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| Bradley County Court House | The Plaque | Irene Morgan Copying the Plaque, 1999 | The copy displayed at the 1999 Crye Reunion |
Background
In 1832 Congress provided a pension to old veterans who could prove their Revolutionary War Service. One of the veterans who applied was William Crye. He applied in McMinn County Tennessee, on June 4th 1833, but he had served in North and South Carolina. In his pension application William reported that he had been born on the Isle of Man and that he had served in the Revolution as a member of the North Carolina Militia. William reported that he had been called to action several times and that he had been involved in operations against the Cherokee, Tories and British during the war. William Crye's application for a pension was successful and after his death the pension was provided to his widow, Sarah Cry. The War Department published an index of Revolutionary War pensioners who were receiving pensions in 1840 and she is listed in the index as Sarah Cry.
Nearly a century later, in 1931 The Ocoee Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution erected a bronze plaque in memory of the Revolutionary War pensioners residing in or near Bradley County in 1840. The first name on the list is Sarah Cry widow of William Crye. [1] [Click here to go to Anita Green's Transcription of William's Revolutionary War pension application and Sarah's petition to continue the pension after William's death.]
Irene Morgan learned of this plague in the Bradley County Court House from Anita Green prior to the 1998 Crye family reunion held in Wisconsin. Anita had hoped to attend the 1998 reunion but was unable to. Anita still contributed to the 1998 reunion by sending pictures of the plaque. Irene planned to attend the 1999 Crye reunion held in nearby Blount County, TN and this gave her an opportunity to view the plaque herself. When Irene saw the plaque in the court house she was not content to merely look or take a photo. Irene made a paper rubbing copy of the plaque. A few days later she displayed the copy to appreciative Cryes during the reunion.
Construction of this page began when Karen Ramsey sent a gif file of the paper copy of the plaque being displayed at the 1999 Crye family reunion held at Williamson Methodist Church in Blount Co., TN. Karen reported through e-mail that the copy belonged to Irene Morgan. Irene was contacted to obtain her permission to post the picture of her paper copy of the plaque. Irene kindly gave her permission but she also generously sent hard copies of the photos of (1) the Bradley County Courthouse, (2)Irene making the copy, and, (3) a view of the plaque itself. Irene's pictures were scanned in Stone Mountain, GA for inclusion in this page. Both Karen and Irene provided permission for their pictures to be used.
[1]Note:
In the War Department's Pensioners Index, Sarah is cited as having made her mark rather than placing her signature on the form. Sarah's husband William,
wrote his name as Crye but the surname was transcribed as Cry in the index and that is the form used on the Bradley County Plaque.