Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application File R. 11488, James Whitney, Mass.
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SERVICE NUMBER
Mass. Whitney, James R11488
Susanna
Contents
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Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
On this twenty eighth day of June in the year
eighteen hundred & thirty Seven personally ap-
peared before the judge of the Court of Probate for the
county of Middlesex & Commonwealth aforesaid
at the house of James Leland in Holliston in Said County
she being too infirm to attend Court, Susanna Whitney
of Sherburne in Said County (an adjoining town to said 
Holliston).  widow, aged eighty five years- She being first
duly sworn according to law doth on her oath make
the following declaration in order to obtain the benefits of the provision made by the act of Congress passed
July 4th 1836- to wit -That she was the lawful
wife of James Whitney formerly of Sherburne in
Said County of Middleton that her maiden name was
Hill & she was married to said James on the twentieth
day of April A.D. 1780, at Sherburne aforesaid by
the Rev. Elijah Brown then minister of Sherburne
That her said husband lived with her in said Sher-
burne, until about two years before his death, when they
removed to Dover in the County of Norfolk, a town
adjoining said Sherburne where he died in the latter
part of May & was buried the first day of June A.D. 1800.
and said Susanna has remained unmarried ever
since.  That her said husband before said mar
riage & in the campaign after the British evacuated
Boston, according to her recollection enlisted & served in
the army as a private in Roxbury near Boston & that
vicinity for three months, but under what officer, 
She cannot recollect, but from circumstances thinks
is probable that it was in a company commanded by
Captain King, in Col. Whitney's regiment as many persons in her husband's neighborhood were in that com
pany what she knows relative to this Service is
what                   
chiefly from he afterwards told her, after the marriage
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marriage aforesaid her husband enlisted about
the first of July in year 1780 for three months & went
to Rhode Island as a private in the company of Capt
Leland as she believes-and she is confident he served 
three months at that time& she thinks more-she
remembers that in consequence of his absence on this
Service she had to assist in hay making- and
she often heard him say that at some time he
served as a waiter to General Greene.  This is all
She can recollect.  She has no documentary evidence as
to his services Susanna Whitney
subscribed by said Susanna Whitney & sworn to 
before me.  L. P. Oday J Prob
And the said Judge of Probate does hereby de
clare the opinion after investigation of the matter
true &
that the Statements of said applicant are entitled
to credit & that she is a credible person, and that she
is too infirm to attend Court. 
L.P. Oday J. Prob.
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I Isaac Whitney of Sherburne aged fifty three years do depose
& say, that James Whitney & Susanna Whitney named in the
foregoing declaration are my parents-that I have often
heard my father relate circumstances respecting his
Services in the revolutionary war- particularly at 
Roxbury in guarding Stores in the latter part of the year
that the British evacuated Boston as I think
recollect that once in riding with my father to Boston
in (illegible)
he pointed out the place where he was stationed & was
used to mount guard. I recollect father stating 
that while on guard his cheeks were some frozen & covered with
ice when he went into the guard house.  I do not recollect
the names of any officers of the Company in which he
served.  I also heard him often speak of living 
in Rhode Island towards the close of the war, & that he was
waiter to Genl Greene.  From these statements of my father
I always understood & believed that he served three months
each in those two periods of service.  I have also heard of
out
his being called on two or three alarms, but do not re
collect of hearing that he was absent in those occasions for
any length of time.  That my father died in the 
year 1800 & my mother has continued a widow ever
since his death Isaac Whitney,
Middlesex ss. June 28th 1837 Personally ap
peared Isaac Whitney esquire a majestrate of said
County & known tome as a credible person & made
oath to the truth of the foregoing deposition by him
subscribed before me.  L.P. Oday JP
Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Middlesex ss.  I Isaac Fiske Register of the Court 
of Probate in and for the County of Middlesex &
Commonwealth aforesaid hereby certify that Samuel P Oday
Esquire, is the Justice of said Court duly commissioned
& qualified, & that his signature written on the
foregoing paper are his genuine signatures:
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand
& affixed the seal of said Court this eighteenth day 
of August in the year of our Lord Eighteen hundred
& thirty seven Isaac Fiske Judge
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Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Worcester ss.
I, Joseph Gerkendall, clerk of the
Court of Common Pleas for said County of Worcester,
do certify, that Smyrna Glazier, Esquire is a Justice of
the peace in and for said County, and that his sig-
nature to the certificate on the deposition of Joseph 
Whitney, hereto annexed, is in his own proper hand
writing. 
In testimony whereof, I hereto set my
name, and affix the seal of said Court,
at Worcester, this ninth day of August, 1837.
Jos Gerkendall. Clerk
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I Joseph Whitney of Gardner in the Coun-
-ty of Worcester and State of Massachusetts
do testify on oath and say that I am now Seventy-
four years of age being seven years younger than my
we
only Brother James Whitney that were the only Chil-
-dren of Deacon Benjamin Whitney of Sherburn in
the County of Middlesex and State aforesaid that we
lived to gether in one family most of the time untill
about the time of my said Brother's Marige who 
then moved to the House of our maternal Grandfather 
a short distance from our Fathers dwelling. I further
testify and say that my said Brother James enlisted
as a Private Soldier in the Army of the Revolution 
and did Military duty for the term of three months
in Roxbury and Boston, I went with a Mr. Barber
to see him when he was in Boston and dined with him
he was the cook for his mess.  I went with him to
carry Dinner to some who were on duty and then re-
turned to Sherburn in company with Mr. Barber
this service was 
in the fall and forepart of winter as near as I can
recollect after Boston was evacuated by the Brittish
to which my brother belonged
I think the troops were stationed there to gard the Con-
tinental Stores I was young at the time and not much
accustomed to being in Boston or seeing
Soldiers, I do not remember the names of his officer
But I am positive that he enlisted as a soldier and was gone three months.
And I further testify and say that my said Brother was married by the Rev Elijah Brown then
Minister of Sherburn to Susana Hill of Holiston
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a Town adjoining Sherburn on the 28th day of
April 1780 and in my presence, and that he my said
Brother James after mariage enlisted and served
as a Soldier in the Army of the Revolution at Rhode-
Island three month under Capt Joshua Lealand and 
I further testify and say that he was out several 
other times on alarms twice to Rhode iland
My said Brothers decease took place the later part of 
May in my presence and his remains were intered June
widow 
the first 1781. and his has not been married since but is 
now eighty five years old She being several years older
than my Brother and is Still his widow.
I well rember that my Brother was at Rhodeiland
in the month of July 1780 and my Father and I
helped get his boy and his wife assisted in geting it
& removed from Sherburn to Garnder where I now have lived more than twenty years. 
Joseph Whitney
State of Massachusetts
Worcester County ss.
On the tenth day of July 1837 the aforesaid Joseph 
Whitney was sworn and questioned, and sworn agreeable
to law, to the Deposition aforesaid by him Subscribed
Before me 
Smyrna Glazier Justice peace
I hereby certify that I have been personally acquainted
with the above named Joseph Whitney more than twenty
years and consider him to be a man of truth and veracity
and a creditable witness, and that full faith an credit ought
to be given 
to all his statements 
Smyrna Glazier Justice of the Peace