Morrison's Pensions


Pension Application for William Adams

S.11946
Conn & NY
b. in Westchester Co., NY & res. there at Enl. After Rev. res. Bennington VT, in 1832 res. of Otsego Co., NY aged 69 yrs. 
Otsego Com. Pleas of October Term 1832
Declaration in order to obtain the benefit of the Act of Congress passed June 7, 1832.
State of New York
Otsego county SS.
            On this 15th day of October 1832, personally appeared in open court before the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas in & for the County of Otsego being a Court of record & now sitting William Adams a resident of the town of Exeter in County & State aforesaid aged 69 years in the month of August 1833 who being duly sworn according to law doth on his oath make the following declaration in order to obtain the benefit of the Act of Congress passed June 7, 1832 to wit.
            That he entered the service of the United States in the Revolutionary War & served there as herein after stated.
            At the time of the Revolution this deponent resided in the Town of Rye in the County of West Chester & State aforesaid & in the month of September in the last he enlisted into Col. Camfield’s Regt as a private for the Col. for the term of one year.  This deponent was quite young at that time and Col. Canfield was billeted in the house of this deponent’s father and admiring the activity of this deponent as a young man he sought his father that he might be permitted to enlist and a waiter as aforesaid who continued his service in the capacity of a waiter until sometime in the summer of the following year when upon his [?] the Col. gave him a discharge from the service.  But immediately thereafter & as this deponent thinks some time in the summer season but the exact time he cannot now recollect he with five other men enlisted into the New York Troops for the term of Six months in Capt. Godney’s Company & in Col. Enos’ Regt & thinks in Genl. Gates Brigade.  Our Lieutenants name was Joseph Hart, Ensign’s name was Phillip Pinckney.  The names of the five other men who enlisted with this deponent at the same time as aforesaid & in the same company were Sylvernus Gidney, Benjamin Gidney, Daniel Purdee, Gilbert Purdee & John Rogers.  The Captain of our company was Uncle to the Gidney’s who enlisted as privates.  We were stationed along the shores of the Hudson River to protect the inhabitants & their property from the depredations who came up in their [?] at night to land & destroy property.  This service was in the year 1777 & as this deponent thinks while the main body of the British were at Fort Washington.  He was discharged from the service some time in the winter but cannot recollect the month & returned home.  He remained home until the month of March following one of his neighbors by the name of Jonathan Seacor had enlisted as a waggoner but had the misfortune to break his leg when this deponent was sent for to take his place.  He immediately entered the service in the said month of March for nine months as a waggoner & took the team to service which had been driven by the [??]
            His employment was to draw forage for the troops such as flour, grain & provisions of all kinds.  He continued in the service until the month of January when he was discharged & returned home.  He has had in his possession a discharge but it is now either lost or destroyed as he knows nothing about it.  He knows of no person whose testimony he can procure to his services & he has no documentary evidence which he can provide to his services.  He hereby relinquishes every claim whatever to a pension or annuity & declares that his name is not on the pension roll of any agency in any state.
            He was born in Westchester County aforesaid where he lived until the close of the revolution when he removed to the town of Bennington in the State of Vermont.  In the year 1799 he removed to the town of Exeter Otsego County aforesaid where he has ever since resided.  (Signed) W. Adams.
            Sworn & subscribed the day & year aforesaid   Horace Lathoop, Clerk
Reply to a letter of inquiry, dated January 2, 1931.
            Reference is made to the letter which Mrs. Mary B. Bishop of Putnam, Connecticut, addressed to you, and which you transmitted to this bureau for reply.
            You are advised that it appears from the papers in the Revolutionary War pension claim, S.11946, that William Adams was born in August, 1764, in Westchester County, New York.
            While a resident of Rye, Westchester County, New York, he enlisted in September 1776, in Colonel Camfield’s Regiment and served as a waiter to that colonel until sometime in the summer of 1777.  At the expiration of this service he enlisted with the New York troops under Captain Gidney, and served six months as a private.  He enlisted in March, 1778, and served nine months as a wagoner, names of officers not given.
            [In handwriting, two notes appear in the margin.  “Could not determine whether Camfield was Conn. Or NY so stated it this way.”  Omitted Col. Enos’ names as could not verify and if was colonel it may have been Ennis instead of Enos.”]
            At the close of the Revolution he moved to Bennington, Vermont.  In 1799 he moved to Exeter,  Otsego County, New York.
            He was allowed pension on his application executed October 15, 1832, at which time he was living in Exeter, new York.
            In 1842 he was living in Oneida County, New York.
            There are no data in the papers of this pension claim pertaining to the soldier’s family.

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