The following information was assembled from numerous sources and cannot be used directly as proof of Qualifying Service or Lineage.
It is considered a research aid and is intended to assist in locating sources that can be used as proof.
He told his descendants that he left Wales at around the age of 17 and served on a whaler for three years. It is not known what date or where he entered the colonies. By the onset of the Revolution he was located in Virginia in what is now West Virginia on the line between Berkley and Frederick Counties.
William enlisted as a private 15 October 1776 in the 2nd Virginia Regiment and served until 7 December of 1779. John Loval/Lovell enlisted in the same company. A reference is found in the pension record for William that indicates he was living in the household of John and Susannah Lovell/ Loval.
William's company was successively commanded by Captain Marcus Colmes and then Thomas Collet of Green's Division, General Woodford's Brigade and Colonel Christian Febiger, Major Benjamin Day of the 2nd Virginia Regiment successively commanded by Colonels Woodford, Spotswood, and Febiger. The regiment fought at the battle of Monmouth and in the campaigns in New York under General Washington. Pension records and depositions indicate that William was a barber in his company. He was single at the time of his enlistment.
By December of 1779 his enlistment was up and he was given discharge papers in Trenton, New Jersey. This was very fortunate for William. The 2nd Virginia Regiment was consolidated with the 3rd and 4th Virginia Regiments and sent to Charleston that December. Except for a handful of men, the regiment was captured by Sir Henry Clinton's forces and remained in captivity until the war ended.
William returned to Virginia and was married to Ruth Beezley/Beasley on the 3rd of June 1780 near the line between Berkley and Frederick Counties. This area is now in West Virginia. He and Ruth began their family and had four children while living in Virginia. On June 20, 1783, William was granted a Land Bounty Warrant from Virginia of 100 acres for his service. He and his wife moved to South Carolina about 1790. They resided there and continued to raise their family and more children were born. William is recorded on the 1800 census for Laurens District, South Carolina in John Templeton's Company. He is still in Laurens County in 1810. William and Ruth and the younger children moved to the Indiana Territory and settled in Franklin County before September of 1814. All but two of the children of William and Ruth came to Indiana. William Jr. and Joseph Dollar remained in South Carolina and later moved to Georgia. These two brothers married the Prather sisters, Verlinda and Hannah.
William and Ruth had seven known children that reached adulthood. The following names: Mary, Joseph, Elizabeth, William Jr., James, Jesse, and Lydia with their dates of birth were found written in the hand of Joseph Dollar in a letter found with the pension records of William Dollar. The letter was written in 1814 from South Carolina.
Mary Dollar Logan born 1781 in Virginia
Joseph Dollar born 1785 in Virginia
Elizabeth Dollar Tharp born 1788 in Virginia
William Dollar Jr. born 1789 in Virginia
James Dollar born 1792 in South Carolina
Jesse Dollar born 1797 in South Carolina
Lydia Dollar Tatum born 1805 in South Carolina
William was listed on the 1820 census in Franklin County, Indiana. He and Ruth had moved to Union County by 1822. On March 9, 1822 William made a deposition related to his Revolutionary War service to the Justice of the Peace in Clermont County, Ohio. His brother in law, Silas Beasley also made a deposition to support William in his claim for a pension. While living in Union County, Indiana, William applied for and was pensioned for his Revolutionary War service in 1823.
William and his family next moved to Illinois and settled in Fulton County in 1828. He resided with his daughter, Lydia Dollar Tatum and his son in law, Matthew Tatum. He died on 6 September 1838 in Fulton County. Ruth was granted a widow's pension and lived with her family in Fulton County until her death on 19 February 1842. They were both buried in Canton, Illinois, near Peoria.
William Dollar, Soldier of the Revolution, had lived a long life and had descendants all across America including Georgia, South Carolina, Illinois, Indiana, Arkansas, and Missouri.
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