John enlisted in the War of 1812 on February 13, 1815 as a Captain in the 46th Virginia Militia and was discharged on April 7, 1815.
On 24 Oct 1871 at Franklin, Pendleton County, West Virginia, Elizabeth Vint BOTKIN, widow of John BOTKIN filed for a widow's pension under the act of February 14, 1871. She was 94 years old.
This 1871 act provided pensions to veterans who had served at least sixty days or to their widows if they had married before 1815.
Elizabeth stated in her application that she received a land warrant for her husband's services in the War of 1812 after his death on 21 March 1849 in Highland Co., VA. She also had to provide witnesses that swore she was married to John BOTKIN and lived with him as husband and wife. She had to swear that she gave no assistance or comfort to the enemy of the government during the war of the rebellion and that she supports the constitution of the United States. Witnesses were John C. Wilson and William McCoy.
However, because John served from 12 February 1815 until 7 April 1815 (54 days in all) her widows pension was rejected for being 6 days short of the required 60 days.
Document found on Fold3
That is so sad! You know they should have let that go through... Government never changes, right?
ReplyDelete