Confederate Pension Application and papers of Oliver H. Bond

 

Indigent Application No. 53

Name-Bond, O. H.

County-Banks

Jany 1 1896

Richard Johnson, Secretary, Executive Department.

Warrant Handed to Atty.

 

Power of Attorney.

State of Georgia,

Banks County.

I, O. H. Bond, hereby authorize T. F. Hill of Homer, Ga. to receive and receipt for the pension allowed and request that he remit the same to me at Homer by -.

Witness my hand and seal this 18th day of April 1895.

Signed: O. H. Bond [X his mark]

Executed in presence of:

Oscar Brown

A. J. Cash, J. P.

 

Questions for Applicant.

[someone has written in right margin at top of page “23rd Battery 1st Local Defense Troops (Cooks) Capt. Elliotts Co.”]

State of Georgia,

Banks County.

Oliver H. Bond of said State and County, desiring to avail himself of the Pension Act approved December 15th, 1894, hereby submits his 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.)

Oliver H. Bond-Alto, Banks Co.-Georgia.

2. Where did you reside on January 1st, 1894, and how long have you been a resident of this State?

In Banks Co. Georgia.  Have resided in this State 66 years.

3. When and where were you born?

Banks Co. Georgia. [Banks County was formed in 1859.]

4. Did you volunteer in the Confederate Army or in the Georgia Militia?

Confederate Army.

5. When and where did you enlist?

August 1864 at Athens, Ga.

6. In what company and regiment did you enlist?

Don’t remember.

7. How long did you remain in that company and regiment?

Until April 1865.

8. If you were discharged from same and joined another, or if you were transferred to another, give an account of such discharge or transfer?

Remained with same Regt.

9. For how long a period did you discharge regular military duty?

Eight months.

10. When, where and under what circumstances were you discharged from service?

Was discharged immediately after the surrender.

11. What is your present occupation?

Have no occupation.

12. How much can you earn per annum by your own exertions or labor?

Ten dollars.

13. What has been your occupation since 1865?

Farming.

14. What sum would be necessary for your support for this pension year, and how much are you able to contribute thereto in labor or income?

Fifty dollars, could contribute ten dollars.

15. What is your present physical condition and how long have you been in such condition?

Am suffering from rheumatism and am partially blind.  Five years.

16. Upon 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”?

Upon all grounds.

17. If upon the first ground, state how long you have been in such condition that you could not 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?

Have not been able to earn a support in five years.  Am ruptured and have been partially blind for five years.  Blindness came on about 5 years ago.

18. What property, effects or income do you possess?

None whatever.

19. What property, effects or income did you possess in 1893 and 1894 and what disposition, if any, did you make of same?

Had no property.

20. In what County did you reside during those years and what property did you return for taxation?

Banks County-returned no property.

21. How were you supported during the years 1893 and 1894?

By the labor of my son.

22. How much died your support cost for each of those years, and what portion did you contribute thereto by your own labor or income?

60 dols. for each year.  Contributed nothing.

23. What was your employment during 1893 and 1894?  What pay did you receive in each year?

Had no regular employment.  None.

24. Are you married and have you a family?  If so, is your wife living and how many children have you?  Give age and sex of children and their means of support?

Am married.  Wife is living.  Am living with my son who is 30 years of age and is employed at a shingle mill.  One son.

25. Are you receiving a pension under any law of this State, if so what amount and for what disability?

Am receiving no pension.

Signed: O. H. Bond [X his mark], Applicant

Sworn to and subscribed before me, this the 15th of April 1895.

T. F. Hill, Ordinary of Banks County.

 

Questions for Witness.

State of Georgia,

Banks County.

Thos. G. Jordan, of said State and County, having been presented as a witness in support of the application of O. H. Bond for pension under the Act approved December 15th, 1894, 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?

Thomas G. Jordan.  Banks County, Georgia.

2. Are you acquainted with O. H. Bond, the applicant, if so how long have you known him?

All his life.

3. Where does he reside, and how long has he been a resident of this State?

Banks County, Georgia.  All his life.

4. Do you know of his having served in the Confederate army or of the Georgia militia?  How do you know this?

Yes.  Served in the Army with him.

5. When, where and in what company and regiment did he enlist?

August 1864.  Athens, Ga.  Capt. Elliott’s Co.  Cooks Battalion.

6. Were you a member of the same company and regiment?

Yes.

7. How long did he perform regular military duty, and what for you know of his service as a Confederate soldier, and the time and circumstances of his discharge from the service?

Eight months, was separated from him most of the time on duty.  Know nothing of the circumstances of his discharge.

8. What property, effects or income has the applicant?  (Give your means of knowledge.)

Do not know anything about his property, but I do not think he has any property or income.

9. What property, effects or income did the applicant possess in 1893 and 1894, and what disposition, if any, did he make of same?

Don’t think he had any property nor income to amount to anything.

10. What has been the applicant’s occupation and physical condition?

Has no occupation on account of partial blindness.

11. Is the applicant unable to support himself by labor of any sort, if so, why?

He is not able to support himself on account of physical disability and blindness.

12. How was he supported during the years 1893 and 1894?

By his son I believe.

13. What portion of his support for those two years was derived from his own labor or income?

Cannot tell.

14. Give a full and complete statement of the applicant’s physical condition that entitles him to a pension under the Act of December 15th, 1894?

The applicant is old and disabled by rheumatism.  He is nearly blind and is not able to work for his support.

15. What interest have you in the recovery of a pension by this applicant?

None.

Signed: Thomas G. Jordan, Witness for Applicant.

Sworn to and subscribed before me, this the 15th day of April, 1895.

T. F. Hill, Ordinary of Banks County.

 

Affidavit of Physicians.

State of Georgia,

Banks County.

Personally came before me J. Sam Daniel, M. D., and W. P. Harden, M. D., both known to me as reputable physicians of said county, who being severally sworn, say on oath that they have examined carefully O. H. Bond, applicant for pension under Act of 1894, and after such personal examination, say that his precise physical condition is as follows:

We find him almost entirely blind and hardly vision enough to see his way, also feebleness and general debility from old age.

We further say on oath that the physical condition of the applicant renders him unable to labor at any work or calling sufficient to earn a support for himself, and that we have no interest in said pension being allowed.

Signed: J. Sam Daniel, M. D., W. P. Harden, M. D.

Sworn to and subscribed before me, this the 15th day of April 1895.

T. F. Hill, Ordy.

 

Ordinary’s Certificate.

State of Georgia,

Banks County.

I, T. F. Hill, Ordinary in and for said County, hereby certify that the applicant O. H. Bond resides in said County, and was a bona fide resident of this State on the first day of January, 1894, and the witnesses, viz: Thos. G Jordan are of trustworthy character and that their statements are entitled to full faith and credit.

I further certify that before answering the foregoing questions, the applicant and each witness took the oath hereon prescribed, and that the full text of the affidavit was read to the applicant and witness before same was signed.

I further certify that the tax digests of Banks County show that the applicant returned for taxation in his name in 1893, nothing dollars of property, and in 1894, nothing dollars of property.

Witness my hand and seal of office this 15th day of April 1895.

T. F. Hill, Ordinary of Banks County.

 

Comments-

Oliver H. Bond filed another application for yearly pension on 3 January 1898.  In it he stated his birth date was 29th October 1829, that he was 69 years old, served 8 months in Capt. Elliott’s Company, Cooks Battalion, General Russell’s Brigade.  He also stated that he could see very little, suffered from debility and had to be carried about by some one.  He claimed household goods valued at $10.00.  Oliver H. Bond had been allowed a pension for 1897.

Oliver H. Bond is buried in the Bond Family Cemetery on Louden Ridge Rd. in Banks county.  His stone reads 1830-1898.  This cemetery is greatly endangered.

 

Transcribed 2007 by Jacqueline King