The first time I ran into the name of Priscilla Chowning was in 2009 going through Virginia Library microfilm of American Revolutionary War pension records for the Middlesex County history book “Signatures in Time — A Living History of Middlesex County, Virginia.” The name naturally jumped out at me as she had my same surname.
Recently, my mother passed away and my sister, Susan, was going through old books at her house in Urbanna when she found the Carroll C. Chowning Sr. handwritten book, “The Families of Murray and Chowning of Middlesex County.”
Inside was page after page of handwritten listings of ancient members of Murray and Chowning families and on one page of marriage listings was “John Chowning and Priscilla Whitters married Sept. 24, 1773.” It was nice to know Priscilla’s maiden name.
Priscilla was about 29 years old when John had first gone off to fight in the Revolutionary War. He was killed in the war in 1778. Priscilla had just borne her husband a son when she received word of John’s untimely death.
Nine years after his death in 1787, when daily struggles of life had finally gotten to be too much for her, Priscilla petitioned the Middlesex County Circuit Court for a war pension.
Major Thomas Hill verified her husband had enlisted, fought and died as a member of the 7th Virginia Regiment. At the time she submitted her petition, Priscilla was not only raising their son by herself, she was also without any means of income to support herself, being both indigent and owning no land on which to live or receive rent. Moreover, she was illiterate, as were most Virginia women of her time, which only further aggravated her ill-fated circumstance.
When she received her annual six pound sterling pension each year she would always sign her receipt with her mark which was a plus sign. Her mark was made between her first and last name written in by the clerk of the court. The words, “her mark” were written with the word “her” above her mark and the word “mark” below her mark.
The sheriff of Middlesex County was ordered by the circuit court judge to pay the pension from local funds, which were probably reimbursed by the state. The Revolutionary War left many such women on the Middle Peninsula and Northern Neck to struggle through life and deal with the hardship of living alone.
It Happened Here in Rivah Country!
