| Notes |
- William Jr SOR. William Jr was born circa 1799 in Caroline County, VA. He married Mary Miffleton on 12 Nov 1837 in Caroline County, VA.6 William Jr died on 20 Sep 1880 in Comorn, King George County, VA.
William, age 30-40, appeared as head of household on the 1840 US census of Caroline County, VA. Listed also: others not named. He, age 50, appeared as head of household on the
1850 United States Federal Census
Name: William Sorrell
Age: 50
Birth Year: abt 1800
Home in 1850: King George, Virginia
Gender: Male
Family Number: 478
William Sorrell 50
Mary Sorrell 34
Alexander Sorrell 12
Lucy Sorrell 10
Richard Sorrell 7
George Sorrell 5
James Sorrell 3
Admin Gaines 2 (foundling)
1860 United States Federal Census
Name: Mary Sorrel
Age in 1860: 45
Birth Year: abt 1815
Birthplace: Virginia
Home in 1860: King George, Virginia
Gender: Female
Post Office: Comorn
William Sorrel 60
Mary Sorrel 45
Lucy Sorrel 19
Richard Sorrel 17
George Sorrel 15
James P Sorrel 13
Laura A Sorrel 8
Nancy J Sorrel 6
Atta Sorrel 4
Sarah F Sorrel 2
William Sorrel 11/12
Almira Gains 12
1870 United States Federal Census
Name: William Sorrel
Age in 1870: 74
Birth Year: abt 1796
Birthplace: Virginia
Home in 1870: Chotank, King George, Virginia
Race: White
Gender: Male
Post Office: Edge Hill
William Sorrel 74
Mary Sorrel 52
Nancy J Sorrel 17
Adeline Sorrel 16
Sarah Sorrel 13
William Sorrel 10
Jack Sorrel 10
Martha Sorrel 8
William Burchell 27
In 1879 William Jr applied for a pension from King George County where he was living at the time. Following is an abstract of that file as compiled.
Soldier: William Sorrell Jr Unit: Capt Hamilton, Virginia Vol.
Born: c1791 in Caroline near Spotsylvania Cty line
Lived: Spotsylvania Cty, 7 years, Caroline Cty, 20 years, King George Cty about 30 years.
Married: Mary Miffleton, about 1835; Mary died about 8/17/1875
Died: certainly after 1880, but surely not too long after that
File Comments.
If the following resume seems confused it is because the data was confused. So much so that William Jr was denied the pension. The following summary by the compiler may help to better understand the file comments. William Sorrell Jr, the applicant for the pension for the War of 1812, was a resident of King George County in 1879 when he filed. His story was that his father, William Sr, was a veteran of the Revolutionary war and had a bad arm from that war and that he, William Jr was a veteran of the war of 1812 for
which he was applying for the pension. According to William Jr, William Sr died in 1840 (confirmed by several other affiants) and was 88 when he died, making his birth year about 1752. William Sr had married a widow named Mildred Deshazo shortly after the death of William Jr's mother who had died shortly after the war of 1812. William Jr testified that he, William Jr had married only once when he was about 45 years old (perhaps c1835) to a lady named Mary Miffleton. A fairly straightforward story.
However, the pension bureau doubted the story to the point that as I say above they denied him the pension. One of the more damning documents was one by the pension bureau concerning a land warrant. They claimed that Mildred DeHazo, widow of William Sr had filed a claim in 1852 for land pursuant to her husband, William Sr's service in the War of 1812. The document says "The bounty land was allowed to the widow of the claimant on proof of his (William Sr) death in 1840, but a claim now filed purporting to have been made by a soldier that if the bounty land proof is valid has been dead for forty years". Other affiants testified both on behalf and against the claim by William Jr. For a number of reasons, I am not at all sure that the bureau arrived at the truth of things, but nevertheless William Jr received no pension.
With that as a background the following file comments as made by the affiants are listed.
1. William Jr attested in 1880 from King George County, where he was living at the time: He enlisted in Captain Hamilton's company in 1814. He resided in Caroline "all his life" with the exception of 7 years in Spotsylvania County until he moved to King George County about 30 years ago (that would have been about 1850; One might also note that he said he lived in Caroline 20 years and 20+30+7 doesn't add up to a man who was either 80 or 90 years old depending on whom you believe).
2. William Jr was applying for service performed between 8/22/1814 to 12/17/1814.
3. William Jr attests, age 89 in 1880: That he was born in Caroline County near the Spotsylvania line. That he was drafted at Bowling Green (Caroline County). He was wounded in the left thigh with buckshot. After being wounded he was returned to Caroline. His father's name was William Sorrell (Sr) and he died in Caroline on 1/1/1840. That his father was 88 years old when he died.. For a number of years William Sr had drawn a pension for a gunshot wound received in the Revolutionary War. William Sr's widow was Milly Deshazo whom William Sr married after the death of William Jr's mother shortly after the war of 1812. Milly never had any children by William Sr, but had four children by a previous husband. That with the exception of his father he never knew any of the "old stock" who bore the name of Sorrell. That he lived in Caroline County, Va "all his life" with the exception of about 7 in Spotsylvania and about 30 years ago he moved to King George. That he was married once when he was 45 years old to Mary Miffleton and she died about five years ago.(Mary died 8/17/1875)
4. In 1880 Daniel Miffleton attests:( brother of Mary, wife of William Jr) That he had always thought William Jr was a veteran of the war of 1812. He remembered William Sr who died about 40 years ago (1840) at an advanced age. Daniel had no recollection that William Sr was a veteran of either the war of 1812 or the Revolutionary War. Daniel further said that "if William Sr was in the war of 1812, it must have been as a substitute. That was the case with Daniel's grandfather who was about the same age as William Sr and had been a soldier in the Revolution"
5. In 1880, George W Sorrell, son of William Jr, age 35 (1845) attested; Remembers William Jr talking about the war of 1812 but never heard him say he was wounded. He had heard that William Sr was married at least twice if not three times.
6. In 1880, William A Sorrell, oldest son of William Jr attests: Remembers his father talking about the war of 1812. William A said that he did not live with his father nor even in the same neighborhood since he was a small boy. He was raised by his grandmother (Milly Deshazo). Millie's maiden name was Mullen but she was the widow Deshazo at the time of her marriage to William Sr. William A said that he barely remembered his grandfather, William Sr but that he had an injured arm. Millie died in 1855.( William A must have been born between 1835 when his father (William Jr) and mother were married and before 1840 when William Sr died)
7. In 1880 a James Fountain attested: Fountain's father was also a member of Captain Hamilton's unit. James always thought that when his father mentioned William Sorrell in the unit, he meant William Sr. He remembered the bad arm of William Sr. He thought that William Sr had been married twice.
8. In 1880 a Levi Deshazo attested that he had frequently heard William Sr say he was in Hamilton's unit.
9. In 1880 a George Mullin says: He understood William Sr to be in Hamilton's company. In his opinion William Jr was too young to have been in war of 1812. He figured William Jr's age to be about 80 in 1880.
10. The pension bureau says: a. Mildred, widow of William Sr of Fredricksburg, Spotsylvania County, applied in 1852 and received bounty land #36330 for 40 acres.
b. Mildred married William Sr in Caroline County in 1805. William Sr died in Caroline County in January 1840.
c. "The testimony taken in connection with evidence in the bounty land claim of Mildred Sorrell pretty well shows that the applicant (William Jr) is claiming a pension on service rendered by his father who bore the same name.
Non File Comments
1. There are some rather obvious descrepancies in the testimony. William Jr says William Sr married Millie Deshazo "shortly after the war of 1812". The pension bureau says they were married in 1805. Since this descrepancy does not seem to be germane it probably is simply an error on someones part. He also says that William Sr drew a pension for his Revolutioary service but no William appears in the files as held by the National Archives.
2. If William Jr is correct in his testimony that William Sr was born in 1752, it seems that William Sr would have been about 60 years old when the war of 1812 commenced. I checked the military index for soldiers from Virginia in the war of 1812 and there were two William Sorrells listed. One William was listed in McDowells Virginia Militia and the other in Crutchfield's unit. This doesn't tell us much, not even that there were two Williams nor where they came from. I don't know enough about the Virginia Militia at the time to make
a judgement as to whether 60 would have been too old or not. However evidently the government did not think he was too old as they gave him land for his service.
3. There exist some intriguing possibilities for William Sr. A William Sorrell enlisted in the 10th Regiment of the Virginia Continental line in March of 1777. Wingfield in his history of Caroline county lists Elisha, John, Richard and William as being Revolutionary soldiers from Caroline. Elisha and Richard were brothers, both enlisting in the 10th in January 1777. A John Sorrell, who said he was born in Caroline in 1760, collected a pension from the U.S. for his service in the Revolutionary War. Unfortunately, the William Sorrell of the 10th Regiment deserted (or more likely died) in May of 1778 so he never applied for a pension or bounty land. He did receive the balance of the full pay coming to him in 1786 after the war like other soldiers so evidently he was not still hiding from the military in 1786. The birth date of 1752 for William Sr is perfect for Revolutionary War service in 1777. Elisha was born in 1754 and enlisted at the same time as William. One could make a pretty good case that William Sr, born in Caroline in 1752 and dying there in 1840 is the
same William who enlisted with Richard and Elisha in the 10th Regiment in early 1777. There is a William who shows up in the Caroline PPTL in 1784 and continues on the list until at least 1815 and perhaps longer. I would guess that this William is William Sr.
From about 1800 another William appears on the tax list as William Jr. This certainly cannot be the William Jr of the pension application since he was not born until at least 1790. William Jr of the PPTL is probably the son of one of the other Sorrell adults in Caroline at the time. I have no knowledge of the treatment of deserters after the Revolutionary War. I have a hunch that there were so many of them and they were so mixed up with the militia that were always coming and going that the new Republic probably did not pursue them after the war was over.6
1880 United States Federal Census
Name: William Sorrel
Age: 88
Birth Year: abt 1792
Birthplace: Virginia
Home in 1880: Rappahannock, King George, Virginia
Race: White
Gender: Male
Relation to Head of House: Self (Head)
Marital Status: Widower
Father's Birthplace: Virginia
Mother's Birthplace: Virginia
Occupation: Keeping House
William Sorrel 88
Nannie Sorrel 25
Attie Sorrel 23
William W. Sorrel 19
Mattie Sorrel 18
Lewis Sorrel 18
Virginia, Deaths and Burials Index, 1853-1917
Name: William Sorrell
Birth Date: abt 1792
Birth Place: King Geo. County, Virginia
Death Date: 20 Sep 1880
Death Place: Near Comorn, King George, Virginia
Death Age: 88
Occupation: Mechanic
Race: White
Marital Status: Widowed
Gender: Male
FHL Film Number: 2048575
Mary MIFFLETON. Mary died on 17 Aug 1875.68 Mary, age 34, was listed with William Jr Sor on the 1850 census of King George County, VA. She, age 45, was listed with William Jr Sor on the 1860 census of King George County, VA. She, age 52, was listed with William Jr Sor on the 1870 census of King George County, VA.
Known children of William Jr Sor and Mary Miffleton were as follows:
i. Wm Alexander SOR.
ii. Lewis Alexander SORRELL.
iii. Lucy SORRELL. Lucy was born circa 1840. She, age 10, was listed with William Jr Sor on the 1850 census of King George County, VA. She, age 19, was listed with William Jr Sor on the 1860 census of King George County, VA.
iv. Richard Henry SORRELL.
v. George W SORRELL.
vi. James SORRELL.
vii. Laura SORRELL. Laura was born circa 1852. Laura, age 8, was listed with William Jr Sor on the 1860 census of King
George County, VA.
viii. Nancy J SORRELL. Nancy J was born circa 1854. Nancy J, age 6, was listed with William Jr Sor on the 1860 census of King
George County, VA. She, age 17, was listed with William Jr Sor on the 1870 census of King George County, VA.
ix. Adeline SORRELL. Adeline was born circa 1856. Adeline, age 4, was listed with William Jr Sor on the 1860 census of King
George County, VA. She, age 16, was listed with William Jr Sor on the 1870 census of King George County, VA.
x. Sarah SORRELL. Sarah was born circa 1858. Sarah, age 2, was listed with William Jr Sor on the 1860 census of King
George County, VA. She, age 13, was listed with William Jr Sor on the 1870 census of King George County, VA.
xi. William SORRELL.
xii. Jack SORRELL. Jack was born circa 1860. Jack, age 10, was listed with William Jr Sor on the 1870 census of King
George County, VA.
xiii. Martha SORRELL. Martha was born circa 1865. She, age 5, was listed with William Jr Sor on the 1870 census of King George
County, VA.
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Abt 1791 - 1880 (89 years)
