second marriage which was further complicated by the fact that two men shared the same name. Witnesses in support of the mother’s application included childhood friends, neighbors, and former enslavers. They reported names of those enslaved with her as well as the names of enslavers and their relatives. They described the mother’s efforts to remain independent and details about her church membership. Dates for specific events were framed within the 1855 Yellow Fever Epidemic and President Lincoln’s assassination.

Mother — 119, 679 / 94,739, Fannie Wilson

Deposition, Fannie Wilson, 4 February 1886
about 57 years old; occupation, housekeeper; residence, corner of Pine & Griffin Street, a suburb of Portsmouth, Va.; post-office address, Portsmouth, Norfolk Co., Va.
“Q. To whom did you belong prior to 1850?
A. I belonged to Dr. Samuel Brown late of Norfolk Co., Va., Dr. Brown is dead. I always belonged to the Brown family.
Q. Whereabouts in Norfolk Co. did you reside from 1850 to the breaking out of the late war?
A. Near Hickory Ground about 20 miles from Norfolk
Q. Did Dr. Brown reside on the plantation on which you were employed?
A. He and his family resided on the plantation where I was employed.
Q. Did Dr. Brown leave a widow and children surviving him?
A. Dr. Brown left a widow who is now dead, also a son named Samuel Brown and three daughters named Mary, Maggie & Rosa, all of whom now reside in Norfolk, Va. These children were quite small when the war broke out.
Q. Did Dr. Brown own other slaves besides yourself
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Please give me the names of these slaves who were with you on Dr. Brown’s plantation from 1850 to the beginning of the late war or rather until you and they left your old home
A. Lester Brown. Alex Brown. Wesley Brown and Willis Brown. All of whom reside in Norfolk, Va. I don’t know just where they live or what they do for a living.
Q. Were you ever married?
A. Yes, according to slave customs.
Q. What was your husband’s name?
A. America Wilson
Q. To whom did he belong?
A. To Robert Wilson who resided in the same neighborhood with Dr. Brown
Q. When did you and America Wilson take each other for husband and wife?
A. I don’t know exactly but it must have been 16 years or more before the late war.
Q. How many children did you have by America Wilson?
A. I had seven including Paldo Wilson, all of whom are dead except one daughter with whom I am now living.
Q. What became of America Wilson?
A. He was sold away from me three or four years before the war broke out and I afterwards heard that he was dead. His brother William told me so…
Q. Where did you reside at the date of the death of your son Paldo Wilson which appears to have occurred January 25, 1865?
A. I was living down on the Wood Wharf in Portsmouth.
Q. Who was living with you at that time?
A. My two daughters and a Mrs. Mary White who left for parts unknown some several years ago….
Q. Who lived by you and associated with you while you resided on the Wood Wharf?
A. Mrs. Sarah Barrington who lives near me now, lived near me. Also Polly McPherson. I have forgotten who the others were.
Q. Where did you go when you left the Wood Wharf in 1866?
A. I went to live on Dinwiddie Street South & Crab St.
Q. How long did you reside there?
A. Only three months. Then I moved to the corner of King & Dinwiddie Sts. and remained there two months. Then I moved to Newton, a suburb of Portsmouth where I remained ten months. Then I moved to where I am now and I have lived right here ever since.
Q. Who lived with you while you lived in Newton?
A. No one but my daughter. I am mistaken as to the date when I left the Wood Wharf. It was in the fall of 1865, instead of 1866.
Q. Who lived near you and associated with you during your residence in Newtown.
A. It was a strange place and I did not know anyone there. My associates were in Portsmouth. I belonged to Zion Baptist Church….
Q. When did your daughter marry and I mean with whom you are now living?
A. She married Dec 1867.
Q. Have you made your home with her ever since?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. What is name of your daughter’s husband?
A. His name is Zachariah Taylor Hutchings.
Q. Have you ever known or do you know a man by the name of Lamb Wilson?
A. Yes, sir. I have known two men of that name.
Q. Who did they belong to before the war and were either of them related to your late husband America Wilson?
A. They belonged to old Billy Wilson of Norfolk, Va. and were not related to my husband.
Q. Did either of these men ever live or board in the same house with you?
A. When I lived on Dinwiddie st. bet Crab & South, I rented one of the Lamb Wilson a room but he did not board with me. I was there three months. Then I moved to the cor of King & Dinwiddie sts but he did not go with me. After I moved to Newtown I again rented him a room which he kept and occupied two months. Then he left, and I have never had any other business transactions with him.
Q. What became of him?
A. He went from my house to where he was raised near Great Bridge, Va. and I hear he died there five or more years ago.
Q. Who associated with you when Lamb Wilson was living at your house on Dinwiddie St.?
A. Polly McPherson visited me very often. So did Sarah Barrington. There were no near neighbors near me for at that the house I occupied was the only one near.
Q. Did you ever see or know a man by the name of G.H. Ragsdale?
A. Yes, sir. I have seen a man who went by that name.
Q. When did you first become acquainted with this man Lamb Wilson to whom you rented a room?
A. All his life. He was raised near where I was.
Q. Did he board or eat at your cook shop when you lived on the Wood Wharf?
A. He worked at lighting vessels and chopping wood and some times as he would be passing he would buy a snack and go on as others did.
Q. Did he ever lodge in your house while you lived on the wharf?
A. Sometimes when he would come up with his lighter he would get his meals and go in an old back room and sleep.
Q. Please describe the house in which you lived while at the Wood Wharf.
A. It was a small two-story brick with one front and one back downstairs and an attic room upstairs.
Q. What part of the house did Polly McPherson occupy?
A. She occupied the back room and done some cooking with me.
Q. Was this back room where some of your boarders sometimes slept a part of this two-story brick in which you lived?
A. No sir. It was or had been the wood house. It was a frame and was detached from the brick building. I did not have control.”

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Paldo Wilson, Company E*

*This is one of the longest pension applications I’ve examined. Today’s post includes research notes for documents dated 1866-1885. Next week’s post will include research notes from a document dated February 4, 1886.

This soldier was killed in a skirmish in Fort Powhatan, Virginia on January 25, 1865. Action on his mother’s pension application continued for more than 30 years. Her application was complicated by conflicting information about a second marriage which was further complicated by the fact that two men shared the same name. Witnesses in support of the mother’s application included childhood friends, neighbors, and former enslavers. They reported names of those enslaved with her as well as the names of enslavers and their relatives. They described the mother’s efforts to remain independent and details about her church membership. Dates for specific events were framed within the 1855 Yellow Fever Epidemic and President Lincoln’s assassination.

Mother — 119, 679 / 94,739, Fannie Wilson

Letter from [illegible] Taggard, Assistant Adjutant General, to Commissioner of Pensions, Washington, DC, 19 July 1866
“‘He is reported killed in a skirmish with the enemy, January 25, 1865.’ The name of Paldo Wright is not borne on the rolls of Co. E. 1st U.S. Cold. Cavalry on file in this office.”

Sworn Statement, Fannie Wilson, 26 October 1866
43 years old; residence, Henry St., Newtown, near Portsmouth, Norfolk Co., Va.
“Her said son was killed by a gunshot in the head in action in line of duty at Fort Powhatan, Va. on the 25th Jany 1865 … her said husband died Oct 1/55 (the same year of the ‘yellow fever’) at Norfolk Co., Va. … [Fannie’s personal property] consists of
personal estate (furniture) about enough to furnish one good room … That prior to her son’s enlistment & death, she was ‘keeping house’ and dependent wholly on him for support”
“Also personally appeared E.G. Corprew and Albert Robinson, residents of Portsmouth, Va. who on oath declare that they have been for more than 15 years acquainted with the claimant Mrs. Fannie Wilson”

Sworn Statement, Fannie Wilson, 21 August 1873
“Declares that after her first husband America Wilson was sold and carried away from her as has been set forth … she was married again by consent of their masters to one Lamb Wilson, that this event took place about one year after her first husband was sold from her. That she continued to live with her second husband until the fall after President Lincoln was killed. That she then separated from him and they have not lived together since. That he is still living or was a short time ago.”

Declaration for Restoration to the Pension Rolls of a Person Whose Name Has Been Dropped Under the Act of February 4, 1862, Fanny Wilson, 18/19 April 1882
residence, corner of Pine & Griffin streets, Portsmouth, Norfolk Co., Va; post-office, Portsmouth, Va.,
“Her means of subsistence have been proceeds from washing, cooking, etc “
“Also personally appeared Thos. Peeden, residing at…. South street, Portsmouth and Moses Barrington, residing at … Clifford st., Portsmouth, Va,”

Sworn Statement, Moses Barrington, 11 March 1882
“Says that he has known the said claimant Fannie Wilson … 21 years … I know that her son left his employment and went over to Norfolk and enlisted in the service of the United States.
“I know that he was his mother’s support before he went in the Army in 1863. After her son Paldo Wilson went in the Army his mother Fanny Wilson keep a cook shop for a long time for a living. After that she went and hired out in service to learn a living. After that she taken in washington [sic] for a living.”

General Affidavit, Alexander Wilson and Laister Brown, 13 March 1884
[Wilson] 40 years old;
[Brown] 49 years old;
citizens of Norfolk, Norfolk Co., Va.
“We were well acquainted with Pauldo Wilson, son of Mrs. Fannie Wilson … the last owner or owners of the said soldier are all dead.”

Sworn Statement, Sarah Barrington, 28 February 1885
residence, Portsmouth, Norfolk Co., Va.
“She has known Fanny Wilson for the past twenty seven years … lived only two doors apart”

Sworn Statement, Eliza Fisher and Polly McPherson, 28 February 1885
“Paldo Wilson worked as laborer for one Daniel Green, owner, (since dead)”

General Affidavit, Cary Brown, 11 April 1885
“I have known her all of my life. I and her and her son Paldo use [sic] to belong to the same owners before the late Rebellion. I and the said Paldo Wilson being children together on the same plantation, he being about three months older than I.”
[Note — This statement isn’t on a form. It’s handwritten and notarized — Leslie]

General Affidavit, A.A. Corprew, 15 April 1885
“I use [sic] to haul wood in a lighter and unload it within sixty feet of Mrs. Fanny Wilson door. I lightered then for a living…. [Paldo Wilson] was employed by one David Owens now dead.”
[Note — This statement isn’t on a form. It’s handwritten and notarized — Leslie]

General Affidavit, John Wright, 15 April 1885
“We were young lads together here in the city of Portsmouth … I left and went the U.S. Service in the latter part of (1863) and left Paldo Wilson here with his mother on the wood dock ”
[Note — This statement isn’t on a form. It’s handwritten and notarized — Leslie]

Sworn Statement, Edward Overman, 29 April 1885
“I have known the old woman since my early boyhood somewhere near 20 years and as she frequently came to the home of my parents I have had ample opportunities for observing her deportment which at all times has been excellent and worthy of imitation by all classes of her race … her home for near or quite 20 years has been near mine except at intervals when I was away.”
[Note — This statement isn’t on a form. It’s handwritten and notarized — Leslie]

Sworn Statement, James Copeland, 1 May 1885
“As one of the deacons of the church to which she belongs, namely the Zion Baptist of this city … she has never been remarried, nor cohabited with any man since I have known her which have been ever since (1868) … [Copeland has been on the] deacon boards of Baptist churches, hold monthly meetings to look into matters of that kind in conjunction with other matters pertaining to the welfare of the church, she living in the limits of the city ever since the close of the war. Would certainly have been reported to her church, and espelled [sic] … [she is] a member of my church, in good and regular standing.”
“I having been living here in this city since 1867, been a member of this church to which she belongs nearly (14) fourteen years, during which time I served as church clerk six (6) years and now I am one of the deacons of my church, and have been for years, certainly I am in a position to know.”

General Affidavit, William Smith, 8 May 1885 [date stamped by Pension Office]
“has known Mrs. Fanny Wilson since (1864). I use [sic] to live next door to her 8 years previous to (1878). … I have known her to take in washing and work in the truck field to earn a living”
[Note — This statement isn’t on a form. It’s handwritten and notarized — Leslie]

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Samuel Foulkes, Company E

This pension application is rich with detailed observations about individuals, their character, their occupations, their living arrangements and relationships: “third cousin to her said husband … underage and could not get a license in Virginia … a white man’s child … the minor has been shaving for more than three years … were not married and did not occupy the same room … now running on a schooner between Norfolk, Boston & New York … visited his family at different times while in service, and the family were then living in Portsmouth … made a bargain herself to buy the land … they are both gentlemen, don’t think either one of them would tell a lie.”

Widow — 158,200 / 123,131, Letitia Foulkes

Sworn Statement, Dr. H.P. Ritter, 28 October 1868
“He has examined Harriet Foulk, General Jackson Foulk & Alexander Foulk children of Samuel & Letitia Foulk and … Harriet was born during the month of December 1856 & that the said General Jackson was born on or about the month of November 1859 & that the said Alexander was probably born about the latter part of the month of February 1861″
“Also personally appeared Mary Ann Porter and Matilda Parker, residents of Gates Co., NC … they have been for more than 25 years personally acquainted with the claimant … they were present at the marriage of the parties at the home of the late Revd Wm. Cross a Justice of the Peace of the said Gates County, NC & that said marriage occurred on or about May 2/1855 … [Cross] died about the month of April 1865 at said Gates County, NC”

Exhibit A, Letitia Foulk, 25 July 1878
about 41 years old; residence, near Gilmerton Locks, Norfolk Co., Va.
“She was born and raised free, and lived in the neighborhood of Holy Neck Chapel, Nansemond Co., Virginia from birth until about two years after the commencement of the late war, that she was married on the last Thursday in May, and think it was in the year 1856, to Samuel Foulk a free coloured man who lived in the same neighborhood. Affiant maiden name was Letitia Foulke and she was third cousin to her said husband. They were married in Gates Co., NC by a Magistrate named William Cross, it was the nearest point in NC where they could find a Magistrate, it was not far from Gatesville, went to NC to get married because she was underage and could not get a license in Virginia. Affiant has learned that William Cross … died during the late War learned the fact by writing through her attorney when she first applied for a pension…. he died at Fortress Monroe of smallpox during the first year of his enlistment … Affiant was sent for by soldier before his death. She went to Old Point but found the soldier was dead on her arrival … The point in North Carolina at which she was married was about 12 miles from her residence at Holy Neck, Nansemond Co., Virginia. There was a large party with her to see the marriage, James Faulk and wife who live near Holy Neck waited on them at their marriage … Her attorney Thomas Baker proved the marriage by a letter from a member of Mr. Cross’s (the Magistrate) family, was not acquainted with any person who lived near Wm. Cross in Gates Co., NC thinks Dr. Elliott of Somerton was present at her marriage. Mary Ann Porter was not present at her marriage but was at the wedding after her return home. Mary Ann Porter died five or six years ago. Matilda Parker was not present at her marriage. Granville Joiner and Benjamin Fly nor either of them were present at her marriage. Affiant had two children by the soldier viz General Jackson who will be 21 years old the 25th day October 1878, and Alexander who will be 17 years old on the 27 of February 1879. When she put in her claim through Thomas Baker, she told him that she had three children, but that Harriet the oldest child was not the child of the soldier, he Baker told her it made no difference … and she did as he advised Harriet was a white man’s child, was not married to Harriet’s father … [affiant] lived in the same house with Armistead Moore for three or four years … has not lived with Moore for the past two years … She never had a child by Moore, never cohabited with him … said Moore is now running on a schooner between Norfolk, Boston & New York, don’t know the name of the schooner. She first lived in the same house with Moore at Coxes Point, can’t fix the date, has lived at her present place of residence four years next March, Cox’s Point is the same place lately rented by Robt Noel. Thomas Nickerson, was a near neighbor when she lived at Cox Point, Nickerson now lives near Gilmerton Locks, Armistead Moore does not visit her now. Miles Copeland, one of affiant’s neighbors has known her all her life, he is an intelligent coloured man, believe Armistead Moore is courting Copeland’s stepdaughter. Affiant’s oldest son works at Baxter & Collins Mill seven or eight miles above Great Bridge. Don’t know where Ben Fly is, thinks Granville Joiner lives at Lincolnville. Matilda Parker lives near Getty Station.”

Exhibit B, Alexander Faulk, 28 July 1878
16 years old; residence, near Gilmerton Locks, Norfolk Co., Va.
“He is the son of claimant … he will be seventeen years old on the last day of February 1879, that he never saw his father to his knowledge, he has always lived home with claimant … Claimant and Alexander Moore lived together four or five years, but they were not married and did not occupy the same room, claimant employed Moore as a farmer for her, Moore rented the Cox & point farm but claimant paid the rent”

Exhibit C, L.B. Kenney, 28 July 1878
40 years old; residence, Portsmouth, Norfolk Co., Va.
“He a Pension Examining Surgeon … made an examination of Alexander Faulk … he gives it as his professional opinion that the said Alexander Faulk is twenty-one years of age, his general development indicates that age and he admits that he the minor has been shaving for more than three years.”

Exhibit D, General Jackson Faulk, 29 July 1878
21 years old; residence, Gilmerton Locks, Norfolk Co., Va.
“He is the oldest son of claimant, that he doesn’t remember his father, but recollects seeing a man near Wingates in Norfolk Co. with a uniform on and has always been taught that was his father, and that his name was Samuel Faulk, and that he died in the U.S. Service at Hampton, Va. Affiant has always lived with claimant … Armistead Moore lived with claimant for some five or six years, he did not live with her as husband and wife, but they farmed together and she did his washing and cooking, they did not occupy the same room … they rented first from Smoale & Co [?] of Philadelphia, and afterward from J.J. Bilosoly. When claimant lived at Cox Point, Armistead Moore was responsible for the rent. After moving to Bilosoly’s place claimant made a bargain herself to buy the place, so much each year until paid for … Moore lived with claimant for five or six years preceding last autumn, since which time he has been running on a schooner to New York and Boston, he has not been to claimant’s house since last Autumn, he lived with her as a boarder until that time… Moore is not a married man”

Exhibit E, Robert Noel, 31 July 1878
50 years old; residence, Portsmouth, Norfolk Co., Va.
“owns and works a farm near Cox Point, has known [claimant] for about 10 years, about nine of which she has lived with Armistead Moore as his wife … about six years ago they moved from thence across a creek nearer to Gilmerton Locks, thinks they bought the property … often heard Moore speak of claimant as his wife… Moore shipped the production of the land they lived on in his own name…. about a year ago he went away with Captain Trammell [?] on a schooner which trades north. Is acquainted with her (claimant) sons”

Exhibit F, Martin J. Ballentine, 1 August 1878
72 years old; residence, Gilmerton Locks, Norfolk Co., Va.
“acquainted with claimant, she resides on a place adjoining his farm, she came to live there about three years ago with a colored man named Armistead Moore … [they lived there] until about a year ago, when Moore went off on the schooner Lydia Roper [sp?] Capt. Crasmer [sp?], thinks Moore went as steward … don’t know claimant’s children”

Exhibit G, J.J. Bilosoly, 9 August 1878
39 years old; residence, Portsmouth, Norfolk Co., Va.
“has known her since Feb 17 1873 at which time he sold her a piece of land in Norfolk Co. She did not pay him for the land, but gave notes endorsed by Armistead Moore, and a deed of trust to secure him, the notes have never been paid. Claimant has lived on said land ever since, don’t know whether Armistead Moore has lived with her or not.”

Exhibit H, Miles Copeland, 9 August 1878
resides at Western Farm, Norfolk Co., Va.
“has known [claimant] since she was a child, she was a freeborn coloured woman, raised near Holy Neck, Nansemond Co., Virginia … claimant was married some years (three or four) before the late Rebellion to a free coloured man named Samuel Faulk, her maiden name was Letitia Faulk. She had one daughter before she married Samuel Faulk. She was not married to the Father of said Daughter. Affiant was not present at the marriage of claimant, he lived in same neighborhood at the time she was married. … it is not certain whether she was married in Nansemond Co. or in North Carolina, many people went from Virginia to North Carolina (which was only a few miles off ) to get married … knows that [Faulk] was a Cavalry soldier, has seen him in uniform, thinks he enlisted in Norfolk or Portsmouth or vicinity because he visited his family at different times while in service, and the family were then living in Portsmouth he (the soldier) died of smallpox … thinks his regiment was on the James River at the time.”

Exhibit I, Armistead Moore, 9 August 1878
residence, schooner Lydia H. Roper, Norfolk Co., Va.
“he has never been married to the claimant, did not live in cohabitation, lived with her as an employee for six or seven years, left her employment last Autumn, never lived with her as husband and wife, never occupied the same bed or same room with claimant … knows Robert Noel and M.J. Balentine, believes they are both gentlemen, don’t think either one of them would tell a lie. Miles Copeland is a respectable colored man, and is friendly to affiant, don’t believe he would tell a lie.”

Exhibit K, Henry Faulk, 10 August 1878
38 years old; residence, near Portsmouth, Norfolk Co., Virginia
“He is a brother of Samuel Faulk … affiant was a soldier in same co. & Regiment. Affiant enlisted in 1863 or 1864 … Affiant was not at their marriage but know they were regularly married and lived together as husband and wife … Affiant has not regarded Armistead Moore and claimant as husband and wife … The deceased soldier and claimant were distant cousins, heard of their marriage shortly after it took place, and visited them in their domicile … don’t visit claimant because of living with Armistead Moore and not being married to him, or denying her marriage.”

Widow’s Claim for Arrears of Pension, Act Jan. 25, 1879, Letitia Falk, 28 September 1881
43 years old; residence, Norfolk, 3 miles from Portsmouth;
[also appeared] Irena Porter, residence, Norfolk, Va., No. 69 Newton St., and Milly Smith, residence, Norfolk, Va., No. 44 Fourth St…. long acquainted 30 years”

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