We are looking at a John Salts, son of Boston Salts of Rowan Co. NC  (see file), who was an orphan in 1785 and bound out to Frederick Miller for 8 years, meaning he would have been born in 1772 and completed his bond at 21  in 1793, at which time the court records say he is to be brought to court ‘to be dealt with according to law’  (Jo White Linn, Abstracts). He shows up under “Other” in the 1790 census of the Frederick Miller household.   (Enter 1790 census for Frederick Miller here.)   Frederick Miller was married to the daughter of Michael Brown, brother of Jacob Brown and both lived across Cane Creek, a tributary of the Yadkin. This places John Salts in Rowan Co. NC in the Salisbury area at the age of 13.  See map of Old German Settlement at Salisbury, NC.
  
We are not really sure if the following 1800 census entry is for our John  Salts, but the location is right and the age is right. If John Salts had completed his bond in 1793, married and had a daughter before 1800, the information all fits.   This information has been placed here for easy access and evaluation for our Salts research group.
 
1800 - Salisbury, Iredell County, North Carolina
SALS, John
1 male between 16 - 25 (born 1775 - 1784) (not known)
1 male between 26 - 44 (born 1756-1774) (John b. 1772)
1 female under 10  ( b. 1790-1800) (not known)
1 female between 26 -44 (wife not known)
 
1800-1805 – Some time during these years, John Salts arrived in Washington County, TN.
 
1805-  John Salts is listed Tax list for  Washington Couny Tennessee, Jas Parker’s company ().   
 
1805 – October - John Salts became a member to the Cherokee Baptist Church, Washington Co. TN,  “rec’d by experience” (Minutes of the Cherokee Baptist Church, Xeroxed from microfilm,  xxxxx).
 
1807 – John Salts, along with “Peter and Rachel,” is dismissed from Cherokee Baptist Church (Minutes xxxx). Neither Peter nor Rachel has been identified, but the names are written without second names as if they, too, were Salts. Members dismissed were usually being given a letter to join another church. 
 
1808 -   John Salts is received back into Cherokee Baptist Church  (minutes xxx).
 
1809 – John Salts is listed in Jas. Parker’s company in the Washington County Tennessee tax list ().
 
1811 – John Solts is listed on Tax list for Washington County Tennessee, McCray’s company ().
 
1812 – John Salts is listed on Tax list for Washington County Tennessee, McCray’s company ().
 
1813 – John Solts buys two barrels at estate sale ().
 
1813 – Nov. John Salts – witness to Robert Forbes will, Nov. 1813 testified in court, Adam Wattenberger was the executor (Washington County, Tennessee, Will Book, vol. 1, 1779-1858 (WPA, 1937)p. 97).
 
1814 -  John Salts is listed on Tax list for Washington County, Tennessee,  McCray’s company ().
 
1814 - John Salts is drafted into the East Tennessee militia for six months service in the War of 1813, the Creek Indian campaign. He serves under Captain McGray (records and pension records).
 
1816 - John Solt is listed on Tax list for Washington County Tennessee, Harrison’s company.
 
1817 -  John Salts is listed on Tac list for Washington County Tennessee, Harris’s company (probably same as Harrison’s) ().
 
1818 – John Salts is listed on Tax list for Washington County Tennessee, Harris’s company ().
  
1819 – John Salts is on Tax list for Washington County, Tennessee, Harris’s company (). This is the last time he appears.
 
1822 – Elizabeth  Salts is “rec’d by experience”  in Cherokee Baptist Church (Minutes xxx).This is thought to be John Salts’s first wife. 
 
1830 – Census Washington County, TN
SALTS, John
1 male between 20 – 30 b. bet 1800-1810
1 male between 50 – 60 b. bet 1770-1780 (John b. 1772)
1 female between 20 – 30 b. bet 1800-1810
1 female between 50 – 60 b. bet 1770-1780
(John is listed after Rachel Vinegar in the 1830 census. It is thought that Rachel was a Salts and that she married a Brinegar.)
 
1834 --  February 7 - First wife Elizabeth dies on 7  February in Washington Co., Tennessee. She was a member of the Cherokee Baptist Church. Recorded in minutes as “Elizabeth Solts deceast 7 February 1834” (Minutes, XX)
 
1834 --  John Salts ‘needs the bounty of the church’ (Minutes xxx ).
 
1835 -  October 1st – John Salts married Rachel Barkley in Washington County, TN. The marriage was performed by Rees Bayless, pastor of Cherokee Baptist Church  (record).  Rachel was born . . . 1801 in Surry Co. NC,  . the daughter of  Robert Barkley and Elizabeth Doane who later migrated to Tennessee and finally settled in Greene County. Rachel Barkley was dismissed from Cherokee Baptist Church in 1832, probably to join another church (xxx).
 
1836 – Rachel Salts is received into Cherokee Baptist Church by letter (Minutes xxx).
 
1836-  July 18,  Robert Monroe Salts is born (family Bible, corroborated in War of 1812 pension documents Appendix
 
1839 – July 25,  Reese Salts is born (pension documents).
 
1840 - Washington County, TN Census
SALTS, John Salts
2 males under five  (Robert M 4, Reese 1 or under)
1 male between 60-70 (John 68)
1 female between 30-40 (Rachel 39)
 
1842 - October 2 - tombstone found with John Solts Died Oct 2, 1842. He was buried in the Longmire Family Cemetery  which later became the Methodist Cemetery and is now called the Old Speedwell Cemetery, in
Jonesborough, Washington County, Tennessee. The tombstone was found in 2003, broken and fallen on its face, which had preserved the hand-lettering. (See picture in Appendix).

An entry in the Cherokee Baptist Church minutes list of deceased members  reads, “Oct. the 1: 1842  John A Sawltez Between 65 and 75 years old”  (Minutes, XX).  This is the first time we saw a middle initial for John Solts/Salts. The spelling Sawltez seems to be a problem of orthography.
Also, on the opposite page in the list of deceased members of the church is  “Elizabeth Solts deceast February 7th 1831” (Minutes xxx).
 
1843, June 15th - "Rachael Salts, widow of John Salts"
Report of Committee, year's support - We the under Signed freeholders of Washington county after being Duly sworn to act impartilly do sertify that in our opinion there is not as much property of every kind in the hands of Rachael Salts widow of John Salts deceased to support hir and hir family one year from the Death of hir said husband.
   ---given under our hands and seals June the 15th 1843
Reuben Bayles (seal)
John Smith (seal)
Calvin Hoss (seal) Commissioners
(Widows' Dowers of Washington County, Tennessee 1803-1899. p. 125).

NOTE: Commissioners were NOT family members; they were impartial members of a committee who determined how the dower was to be handled. They would make sure a woman had enough to live on for a year.

NOTES (from Sam Matthews) “In my grandmother's belongings (Lena Alice Saults Covey) I found news clippings of Tennessee relatives that I have not been able to link up. In one of those articles, there were family names of  Keebler and Barkley. We will . . . further our research to see if we can make some kind of a connection to these two family names.”

NOTES: (From Dixie Dellinger by email 13 Sept 2002) “1840 Wa Co TN census lists John Salts, age 60-70 wife 30-40, two sons under 5. His second marriage was to Rachel Bartley 1835 in TN, father of Robert M. b 1836 and Reese b. 1839. This agrees with court records, census records of 1850 and 1860, and with Rachel's father's will. Also, it leads directly into the information in Robert M. Salts's family Bible which I have.”
 

JOHN SALTS --- WAR OF 1812 PENSION APPLICATION
Summary by Dixie Dellinger


SECTION I

1836-- John Salts gets his pension for War of 1812 veterans, according to a new Act of Congress.
 
1836 - 20 March - John Salts is alive and applying for his pension for service in the War of 1812 against Brittain [sic] and the Creek Indians. A fellow soldier testifies that he was drafted for the campaign in 1814
against the Creek Indians. The document explaining this has no second page but is followed by the inquiry.

1836 - 5 May - The spelling of Saults/Salts is cleared up.

1836 - 17 September - The company Captain McCray testifies about the campaign. He says that Salts complained of deafness from the cannon shot and piles from lying out on the wet ground and the deafness has
continued and his constitution has declined ever since.

1837 - February (can't decipher day) - A surgeon makes affidavit that John Salts in 1814 as a militiaman in a place called the Hickory Ground in Alabama incurred deafness from the cannon shot and piles from exposure.

1837 - 17 February - The papers are filed and the pension granted. $4.00 per month, or one-half his military pay.
 
Documented dates from other sources: 
After John's death, Rachel made an application for Widow's pension, but her application was first dated with the date of 1 May 1844. Looking at the documents below, she first made a good attempt to get help at the county level or maybe this was part of the process for applying for a widow's application.
 
1843 - June 5  Ordered by the Court that Rachael Salts have leave of administration on the Estate of John Salts Decd. and she gave bond and security & was qualified as the Law directs (Minutes Court of Pleas Quarter Session, County Court 1842-47, Washington County, Book 14,  p. 42, 5 Jun 1843 ).
 
1843 - June 15 —"Rachael Salts, widow of John Salts"
Report of Committee, year's support - We the under Signed freeholders of Washington county after being Duly sworn to act impartilly do sertify that in our opinion there is not as much property of every kind in the hands of Rachael Salts widow of John Salts deceased to support her and her family one year from the Death of her said husband. ---given under our hands and seals June the 15th 1843
Reuben Bayles (seal)
John Smith (seal)
Calvin Hoss (seal) Commissioners
(Widows' Dowers of Washington County, Tennessee 1803-1899. p. 125).

1843 - 7 Aug  The report of one year’s allowance to Widow Salts returned by administrators ().
 
SECTION II

1844-- His widow tries to get her pension under an Act of Congress of 1830 which allowed 1/2 of the invalid soldier's pension to widows and orphans

1844 - 1 May - A resident of the county testifies about the total disability and death of John Salts. It is said that he injured his left knee in the service and it became worse until he developed gangrene and his leg had
to be amputated, shortly after which he died on Oct. 2, 1842. Reese Bayless testifies that he married John and Rachel. A doctor testifies to his last illness from June until he died and that he was trying to get his pension increased to full pay for disability. His widow is indigent and the land he had bought had to be surrendered. A justice of the peace testifies about his illness and the amputation and that John Salts told him he received the injury in the service.

1844 - 6 May - Rachel Salts appears in court in Greene County to make her testimony. She tells of John's having a wound to his knee when she married him, which he said had been under treatment since he left service and which grew worse until his leg had to be amputated just before his death. She gives the dates of birth of both her children: Robert, born July 18, 1836 and Reese, born July 25, 1839. This application is made for a full pension from the period of the husband's total disability until his death and for continuation of it for five years under the Act of 1836. Her father and mother testify to her and her sons living with them in indigent circumstances. Rachel swears to the ages of her sons and it is signed with her mark. The papers are filed.

1844 - 29 May - A fellow soldier appears before a Washington County justice of the peace and gives the details of how John Salts's leg injury occurred. The application is made.

1844 -  13 June - A. Johnson in the House of Representatives sends the papers to a Mr. Edwards, asking him to examine the application and report the results to him.

1844 - 14 June - Mr. J. L. Edwards of the Pension Office replies: " Sir, I do not know for what object the papers were sent to this office, in relation to the disability and death of John Salts. His widow is not entitled to a pension under any law whatever, and all that was due to him as an Invalid Pensioner has been allowed.
I have the honor to be, very respectfully, Your obedient Servant, J.L. Edwards"
 
1849, 1850, 1851 and 1852  - For the years above, Rachel received Aid to the Poor from Greene County (Greene Co. Court Minutes). Her application was turned down in 1844 and was not accepted until 1853. The five years between the rejection of her pension bid and the first record of  Aid to the Poor have not been accounted for, but in 1850 she is living with or next to her father in Greene Co.
 
1850 – Census  Greene Co. TN
   

SECTION III

1853-- Rachel tries again under a new Act of Congress
allowing five years of half pay to widows and orphans of soldiers of the War of 1812

1853 -7 March - Rachel goes to court to tell the story again. A second page of the document is missing.

1853 - 2 April - The agent at Greenville sends Mr. Edwards's letters back to show that her papers are already on file there in Washington and the granting of her pension depends upon them. The Commissioner of Pensions has changed and is a new man.

1853 - 21 June - John Salts having been granted a pension, as stated, his papers ought to be on file showing his military service.

1853 - 25 June - Her pension of $3.50 per month is granted for five years. She is to receive back pay from the 3rd of February 1853 retroactive to when the Act was passed.  She should have received $21 in back pay. Rachel is fifty-one years old.
 

SECTION IV

1858 -- The five years are up but Congress has extended. Rachel applies to renew.

1858 - 3 June - Cover sheet. Contents are missing.

1858 - 30 August - Rachel received her last payment in March. She is applying to renew under an Act passed on June 3, 1858. The story is told again. She signs with her X. The testimony is attested by Robert and
Reese, who write their signatures.

1859 - 29 January - Rachel's pension is renewed at the rate of $3.50 per month. She is fifty-six.
 

SECTION V

1860 --- Rachel's pension is raised from $3.50 to $4.00 per month

1860 - 8 September - Since John Salts was paid at the rate of $4.00 per month in his service in the War of 1812, his widow's pension, heretofore paid at $3.50 per month, is increased to $4.00, allowing her arrears
from February 1853 and 3 February 1858.

1860 - 14 September - Application is sent for the arrears.

1860 - 27 September - It is allowed.

1860 - 2 October - The certificate is sent from Washington to Jonesboro, TN. After twenty-four years, this story of bureaucracy is ended.
(Citation of document)

1860 – Census – Greene Co NC
  
1861 - Oct. 16 – Rachel Bartley Salts dies in Knoxville, TN.  She is sixty.  She is said to have been buried in Pisgah Methodist Church Cemetery, Greene County, Tennessee, where Bartleys are buried, her father having given land for the church.