The following story was sent to me by Jack Grantham of Dallas, Texas, who is descended from John Crowley's brother, James Crowley, who was a Revolutionary War veteran. James was able to receive his war pension largely on the testimony of his brother (our ancestor), John Crowley, as told below.
"In 1836 a group assembled in the courthouse at Liberty, Missouri for the purpose of a hearing on the merits of James Crowley to a pension for service during the Revolution. Two of the persons at that hearing were your ancestor John Crowley (brother of James) and Elisha Cameron. Your message to Sue Crowley yesterday mentions a burial in the Elisha Cameron Cemetery At that hearing your John said that he remembered when James returned home from his 3 tours of Revolutionary War Service. To the bottom of his affidavit was attached another statement made and signed by Elisha Cameron
which stated that the court could believe anything that John has said about James. To be in the militia required the soldier to be at least age 16. James had attained that age and it is stipulated in the court record. John was too young when the call came in Feb 1781 to muster the young men at the old parade grounds.In order to gain a pension it was required that testimony be taken from fellow militiamen who served with the propositus. They were all Virginians on the day of the muster and scattered to many places since then. In far away Missouri there were no fellow soldiers of James who could be called on to attend the hearing and testify as to the service of James. A provision had been made for the affadavit of any person of credibility who could say with certainty that James had served in the Revolution. That special witness was James' brother John Crowley and his regard for the truth was asserted to by Elisha Cameron and one other man (John Thornton) who was Speaker of the Missouri House of Representatives. What John had to say about the war service of James was sent to the War Department which allowed the pension without delay, and did so on the words of your John.
John married and moved to Georgia after the Revolution and then he moved to Powell Valley in Eastern Tennessee. By river craft he and James and others (and possibly Elisha Cameron too) migrated from Powell Valley to Howard County in Missouri and finally settled in Clay or in that part of Clay County which became Ray County.
That hearing in Liberty, Missouri in 1836 was reduced to writing and rested in the files of the War Department for generations before being turned over to the National Archives. You can read it on microfilm in many libraries. John and James were not the only family members that we know about. John had a sister named Agnes (who married a man named Perry) and it is very likely that your ancestor Agnes was given her name by John who was close to her in the age lineup of children. We know a lot more about John than we do about his sister Agnes who married Perry. I wonder if perhaps the act of John in continuing the name of Agnes may have been a memorial to his sister after her death. Two other brothers of John were Littleberry Crowley and William Crowley and they, too, were in the Missouri trek from Powell Valley. There were several girls, one of whom was Effie (oldest of all the children) who married Jeremiah Burnett. /s/Jack Grantham, Dallas, TX"