Confederate Widow’s Pension Application of Sarah E.
Ayers
Widow’s Indigent Pension 1904
Questions For Applicant.
State of Georgia,
Banks County.
Sarah E. Ayers of said State and
County, desiring to avail herself of the Pension allowed to Indigent Widows of
Confederate Soldiers, under Act of General Assembly, passed [blank] 1900,
hereby submits her proofs, and after being duly sworn true answers to make to
the following questions, deposes and answers as follows:
1. What is your name and where do
you reside? (Give State, County and Post-office.)
Sarah E. Ayers. Banks County Georgia. Arp, Ga.
2. How long and since when have
you been a resident of this State?
All my life.
3. When and where were you born?
Nov. 28 1834 in Franklin County
Ga. [birth was originally stated as Aug. 1844 and was written over]
4. When and where was your husband
born-state his full name, and when you and he married? (Attach copy of marriage
license in every case.)
Sept. 9, 1828 in Franklin County
Ga. Jessie [Jesse] Putnam Ayers, and
were married 7th Sept. 1856.
5. When and where, and in what
Company and Regiment did your husband enlist or serve during the war between
the States?
2nd Feb. 1861. 4th Georgia Cavalry, I. W.
Avery’s Regiment, C. C. Cruse Brigade.
6. How long did your husband serve
in said Company and Regiment?
More than 3 years from 2nd
Feb. 1861 to 10 [ink splotch over month] 1864.
7. When and where did your husband’s
Company and Regiment surrender and was discharged?
[blank]
8. Was your husband present at the
time and place when his Company and Regiment surrendered?
[blank]
9. If not with his command at
surrender, state clearly and specifically where he was, when he left command,
for what cause, and by what authority?
[blank]
10. When and where did your
husband die?
1 May 1903 in Banks County
Georgia.
11. Which of the following grounds
do you base your application for Pension, viz: First-Age and Poverty;
Second-Infirmity and Poverty, or Third-Blindness and Poverty?
Infirmity and Poverty.
12. If upon the first ground,
state how long you have been in such a condition that you cannot earn your
support. If upon the second, give a
full and complete history of the infirmity and its extent. If upon the third, state whether you are
totally blind, and when and where you lost your sight?
She had shaking palsey [sic] 6
years, her eye was put out in childhood during a storm. Had heart trouble 15 years, had vertigo 6 or
7 years. She is totally unable to do
any kind of labor to earn a support.
13. What has been your occupation
since your husband’s death?
Nothing.
14. How much can you earn gross by
your own exertion of labor?
Nothing.
15. What property, real or
personal, or income to you have or possess, and its gross value?
None whatever.
16. What property, real or
personal, did you possess at death of husband, or he left you, and in the years
1899, 1900, 1901, and what disposition, if any, by sale or gift, have you made
of same?
None whatever.
17. In what counties did you
reside in 1899, 1900, 1901 and 1902, and what property did you return for
taxation?
Banks County and returned no
property.
18. How have you been supported
since death of husband, and especially for 1899, 1900, 1901 and 1902?
By my son.
19. How much did your support cost
for each of those years, and how much did you contribute by your own labor or
income?
$60.00 and I contributed nothing.
20. What was your employment
during 1899, 1900, 1901 and 1902-how much did you receive for each year?
Nothing whatever.
21. Have you a family? If so, who composes such family? Give their means of support? Have they any lands or property?
None.
22. Have you ever made application
for pension before?
None.
23. How many applications have you
made for a Pension, and under what class?
None.
Signed: Sarah E. Ayers [X her
mark]
[Not dated nor signed by the
Ordinary]
Ordinary’s Handwritten Statement.
Georgia,
Banks County.
Personally came before me Ordinary
of said County who after being duly sworn says she has made every effort to
procure testimony of my husband’s service in the Confederate war and can not
procure it on account of the comrades being aged.
That her husband, Jesse Putnam
Ayers, was at the time of his death drawing a pension of one hundred dollars
for wounds received in the service.
That his application and proof of service are in the Commissioners’ office
or else where proving his service in the Confederate war, and that is the only
means of proof she has.
Signed: Sarah E. Ayers [X her
mark]
Sworn to and subscribed before me,
Sept. 12th 1904
T. F. Hill, Ordinary
Written on application folio cover
“O. K. for 1905.”
Note-This is a messy application
paper, with considerable ink-splotching and over- writing.
Reference: “Cemeteries and Deaths
in Banks County Georgia” by Richard J. Chambers;
Homer Presbyterian Church
cemetery, Homer Ga. (adjoining graves)
AYERS, John H. 12 Oct. 1883-20
Jan. 1930
AYERS, J. P.-9 Sept. 1828-01 May
1903
AYERS, Sarah E.-08 Aug. 1844-17
Apr. 1911
Transcription 2006 by Jacqueline
King