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A Study of the William Jacksons in Wilkes County, North Carolina

#6) A William is found on an Armbrester rootsweb chart as married to Ann Wheat Bryan and the father of Rebecca Jackson. He is said to be from Pennsylvania and lived in Wilkes County while a British prisoner on parole from May, 1780 to May, 1783, having been captured at the Battle of Charleston.  He is said to have returned to Pennsylvania after the war and died in 1828.

#7) Other charts have shown this same William, captured at the Battle of Charleston and returned to Pennsylvania after the war, but having this William married to Elizabeth Willing.
I have since (Nov 2008) found the pension application of Elizabeth Willing.  In it she says she and William Jackson were married in Pennsylvania after the Revolution.  The applications does not mention whether he had been previously married or not.  But obviously Elizabeth Willing wasn't with him in Wilkes County and Rebecca was not her daughter.  Later, in Nov 2011 I found the marriage record for Elizabeth Willing and William Jackson.  They were married in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on 11 Nov 1795.  Rebecca, being born sometime between 1756 and 1774 was obviously not the daughter of the Elizabeth Willing and the William Jackson she married. 

As of May 2012 a biography of this William Jackson has been found on wikipedia here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Jackson_%28secretary%29.  A reading of his life story readily confirms that he was not likely to have been in Wilkes County during the time period (1786) that a William Jackson signed the marriage bond for Abigail Jackson to be married to Jonathan Hughes.   Both Abigail Jackson and Rebecca Jackson were born a good bit before Elizabeth Willing and William Jackson were married.  The likely conclusion is that both women were daughters of the first marriage of William of Carter County, Tennessee (#1 above).

 Bob Mitchell has emailed me his analysis of this information as follows:

"I finally made a break through on un-raveling the military service of William Jackson, son of Joseph Jackson of Hempstead, NY late of New Jersey.

"There is no application for pension for a William Jackson from the Continental Army or from any of the State Militias that I can find.**  There are service records for a few William Jacksons of the Continental Army.  The most revealing is posted below:

Historical Register of Officers of the Continental Army, Fifteenth Virginia, page 316
Jackson, Wm. (S. C.). 2d Lieutenant 1st South Carolina, — May, 1776; 1st Lieutenant, 18th August, 1777; Captain, 9th October, 1779; Major and Aide-de-Camp to General Lincoln in 1780; taken prisoner at Charleston, 12th May, 1780; prisoner on parole to May, 1783. (Died 17th December, 1828.) ***

"You can readily see if you follow the service of this William Jackson, it is almost identical to the service record claimed by one of the researchers for his/her William Jackson who was in Wilkes Co., during the Revolution.  Obviously this is the record that was used to describe the William Jackson who was a Captain in the war and returned to Pennsylvania.  They left out the part about his being promoted to Major and becoming an Aid to General Lincoln.

"I think none of us had ever really bought into this service record as being our William Jackson, but it was presented as such had to be either proven and disproven.  I think this should lay to rest the "return to Pennsylvania after the war" and the "marriage (of his daughter) during the period he was on parole" as well as the fact that our William was actively engaged during the parole period.   By engaged I mean serving in an active status in the military.  The timeframe of the parole coincides with times described by both the Fairchild brothers that they were with CPT William Jackson.  Also the Battle of Kings Mountain was fought during that time frame (Oct 1780).

"Based upon the above, I would say that our William was a member of the North Carolina Militia, "Over the Mountain Boys" and was active in leading patrols in and around the Wilkes Co., NC area.  He would have also marched his men under the direction of his Regimental Commander into other areas of North Carolina to skirmish the Tories as evidenced by the Pension Applications of both the Abiud and Abijah Fairchild.  He would have probably been the head of the local militia that protected the home front during the early stages of the war and was pressed into a more active and fuller role in the service of his country as time passed and the war became more intense and closer to home.  CPT William Jackson played a role in the Battle of King's Mountain and was one of the CPT's for sure, but according to statements made by Abiud Fairchild in his application for pension, the patrol led by CPT Jackson, of which Abiud Fairchild participated, did not arrive at the King's Mountain site until the day after the battle.  While not directly involved in the battle itself, CPT William Jackson and his company's role in that battle was important none the less.

"William and his wife both died before the authorization of the pension for service was introduced.  Therefore there was no one except possibly one of his children who would make such an application.  My guess is that due to the homes being remotely in the mountains of East Tennessee, they may have not even known that such a benefit was available.

"To sum up, when describing the service of our William in the Revolution I would not include the "joined in SC as LT and later promoted to CPT, wounded and captured at Charleston, on parole to May 1783 and returned to Pennsylvania after the War."

"CPT William Jackson was a member of the North Carolina Militia during the Revolutionary War and was active in protecting the home front in the mountainous region of Western North Carolina.   He was considered to be one of the King's Mountain Captains and was one of the "Over the Mountain Boys"; he contributed to Battle of King's Mountain but did not actually fight in the battlefield the day of the battle.  It is my opinion that our William was a member of the NC Militia not the Continental Army, and the record Fifteenth Virginia, page 316 has nothing to do with our William Jackson.
---end of quote from Bob Mitchell---