A soldier of the Revolution

Martin Johnston was an ancestor of my wife, Priscilla.

“Pension application of Martin Johnson W436

“Transcribed by Will Graves

“State of Kentucky

“Martin Johnston of Clark County and State aforesaid came before me James Clark one of the Circuit Judges for the State aforesaid this 20th day of June 1818 and made the following statement upon oath for the purpose of obtaining a pension under an Act of Congress entitled an act ‘to provide for certain persons engaged in the land and naval services of the United States in the Revolutionary War.’ Being first sworn [he] makes the following statement: That he is at present a citizen of Clark County and State of Kentucky – that he is by birth a Virginian. That he was two years a soldier in the war of the Revolution on Continental establishment. That on the 9th of February 1776 in Culpeper County Virginia he enlisted for the period of two years in Captain John Thornton's Company, Third Regiment, Virginia line in the Continental establishment. That he faithfully served the two years and was on the eighth day of February 1778 duly and regularly discharged at the Valley Forge Pennsylvania which discharge was issued by General Woodford which discharge he has lost or misplaced so that at this time he cannot find it. He further states that he is about 61 years old and from infirmity he is incapable of labor and that by reason of his reduced circumstances in life, he is in need of sustenance from his Country for his support. The said Johnston further states that he can prove that he was a soldier as aforesaid by his Excellency James Monroe President of the United States who was part of the time Lieutenant of the company in which he belonged and was present with him at the battle of Trenton where the said Monroe was wounded.

“S/ Martin Johnston”

http://revwarapps.org/w436.pdf


Martin Johnston is listed as a “Chapter Patriot” at the Elisha Witt chapter of the Kentucky Daughters of the American Revolution.

http://www.kentuckydar.org/chaptersites/elishawitt.html


“1758 Feb 1: Born MARTIN JOHNSTON or JOHNSON, Rev War Pension File W436, served in the VA Line, was a son of William & Sarah JOHNSTON & was born l Feb 1758 in VA. He lived in Culpeper County, Virginia when he enlisted, and married there to Nancy WRIGHT on 7 Mar 1779 (she was born 27 Mar 1762). He applied for his pension on 20 Jun 1818 in Clark Co KY, where he died on 3 Jul 1820.
“His widow applied there on 25 Nov 1839, and declared that they had three children: (1) William Johnson b 11 Sep 1780 & m 22 Dec 1800, Elizabeth LAURENCE, who was born on 2 Nov 1781; in 1840 they lived in Clark Co KY & she (the widow) had lived with them since 1820.”

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~johnsonsofva/vacounties/culpeppercountyformed1748.htm


In her application for widow’s pension, Nancy Wright Johnston stated that Martin Johnston, following his discharge from the Continental Army, was a member of the Virginia militia and as such participated at the Battle of King’s Mountain.

Martin Johnston was 18 when he enlisted in 4th Company, 3d Virginia Line. Capt. John Thornton was company commander. In addition to future president James Madison, Johnston also served with future Supreme Court Justice John Marshall. He was a farmer, Martin Johnston, as were many of his descendents, to my wife’s mother’s brother, Murray Raley. The direct Johnston descendents in the 1850s arrived in Texas, first settling near Fort Worth. Later descendents moved from Texas to the Indian Territory, where my wife’s maternal grandmother, Cora Raley, was born in 1897. The family moved back to Texas in 1910, for a time settling in Hopkins County, later moving to western Arkansas.