Capt Thomas Randolph Keith

• General Notes
  • Contents of National Archives, Pension Application for Thomas Keith, WS119
    
    
    
    This letter taken from carbon copy so no letterhead.
    
    December 20, 1938
    
    
    
    Hulsey Cason                                                                           THOMAS KEITH
    
    Bascom Hall                                                                             W. 5119
    
    The University of Wisconsin                                                                BA-J/MLB
    
    Madison, Wisconsin
    
    Dear Sir:
    
    
    
    Reference is made to your letter in which you request the Revolutionary War record of Thomas Keith who served as lieutenant and captain in the Revolution from Virginia, married Judith Blackwell who received pension for his services; also, the record of their son, John Marshall Keith (or Marshall Keith) who served in the Revolution and whose wife was Elizabeth Jones.
    
    The Revolutionary War records of this office have been searched and no claim for pension or bounty land found based upon service of a Marshall Keith, or of any John Keith as described by you.  Such claims are the source of Revolutionary War data furnished by this office.  The record has been found of a Thomas Keith and it is given herein as obtained from the papers on file in pension claim, W. 5119, based upon his service in the Revolution.
    
    The date and place of birth of Thomas and names of his parents are not given.
    
    While residing in Fauquier County, Virginia, Thomas Keith was employed in December, 1775, in raising additional regiments for the Virginia line, and in February, 1776, he was serving as captain in the recruiting service of Virginia..  In the spring of 1776, he was employed in the Quartermaster’s Department, engaged in purchasing arms and munitions of war, a part of which were for Captain John Chilton’s Virginia Company.  In September, 1777, he marched to the North in Pennsylvania, served three months then returned to Virginia, where he was appointed Commissary and continued to serve in that capacity and as Deputy Commissary General for the Virginia troops until after the Siege of Yorktown in October, 1781.
    
    This officer died in the fall of 1805, while on a visit to the State of Georgia, his wife and children remaining in Fauquier County, Virginia, with the exception of a son who accompanied him.
    
    Thomas Keith married May 25, 1775, place not given, Judith Blackwell; the date and place of her birth and names of parents were not stated.  Their marriage bond, dated May 23, 1775, and signed by him and Thomas Marshall (no relationship shown) was filed in the County Clerk’s Office of Fauquier County, Virginia.
    
    Judith Keith, widow of Captain Thomas Keith, applied for pension December 27, 1836, at which time she was aged seventy-seven years and living in Fauquier County, Virginia, where she was still living in 1845.  Her claim was allowed.  She died April 17, 1857.
    
    The only children of Thomas Keith and his wife, Judith, whose names were designated in the claim, were Marshall Keith, the eldest son, who went with his father to Georgia at the time of his visit, and a son, Isham Keith, no details given in regard to him.
    
    In 1842, reference was made to John T. James, grandson of Captain Thomas Keith, his place of residence then not stated, but in 1845 living in Warrenton, Virginia.  In 1845, one David James was Justice of the Peace for Fauquier County, Virginia, his relationship to said captain or to John T. James not shown and names of their parents not given.
    
    In 1837, James Marshall, nephew of Captain Thomas Keith, and brother of Chief Justice Marshall, was living in “Fairfield” and stated that he was a boy at school during the early part of the Revolution.  In 1845, one Alexander J. Marshall was County Clerk of Fauquier County, Virginia, their relationship to each other not shown.
    
    The above-named Captain John Chilton of the 3rd Virginia Regiment was slain in the Battlel of Brandywine.  He married the sister of Judith Blackwell Keith; her name is not given; she died before the Revolutionary War.  Their son, Major Joseph Chilton, was of Fauquier County, Virginia, in 1838.  Said Captain John Chilton had a brother Thomas who was living in 1777, no other data in regard to said Thomas.
    
    In 1842, in Fauquier County, Virginia, Mark A Chilton, nephew of Captain John Chilton, his maternal uncle, stated that he married a daughter of Captain John Blackwell, but did not giver her name nor names of his parents; he stated that said uncle was captured with Lincoln at Charleston, South Carolina.  In 1844, one Samuel Chilton was serving as Representative in Congress from the 9th Congressional District of Virginia; no relationship shown between him and the other Chiltons named above.
    
    In 1845, Jane Taylor, the widow of George Keith Taylor, was living in Fauquier County, Virginia.  She was a niece of Captain Thomas Keith and a sister of Chief Justice Marshall.  The name of her mother is not given.
    
    
    
    Very truly yours,
    
    A.D. Hiller
    
    Executive Assistant to the Administrator