ASSOCIATED SURNAMES

PRESLEY THORNTON
23rd Congress - 1833
The Committee On Revolutionary Claims

Transcribed from a copy of the original document by Nancy Pressley

 

Text of the above document is below:

23rd Congress                               [ Rep. No. 32 ]                                Ho. of Reps.
1st Session.  
                                                                   
                                                  PRESLEY THORNTON
                                        (To accompany bill H. R. No. 38.)    
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                                                   December 17, 1833.
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Mr. Muhlenberg, from the Committee on Revolutionary Claims, made the following

                                                             REPORT:

The Committee on Revolutionary claims, to which was referred the petition of Francis A. Thornton and Elizabeth P. Gwin, report:

That the petitioners are the children and legal representatives of Captain Presley Thornton, and, as such, claim the five years' full pay, in commutation of the half pay for life, promised by the resolves of Congress to such officers of the continental army as should serve to the close of the war, which they assert he had never received before his death, which occurred in the year 1811.
They prove that their father, Captain Thornton, served in Colonel George Baylor's regiment of light dragoons until the close of the war, by the testimony of General James Wood, of the American revolutionary army, who expressly states that "Captain Presley Thornton, late of Baylor's regiment of cavalry, entered the service of the United States prior to the 10th of November, 1776, and continued in service until the conclusion of the war in November, 1783;" upon which testimony Captain Thornton received bounty land from the State of Virginia for "his seventh year's service."  As a further proof, they give the testimony of Benjamin Temple, late lieutenant colonel commanding second regiment of light dragoons, who certifies, to his personal knowledge, Captain Presley Thornton, late of George Baylor's regiment of light dragoons in the United states army, was in actual service at the conclusion of the war in 1783.  The Third Auditor of the Treasury certifies that there is nothing upon record in that office, to show that the commutation now claimed has been heretofore paid. 
The committee, believing the claim well founded and unpaid, report a bill for the relief of the petitioners.