Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application File R. 10,771, Jesse Tourtellot, Mass.
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SERVICE
Mass

Tourtellot, Jesse

Number
R. 10.771

CONTENTS
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34, 911   
Jesse Tourtellot
4    Jesse Tourtellet 
Turtelet 
Mass.        
Act of June 32        
Vol. 3.   47.    Capt. Peter Penniman  2  July 
From  from 8 Dec. 76       
10771
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Commonwealth of Massachusetts Worcester Ss. [seal]     
I, Charles G. Prentiss, Register of the Court of Probate in and for the County of Worcester, do hereby certify, that the papers hereto annexed contain the original proceedings of the said Court in the matter of the application of Jesse Tourtellot for a pension.    
I, further certify that Dan Hill is a Justice of the Peace in and for said County, duly commissioned and qualified and that his several signatures to the papers hereunto annexed are genuine.    
In testimony whereof I do hereunto set my hand and seal of office this twenty fifth day of September, one thousand, eight hundred and thirty nine. Chas. G. Prentiss, Register
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Declaration
In order to obtain the benefit of the
act of Congress passed June 7 1832
Commonwealth of Massachusetts  - [illegible].
On this twenty third day of August in
the year eighteen hundred and thirty
nine personally appeared before me a
M. Barton Judge of the Court of Probate
for said County, the same being a
Court of record, having a record,
register and seal, Jesse Tourtellot a 
resident of Mendon in said County of
Worcester in the Commonwealth afore
said aged ninety years, who being first
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.
That he entered the service of the United States under the following named officers
and served as herein Stated
1 This declarant, on oath, says that
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in the first years of the War of the Revolution, he removed from the town of Gloucester in the State of Rhode Island to said Mendon, where he has resided ever since and soon after his arrival there the Battle of Bunker Hill happened, and he started on the alarm to go to Boston, but before they got there he heard the regulars have gone back into Boston and he returned home. They turned out in the company of militia commanded by Capt. Joseph Daniels, but they went no further than Bellingham, and the declarant was made any account of this service. But the next year 1776, the declarant belonged to the company of militia commanded by Capt. Samuel Craggin which was raised in the towns of Mendon, Milford and Douglas to go up to North river. This declarant was a private soldier and this company belonged to the Regiment of Col. Denny. They marched the first of September in the year 1776 and passed through Douglas into the State of Connecticut, from there through Hartford
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Weathersfield, New Haven, Rye [illegible] to Tarrytown in New York. This declarant volunteered on enlisted into this service, once he served the full term of his enlistment, two months. He was stationed at said Tarrytown and in the vicinity of that place. He was in no battle during this service but they daily expected fighting once Fort Washington was taken before he left the service. General Lincoln was their General once he also saw General Lee there. Davis Sumner, Ned Bowker, Rufus Aldrich, John Thompson and others were in the same company with the declarant, and he also knew George Hampton who was a private in the same service but not in the same company, [illegible] his [illegible] is repeatedly referred to. So from this service, and which [illegible] the declarant believes will be fully evidenced by the folks in the pension office.

2 The second revolutionary service [illegible] by this declarant, and for which he claims a pension, was performed at Providence in the state of Rhode Island. He went into this
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service the first of December 1776 soon after his return from New York. He belonged to the company of militia commanded by Capt. Peter Penniman of Mendon; he was a private soldier; he marched directly from Mendon to Providence and after he got there Capt. Penniman appointed him his writer.  They were stationed that winter at the college. Col. Denny was their Colonel in the service, but he did not get there till it was mostly over. The Lieut. Colonel was Nathan Tyler of Uxbridge. This declarant was stationed at Providence till mid the next February, sometime before the twentieth of that month; once there the Lieut. Col. Tyler, with whom he was well acquainted, sent him out after deserters, and he was out on this service till the first of March when their tour of three months was up. Cornwallis was at Newport this winter, but the company to which the declarant belonged heard no fighting. The declarant recollects no office of Providence of higher grade than Colonel, though he once
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saw Gen La Fayette there who was then about twenty two years of age.  Peletiah Darling was the Lieutenant of Capt. Penniman’s company and Seth Chapine the [unreadable] of the privates, there were Rufus Aldrich, Henry Benson, John Person and others, none of them are now living that the declarant knows of. The deposition of Pelatiah Darling is refered to   he left before this service ended      
This declarant was called upon in the fall of 1777 to go up to the taking of Burgoyne, but such was the situation of his family that he hired a substitute Smith White  But the July before, about the middle of the month; when they have been paying , he was called out and went down to Freetown and Tiverton, Rhode Island as a private soldier in the company of militia commanded by Lieutenant John Benson, Capt Peter Penniman, the Capt. of the Company, being on a service about that time, out but in this service the Declarant marched directly from Mendon to Freetown; and was stationed there mostly
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though a part of them were stationed at Tiverton four or five miles distant.  The declarant staid in this service till about the first of the next September. The declarant remembers that when he got home his grass had got so dry, there was nothing to do but to cut it right down and get it in, and he can state with satisfactory certainty that this service was as much as six weeks. He does not recollect that any Regimental or General officers were there Paul Dudley of Douglas he recollects was there. Daniel Hill, Samuel Smith, Turner [unreadable] and others were in the same company with the declarant Peletiah Darling was there a part of the time.  The declarant has no documentary evidence of these services, but he must rely upon the proofs annexed, and upon the rolls in the pension office. The declarant further stated that on account of his great age and distance from a Court of record, and the great difficulty in providing evidence as to his revolutionary services, has been the reason for his delay
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to make this application till the present time.    
The declarant hereby relinquishes any claim whatever to a pension or annuity, except the present, and declares that his name is not in the pension Roll of the agency of any State.  Jesse Tourtellot   his mark
Sworn to and subscribed the day and year aforesaid Before me immediately [unreadable]   
Ira M. Walton Judge of the Court of Probate for said County    
We Kinsman Atkinson at a Clergyman residing in town of Mendon, and Aaron Burdon residing in the same Mendon, hereby certify, that we are well acquainted with Jesse Tourtellot  who has subscribed and sworn to the above declaration that we believe him to be ninety 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   Aaron Burdon    
Kinsman Atkinson
Sworn and subscribed the day & year aforesaid Before me   
Ira M. Walton Judge of the Court of Probate County of Chester
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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 Court further certifies, that it appears to them that Herman Atkinson who has signed the preceding certificate is a Clergyman resident in the town of Mendon, and that Aaron Burdon, who has also signed the same is a resident in the same town and is a magistrate and that their statement is entitled to full Credit.     
I further certify that by reason of the great age and blindness & other bodily infirmities of the said declarant, he was able to appear in open Court for the purpose of making the foregoing declaration at that the same was taken by me at his dwelling hence in said town Ira M. Walton Judge of the Court of Probate for Said County
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Ans to the sworn interrogatories [unreadable] by the war department, the said declarant on oath further declares and says   
1.  That he was born in the town of Glocester in the State of Rhode Island on the sixth day of March, old style, seventeen hundred and forty nine  
2.  He has no record of his age. It was recorded and in their family Bible, but his sister Inman had it and she died several years ago in Barnhill and he dies not know where it is.  
3.  He was living in Mendon when he went into the service and has lived there ever since.  
4.  He cannot state more particularly than he has done, he was called into the service.  He has never served as a substitute though he once hired one as he stated.   
5.  He has stated as particularly as he can the Regular Officers who were with the troops when he served and the other circumstances of his service.  son
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6 That he must receive a written discharge from the service    
7.   Having spent the most of my days in Mendon I am general known in that place particularly by the Mr. Kinsman Atkinson. the pastor of the Church to which I belong, Dan Hill, Aaron Burden and Jared Benson, magistrates living in my neighborhood.   
Jesse Tourtellot his mark
Subscribed and sworn to  the day & year aforesaid Before me
Ira M. Walton  Judge of the Court of Probate for [unreadable] County.
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Mass. Tourtellot, Jesse R10771
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Mendon June 6 - 1839,
I hereby cetify + say that Deacon Jesse Tourtellot, over ninety years of age, is a member of the Congressional Church in the South Parish of Mendon, County of Worcester, + State of Massachusetts, of which Church I am the Pastor at settled minister - that the said that[crossed out] the[crossed out] Jesse Tourtellott is universally [illegible] a man of the strictest integrity, + excellent moral character.
Although "infirm in body by reason of age, + in a [illegible] deprived of his sight, he maintains his mental facilities to a remarkable degree, + remains well qualified to give testimony relevant to past events.
I fully believe that any statements which he makes are entitled to instill confidence, + I think that this is the opinion of all who are acquainted with him without exception.
Kinsman Atkinson

I certify that I have lived in the town + vicinity of the said Jesse Tourtellot for the last fourty years and I consider in the testimony of Mr. Atkinson that the statement which Mr. Tourtellot makes true to be relied upon.
Dan Hill Justice of the Peace
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I Pelatiah Darling of Uxbridge in the County of Worcester and commonwealth of Massachusetts, having been duly engaged do testify and say that I am seventy-eight years old. was in the Revolutionary Service of the United States at various times and at various places. In the winter of 1777-8 or about that time, I was stationed at Providence in the State of Rhode Island, remained there six weeks. Jesse Tourtellot of Mendon was there all the time I was. We both belonged to the company commanded by Capt. Samuel Craggin and the Regiment commanded by Col. Nathan Tyler. Mr. Tourtellot was in the service at this place some longer than I was but how much longer I have no means of determining. Afterwards I was on duty for a short time I think about two or three weeks ^ at a place called Freetown in Rhode Island. Mr. Tourtellot was with me there and I think I left him there, how long he remained I cannot tell. He was certainly on duty at this place as long as I was, I think longer - I do not know of his being in the service at any other time excepting one or two cases of alarum when I was out with him for a short time.
Pelatiah Darling

Worcester SS.
On the tenth day of December in the year 1838 Pelatiah Darling subscribed and made oath to the above deposition the words "at a place called Freetown in Rhode Island" being [illegible]

Before me
Dan Hill Justice of the Peace
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I certify that I have resided in the neighborhood of the written Deponent for a great number of years and that his character truth is good.

Dan Hill
Justice of the Peace
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I George Kempton of Uxbridge in the County of Worcester and Commonwealth of Massachusetts having been duly engaged, do testify and say -  That I am Eighty Seven years of age, In the year 1776 or about that time, I was int he service of the United States in the Revolutionary War and was stationed at a place called Tarrytown in the State of New York on the North River - the company to which I belonged was commanded by Capt. Farrar the Regiment was commanded by Col. Dand - I was at this place three months. Jesse Tourtellot of Mendon was there at the same time I was, he belonged to the same Regiment and to the company commanded by Capt. Craggins - I do not know certainly the length of time that Mr. Tourtellot was at this place but I think he was there about the same length of time I was, It was in the fall of the year and the Battle of White Plains took place while we were at this place.
George Kempton

Worcester SS.
On the tenth day of December in the year of 1838, George Kempton subscribed and made oath to the above deposition
Before me
Dan Hill
Justice of the Peace

I hereby certify that I have resided in the neighborhood of the above deponent for a great number of years and that his character for truth is good
Dan Hill
Justice of the Peace
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July 5, 1932
BA-J/MLB
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
JESSE TOURTELLOT 
R.10771
Mr. Albert H. Moore
11 South Lake Avenue
Albany, New York
Dear Sir: Reference is made to your letter relative to Jessee Tourtelot, a soldier of the Revolutionary War. 

The data which follow were obtained from the papers on file in pension claim, R. 10771, based upon the military service of Jesse Tourtellot in the Revolutionary War.

He was born March 6, 1749 (Old Style), in Gloucester, Rhode Island.

Jesse Tourtellot applied for pension August 23, 1839, while residing in Mendon, Worcester County, Massachusetts, and alleged the following service: that during the first year of the Revolution he moved from Glocester, Rhode Island, to Mendon, Massachusetts, and soon after his arrival the battle of Bunker Hill took place at which time he turned out in Captain Joseph Daniels' company of militia, but before reaching Bunker Hill he heard that "the regulars had gone back into Boston and he returned Home"; that he volunteered about September 1, 1776, and served two months as private in Captain Samuel Craggin's company, Colonel Denny's Massachusetts regiment; that he enlisted December 1, 1776, and served three as private in Captain Penniman's company, Colonel Denny's Massachusetts regiment; that he enlisted about middle of the middle of July, 1777,  and served until about September 1, 1777, as a private in a company of Massachusetts militia commanded by Lieutenant Jonn Benson.

His claim was not allowed as he failed to furnish proof of service as required by the pension law.
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In 1839, the soldier was a deacon in the Congregational Church, in the South Parish of Mendon, Massachusetts, and in that you referred to his sister, Iman (not plainly written), who had died in Burrillville several years previous to that time. No other family data appeared in the claim. 

A careful search of the Revolutionary War records of this office fails to show a claim for pension or bounty land on file on account of service of Daniel Tourtelot (or Tourtellot).

Very truly yours

A. D. MILLER
Assistant to Administrator
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[crossed out] Acts of July 14, 1862, and March 8, 1873

[handwritten] 1932 [illegible] Mr. Albert H. Moore _ [?]LB

10771
P. O.
[handwritten] Jesse
[crossed out] Tourtellot
Service: 
[handwritten] Tourtellot
[illegible]
[handwritten] Aug. 23, 1906
[stamped] REJECTED

Enlisted:     ,18
Discharged:    ,18
Application filed:     ,18
[handwritten] The printed list of 1852 shows cause of rejection:
Alleges:
[handwritten] "He did not serve six months"

Re-enlisted:

Attorney:
P. O. 

Recognized   Contract

Cert. of Dis.  Searched for     ,18.
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11 South Lake avenue, 
Albany, N.Y., May 25, 1932
U. S. Department of the Interior, 
Commissioner, Bureau of Pensions, Revolutionary War Record Division,
Washington, D. C.
Sir: -
For positive of the individuals, if possible, I wish to learn whatever information may be given in the official records concerning the following Revolutionary War soldiers. Will you kindly give me such data as may be found regard8ng age relatives, whether pension was obtained, residence, etc.?
[handwritten check mark] 1 - Daniel Turtolot: ( or Tourtellot), private, in Captain Joseph Cady's company of Killingly, Conn.; the 3rd company in the 11th regiment on their march to West Chester, September 14, 1776. Daniel Tourtellot died August 2, 1826, at Glocester, R. I. ((Now known as Chepachet.)
_ Jesse Tourtelot, a private in Captain Peter Penniman's company in a regiment commanded by Lieut. Col. Nathan Tyler; service between Dec. 8, 1776, and Jan. 21, 1777, - 27 days at Providence, R. I., on an alarm. Also, private in Captain B Read's company, commanded by Lieut. John Benson, Col. Nathan Tyler's (Worcester County, Mass.) regiment; entered service July 30, 1780; discharged Aug. 8, 1780; service 13 days, on an alarm at Rhode Island, including 3 days (52 miles) travel home.
Very respectfully yours,
Albert H. Moore
[stamp]
RECEIVED MAY 27 1932
PENSION FILES
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Hon J Davis
July 22
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208 
Pension Office
Feb 22, 1853

Sir,
In reply to the enclosed letter, I [illegible] to inform you that the claim of Jesse Tourtelot, of Mass. was presented here several years since but was not allowed.

A copy of a letter from this office to C. G. Prentiss, Esq. herewith enclosed, will show the objections to the admission of the claim. No additional evidence has since been filed. 

Hon. J Davis
US Senate
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34.911

Rejected

10.771
act 7 June '32
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C.G. Prentiss
Octr. 14 '39
CG
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War Dept.
Pen office
Oct 14 39
Sir
The claim of Jesse Tourtelot under the act of June 37 has been examined and disallowed.
It is established by the rolls that his alleged service in RI under Capt. Peter Penniman commencing on 8 Dec. 76 was but 27 days instead of 3 mo. as asserted. Adding this term to the alleged 2 mo. under Capt Craggin in 76 + 3 mo under Capt Penniman in 77 a will not give an aggregate of 6 mo. service. These other terms are not established.

C. G. Prentiss esq
Worcester
Mass~