Harman Hopper
Pension File Notes

My current copy of the pension file is of poor quality. Handwritten portions are especially hard to decipher.

Identification of daughter Nancy Robinson

In the pension file for the soldier is a letter, dated "December the 8th 1855", which reads, in part,

I made a declaration for the purpose of obtaining an arrearage of Pension that was said to be due my Father Harmon Hopper, Decd., for the Revolutionary Services, he drew $21.55 per annum... My mother also put up a claim in order to obtain the arrears that might Be Due for the Services aforesaid and She has since died...Yours Respectfully, Nancy Robinson, daughter and heir at law of Harmon Hopper, Decd.

A statement by Jesse Hopper identified himself as the second child of his father Harmon, and gave his elder sister's birth date as 16 March 1785. (Jesse failed to specifically name the elder sister, but Nancy Robinson's age on the 1850 census was given as 65 and she was living in the household of her mother in 1850).

Identification of widow Sarah (Cole) Hopper and description of her residences

• Also in the file is the widow's declaration, made 9 August 1845, which states that Sarah (Cole) married the soldier Harman Hopper on 13 August 1783. She was said to be aged 82 at this time. She was applying under the provisions of the Act of July 4, 1836. When she made this application, she was "so aged and infirm that it is impossible for her to attend Court to make her declaration."
• A testimonial to the soldier's character, made by Richard Harper, states that he "well remembers Harman Hopper and Sarah Hopper in Orange County, North Carolina, ... that they were both members of the Baptist Church in good standing. One Willis Harper made a similar statement that he "well remembering Harman Hopper and Sarah Hopper in Orange County, North Carolina, and that he was acquainted with them and their character there, ...and as well as he remembers were reputed to be members of the Baptist Church in good standing in the Church ..."
• On 16 October 1848, Sarah Hopper reapplied for 5-year widow's pension under the Act of July 7, 1838. She stated she had married in Caswell County, North Carolina by publication [of banns; thus, there was never a marriage bond.] A cover letter sent with one of the applications (day and month have been over written, and year could be 1840, 1843, 1845, 1848) states Sarah Hopper "has been sick and bed ridden for some time," and that she was "poor and destitute." A widow's pension was awarded to the widow, under the Act of 2 February 1848, and commenced on 4 March 1848.

Identification of son Jesse Hopper

In support of his mother's application for widow's pension, Jesse Hopper on 16 October 1848 stated under oath that he was aged 61 years and was the second child of Harmon and Sarah Hopper. He said

he has often seen His father's family record and that he copied the record of his age in his own record from his fathers (which was in the handwriting of Thos. Coal) and that the said original record has since been destroyed but that the said copy preserved by him shows that he was born on the 18th day of October 1787 he further swears that he has one sister older than himself, who according to Record was born on the 16th day of March 1785.

Despite the reference to having copied the family record, Jesse Hopper signed his testimony by mark. The + mark is rather shaky, suggesting that Hopper was palsied or perhaps had lost his vision by 1848.

Biographical data on Harmon Hopper himself

In Harman Hopper's own testimony of 17 September 1833, he stated he had served in two terms, slightly over six months in all. He first entered the service in February of 1781 from Caswell County, North Carolina, serving under Captain Josiah Cole. Immediately after the end of the war, Hopper moved to Orange County, North Carolina and lived there for 10 years. Then he moved to Claiborne County.

"He states that he was born in Faquar County in the State of Virginia in the month of April 1760."

At the bottom of this affidavit came the testimony of "Joseph Neel, a clergyman, residing in Claiborne County, Tennessee and William Hooper, residing in the same County and State, hereby certify, that we are well acquainted with Harman Hopper who has subscribed and sworn to the above declaration, that we believe him to be seventy three years of age, that he is reputed and believed, in the neighborhood where he resides, to have been a soldier of the Revolution..." The name of William Hooper seems definitely to be Hooper, since it was written by the clerk in the body of the declaration and signed by a different hand as William Hooper. In other documents, the clergyman is given as Joseph Neil.

The widow's first testimony contains the statement that her husband had died on 23 February 1844. In 1848, she said he had died on the last day of February in 1844.

Other documents regarding this Harmon Hopper

• He was listed on the 1835 pension list. On the 1840 census of pensioners, when he was aged 78, he was living within the household of John Hopper.
• An index by Byron and Barbara Sistler [Tennessee wills and administrations 1779-1861: Byron Sistler and Associates, Nashville, 1990] gives two estate references for Harmon Hopper - in 1844, microfilm roll 5, book 3, page 39 and in 1850, Inventory Book 1, page 149.

Other genealogical identifications in the file

• Richard Harper was living in Claiborne County in 1845, at age 86, and said he had lived on Hico Creek in Orange County on the edge of Caswell County and that he had known both Harmon and Sarah Hopper before 1785. Richard then moved to Claiborne County and sometime later, Harmon and Sarah moved to the same county. Richard's first child, not named, was born 21 January 1785.
• On 17 September 1833, Mary Ann (x) Neil appeared in court to give support to Harmon Hopper's claim. She was then a resident of Claiborne County, aged 77. She stated she had resided in Caswell County during the revolutionary war and was then well acquainted with Harmon Hopper. She remembered that "early in the year 1781 the said Harman Hopper entered the service of the United States." No kinship was stated, either of Mary Ann Neil to the Hoppers, or to clergyman Joseph Neil, or to deputy clerk of the county court of Claiborne County, William Neil (who certified the office and writing of the Justice of the Peace, John Easley, who took down much of the testimony.)
• A Mrs. Grace B. Hopper of Dearborn, Michigan inquired about the Harmon Hopper file several times in the late 1930s.