Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application File R. 536, Nathaniel Barnett, Conn.
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SERVICE  Conn.
Barnett, Nathaniel
NUMBER  R. 536
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Declaration in order to obtain the benefit of the act of Congress of June 7 1832.
State of New York 
County of Rensselaer }   SS On this twenty first day April in the year of our Lord one thousand Eight hundred and thirty four personally appeared before me George R Davis a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas held in and for the County of Rensselaer aforesaid Nathaniel Barnett a resident of the town of Hoosick in the County of Rensselaer and State of New York aged seventy nine years who being first duly sworn according to this 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, that when he entered the service he was living in Plainfield in the County of Windham in the State of Connecticut,   that he first entered the service as a substitute for James Barnett for the time of one month,  that the said James Barnett was a Serjeant in a company of State Troop commanded by Captain Waterman Clift, which company belonged to a Regiment commanded by Colonel Samuel H. Parsons that he went in the year 1775 in the latter part of the summer he thinks but cannot remember the month nor the day of the month on which he went 
1 mo Substitute for a Sergeant
that he went Roxbury in the State of Massachusetts where  the said Regiment was stationed and joined the said company and staid one month doing serjeants duty  as a substitute for the said James Barnett, the company lay incamped during said month,  the British were then laying at Boston,  that he staid out his full term of one month when the said James came & took his place & he returned home.   
That in the year 1776 in the month of February or March he thinks but cannot recollect the day of the month he enlisted for one month in a company
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of State Troops commanded by Captain George Dorrance.  That he enlisted and went on to Rhode Island about one mile north of New Port and was stationed there,  there were other troops stationed the Island at the  same time but none besides their company where they lay,  there was at the time one Brittish vessel lying in the vicinity and their employment during said month was chiefly to guard the shore & prevent the Enemy from landing & plundering, that the name of the commander on board of the British vessel he think was Wallis that he staid there his month out and was then dismissed and returned home.   That he spent two days in going & two in returning making in all one month & four days.  
That in the same year in the latter part of August of first of September the Militia of Plainfield were ordered out in the service.  That he the belonged to a company commanded by Captain Andrew Beccus [Backus], who subsequently became Major,  and of which company Joshua Dunlop was Lieutenant I think, the Regiment to which said company belonged was commanded by Colonel Douglass,  that they marched to Westchester in the State of New York where they remained two or three weeks and then went to white Plains in New York, that there were Continental troops at White Plains part of the time while they remained there and Genl Washington & General Lee were both there with the Continental  Troops part of the time.  That he was a private Soldier & employed while there in standing guard. That while there the picket guard had Skirmish with the enemy and that he with others were ordered to strip the gael [jail] of about 30 prisoners which were there confined in it & march them back into the County to prevent the enemy from retaking them,  that they took the prisoners
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& marched them as directed & kept the guarded in the Country back for 3 or 4 days until orders came to return with them which they did & again lodged them in goal [jail] & that he remained in the vicinity of White Plains until the troops had all left and most of the militia gone home and the weather had become so cold (that it froze in pretty thick) that their tents that they were under the necessity of doubting & building a Chimney and keeping fire burning,  that he does not recollect the precise time he was dismissed but that he must have been out in service at this time three months & an half,  and was then dismissed & went home.   
That in the year 1777 (immediately after the Battle of Bennington on the 16th August) he belonged to a company of Horse in Plainfield.  That one half of the said company went & the other half remained at home,  that they were to turn out or be drafted, & that he volunteered,  that the half of the company which went was commanded by Lieutenant John Steward or Stewart,  that he does not recollect the day of the month on which they went,  that another half of a company from an adjoining town also went & to which half their captain belonged but his name he does not recollect.  That they went for two months,  he being a private, that they went from Plainfield to Albany and from there to a place called New City (now Lansingburgh) and from there to Bennington in Vermont where they lay four five days and there guarded Genl Lincoln from Bennington to Van Schaick Island (which lies nearly opposite Lansingburgh) to attend a council of war which was to be holden there, that they returned to Lansingburgh
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and staid until the council broke up and guarded Genl Lincoln back to Bennington,  that they then remained stationed at Bennington some weeks, and was sent from there with expresses to different parts at the North and that from Bennington they went to Saratoga to a place called Bemiss Heights.  The battle was over when he got there but Burgoyne had not yet surrendered.   They were then making the terms of the capitulation.  That they remained there a day or two, were then dismissed having served out the full time of two months & went home.  That he spent in going home five or six days in addition to his two months last above named,  the distance being towards two hundred miles.   
2
That in June in the year 1781 he moved to Hoosick in the State of New York & that shortly after his removal but the month or day of the month he cannot recollect,  he turned out on an alarm with the militia of Hoosick & Bennington Vermont & went to Poultney & Castleton Vermont and were gone a fortnight according the best of this deponent recollection & belief.  
No officers.
That his brother Moses Barnett was knowing to his serving a portion if  not all of the above services and whose testimony or affidavit he expects to obtain & annex hereto and who is the only living witness who can prove to his serving.  
I That he was born in the town of Preston in the County of Windham in the State of Connecticut in the year 1755.   
II  That he has a record of his age in the family bible in his possession
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III That he was living when he entered the service in the town of Plainfield in the County of Windham in the State of Connecticut and that since the revolutionary war he has lived in Hoosick in the County of Rensselaer and State of New York where he still continues to reside, 
IV  That he first entered the service as a substitute for James Barnett the said James Barnett was an enlisted soldier he believes but that he went without being enlisted or drafted as a substitute for said James and next enlisted.  
V  That the names of the officers who were with the troops where he served and the continental and militia regiments or troops as he can recollect and the general circumstance of his service are as fully stated and set forth in his above declaration as he can recollect the same.  
V I. That he never received a discharge from the service in writing- 
VII. That the persons to whom he is known in his present neighborhood and who can testify as to his character for truth and veracity and their belief of his service as a soldier of the revolution are David Wilcox & Israel Keach & Samuel Burrell.    
That he is infirm and unable to attend the Court of Record in the County in which he resides which are held at the City of Troy about twenty nine miles from his residence.   
He hereby relinquishes every claim to a pension or annuity except the present and he declares that his name is not on the pension roll of the agency of any State in the Union.  
Nath’l Barnett
Sworn to and subscribed the day & year aforesaid before me –
Geo R Davis one of the Judges of Rensselaer County Counrt & Counselor of Sup Court
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We Israel Keach a Clergyman residing in the town of Hoosick in the County of Rensselaer and State of New York and David Wilcox residing the same place hereby certify that we are acquainted with Nathaniel Barnett who has subscribed and sworn to the fore going 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.   
David Wilcox
Israel Keach
Sworn and subscribed the day and year aforesaid before me Geo R Davis one of the Judges of Rensselaer County Court & Counsellor of Sup Court 
And I the said Judge do hereby declare my opinion after the investigation of the matter and after putting the interrogatories prescribed by the war department that the above and before named applicant was a Revolutionary Soldier and served as he states and I the said Judge do further certify that it appears to me that Israel Keach who has signed the preceding certificate is a Clergyman resident in the town of Hoosick in the County of Rensselaer and State of New York and that David Wilcox who has also signed the same is a resident in the same place and is a credible person and that their statement is entitled to credit and I do further certify that the before named applicant cannot in consequence of old age and bodily infirmity attend Court and that the foregoing contains the original proceeding had before me this day in the matter of the application of Nathaniel Barnett for a pension.   
Geo R Davis One of the Judges of Rensselaer County Courts and Counsellor of Sup Court
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State of New York 
Rensselaer County } ss  I Henry R Bristol Clerk of the said County do certify that George R. Davis before whom the preceeding affidavits purport to have been sworn and also by whom the preceeding certificate is signed was at the date of the same one of the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas in & for said County and that I am acquainted with his hand writing and verily believe his name subscribed to the said affidavit, and the certificate above referred to, to be his proper hand writing & signature.   
Witness my hand and seal of office this twenty fifth day of November One thousand Eight hundred and thirty four 
Henry R Bristol Clerk 
[unreadable]
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In the matter of Nathaniel Barnett 
Application for Pension
Hon G. Hard
Certificate & put papers together [unreadable]
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I Moses Barnett of Essex in the County of Chittenden and State of Vermont, aged Eighty one years do depose and say that I am brother to Nathaniel Barnett of Hoosick in the State of New York - that in the year 1775. I resided in Plainfield Connecticut in my fathers family and that said Nathaniel then resided at home & my fathers name was Moses Barnett.  Sometime in the year 1775. my brother James Barnett enlisted under Capt Waterman to go to Roxbury Ms. [Massachusetts]  My brother Nathaniel went as a substitute for James and served the time for which James enlisted, and which was one month and returned home afterwards in the year 1776. Nathaniel enlisted under Capt George Dorrance from the State of Rhode Island for one month and served his time out as I believe for he was absent from home about that time. 
In the same year about the first of September the militia were called into the service and I went with Nathaniel Under Capt Andrew Backus to West Chester, New York and from there to White Plains served over three months, when we were both discharged by parol and returned home.   
In the year 1777, Nathaniel went again into the service under Lieut Stewart - they marched to Saratoga in the service, he was absent from home two months, and I believe was all that time in the United States service under Lieut Stewart as he went away with him and returned with him. 
In the year 1781 after myself and Nathaniel had removed to a place called Mapletown now Hoosick Nathaniel and myself volunteered to go to Vermont upon an alarm being given - both of us went to Poultney and Castleton Vermont, and were engaged in this service from twelve to fifteen days. and further this deponent
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saith not.   “we both” interlined before signing.
Moses Barnet
State of Vermont Chittendon County ss 
Burlington  June 21th 1834 ss}
Then personally appeared before me the subscriber, a Justice of the Peace within and for said county, Moses Barnet above named and made solemn oath – that the above affidavit by him  subscribed is true and I also certify from my own personal knowledge and acquaintance the said Moses Barnett- that he is a person of credibility and veracity.    
Nathan B Haswell Just. Peace
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State of Vermont  
Chittenden County }  ss I Nathan B. Haswell Clerk of County Court, do hereby certify that Nathan B. Haswell - before whom the above affidavit  was made is a Justice of the Peace within and for said County duly commissioned and that his signature thereto is genuine.  
Given under my hand and the seal of said Court this 21st day of June A.D. 1834 
Nathan B Haswell
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Ex [examined] by Wm. Johnston
Ex’r INVALID
REJECTED
OWN
Nathaniel Barnett
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32291
New York
Nathaniel Barnett
Suspended
Letter of 5 Decr ’34 to Hon. J. Heard
Let to A. Bull May 1 1846
536
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Troy Dec. 11. 1845. 
Hon J. L. Edwards 
Sir 
Nathaniel Barnet of the Town of Hoosick in this County made application to your Department to be placed on the pension Roll for services as a Revolutionary Soldier several years ago. The Gentle man whose services he obtained in forwarding his application, was John Fitch Esq, counsellor at Law, then of Hoosick, but now a resident of Toledo in the State of Ohio.  The Old Gentleman is still living and is between 90 & 100 years of age and has never been informed until recently, what was or has been the fate of that application until recently & he finds his name on the census of pensioners, published I suppose under your instructions; I am requested to call your attention to this subject and request such information in regard to Mr. Barnett’s application as you are enabled to give your attention to this subject will be greatfully acknowledged by 
Yours &c 
Archibald Bull