#1 William Elliott - Celebrating a Patriot a Week for 52 Weeks During America's 250th Anniversary
America's 250th anniversary reminds us to slow down and reflect upon the lives of the men and women who dared to sacrifice everything in hopes for the original American dream. Although their daring and brave struggles required a unity of mind and heart, their stories are all very different. This entry is the first of 52 Patriots, one per week, as we celebrate this amazing anniversary!
Ensign William Elliott 1752 - 1839
Rarely are we fortunate enough to come across an original Oath of Allegiance which many male Patriots took when the Revolution commenced. So, when we do come across a digital copy of an original Oath of Allegiance taken in 1777, we feel as if we have just mined genealogical gold! Imagine the odds of a man keeping in his possession his 1777 Oath (a small piece of paper) presenting it in 1833 when he filed for a pension! Well, that is exactly what Ensign William Elliot did!
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| William Elliott's 1777 Oath of Allegiance, Revolutionary War Pension Application S16378 NARA |
According to Thomas Wescott's 1865 book, Names of Persons Who Took the Oath of Allegiance to the State of Pennsylvania between the years 1777 and 1789 with a History of the "Test laws" of Pennsylvania, the language of the oath that Elliot took when he was 25 years of age read as follows:
I, William Elliott, do swear or affirm that I renounce and refuse all allegiance to George the Third, King of Great Britain, his heirs and successors: and that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, as a free and independent State, and that I will not at any time do or cause to be done any matter or thing that will be prejudicial or injurious to the freedom and independence thereof, as declared by Congress; and also that I will discover and make known to someone Justice of the Peace of said State all treasons and traitorous conspiracies which I now know or hereafter shall know to be formed against this or any of the United States of America.
In addition, Elliott also managed to save his signed and sealed 1778 commission appointment as an Ensign in the Bedford County, Pennsylvania Company of Foot in the First Battalion Militia.
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| William Elliott's 1778 Commission Appointment to Pennsylvania's Company of Foot, First Battalion Militia |
Survival of these two documents is even more amazing given that Elliott stated in his pension application (when asked about his birth year) that his family Bible "...has long since been destroyed."
Based upon Elliot's description of his "volunteer" service in his Revolutionary War pension application, Elliott served as a type of Ranger on the Pennsylvania frontier, protecting settlers against Native American attacks (encouraged by the British) and possible invasions from the north and west from British held Forts Niagara and Detroit. Elliott and his band of brothers ranged through the forests and mountains while watching for any threat to the inhabitants of the frontier. Below is a transcribed snippet from his own narrative which described the extent of his ranging. The following map is of that area drawn in 1770 which illustrates almost all of the locations Elliot mentioned.
“…from the Town of Bedford to a gap of the Allegheny
Mountains to the head waters of Dunnings Creek from there to another gap of the
mountains to a branch of the headwaters of the Juaniata from there to the
ruins of old Fort Littleton from there over the mountains to Fort Legonier from
there to a place called Standing Stone, from there back to Bedford….”
Shortly after the war ended, Elliott migrated from the frontier lands of Pennsylvania to another frontier in Kentucky. It is not certain when he arrived in Kentucky but he is documented in Bourbon County as early as 1787 in the tax lists. In the 1820 Bourbon County, Kentucky census, Elliott and his wife were still living with a large household. But by 1830, Elliott had migrated to Jennings County, Indiana with some of his children as he is listed in his son Joseph's household but without his wife. Joseph Elliott's household is listed next to Elliot's other son, Johnson Elliott and son-in-law Elihu Galloway (husband of daughter Mary).
Elliott applied for a Revolutionary War pension in 1833 and it was approved for $150 per year. At the age of 87, Elliott died on August 26, 1839 in Jennings County, Indiana.
copyright@2026 Deborah Thurman Parks
