Amanuensis Monday: Amanda Tarkington's Confederate Widows Pension Claim: William Tillett's Statement

The statement that William Tillett gave in support of my 3rd-great-grandmother Amanda (Russell) Tarkington's Confederate Widows Pension is transcribed below.

GEO B. GUILD, President                                                               HON. FRANK DIBRELL
  FRANK A. MOSES, Special Examiner                                                 ATT'Y GEN. CHAS. T. CATES
      W. H. COLEY                                                                           JOHN P. HICKMAN, Secretary


                                                          HEADQUARTERS
                                           Tennessee Board of Pension Examiners
                                                BOARD MEETS SECOND TUESDAYS IN JANUARY, 
                                                                                APRIL, JULY AND OCTOBER
                                                       Nashville, Tenn. ______________  190____
       _____________No.__________________________
                                     (Must give number when writing)

State of Tennessee  }                  Personally appeared before
Davidson County      }                 me William M Tillett whom I
know to be a man of truth and integrity of character who after being sworm to me makes the following additional statement in the case of Mrs Amanda Tarkington the widow of Joseph Tarkington decd she being an applicant for a state pension as follows. I was present at the marriage of Amanda Russell and Joseph Tarkington they were married at the old Russell place on the Harding pike in Davidson County Tenn on the 12th day of June 1850 by Esquire Porch a justice of the peace. I have known them as man and wife up to the death of Joseph Tarkington in 1903 and that they were living together at that time as man & wife ____

I also remember distinctly the time in 1863 when Joseph Tarkington came home from the army on sick leave with asthma & pneumonia, he remained sick for a long time, I know the fact that he never was able to rejoin his command on account of his continued sickness which lasted till the war closed and for a long time afterwards, in truth he never was a well man again and suffered till he died in 1903 with this complaint. I know these facts because I saw him frequently during the time I speak of and that he never was fit for military service after he came home  –  I have no interest further than to see justice done in the application of Mrs Tarkington in her case

witness                                                                                         his
Mrs Julia Johnson                                                                W .M.  x   Tillett
                                                                                                    mark
Subscribed and sworn
before me this 2nd day Jan 1909
                                    Aris Brown
                                       Notary Public

Statement of William Tillett. Tennessee Confederate pension application 2079, Widow's Indigent Pension. Amanda Tarkington, widow of Joseph Tarkington. Nashville, Tennessee: Tennessee State Library and Archives.

Statement of William Tillett. Tennessee Confederate pension application 2079, Widow's Indigent Pension. Amanda Tarkington, widow of Joseph Tarkington. Nashville, Tennessee: Tennessee State Library and Archives.

Note: William Tillett was wrong about the date of Joseph Tarkington and Amanda Russell's marriage. They married on 12 June 1849, not 12 June 1850.