There are many references on the web and personal genealogies that state the military
service of John and Joseph Channell and that they went on to settle on land in Ohio from
their military service. Everyone should be familiar with Joseph serving in the Henry
County Virginia militia at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse. What about John's
service? Is it legit?
Try as I might for the past several months, I have found nothing to indicate that John
served in the Continental Line, let alone in any militia unit from any Virginia county. I
have checked the Virginia State Archives and the West Virginia Archives, to no avail. A
check of the soldiers of the Virginia Continental Line for the duration of the war shows
nothing for John and/or Joseph let alone any Channell or variations.
I had occasion to do research at the FHL in SLC last week and had an opportunity to review
microfilmed copies of the original entry books for the warrants issued for bounty land in
the Virginia Military District of Ohio. (1) I spent nine hours going over the microfilm
line by line, and there is nothing to indicate that John, Joseph or any Channell or
variations turned in a warrant for land in the VMD. I then checked the records from the
four land offices in Ohio at that time, paying particular attention to the Zanesville
office where the bulk of land records for that area were written. Again, nothing to
suggest any Rev. War bounty land warrants were used by John, Joseph or any Channell or
name variations. There should be one word of caution here: As I reviewed the original
books, it was quite obvious that many, many land warrants had never been used. Literally
pages and pages of land warrants had no entry on them, simply because the people who were
issued the land warra!
nts never turned them in and claimed their land. If, somehow, John Channell did slip
through the crack and indeed did serve in the militia/Continental Line and did indeed
receive land warrants for that service, he failed to turn it in. Ditto for Joseph.
I then checked the Federal Land Series records by Clifford Neal Smith, paying particular
attention to v.4, Grants in the Virginia Military District of Ohio, published 1982. The
Federal Land Series is described as "A Calendar of Archival Materials on the Land
Patents Issued by the United States Government, with Subject, Tract, and Name
Indexes." Again, nothing for John, Joseph or any Channell or name variations. (2)
We know that John and Joseph turn up in Licking county, which was originally Washington
county. A check of the pre-Licking county land records turns up a John Channel purchasing
land from Nelson & Crouch on 10 APR 1805. (3) This is the earliest know land
purchase that I have seen by any Channell in Ohio, and it comes not long after John's
supposed entry into Ohio about mid-1804. Let me repeat this important point -- this was a
purchase, not a grant of land for military service. This is the land that John would sell
to Nehemiah Harris, Jr. for $150 on 14 JAN 1811. The original purchase of this land by
John is interesting in that it carries the name of Crouch as one of the sellers. One
would wonder if perhaps this is John Crouch, the very same Crouch that John Channell gave
Power of Attorney to in Randolph County prior to leaving for Ohio. Could Nelson &
Crouch have been an early land speculator company in the Virginia Military District?
Bounty land warrants at that t!
ime were traded like bubblegum cards -- they could be passed back and forth and had
whatever value buyer/seller established for them. The last man standing, so to speak,
with the warrant in his hand was the owner. Whatever the case may have been, John
Channell certainly did not obtain his land through bounty land warrants; it was a private
transaction from land that had already been patented.
Finally, there are the small matters of two separate DAR Application's, one each for
John and Joseph Channell. I am currently working with DAR to unwind those applications
and see what exactly is contained within them to determine what and if there was any
supporting information of value with the applications that actually does support Rev. War
military service. As DAR has made clear to me, the standards 30 years ago (which I
estimate the applications to be from) for inclusion within DAR are not what they are
today. Although I could not get the staffer I worked with to come out and admit it, I
believe this was a very polite way of saying -- "older DAR applications may not be
worth the paper they were submitted on due to inadequate documentation standards at that
time."
To the best of my knowledge, service in the state militia units did not qualify one for
bounty lands through the US government, one had to have served in the Continental Line for
that, and then for a specified time. The VMD was used by the government to
"pay" its soldiers for their service. Individual states may have had
arrangements for their militia units, but it was not within the boundaries of the VMD.
As it stands today, based upon available evidence and lack of records, and barring any
compelling evidence contained within the DAR Applications, I do not believe that John and
Joseph Channell received any land compensation for military service during the Rev. War,
either within the state of Virginia or the Virginia Military District of Ohio. It is
clearly documented that Joseph served in the Rev. War at the Battle of Guilford
Courthouse; however, as far as John is concerned, there is nothing at this time to support
claims of Rev. War military service.
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(1) United States Revolutionary War Bounty Land Warrants Used in the United States
Military District of Ohio. (United States General Land Office. Washington, D.C. The
National Archives Record Series M0829, 1971. U.S. Revolutionary War bounty land warrants
used in the U.S. military district of Ohio and related papers, acts of 1788, 1803, 1806)
FHL US/CAN FILM #1025141 thru 102155.
(2) Clifford Neal Smith -- Federal Land Series. (American Library Association, Chicago
1972. Four Volumes) v.1 1788-1810 (published 1972) CALL NO. 973.R23s v1 v.2 1799-1873
(published 1973) CALL NO. 973.R23s v2 v.3 1810-1814 (published 1980) CALL NO. 973.R23s v3
v.4 Part 1 - Grants in the Virginia Military District of Ohio. (published 1982) CALL NO.
973.R23s v4
(3) The Licking County Genealogical Society (Licking County, Ohio Pre-1808 Transcribed
Land Records) Page 174.."From: Nelson & Crouch to John Channel 10 APR 1805 3rd
Qr 2nd T, & 11th R
M. Mathews
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"Quid me nutrit me destruit" --