Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application File R. 789, Francis Bentey, French Ohio Residence In 1832
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(3-1776)
SERVICE                                     
French        
 Bentey, Francis

        R.789
                     Bentey or
                     Benty or

CONTENTS
Ohio residence in 1832
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Francis Benty
Ohio
French Troop
1824
Orrin Metcalf
Ghardan
Geauga County
Ohio
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        Brief in the case of Francis Benty
60        of Geauga in the State of Ohio
                        (Act 7th June, 1832.)

1. Was the declaration made before a Court or a Judge? before the Court

2. If before a Judge, does it appear that the applicant is disabled by bodily infirmity?

3. How old is he? 79

4. State his service, as directed in the form annexed.

Period May In 1780 volunteer left the service in Decem 1781.                          

Duration of Service.        

Rank.     Private         

Names of General and Field Officers                                                                                                             under whom he served. Cap [Captain] Lucner Gel. [General] Fayette                                                                      Gel. [General] Roshambeau


5. In what battles was he engaged?  taking Lord Cornwall

6. Where did he reside when he entered the service? at Elses in France

7. Is his statement supported by living witnesses, by documentary prof, by traditionary evidence, by
     incidental evidence, or by rolls? Traditionary

8. Are the papers defective as to form or authentication? and if so, in what respect?
It does not state exactly the time he served

I Certify that the foregoing statement and the answers agree with the evidence in the case above
mentioned.
                        George Taylor
                                                                      Examining Clerk.
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Frances Bounty [or Frances Bentz]
Application for a Pension
_________ " ____________
[illegible]

1824

Filed Aug 10th, 1832
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The State of Ohio   
Geauga County for | on the tenth day of August one thousand and eight hundred and thirty two. Personally appeared                    Francis Benty before the Honourable [Honorable] Joshua Collett and Ebenezer Lane Judges of the Supreme Court to Charelon [Chardon} Court House in and for said County
Geauga and State of Ohio. Now sitting Francis Benty a resident of Painesville Township in the County and State foresaid. Aged seventy nine 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 7th 1832.
That he entered the service of the United States under the following named Officers and served herein Stated Admiral de Tiernay, General Rochambeau, Captain Lucnier, Lieutenant Sunda. Sometime in May in the
year 1781, at Elses, formerly the Province of Elses, near the City of Strasbourgh in France. Your Claimant entered the service as a volunteer and private from Strasburgh which was the residence of your Claimant at the time he so entered the service and repaired to Brest in France in about [crossed out word replaced with] thirty days, from Brest he Sailed for America with the first division of the French Fleet under the Command of Admiral de Tiernay and was on the water about six weeks at the expiration of which we Sailed into Newport where we lay until in the Spring of 1781 when he joined the land troops under the Command of General Lafayette, General Rochambeau, Captain Lucner, Leutenant [Lieutenant] Sunda the other officers is not within his recollection and marched to the White Plaines in the State of NY your claimant being a foreigner at that time does not recollect the particular places through which he marched) from here he marched to Fort Washington in order to retake it but failed in the
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attempt and immediately returned to White Plains where we lay some days the number your claimant does not recollect but some ten or fifteen when we crossed  the River and marched to Yorktown in Virginia in order to take Cornwalis in which [illegible] again out
your claimant participated.  And that he left the Service in soon after the Battle some time in December 1781, the day he does not recollect and that he has no documentary
evidence, that he knows of no person [illegible] [illegible] he can persuade who can testify to his service, and that his name is not on the pension board of the agency of any State, And your Claimant would further State that there is no minister in the immediate vicinity with which he is associated whom he can persuade to certify [the word "as" is [crossed out] to his character and service.  Sworn to and Subscribed
this tenth day of August A.D. 1832. [illegible]
Samuel Butler,  Elishe F. Gookins residing in the Township
of Painesville County of Geauga and State of 
Ohio hereby certify that we are well acquainted with Frances Benty who has Subscribed and Sworn to the above declaration that we believe him to
be seventy nine years of age, that he is respected and believed in the neighborhood where resides to have been a Soldier of the Revolution and that we Concur in that opinion.
Sworn to and Subscribed     
Samuel Butler
 Elisha F. Goodkins
in open Court the 10th day of August
A.D. 1832   Edward Paine Jun. [Junior] Clerk
Question: 1. Where in what year was you born?
Answer: I was born in the province of Elses near the
City of Strasburgh in France in the year of our Lord
1764
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Quest [Question] 2. - Do you have any record of your age?
Ans [Answer] - I have not.
Quest 3. - Where were you living when called into the  service,
where have you lived since the Revolutionary war, and
where do you now live?
Ans - When called into the service I lived within six or
eight miles of the City of Strasburgh in France
since the Revolution I have lived in different parts of
the State of New York until within two years past
which two years last I have resided in Painesville
Geauga County Ohio where I now live.
Quest 4. - When were you called into the service were you
drafted, did you volunteer or were you a substitute?
Ans  - I did volunteer.
Quest 5. - State the names of some of the Regular Officers who
were with the troops when you served, such
Continental and Militia Regiments as you can
recollect, and the general circumstances of your
service.
Ans - General Lafayette, Lieutenant General
Rochambeau, Captain Lucner, Lieutentant Sunda.
I was with the troops formed of the first-division
of the French fleet the Line, a regiment I do
not recollect. I volunteered while in France
to go and serve in the American Revolution
and sailed from Brest a seaport in France
with the first division of french fleet
under the Command of Admiral de Tiernay we sailed
into Newport, from where we marched to the White
Plains in the State of NY [New York]. I was part out at
the attempt to retake Fort Washington, and
in the Battle in which Cornwalis was taken.
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Quest 6. - Did you end receive a discharge from
the service and if so by whom was it given
and what has become of it?
Ans - I did not receive a discharge.
Quest 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 service as a Soldier of the Revolution.
Ans - Ralph Granger Esq, Samuel Butler, Alvah
Cobler.
Francis Benty
And the said Grant do hereby declare their opinion after
the investigation of the matter, and after putting the 
the interrogations prescribed by the War department
that
Edward Paine Jun. Clerk [crossed out]
The above named applicant was a Revolutionary
Soldier and served as he states. And the Court
further certifies that it appears to them that Samuel
Butler and Elisha F. Gookins who signed the preceeding
certificate are credible persons (residing in the township
of Painesville), and that their statement is entitled
to credit.
I Edward Paine Jun. Clerk of the Supreme Court for said
County of Geauga do hereby certify that the foregoing
contains the original proceedings of the said Court
in the matter of the application for Francis Benty
for a pension.
In testimony whereof I have [illegible] by my
hand and seal this eleventh day of August one thousand
and eight hundred and thirty two.
Edward Paine Jun. Clerk
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Report
Act of June 1832
See letter 24 April 1833
To
Orrin Metcalf
Chando
Geauga Cty
Ohio
789
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Ex'r.  INVALID.
No. 789
REJECTED [Stamped vertically]
Acts of July 14, 1862, and March 8, 1873 [crossed out]
Francis Benty
P.O. French Troop
[The following includes notes added to a stand form.]
Service: 1852 Printed
Book-Rejected
Enlisted: ,18  and Suspended
Discharged: ,18 Pensions gives
Reasons
Application filed: ,18 for Rejection: "Served
with the French
Alleges: Army."
Re-enlisted:
Attorney:
P.O.
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BRIEF objections to the admission of Pension Claims, of which those
answered in the negative, in red ink, will apply to the claim of
Francis Benty which require
further proof or explanation.
I.   Does the declaration show where the applicant resides? Yes

II.  Did the declarant make the declaration in the county where he resides?  Yes

III. If the applicant did not make the declaration in the county where he resides, is there any reason
assigned for his not doing so?

IV. Has the declarant mentioned the period or periods of the war when he served? Yes

V.  Has he mentioned 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?

VI.  Has he given the names of the officers under whom he served, in conformity with the regulations?  Yes

VII. Has he made a relinquishment of every claim to any other pension than the one under the Act of 
June 7, 1832?  Yes

VIII. Has the Court given their opinion?  Yes
IX.  Has the Clerk given his certificate? Yes
X.  Is the Clerk's seal fixed? And if so, has it a device or inscription by which it can be distinguished
from any other seal? Yes
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XI.  Has the applicant obtained the evidence of a clergyman and another respectable citizen as to
their belief respecting his age and the general belief in his neighborhood relative to his revolutionary
service? Verified by two citizens

XII. If the clergyman's affidavit has not been produced, is there any reason assigned for not obtaining
it?  Yes

XIII. If the applicant has no documentary evidence, and has not obtained the testimony of at least one
living witness, has he stated in his declaration that such proof cannot be had?  Yes

XIV. [dagger typographic mark] If the applicant's name is not fund on the rolls of military service, has he produced a witness
or witnesses as to his service?
If he has produced direct proof as to service, has the magistrate who administered the oath
certified to the credibility of the witness or witnesses?
Has the proper office certified to the official character and signature of the magistrate as the
regulations direct

XV.  Does it appear from any  of the papers that the witness was in such a situation, or of such an age,
as to have a personal knowledge of the applicant's service?

XVI. [double dagger typographic mark] Are the papers authenticated as the regulations direct?  Yes

XVII. Are the seven interrogatories by the War Department answered satisfactorily? And,
if not, which of them is not so answered?  Yes

__________________

EXPLANATORY NOTES.
QUERE V. 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.
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It is important in all cases 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 [italics] about three or four months [end italics] is too indefinite, and all such qualifying expressions are objectionable. Some persons who apply for pensions
merely state 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 shewn 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.
[dagger typographic mark] QUERE XIV. [italics] Proof of Service [end italics]
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 same, as well as 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 character and signature of the
magistrate must be certified by the proper office, under his seal of office.
[double dagger typographic] QUERE XVI. [italics] Mode of authenticating papers. [end italics]
In every instance where the certificate of the certifying officer who authenticates the paper is not
written on the same sheet of paper which contains the affidavit, or other paper authenticated, the
certificate must be attached thereto by a piece of tape or narrow ribbon, the ends of which must pass
under the seal of office of the certifying office, so as to prevent and paper from being improperly
attached to the certificate
[hand with pointing finger symbol] In every case where the clerk of the court, or other certifying officer, has no public seal of
office, the certificate of a member of congress, proving the official character and signature of the
certifying, should accompany the papers.