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marriage license herewith marked C, in connection with similar certificate marked B. The negro preacher Nelson S. Merry in my presence identified Mary Jane Robinson as the woman he had married to Henry Drake whom he did not Know, but who, he was told, had been in the army. The said Merry acknowledges having signed the marriage certificate on the License now on file at the county Court House, which said license shows that he married Mary Jane Robinson (colored) to Thomas Fountain (colored) on the 16th day of February 1865. Merry on being asked to reconcile his two certificates (B & C) could not account for the discrepancy but attributed it to confusion resulting from lapse of time. Henrietta Campbell states that she was present at Mary Jane Robinson's wedding, and knows that the man she married was named Thomas Fountain, though some people called him Thomas Drake, and that they were lawfully married by preacher Merry and had taken out a regular license, and that Thomas Fountain died on College-Hill in the Cotton's house of Small-Pox. Jane Williams as sister to Henry Drake, made application for bounty Sep 19th 1871 (see "Abstract of Testimony 2nd Auditor's office") She states that Thomas Fountain was her own brother and own brother to Henry Drake, who was a solider in the Union Army, that Thomas Fountain never was a solider, That she was not present when her brother Thomas Fountain was married to Mary Jane Robinson, but that she knew of it soon after. That she is well acquainted with Mary Jane Robinson and that said Mary Jane has gone by he name of Mary Jane Fountain ever since the said marriage. That the two brothers Thomas Fountain and Henry Drake both died of small-pox within a short time of each other, but that Henry Drake the solider died in the U.S. Government Small Pox Hospital near Nashville and not in the Cotton's house on College-Hill; that it was Tom who died there, that she does not remember the date of Henry Drake's death, but it was not long after his discharge. Mr C. Cotton who owns the house on College-Hill is noncommittal, but states he never saw or knew the man who died there of small-pox. Mr S W Childross of Nashville came to my office, and there recognized the woman calling herself Mary Jane Drake so Mary Jane [[strikethrough]] Robinson [[/strikethrough]] Fountain, who had lived with him as servant for some years both before and after her marriage; he states that she went away, and was married as he heard to a named Fountain, and after some time she returned to him and went by the name of Mary Jane Fountain and that a bill for the burial of her baby [[strikethrough]] by [[/strikethrough]] was paid by him (Childross) and had been made out in the name of Fountain, that Mary Jane's maiden name was Robinson, and that she had been a slave of his wife's father, and she (Mary Jane Fountain) was a woman of very good character. In a second visit

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to my office Mr Childross stated that he believes that Mary Jane's husband did sometimes go by the name of Drake, but he cannot tell the first name. Charlotte Donelson (colored) states she knew both Henry Drake and Thomas Fountain, and that Mary Jane Robinson married Thomas Fountain sometimes called Drake, and that it was Thomas who died on College Hill on College Street. Noah Cleaves (shoemaker) states that Thomas Fountain was the lawful husband of Mary Jane Robinson. Attention is invited to affidavit (marked D) of Edmund Jowers late Musician of Co H 12 U.S.C.T, stating that Henry Drake died in the small pox hospital and not in the Cottons house, and that Henry Drake never was married.  Efforts to obtain information from records of small-pox-hospital or city cemetery have been unsuccessful. The Surgeon General's Office may contain some record of citizen's deaths. On October 4th 1873 a woman calling herself Mary Jane Drake, and claiming to be widow to Henry Drake is identified as such by Henry and Fanny Hostler, her sister and brother in law (see Abstract testimony 2nd Auditor's office). On December 23rd 1873, the same Fanny Hostler and the brother named Joseph Robinson swear to the identity of Mary Jane Drake (alias Robinson alias Fountain) as the widow of Henry Drake, and declared that the solider died in 1868 on College Street, Nashville, they being present at the death and burial (see same Abstract of Testimony). It is therefore apparent that Mary Jane Drake and Mary Jane and Fountain and Mary Jane Robinson are one and the same person, and that she and her brother-in-law Henry Hostler or Hosler have forgotten the date at which they appeared as witnesses before the attorney A.W. Willis and presented then their affidavit in which they had sworn to the living presence and identity of Henry Drake. This was August 12th 1871 (see Abstract of Testimony 2nd Auditor's office) and more than three years after date of death sworn to by Joseph Robinson and Fanny Hostler; viz. Feby 16th 1868. It is unfortunate that Mr Wills cannot identify these witnesses. The date of Henry Drake's death as sworn to in the affidavit of pretended widow (herewith marked "A") is the 16th of February, one year exactly after marriage, the date of which is fixed as Feby 16th 1865 (see Certificate marked C). She therefore virtually asserts that Henry Drake died on Feby 16th 1866, or more than five years before she went before Mr. Wills as a witness to the living presence and identity of Henry Drake on Aug 12th 1871. Moreover Drake was discharged from the U.S. Service on May 16th 1866 (see Confidential List herewith) This woman consequently makes him live just one month after discharge, and marries him a month or two after his discharge (see Affidavit A) and yet asserts he lived one entire year after marriage. My conclusions are, that Thomas Fountain's wife Mary Jane Fountain (alias Mary Jane Drake) after the deaths of both the brothers, persuaded some man to personate Henry Drake, and make application for Bounty on Aug 12 1871, she and Henry Hostler or Hosler

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