Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application File R. 944, Frederick Blew, New Jersey
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(3-1776)
SERVICE
New Jersey
Blew, Frederick
NUMBER
R.944
CONTENTS
Not identical with Frederick Blue S.23,544
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Frederick Blew

[faded] 24565
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State of Ohio
Wayne County
On this 21st day of March AD 1833 personally appeared before the court of Common pleas sitting in and for said county Frederick Blew a resident of Mohican Township in said county of Wayne and state of Ohio aged seventy seven years, who being duly sworn according to law doth on his oath make the following declaration in order to obtain the benefit of the provisions made by the act of Congress passed June 7th 1832 that he was drafted in the Army of the United States in the year 1781 or 1782 as near as he can now recollect under the Command of Captain John Heitt for the term of five months that Colonel Froam commanded the regiment and Beard was Major   That he resided at the time he was drafted in Somerset in the state of New Jersey and marched with his company to South Amboy where he remained about one month and a half when he was discharged from the service and returned home That in the Spring of the year 1781 or 1782. This deponant volunteered for the term of five months  and was mustered under the command
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of Captain John Beard and marched with my Company to a place called Smith Farms on the Raritan River where we remained about five weeks, and were then dismissed with orders to hold ourselves in readiness to take the field at a minutes warning during the remainder of the five months, but was never again called upon to do duty That he [illegible] his pay for five months services but received no discharge as he can now recollect. That he has no documentary evidence and that he knows of no person whose testimony he can procure who can testify to his services. I hereby relinquish  every claim what ever to a pension or an annuity except the present and declare that my name is not on the pension roll of the agency of any State.
Where and in what year were you born
 I was born in the year 1755 as near as I can recollect in Somerset County in the State of New Jersey.
Have you any record of your age
answer}  No I have none
Where were you living when called into service where have you lived since the Revolution & War and where do you now reside
Answer  I resided in [illegible] Township in the
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county of Somerset in the State of New Jersey at the time I entered the service I left Somerset New Jersey some time about the year 1785 as near as I can recollect and came to Berkley County Virginia where I remained about 20 years  I then removed to the County of Fairfield in the State of Ohio where I remained about seven years when I removed to the County of Wayne where I have resided ever since
How were you called into service 
Where you drafted    Did you volunteer or were you a substitute
Answer   I was drafted for five months and served one month and a half and was then dismissed  When I again volunteered for the time of five months and remain in actual service about five weeks when I was sent home with orders to hold myself in readiness at any time during the five months.
State the names of some of the regular officers who were with the troops where you served such Continental Regiments as you can recollect and the General circumstances of your [service}
Answer}  I know of no regular officer nor can I recollect the name of any Regiment but I recollect that Colonel Frome commanded the Regiment to which I belonged and Major Beard a brother to the Captain to whose company I belonged was the Major
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Did you ever receive a discharge from the service and if so by whom was it given and what has become of it

Answer I received a discharge from my captain but cannot tell what has become of it now, it has been lost a long time

state the names of persons to whom you are known in your present Neighbourhood who can testify as to your character for veracity and good behave your services as a Revolutionary soldier

Answer Benjamin Bunn & Jacob Leathers

Sworn to and subscribed the day and
year aforesaid     Jack Blevn

Sworn before me   J. Sloane Clerk

We Benjamin Bunn a Clergyman residing in the Township of Mohichan County of Wayne and State of Ohio and Jacob Leathers residing in the same place hereby certify that that we are well acquainted with Frederick Blew who has subscribed and sworn to the above declaration that we believe him to be seventy seven years of age that he is reputed and believed in the
neighbourhood where he resides to have been a soldier of the revolution that we concur in that opinion 
Sworn to and subscribed the day and year aforesaid
Benjn Bunn
Jacob Leathers

Sworn before before me
J. Sloane 
Clerk
[seal on left]
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I John Sloane Clerk of the Court aforesaid do
certify that the foregoing contained  the original proceedings of the said Court in the matter of the application  of Frederick Blew above named for a pension

in Testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal of office this twenty first day of March AD 1833

J. Sloane
Clerk
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No 24565

Frederick Blew  Wayne County 
--------
Ohio
---

Rejected having served
less than 6 months

944

E. Dean Wooster Ohio
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WAR DEPARTMENT
Pension Office,
183

Sir:

The evidence in support of your claim, under the act of June 7, 1832, has been examined, and the papers are herewith returned. The following is a statement of your case in a tabular form. On comparing these papers with the following rules and the subjoined notes, you will readily perceive that objections exist, which must be removed, before a pension can be allowed. The notes and the regulations will shew what is necessary to be done.  Those points to which your attention is more particularly directed, you will find marked in the margin with a brace, (thus: ⎬ ).  You will, when
you return your papers to this Department, send this printed letter with them; and you will, by complying with this request, greatly facilitate the investigation of your claim.
-----------------------
A Statement, shewing the Service of Frederick Blew Wayne County Ohio

[table, with the following column headings:]
(1) Period when the service was rendered.
(2) Duration of the claimant's service. {subheadings:  (a) Years. (b) Months. (c) Days
(3) Rank of the claimant.
(4) Names and rank of the Field officers under whom he served.
(5) Age at present, place of abode when he entered the service.
(6) Proof by which the declaration is supported.

[text under columns:]
(1) Drafted 1781 or 1782
Vol. Spring 1781 or 1782

(2) (a) --, --    (b) 1, 1    (c) 15, 7

(3)  private, private

(4) Cap Fielt.  Colonel  Fream, Cap Beard,

(5) 77 years, Somerset County, New Jersey

(6)Traditionary evidence & Clergimans; certificate, witnesses not certified;
Credible, no opinion of the Court;
papers not property attached

I am, respectfully,

Your obedient servant,

J. L. EDWARDS,

Commissioner of Pensions.
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REGULATIONS UNDER THE ACT OF JUNE 7, 1832,

The following regulations have been adopted:

This law has been construed to extend, as well to the line, as to every branch of the Staff of the Army, and to include under the terms "Continental Line," "State troops," "militia," and "volunteers," all persons enlisted, drafted, or who volunteered and who were bound to military service, but not those who were occasionally employed with the army upon civil contracts, such as Clerks to Commissaries and to Store Keepers, &c, Teamsters, Boatmen, &c. Persons who served on board of private armed vessels are also excluded from the benefits of the law, as well as persons who turned out as patrols, or were engaged in guarding particular places at night, and were not recognized as being in actual military service.

Four general classes of cases are embraced in this law:
1. The Regular Troops.
2. The State Troops, Militia, and Volunteers.
3. Persons employed in the Naval Service.
4. Indian Spies.

As rolls of the regular troops in the Revolutionary War exist in this Department, all persons claiming the benefit of this law as officers, non-commissioned officers, mucicians  [musicians] or privates, will in the first instance, make application by transmitting the following declaration, which will be made before a Court of Record of the County where such applicant resides. And every Court having by law a seal and Clerk is considered a Court of Record.

DECLARATION.

In order to obtain the benefit of the Act of Congress of the 7th of June, 1832.

State Territory, or District of.\    }
County of               }.  ss.

On this _____ day of _____________
personally appeared (a) before___________     A. B. a resident (b) of ___________ in the county of ______________and State, Territory or District  of ____________ aged (c) _________ 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 provision made by the act of Congress, passed 
June 7th, 1832. That he enlisted in the Army of the United States in the year (d)________, with ________ and served in the _________ (e) regiment of the _______line, under the following  named officers:

[Here set forth the names and rank of the Field and Company Officers; the time he left the service; (and if he served under more than one term of enlistment, he must specify the particular period, and rank and names of his officers) the town or county and State in which he resided when he entered the service; the battles, if any, in which he was engaged,and the country through which he marched. --> This form is to be varied so as to apply to the cases of officers and persons who belonged to the militia, voluneers, navy, &c.]

He hereby relinquishes every claim (f) whatever to a pension or an annuity, except the present, and he declares that his name is not on the Pension Roll of any Agency in the State, or (if any) only on that of the Agency in the State of ________.          
Sworn to and subscribed the day and year aforesaid.A. B.

[And then will follow the certificate of the Court.]

And the said Court do hereby declare their opinion (g) that the above named applicant was a revolutionaty soldier, and served as he states.

I _________________of  the Court of ________
do hereby certify (h) that the foregoing contains the original proceedings of the said Court in the matter of the application of _______________ for a pension.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal of office (i) this ______ day of __________& c.

If, on examination of the proper record, the names of applicants, making such declaration, cannot be found, they will produce such proof as the rule given in note (j) points out.

Every applicant who claims a pension by virtue of service in the State Troops, Volunteers or Militia, except those who belonged to the New Hampshire Militia and State Troops of Virginia, will make and subscribe a declaration similar to the foregoing, with the following additions, viz:

(k) We, A. B., a Clergyman, residing in the __________ and C. D. residing in (the same) hereby certify, that we are well acquainted with __________________, who has subscribed and sworn to the above declaration; that we believe him to be ________ 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.

Sworn and subscribed the days and year aforesaid.

[And then will follow the certificate of the Court.]

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 A. B. who has signed the preceding certificate is a clergyman, resident in the _______________ 
and that C. D., who has also signed the same is a resident in the _____________ and is a credible person, and that their statement is entitled to credit.

I, _______________-Clerk of the Court of ______________ do hereby certify that the foregoing contains the original proceedings of the said Court, in the matter of the application of ______________ for a pension.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal of office, this___day of____
& c.

Every applicant will produce the best proof in his power. This is the original discharge or commission; but if neither of these can be obtained, the party will so state under oath, and will then procure, if possible, the testimony of at least one credible witness, stating in detail his personal knowledge of the services of the applicant, and such circumstances connected therewith, as may have a tendency to throw light upon the transaction.

If such surviving witness cannot be found, the applicant will so state in his declaration,(l) and he will also, whether he produce such evidence or not, proceed to relate all the material facts, which can be useful in the investigation of his claim, and in the comparison of his narrative with the events of the period of his alleged service, as they are known at the Department. A very full account of the services of each person
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will be indispensable to a favorable action upon his case The facts stated will afford one of the principal means of corroborating the declaration of the applicant, if true, or of detecting the imposition, if one be attempted; and unless, therefore, these are amply and clearly set forth, no favorable decision can be expected. All applicants will appear before some Court of Record in the County in which they reside, and there subscribe and be sworn to, one of the declarations above provided, according to the nature of his case.

The Court will propound the following (m) interrogatories to all applicants for a pension, on account of service in the Militia, State troops, or Volunteers, except the Militia of New Hampshire and the State troops of Virginia.

1. Where and in what year were you born?
2. Have you any record of your age, and if so, where is it?
3. Where were you living when called into service; where have you lived since the Revolutionary war, and where do you now live?
4. How were you called into service; were you drafted, did you volunteer, or were you a substitute?
And if a substitute, for whom?
5. State the names of some of the Regular Officers, who were with the troops, where you served; such Continental and Militia Regiments as you can recollect, and the general circumstances of your services.
6. {To a Soldier.{ Did you ever receive a discharge from the service, and if so, by whom was it given, and what has become of it?
{To an Officer.  { Did you ever receive a commission, and if so, by whom was it signed, and what has become of it?
7. State the names of persons to whom you are known in your present neighborhood, and who can testify as to your character for veracity, and their belief of your services as a soldier of the Revolution.

The Court will see that the answers to these questions are embodied in the declaration, and they are requested to annex their opinions of the truth of the statement of the applicant.

The applicant will further produce in Court, if the same can be done, in the opinion of the Court, without too much expense and inconvenience to him, two respectable persons--one of whom should be the nearest clergyman, if one lives in the immediate vicinity of such applicant, who can testify, from their acquaintance with him, that they believe he is of the age he represents, and that he is reputed
and believed in the neighborhood to have been a Revolutionary soldier, and that they concur in that opinion.  If one of these persons is a Clergyman, the Court will so certify, and they will also certify to the character and standing of other persons giving such certificates.

The traditionary evidence of service is deemed very important, in the absence of any direct
proof, except the declaration of the party. And the Courts are requested to be very particular in the enquiry whether the belief is general, and whether any doubts have ever existed upon the subject.

Applicants unable to appear in Court, by reason of bodily infirmity, may make the declaration before required, and submit to the examination, before a Judge or Justice of a Court of Record of the proper county, and the Judge or Justice will execute the duties, which the Court is herein requested to perform, and will also certify that the applicant cannot, from bodily infirmity, attend the Court.

Whenever any official act is required to be done by a Judge or Justice of a Court of Record,
or by a Justice of the Peace, the certificate of the Secretary of State or Territory, or of the proper Clerk of the Court or County, under his seal of office, will be annexed, stating that such person is a Judge or Justice of a Court of Record, or a Justice of the Peace, and that the signature annexed is his genuine signature.

No payments can be made on account of the services of any person, who may have died before the taking effect of the act of June 7, 1832; and in case of death subsequent thereto, and before the declaration herein required is made, the parties interested will transmit such evidence as they can procure, taken and authenticated before a Court of Record, showing the services of the deceased, the period of his death, the opinion of the neighborhood respecting such services, the title of the claimant, and the opinion of the Court upon the whole matter.
-------------------------
[a] The declarant must appear in open Court, unless prevented from doing so by reason of bodily infirmity; in which case the declarant will follow the rule laid down for his guidance.
[b]The declarant must make his declaration in the county where he resides. If he should fail to do so, he must assign a sufficient reason for not conforming to the rule.
[c] The age of the claimant must invariably be mentioned.
[d] The declarant must mention the period or periods of the war when he served.
[e]Every continental officer or soldier must give the name of the Colonel under whom he served; otherwise a satisfactory examination of the
claim cannot be had. Every claimant must state, with precision, the length of his service, and the different grades in which he served, in language so definite as to enable the Department to determine to what amount of pension he is entitled. In a case where the applicant cannot, by reason of the loss of memory, state precisely how long he served, he should amend his declaration by making an affidavit in the following words:
"Personally appeared before me, the undersigned, a Justice of the Peace, &c. A. B. who, being duly sworn, deposeth and saith, that, by reason of old age, and the consequent loss of memory, he cannot swear positively as to the precise length of his service; but, according to the best of his recollection, he served not less than the periods mentioned below, and in the following grades:--For__year ___ months, and ____ days, I served as a ___________.  For _____months and _____ days, I served as a _____________; and for such service I claim a pension."

It is important, to determine with precision the period for which each applicant served, and the particular rank he held, as the law directs the pension to be paid according to the grade of the pensioner and the length of his service.  The use of the phrase about three or four months, is too indefinite, and all such qualifying expressions are objectionable.  Some persons who apply for pensions merely state that they served two years in the militia &c, without specifying the tours, the names of the officers, and other particulars respecting their service.  
This form of a declaration is highly objectionable. It must, in every case, be clearly shown under what officers the applicant served; the duration of each term of engagement;
the particular place or places where the service was performed; that the applicant served with an embodied corps called into service by competent authority; that he was either in the field or in garrison; and for the time during which the service was performed, he was not employed in any civil pursuit.
[f] The law makes the relinquishment indispensable.
[g] The opinion of the Court is always required.
[h] The Clerk must give his certificate in every case.
[i] The clerk must affix his seal, and if it has no device or inscription by which it can be distinguished from any other seal, or if he has no public seal of office, the certificate of a member of Congress, proving the official character and signature of the certifying officer, should accompany the papers.

Mode of authenticating papers.

In every instance where the certificate of the certifying officer who authenticates the papers is not written on the same sheet of paper which  contains the affidavit, or other papers authenticated, the certificate must be attached thereto b a piece of tape or narrow ribbon, the ends of which must  pass under the seal of office of the certifying officer, so as to prevent any paper from being improperly attached to the certificate.

Proof of Service.

[j] In a case where the name of the applicant is not found on the records of the Department, he must prove his service by two credible witnesses who are required to set forth in their affidavits the time of the claimants entering the service, and the time and manner of his leaving 
the regiment, company, and line to which he belonged. The magistrate who may administer the oaths must certify to the credibility of the witnesses, and the official charaacter and signature of the magistrate must be certified by the proper officer, under his seal of office.
--> The notes from [a] to [b] are all equally applicable to the cases of Militia men, Volunteers and State Troops. The proof required by rule in note [j] applies to continental troops only.
[k] This traditionary evidence is indispensable in militia cases.
[l] If a witness cannot be found, the declarant must state the fact.
[m] The answers to the interrogatories must all be written, and sent to the War Department, with the declaration.
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Ex'r. INVALID.
No. 944 
[stanped REJECTED]
Acts of July 14, 1862, and March 3, 1903 [all crossed out][
Frederick Blew
P.O.
Service;
Enlisted: , 18
Discharged: , 18
Application filed: , 18
Alleges:
Re-enlisted:
Attorney:
P. O.
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Act
7 June 1832
Frederick Blew,
rejected.
7 May 1833
Ohio