Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application File R. 17,339, for John Reese, Pennsylvania
Page 1

(3 - 1776)

SERVICE
Penn

Reese, John
Barbara Margaretta

NUMBER
R. 17339

CONTENTS
[blank]
Page 2

Berks County

Personally appeared before me William Pauli
Paster of the German Reformed Church of City of Reading who doth depose and say that the within is a true extract from the records of the church
Wm Pauli

Sworn & subscribed before me this 11th day of
March 1851
William Betz
Alderman
Page 3

John Reese and Barbara Wunder were joined
in Matrimony on the 28th of April AD 1778 by the Rev. Wm Boas regular Pastor of the Reformed Church of Reading.
I do hereby certify that the above is a true extract from the Records of the German Reformed Church by Reading Berks County & State of Penna.
Wm. Pauli
Pastor
Reading Feb 15th 1851
Page 4

393
Gerger

Petition
Barbara Margarette Reese
Widow Reading Penna.
May 6. 1834
clms.
of John Reese

State of Pennsylvania
Berks County SS
I Michael K Boyer of the Court of Common Pleas of Berks County do hereby certify that William Betz is an acting Alderman of the City of Reading in and for said County, duly Elected and commissioned as such according to law and that the signature purporting to be his is true and genuine
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the seal of the said court at Reading this 27th day of January AD 1851.
Michl. K. Boyer Prot.
Page 5

To the Honorable the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly met
The petition of Barbara Margaretta Reese widow and relict of John Reese late of the
Borough of Reading Berks County
Humbly sheweth 
That your Petitioners said husband was a soldier in the revolutionary War, That she is
for and is in her twenty seventh year that she poor, and is in her twenty seventh year That she now is and hath been conferred to her room for several years past
Therefore prays your honorable body will take
into consideration and grant her relief.
And the  will pay &.
Barbara Margaretta Reese
X
her mark

Witness
Henry Betz
Page 6

Berks County ss 
On the 29th day of January AD 1834 Before me
the subscriber, one of the Justices of the peace in and for said County personally appeared Nicholas Lott of the Borough of Reading Berks County aforesaid a creditable Witness who upon his solemn oath doth depose & say that he is upwards of  seventy eight years That he was well acquainted with John Reese the deceased husband of the said Barbara Margaretta Reese, that the said John Reese was a soldier in the Revolutionary War and served a tour of duty of six months in the Flying Camp in the year 1776 and there this deponent was also a Soldier in said amp, and that she is poor
Nicholas Lott
Sworn & Subscribed
Before me
Henry Betz
Page 7

Berks County ⎬ 
On the 28th 1834 Before me the subscriber, one of the Justices of the peace in and for said County personally appeared Jacob Petre of the Borough of Reading a Credible Witness who upon his solemn Oath doth depose and say that he is upwards of seventy five years who upon his solemn oath  doth depose and, That he was well acquainted John Reese, late of the Bough of Reading deceased who was the husband of Barbara Margaretta Reese the Petitioner, That she said John Reese served a tour in the Militia during the Revolutionary War, in Capt. Geist's Company within year 1777. Col. Hunters Regiments, and at that time was intermarried with the petitioner, and at that he served and Second tour in the year 1778 in a company commanded by Capt. Whetstone
that this deponent served in the same company at the same time that the said Barbara Margaretta in the widow of the said John Reese decd, and that she is old and poor
subscribed
Jacob [illegible] [Petre]

Sworn & subscribed before me
Henry Betz

We the subscribers Justices of the peace in and for Berks Court do hereby certify that we are well acquainted with Nicholas Lott and Jacob Petre that they are man of good character and to be believed on their oaths, Witness, our hands Mar 4th 1834
Henry Betz
Peter Aurand
Page 8

State of Pennsylvania
Berks County ss
Before me the Subscriber an Alderman of the City of Reading in and for said County came John Miller of said City Esquire who being duly sworn says that he was well acquainted with
Henry Betz and Peter Aurand within named frequently saw them write and that the signature of Henry Betz and Peter Aurand within named and genuine
John Miller

Sworn & Subscribed
Jany 29. 1851. Before Me
William Betz
Alderman

State of Pennsylvania
Berks County SS
I Michael K. Boyer Prothonotary of the Court of
Common Pleas of Berks County do hereby certify that William Betz is an acting Alderman of the City of Reading in and for said County duly Elected and commissioned as such according to law and that the signature purporting to be his is true and genuine
In Testimony whereof I have hereunto set my
hand and affixed the seal of said court at Reading this 29th day of January AD 1851
Michl. K. Boyer Present

[seal]

Gerger   393
Petition
Barbara Margaretta Reese
widow Reading Penna.
Mar. 6 1834
clms.
of John Reese
Page 9

Barbara M. Reese
Pa
Act 4 July 1836
J. Rudin
Page 10

State of Pennsylvania
County of Berks ss
On this 11th day of March 1851 personally before me, one of the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas in & for the County aforesaid Hannah Jones who being duly sworn according to law, doth on her solemn oath make the following declaration on behalf of her self, and surviving brothers & sister, whose names are viz: Catharine Bingaman, Elizabeth Maurer, Mary Christ, William Bechtel in order to obtain the benefit of the act of Congress passed 4 July 1836, or any act subsequent thereto That she is the daughter of John Reese & Barbara Margaretta Reese, who were married as will appear by the annexed certificate, on the 28 April 1778. That her father John Reese told her he served as a Soldier during the Revolutionary war, but cannot now recollect the length of time he served. That her father died in the town of Reading, County of Berks, sometime in the month of April in the year 1813 and was not in the receipt of a U.S. pension at the time of his death, that her mother Barbara M. Reese
after his death, in the year 1834 applied to the
Legislature of Pennsylvania, and recd a pension, which she drew up to the time of her death, which was in the month of August in the year 1834
That she is now very poor and humbly begs that she may obtain any money or monies that was or may be due her mother Barbara M Reese, who never recd anything on account of the services of her husband Jno Reese from the government of the United States the said John Reese as you will see by the depositions of his
companions in arms, served different tours in the war of the revolution, and further saitheth [sic] not--
Page 11

Hannah Jones
X
her mark

Sworn and subscribed before me a Judge in & for the County of Berks this 11th day of March 1851
David F Gordon
Pres. Judge

State of Pennsylvania
Berks County ss
I Michael K. Boyer, Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas of Berks County do hereby certify that David F. Gordon Esqr is President Judge of 23rd Judicial District of Penna for
the County of Berks, duly appointed and Commissioned as such according to law and that the signature purporting to be his is true and genuine
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set
my hand and affixed the seal of said Court at Reading this 11th day of March 1851
Michl. K. Boyer - Prot.

[seal]
Page 12

MMHF
CML
Rev. & 1812 Wars Section

November 24, 1925

Emma A. Bechtel
1319 Lancaster Ave.
P. O. Box 189
Reading, Penna.

Madam;

I have to advise you that from the papers in the
Revolutionary War pension claim R. 17339 it appears that John Reese enlisted in 1776 and served six months as a private in the Flying Camp; that he served a tour in 1777 as a private in Captain Geist's Company, Colonel Hunter's Pennsylvania Regiment and that he also served a tour in 1778 as a private in Captain Whetstone's Pennsylvania Company. It is not stated that he was with Washington at Valley Forge. He died in April 1813 in Reading, Berks County, Pennsylvania. His age is not given.
Soldier married April 28, 1778 in Reading, Pennsylvania, Barbara Margaretta Wunder. She died in August 1834 in the seventy-seventh year of her age.
On March 11, 1851, Hannah Jones applied for pension, on account of the services of her father, the said John Reese, in behalf of herself and the other surviving children: Catharine
Bingaman, Elizabeth Maurer, Mary Christ and Juliann
Page 13

Bechtel. The claim was not allowed as there was no law that provided for the children of such a soldier.
Respectfully,

WINFIELD SCOTT
Commissioner.
The legal technicalities about soldier being dead before any but invalid acts & widows before any widow's act were too complicated and also unnecessary to explain now.
AW
Page 14

No. 7.714
Barbara M. Reese decd
widow of John
Penn
Act of 4th July 1830.
Let to James Breedin June 13th 57
Page 15

17339

Revy
P. O. Barbara M. Reese
Service: widow of John
Rev
Enlisted [blank]
Discharged [blank]

Application filed: [blank]
Not found on printed list of 1852.
Re-enlisted: [blank]
Attorney: [blank]
P. O. [blank]
[blank] Recognized. [blank] Contract.
[blank]Cert. of Dis. Searched for [blank]18

1935 Nov. 24 Hist. to Emma A Bechtel MNH
Page 16

Copy

June 13. 1851
James Bredin Esq.
Harrisburg, Pa.
The declaration in the Case of Barbara M. Reese has been received accd, and filed under the act of July 4 1836 - But nothing was ever due the decedent from the government since his first act granting a pension to widows passed on the 4 July 1836, embracing rights for pension only widows then living while Mrs Reese died in 1834 I have sent this letter to you on consequence of my not knowing the Post Office of [illegible] J Jones to where you requested it should be addressed [illegible text]
Page 17

EMMA A. BECHTEL
1819 LANCASTER AVENUE
P. O. BOX 189
READING, PA.

Oct. 24-1925

Pension Office
Dept of Interior
Washington D.C.

law writing your Dept for information.
I am a descendant of John Reese of Reading Pa. who our Grand-Mother always told his had served with Washington's army at Valley Forge, we have no papers to help us prove this
So far in all the records of Berks soldiers in the Revolution, we have had access to, we find only
one John Reese, a private in Capt. Reese's Co.
Sometimes the
Page 18

name is Spelt Rees or [illegible]
Is there any thing on record [to] help us prove that John Reese had been at Valley Forge?
As to the different ways of spelling the name, we have found the same thing existing on the church records in the baptisms & marriage of
his children
I am also enclosing a sheet giving the date of his birth & death as well as the names of his wife and children
I am writing your department at the suggesting of Miss Jessica C Ferguson Research Librarian at Harrisburg Pa
Yours Sincerely
Emma A. Bechtel

[stamp]
U. S.
PENSION OFFICE
OCT 26 1925
Page 19

John Reese Family
John Reese was a son of Job Josia Reese
and his wife Catharine (Keim)
John Reese married Margaretha Barbara
daughter of John George Wunder & his wife Dorothea Elizabeth.
John Reese B. [born] Sept. 1754 - Died Apr. 1st 1843
Margaretha Barbara Reese - 1753 Aug 21 1834
Their children were
George Married Maria
Elizabeth B 1783 Mar Daniel Mercer
Sarah B. 1785- Married Michael Kramer
Maria Magdalena 1787-  married Thomas Christ
Hannah B. 1790 married Jones
Barbara B. 1792  married  Felix
Catharine B. 1795 married Bingaman
Juliana B.  1797 married Christian Bechtel
Margaret B. 1799
Page 20

THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES
Form VAM-51
12-5-41

Division of Veterans' Administration Archives

BOUNTY LAND WARRANT RECORD CARD*

Name Reese, John
Grade Private
Line Virginia (Lee's Legion)

WARRANT Number  S 12494 and 13697
ACREAGE 100
ISSUED June 20, 1789 to - not shown

*The information concerning the issuance of warrants carded on this form is found in volumes 2 to 4 of "Land Warrants Issued Prior to 1800" which are registers of bounty land warrants issued to non-commissioned officers and privates under congressional resolutions of September 16, 1776, and subsequent dates. Other records relative to the applications for warrants appear to have been destroyed in the War Department fire of November 9, 1800.
Information concerning warrants surrendered to the Federal Government is to be found in General Land Office records in The National Archives.