Lewis, James A. Neptune's Militia: The Frigate South Carolina during the American Revolution, (Kent, OH: The Kent State University Press, 1999.)
Moss, Bobby Gilmer. Roster of South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution, (Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1983.)
South Carolina Audited Accounts relating to William Brown SC919
South Carolina Audited Accounts relating to Joseph Crown & others SC1723
This particular man - William Brown - has been written about previously in this overall blog. The specific post which addressed him was entitled as follows:
"Possible Members of the Second, Brief Cruise of the Frigate South Carolina: From an Examination of the South Carolina Audited Accounts"
posted on "08/03/2020"
The document that forms the basis of this previous post is a South Carolina Audited Accounts document and begins with the phrase "The Petition of Charles Restine and others, petty officers, Mariners or Marines who Served on board the Frigate South Carolina". The petitioners explained who they were and why they were applying to the government of the State of South Carolina for their back wages due after their service on board the frigate South Carolina. Twenty-one men affixed their signatures to this document or "petition". The writer of this blog wrote down what is known of each of these men in a rather long post, citing the type of information that has come to characterize this overall blog. One of those twenty-one men was William Brown. But, fresh information has been located concerning this man and will be presented in this post. This specific post may be shorter than usual for this blog but, that is only because the writer of this blog does not want to become redundant by citing the same information all over again. But, for ease of reference, the writer will cite the known information on William Brown and then move on to the newer information to supplement what has already been recorded.
The previously recorded information on William Brown is as follows:
In Lewis's work, Neptune's Militia, page 139 - William Brown's position on board the frigate is given as "mariner".
In Moss's work, Roster of South Carolina Patriots, page 112, the entry for William Brown reads as such: "He served as a mariner in the naval department aboard the frigate South Carolina. A.A. 831, A.A. 1880A, X364, C.S.".
In Revill's work, Copy of Original Index Book, pages 385-386, no information is provided on William Brown.
The fact that the original document or "The Petition" was signed by William Brown as "...William Brown, X, his mark..." indicates that William Brown as illiterate.
This is all the current information the writer of this blog has recorded on William Brown. It can be found in the post entitled above and the posted date at the beginning of this specific post. More information has been located since that posting concerning William Brown as relates to his service on board the frigate South Carolina. It is very brief in the extreme. In fact, it composes the most brief stub indent that the writer of this blog has encountered to date and is as follows:
[page 15]
"Book X Number 364
William Brown for his services as a Mariner in the Naval Department of this State
balance 27p/12s/4 1/2d
'not attested'
Examined by John McCall, Adjutant General
Passed
E D"
The initial entry of "Book X Number 364" indicates that this information is drawn from a set of reference books entitled Stub Entries to Indents: Issued in Payment of Claims Against South Carolina Growing Out of the Revolution. There are several volumes in this set of books and several different editors of these volumes. Each contains a certain portion of the alphabet pertaining to the indents (or certificates) issued to men for their services in the patriot forces that fought in South Carolina. Some of the books contain different amounts of letters of the alphabet but, the book containing the letter "X" contains only that specific letter. The stub indent issued to William Brown has the number of 364 within that reference volume. Thus, in Moss's work, Roster of South Carolina Patriots, at the conclusion of the entry on William Brown, there appears the citation "X364". This citation's full text is provided immediately above. As the readership can see, the entry citing William Brown's stub indent (certificate) X364 is very brief and rather vague in that it states that William Brown was being awarded the monetary amount for "...his services as a Mariner in the Naval Department of this State.". There is no specific mention of services on board the frigate South Carolina. The reference to this patriot frigate only appears in "South Carolina Audited Accounts relating to Joseph Crown & others SC1723" document cited at the beginning of this post.
The striking feature concerning the X364 stub indent issued to William Brown for his services on board the frigate South Carolina is that there is no date associated with the issuance of this monetary amount to William Brown. This is the first instance that the writer of this blog has seen where no date is given concerning the issuance of monetary compensation for services during the American Revolution. A date of issuance has always been clearly indicated in the stub indents (certificates), pension applications statements, audited accounts documents and so forth. It is unusual for a document so brief in nature to not carry a date of issuance. If one examines the text of the document, just immediately below the page reference at the beginning of the document, there is a cryptic, single word statement of "...[illegible]...". This may have been an effort to record the date but, it turned out to be indecipherable by the transcriber, Will Graves. Again, the writer of this blog has always encountered dates associated with any of the documents cited above in this paragraph. The writer of this blog must confess though that he does not have access to the Book X of the set of reference books cited at the beginning of the previous paragraph. A closer examination of that work could possibly clear up the issue of this citation of "...[illegible]..." as to whether or not it might be the date of issuance of this stub indent to William Brown.
There exists one further interesting feature of William Brown's stub indent. Usually, these indents were all paid by the state to the individual serviceman in the early to late 1780s. This includes all the stub indents paid almost immediately after the cessation of hostilities between Great Britain and the newly independent United States and the audited accounts which took longer to process due to the audit having to necessarily be completed before payment for services could be made. This writer has become aware that usually only a single payment or pension was granted to a petitioning individual or their spouse, if the man who had served was already deceased at the time of the application being made. But, William Brown's name appears on two of these documents. He received the stub indent/certificate at some undetermined date but, most probably in the early to late 1780s. His name also appears on the "South Carolina Audited Accounts relating to Joseph Crown & others SC1723" document, which is dated November 28, 1805. On the signature page, his name and "his mark" is fifth down in the first column of names affixed to the petition. Of course, the stub indent/certificate was a single, one-time payment for services rendered during the American Revolution. But, the "petition" implies that these "petitioners", among them Mariner William Brown, have:
"...Considerable Sums of money due them from the State of South Carolina, as well as their wages for Services on board the Said Frigate South Carolina as for prize monies due to them for prizes made while Serving on board Said Frigate, and the proceeds of which Came into the Treasury of Said State as they were informed, and which wages and prize money they have never been able to receive...".
It would seem that these numerous "petitioners" - twenty-one men in all signed this petition - feel they are due additional payments for their services on board the frigate South Carolina but, the implication here is that these men were expecting (hoping) for a one-time payment of back wages they felt were rightfully theirs to claim. The writer of this blog must assume then that there were other individuals who received two or more one-time payments for services rendered during the American Revolution. A pension application was different in that it was usually accompanied by a clear statement of disavowal by the petitioner that he was not receiving any other payments from another source for the same services rendered during the American Revolution. This is because the pension was to be paid to the individual or their surviving spouse for the remainder of their natural lives. The writer of this blog has never encountered an individual who applied for and received more than a single one-time payment of wages earned during the American Revolution. But, there is also no indication contained in the "South Carolina Audited Accounts relating to Joseph Crown & others SC1723" document that the "petition" from the twenty-one men was successful or that they ever received their requested back wages or prize monies from the State of South Carolina.
(Final Note: There is a tiny bit of information that might possibly aid a genealogist or another interested individual looking for further information on William Brown. The "South Carolina Audited Accounts relating to Joseph Crown & others SC1723" document contains possible information concerning the place of residence of William Brown at the time of his signing on board the frigate South Carolina. This audited account document contains the following phrase in the first full paragraph:
"That your petitioners were employed by Commodore Gillon [Alexander Gillon], most of them at this port of Pennsylvania, to Serve on Board the said Frigate South Carolina in the Service of the State of South Carolina, as petty officers, Mariners or Marines, at first under the Command of Commodore Gillon and afterwards under the command of John Joiner Esquire and continued to serve on board Said vessel as Such, and were most of them on board at the time they were Captured by the British.".
A closer reading of the original document or "petition" reveals the name of "Philadelphia" instead of "Pennsylvania" in the phrase "...at the port of _______...". Most of the second crew and marines of the frigate South Carolina were Pennsylvanians or residents of New Jersey. Thus, William Brown was probably a resident of one of these two locales - Pennsylvania or New Jersey. But, once again, his name does not appear on any of the three lists of prisoners of war captured by the three British Royal Navy men-of-war on December 21, 1782.)