Morrison's Pensions


Pension Application for William Dickson

W.22940 (Widow: Sarah)
State of New York
Allegany County SS.
            On this thirtieth day of October one thousand eight hundred & thirty two personally appeared in open court before the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas being a court of Record in and for the County aforesaid William Dickson of Caneadea in the said County of Allegany aged seventy two years and upwards who being first duly sworn according to law doth on his oath make the following declaration in order to obtain the benefit of the provision made by the Act of Congress passed June 7th 1832 and saith that he this declarant enlisted in a company of Rangers under the command of Captain Putman in which company Benjamin Dickson the Elder brother of this deponent was lieutenant and left Cherry Valley in the month of March or April 1778 for Fort Herkimer on the Mohawk River and continued in the same in active service as a private for nine months when the company was discharged and this deponent further saith that in the month of February 1780 according to the best of his recollection at Canajohary on the Mohawk River in the State of New York he enlisted under Captain John Dana who commanded a company in the United States Service upon the Continental Establishment that said enlistment was for the Term of one year and that he the said Declarant continued in said service under said enlistment for the term of eleven months and was honorably discharged by his said Captain about the month of January 1781 at FishKill and this declarant further says that in the nine months service of Rangers aforesaid that he was attached to no particular regiment but was frequently shifting their quarters and under various regimental officers whose names this declarant cannot now recollect that in the service under his enlistment for one year he cannot distinctly recollect his commanding officers otherwise than his captain but things he had some faint recollection of being a part of the time under command of a Colonel Hayse or Hazon and was generally engaged in the Bateau Service and was wounded when aboard of Major Shandonetts Barge near Kings Ferry by a shot from a British vessel in the right shoulder and arm and his collar bone and shoulder broken, that from 1778 to 1782 he was in the service for sundry shorter tours to wit, an[?] under Killian VanRensselaer Colonel Lieutenant McClean Commandant of the company into the spring of 1779 and was marched from Kinderhook to Albany then to Schenectady and thereto German Flatts Fort (Herkimer) where he remained two months and was in the Battle of Germantown so called on the Mohawk River and was generally employed in skirmishing with the enemy and in reconnoitering the country with them when he was discharged the aforesaid service was in the New York State Line that this declarant then returned to Kinderhook where he resided about the last of August and in about ten days he again enlisted as a substitute for a class for the time of three months under Captain Van Dulen in Colonel John McKinstrey’s regiment his major was Alstine that they rendezvoused at Kinderhook aforesaid and marched from thence to Fishkill where he remained for three months and was then discharged and returned home to Kinderhook in the month of December following.
            That in the month of September 1782 he took the place of Hugh and John McNeal as a substitute under Captain John Schermerhorn and marched to half Moon and thence to Schenectady where they remained watching the motion of the enemy whom they were expecting under the command of Sir John Johnson this service continued about two months and they were then discharged and returned home he next enlisted as a substitute for Benjamin Bird under Captain Charles McKinstry and marched from Nobletown to Albany then [??] remained there a while and was then ordered to Saratoga where they crossed the river and was stationed about one mile east of Saratoga our forces then consisted of the company to which he belonged commanded by said McKinstrey and two other companies whose officers this declarant cannot now recollect which service from the commencement was at least three months that this declarant served in the New York State Line at his several enlistments in his opinion at least nineteen months.  And in the Continental Establishment in the Batteau Service as aforesaid about Eleven months.
            And the said declarant further says that he was born in Cherry Valley then Albany County and is of the age set forth in the first part of his declaration as he believes and although he has not the original entries of his birth that from age and infirmity he is unable to give the names of his officers with precision and he may be mistaken in some of the times of enlistment and of the several services rendered but is confident that of the services themselves he cannot be mistaken that his discharges are all lost or destroyed that he knows of no documentary evidence of his services unless his name should be on the continental establishment of 1780 when he enlisted for one year and served generally a Batteauman that this declarant applied as he thinks about 12 or 14 years ago for a pention [pension] but for want of competent proof of his services he could not prevail in getting his name placed on the pention list that four years ago he again applied and his papers were forwarded and he suspects are on file in the War department but having then no proof other than the affidavits of Peter Young and John Thompson the same which are hereto annexed but as this proof only went to prove the nature of his service as a boatman it was not embraced in the several acts and amendments passed by congress making provisions for persons engaged in the land and naval services of the United States in the Revolutionary War of the 18th March 1818 and the amendatory acts thereto that this deponent has since been able to prove by the affidavit of Benjamin Dickson and of Robert Campbell whom he well knew in the service.  Other services which brings this declarant within the provision of the act of Congress of the 7th June 1832 under which he now presents his claim.
            And the said declarant further says and saith that he is reduced to extreme Indigence by reason of his advanced age and ill health accompanied with the would he rec’d –which is set forth in this he Declaration which heightens his infirmities and renders his physical powers inadequate by manual labour to the support of himself & family that as an appeal to the magnanimity of the government of his country and that he knows of no other persons other than those hereto annex’t whose testimony he can procure who can testify to [?] to his services and he hereby relinquishes every claim whatever to a pension or annuity except the present and declares that his name is not on the pension roll of the agency of any state.
            And that he has ever since his nativity been a resident inhabitant of the State of New York where he still resides.  (Signed) W. Dickson
            Sworn and subscribed in open court at the court house in Angelica this 31st day of October 1832.  J. W. Thenman Clerk
            The following letter is part of his pension folder, it’s a reply to a request for information dated February 11, 1929
            I advise you from the papers in the Revolutionary War pension claim, W.22940, it appears that William Dickson, son of William Dickson, was born, October 22, 1760, in Cherry Valley, then Albany later Montgomery County, New York, and always lived in New York State.
            He enlisted in Cherry Valley, New York, in June 1777, served three months or more as a private in Captain Thomas Whittier’s or Whitaker’s company, Colonel Cox’s New York Regiment and was in the battles or Oriskany and Germantown.
            He enlisted in March or April, 1778 and served nine months as a private in Captain Putnam’s New York Company, his brother Benjamin Dickson was Lieutenant of the company.
            In the spring of 1779, he enlisted, served two months as a private under Lieutenant McClane or McClean in Colonel Kilian VanRensselaer’s New York Regiment and was in several skirmishes.  Shortly afterwards he enlisted and served three months in Captain VanAlen’s New York Company.
            While residing at Kinderhook, New York, he enlisted in February 1780, served as batteauman in captain John Dana’s or Denny’s Company, Colonel Hays’ or Hazen’s New York Regiment, was wounded in the right shoulder and arm and his collarbone broken by a shot from a British vessel and was discharged in January 1781.
            In September 1782, he enlisted and served two months in Captain John Schermerhorn’s New York Company and in the same year, three months in Captain Charles McKinstry’s New York Company.
            In 1832, he was living in Caneadea, Allegany County, New York.  He died February 4, 1836, at Ripley, Chautauqua County, New York.
            The soldier married in June 1787, at Middlefield, Otsego County, New York, Sarah Griffin.  She was allowed pension on her application executed December 30, 1838, while a resident of Springfield, Otsego County, New York, aged seventy years.  In 1848, she was living in Warren, Herkimer County, New York.
            It is not stated that they had any children.  The soldier’s brother, James, was living in 1835 and stated that he also served in the Revolutionary War.

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