Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application File S. 22205, John Derr, Penn.
Page 1

(3-1776)

SERVICE
Penn.

Derr, John [star stamped above name]

NUMBER
S. 22205
-----------------------
CONTENTS
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No. 11.158
Pennsylvania 
-------------------------------------
John Derr

Union Co. in the State of Penna. who was a Private in the company commanded by Captain Bishop of the Penna. Militia line for 6 months Private $20.00


Inscribed on the Roll of Pennsylvania at the rate of 20 Dollars ___cents per annum, to commence on the 4th day of March, 1831.

Certificate of Pension issued the 2d day of April 1833 and sent to Pensioner New Berlin Pa.

Arrears to the 4th of March 1833. 40.00
Semi-anl. allowance ending Sept. 1833 10.00
$50.00 [double underlined]

{Revolutionary Claim,}
{Act June 7, 1832.      }

Recorded by D. Brown Clerk,
Book 4, Vol. 5 Page 13
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PUBLIC LIBRARY
South Main Street at Wayne
SOUTH BEND, INDIANA

Virginia M. Tutt, Librarian

418 W. Washington Ave
South Bend, Indiana
June 29, 1927

Pension Bureau
Interior Department
Washington, D.C.

Dear Sir:

    Will you kindly send me any information you have concerning John Derr, who served in the Revolutionary War.  In the Pennsylvania Archives, Third Series, vol 23, p. 541, I find that John Derr was granted a pension.  The date of the granting of the pension was 1833 and at that time he was eighty-one years old.  The reference reads as follows:  Derr, John, pr. P.M., April 2, 1833; 81.  According to the record, he was living in Union County, Pennsylvania at that time.

Very truly yours,
//s//
Mrs. Grace Osterhus
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LEFT-HAND SIDE OF DOCUMENT

Revolution
22205
INVALID

File No. 22,205

John Derr
Pri. Rev War

Act: June 7th 32"

Index: - Vol. 2, Page 185

[Arrangement of 1870.]
Page 5

Rev. and 1812
Wars Section
[initials in right-hand corner of page]

January 16, 1928

Mrs. Grace Osterhus
418 W. Washington Ave.
South Bend, Ind.

Madam:

    I have to advise you from the papers in the Revolutionary War pension claim S. 22205,  it appears that John Derr was born in 1753 in Limerick Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, and was raided in said township.

    He enlisted and served as a private with th Pennsylvania Troops, as follows:

    In the fall of 1776, two months in Captain Jacob Bishop's Company; in the summer of 1777, two months in Captain Benjamin Brooks' Company; and in the winter of 1777 and 1778, two months in Captain Peter Lowry's Company.

    He was allowed pension on his application executed September 24, 1832, while a resident of Union Township, Union County, Pennsylvania .

    There are no data as to family.

    Respectfully,

WINFIELD SCOTT
Commissioner
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12,500
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Declaration of John Derr [written sideways in left-hand margin]

Admd.
6 mos. Private
$20.

Pensioner 
New Berlin 
pa
Page 8

Pennsylvania    }
Union County   } Ss

On the twenty-fourth of September in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-two, personally appeared in open court before the judges of the court of common pleas at New Berlin in and for the county of Union, now sitting, John Derr, a resident of Union Township in the county of Union and state of Pennsylvania, aged seventy-nine years, who being duly sworn according to law doth on his solemn oath make the following declaration in order to obtain the benefits of the act of Congress passed June 7 1832.

Signed:  John (his X mark) Derr

That he entered the service of the United States in the year one thousand seven hundred and seventy-six under the command of the
following named officers and served as hereafter stated. 

In the year 1776 being then in my 24th year, I was drafted in the militia in the third class, and marched under the command of Captain Jacob Bishop from Limerick Township, Montgomery County, Pa. being the place where I was born and raised, to Philadelphia, from there we marched to Trenton and after remaining there a short time, we were marched to Amboy where we remained until my term of service expired, which was two months.  I was discharged by parol [sic] I believe.

A short time after I returned home I was again called out in the militia under Captain Benjamin Brooks, who as well as Captain Bishop resided at ^ that in Montgomery County, Pa.  We marched to Philadelphia and from there to (illegible)-forts and from there we marched to Brandywine and was there at the time of the battle.  I was not directly in the battle.  I was stationed a few hundred yards from the scene of the action as a reserve.  Here my time of service expired which was two months.

I was again called out shortly after under the command of Capt. Peter Lawry and Lieutenant John Missimer, on a tour of two months.  They also resided in the same county.  We marched to Trenton in New Jersey, where we were engaged guarding the Hessians who were taken prisoner.
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there.  We started from there with the Hessians to Lancaster in Pa. and from there to some place in old Virginia, the name of the place I do not recollect.  This expedition was in the winter.  I recollect it well for we suffered much in consequence of the cold.  I do not recollect whether I received a written discharge or not.

Signed:  John (his X mark) Derr

1:  I was born in the year 1753.

2:  My age is recorded in the church where I first lived.

3, 4, 5:  I have answered in my declaration.

6:  is also answered in my declaration.

7:  John Bishop, Jacob Kline, J George Heim.

I hereby relinquish every claim to a pension or annuity except the present and declare that my name is not on any pension roll of any of the United States.
Signed:  John (his X mark) Derr

Sworn and subscribed the }
24th of Sept. 1832}
Signed:  Joseph Stilwell Prothy. 

We, John George Heim, a clergyman residing in the county of Union and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and Jacob Kline, residing in the same county and state, hereby certify that we are well acquainted with John Derr, who has subscribed and sworn to the above declaration, that we believe him to be seventy-nine years of age, that he is reputed and believed in the neighborhood where he resides to have been a soldier of the Revolution and that we concur in that opinion.
Signed: J. George Heim, Jacob Kline

Sworn and subscribed the 
24th day of Sept. 1832.
Signed:  Joseph Stilwell, Prothy.
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Affidavit supplementary to the annexed declaration of John Derr, a soldier of the Revolutionary War, for a pension.

Pennsylvania   }
Union County  } Ss

Personally appeared before me, the undersigned, a justice of the peace in and for the county of Union, John Derr, who being duly sworn deposeth and saith that in the fall of the year 1776 he served a tour of military duty in the Revolutionary War of two months under the command of Captain Jacob Bishop.

And in the summer of the year 1777 he served a tour of military duty in the Revolutionary War of two months.  

In the winter of 1777-78 he served a tour of military duty in the Revolutionary War of two months under the command of Captain Peter Lowry, making in all six months, all of which time he honestly and faithfully served.

The declarant further states that he has no documentary evidence and has no knowledge of any living witness who could testify to his services during the periods above mentioned.  
Signed:  John (his X mark) Derr

Sworn and subscribed before 
me this 14th day of March 
A.D. 1833.
Signed:  William Kessler, J.P.

State of Penna  }
Union County   } Sct
[large paper seal at left-hand margin]
I Joseph Stilwell Prothonotary of the Court of Common Peas for said County do certify that William Kessler Esquire before whom the above affidavit was taken is and was at the date thereof a Justice of the peace in aforesaid County of Union & was at the date thereof duly appointed & commissioned for said County & that full faith & credit are and ought to be given to his official acts as well in Court of record & elsewhere
In Witness whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name & affixed the seal of the Court at New Berlin the15th day of March AD. 1833

Joseph Stilwell [signature]
Prothy
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And the said court do hereby declare their opinion, after the investigation of the matter and after putting the interrogatories prescribed by the War Department, that the above named applicant was a Revolutionary soldier and served as he states, and the courts further certify that it appears to them that John George Heim, who has signed the certificate preceding this, is a clergyman resident in Union County, state aforesaid and that Jacob Kline is also a resident in the same county and state and is a credible person and that their statement is entitled to credit.
Signed:  Hugh Wilson, Adam Leight

I, Joseph Stilwell, prothonotary of the court of common pleas of Union County, do certify that the foregoing contains the original proceedings of the said court in the matter of the application of John Derr for a pension. 

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the seal of said court this 24th day of Sept. 1832. 
Signed:  Joseph Stilwell, Prothy.