William B. Dorris, Jr.

A Patriot of the American Revolution for NEW JERSEY with the rank of PRIVATE. DAR Ancestor # A033120 A033120 William Dorris was born 1761 in Hopwell Township, Hunterdon Co., New Jersey; died November 22, 1842 in Sumner Co., Tennessee.

Parents: son of William Dorris and Mary.

Married: Eleanor Brown January 15, 1785 in Caswell Co., North Carolina. She was born 1763 in Orange Co., North Carolina; died Bef. 1848 in Sumner Co., Tennessee.

Notes

William served in the War of the Revolution in 1777 joining at the age of 16. He served as a militia man in October 1777 and was sent out to guard british prisoners in Trenton serving under Captain Titus. In 1778 in served under John Beard when the british were expected to march to New York. The militia men had orders to be ready to march at a moments notice. They were to wait for the signal and to march as soon as the signal was sighted. Some militia men were waiting up on the mountain and as soon as they saw the british they were to light a barrel of tar that was placed in the fork of a large poplar tree. This was a signal for them to start their march.

William was called to duty four more times. Once in 1778 with Captain Stout, the next with Captain Guil, the third time with Captain Titus. The last time was to carry prisoners of war to Trenton to put them in jail. After the war William moved to North Carolina, first to Orange Co, than to Caswell Co. He remained in Caswell until 1801 when he moved to the Shackel Island Community in Sumner Co., TN where he purchased 228 acres on Drakes Creek. He served as justice of the peace there in 1810. In 1819 he sold his land and moved to the Fountain Head Community where he spent the remainder of his life.

Links

• http://genforum.genealogy.com/cgi-bin/pageload.cgi?reverend,john,do...

  ---

• Reference: Ancestry Genealogy - SmartCopy: Sep 18 2018, 3:02:33 UTC