Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application File R. 8406, for James Power, Maryland
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Service
MD

Power, James

Number
R.8406
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37613
James Power
Pension Act 1832
PA

Hiram Hultz
Prothonotary
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State of Pennsylvania
Allegheny County

Be it remembered that on this 16th day of May AD 1848 personally appeared in open court James Power in open court before the district Court of Allegheny County now sitting a resident of Indiana Township County and state aforesaid aged between ninety -tow and ninety-three 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 as herein stated - that he enlisted under Captain Andrew Haynes at the fork of the Potomac at a placed called Old Town in the state of Maryland about the 7th day of June 1876 (1776?) thinks his Colonel was Col. Schryhock - that he continued in the service in Capt. Hynes company for six months and received from said Capt. Hynes his discharge hereto annexed dated December 7th, 1776 - was at Fort Lee - see under General Washington when the British army took Fort Washington and that he could not cross North River to assist Kidwallace and Magaw - That this deponent knows of no person now living who can testify to his services and that his discharged hereto annexed is the only evidence of his services he can now procure.

He hereby relinquishes every claim whatever to a pension or annuity except the present and declares that his name is not on the pension roll of the agency of any state.

sworn and subscribed the day and year aforesaid.

James Power

Hirum Hultz - Prothonotary
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Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
Allegheny County

I James Willson and Thomas Jessup residing in the township of Indiana state and county aforesaid hereby certify that we are well acquainted with James Power who has subscribed to and sworn to the foregoing declaration: that we believe him to be ninety-two year of age that we have known him for twenty-six years, that he is reputed and believed in the neighborhood where he resides to have been a soldier of the revolution and we concur in that opinion.

James Willson
Thomas Jessup

Sworn & subscribed this 16th day of May AD 1848 in open court

Hiram Hultz - Prothonotary

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 certify that James Willson and Thomas Jessup who signed the above certificate are credible persons and that their statement is entitled to credit.

Attest:
W H Lowrie
Judge Dist Court

I Hiram Hultz Prothonotary of the District Court of Allegheny County do hereby certify that the foregoing contains the original proceedings of said district Court in the matter of the application of James Power for a pension.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal of office this 16th day of May AD 1848.

SEAL
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Interrogation and answers of James Power the foregoing applicant for a pension taken in open court this 17th day of May 1848

1st - When and in what year were you born?
Ans - In Old Virginia in Prince William County but don't know the year but think I am 92 or 93 years old.

2nd - Have you any record of your age and if so where is it?
Ans - I have none.

3rd - How were you called into service, were you drafter, did you volunteer or were you a substitute and if a substitute for whom?
Ans - I enlisted as a soldier.

4th - Where were you living when called into service, where have you lived since the revolutionary war and where do you live now?
Ans - Was living in Maryland at the time I enlisted at the forks of the Potomac. After being discharged I was travelling about a good while but for the last 50 years I have been residing in Indiana Township, PA.

5th - State the names of some of the revulart officers who were with the troops where you served, such continental and militia regiments as you can recollect and the general circumstances of your service.
Ans - My Capt. was Andrew Hynes, my Col Shryock, 1st Lieut. Jno Jacobs, 2nd Lieut. Sinneker McCracken - Think I was under Gen Han. Can't say what regiment - served at Fort Lee was present at the surrender at Fort Washington on York Island.

6th - Did you ever receive a discharge from the service and if so by whom was it given and what has become of it?
Ans - I did & I annex it hereto dated Phil Dec 7th, 1776.

7th - State the names of person 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.
Ans - I name especially James Willson & Thomas Jessup now present & I could name many others.

Answers on oath before me in open court.

W H Lowrie - Judge Dist Court
Allegheny Co PA
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State of Pennsylvania
Allegheny County

I Hiram Hultz Prothonotary of the District Court of Allegheny County in said state of Pennsylvania do by these present certify that the Honorable Walter H Lowrie by whom the foregoing certificate of attestation was given and who has in his own proper handwriting subscribed the same was at the day of the date thereof and now is one of the Judges of said court duly commissioned and acting to all whose acts as such full faith and credit are and of a right ought to be given throughout the United States and elsewhere. And I further certify that the said court is a court of record for said county and state.

In testimony whereof I have hereto set my hand and affixed the seal of said court at Pittsburg in said county the seventeenth day of May AD eighteen hundred and forty-eight and of the Independence of the United States the seventy-second.

Hiram Hultz
Prothonotary

SEAL

37613
James Power
Pension Act 1832
PA
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In the matter of the application of James Power late of Indiana Township, County of Allegheny, State of Pennsylvania, now deceased for a pension as a revolutionary soldier.

Allegheny County

On this the 14th day of February AD 1857 personally appeared in open court before the court of Common Pleas now sitting in and for said county in the state of Pennsylvania, James B. Power a resident of Indiana Township of said county and on his oath duly administered makes the following declaration - "I am a son of James Power deceased the claimant, and am 50 years of age and I have often heard my father speak of his services in the revolutionary war, and he was reputed and believed in the neighborhood where he resided to have been a soldier of the revolutionary war and I believe that opinion to be true. My father died on 4th September AD 1851 and was at that time 96 years of age. And I further state that my father often said to me before his application for a pension that he was entitled to one but that he had lost his discharge, and this discharge was believed to be lost until I found the same amongst some old papers a short time before my father applied for the pension. Deponent further says that he does not know of anyone living who can prove the services or identity of his father who saw him in the service.

J.B. Power

Sworn & subscribed before me Feb 14, 1857

J Bermingham Proth
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-2-

Roliter Power - and a son of James Power deceased appeared at the same time & place and being sworn says - that he is a resident of the same place with his brother James the first witness and that he is 59 years of age and that he has examined the evidence of his brother James and he believes the same to be true in every particular, and further that he has very often heard his father during his life speak of his services in the revolutionary war, and witness knows that he always had the reputation in the neighborhood of having served in that war. Deponent says he was born & raised in Indiana Township on the farm on which his father lived and died and during all that time his father resided in the same place and that he had served in said war was always understood in the family and was common report of the neighborhood.

R. Power

Sworn& subscribed before me Feb 14, 1857

O J Bermingham - Pro

James Halstead sworn says that he resides in Indiana Township, Allegheny Co PA in the neighborhood where James Power deceased the claimant lied and died - deponent says he is 50 years of age and has resided within one mile of the claimant James Power deceased for forty-eighty years past and was well acquainted with him and I have frequently from the time I was boy heard the claimant speak of his services
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in the revolutionary war and he was always reputed and believed in the neighborhood where he resided to have been a soldier of the revolution and I fully concur in that opinion. The claimant resided in the same place as long back as I can remember until his death which was in September AD 1851.

Jas Halstead

Sworn & subscribed before me the 14th day of Feb 14, 1857

J Bermingham - Pro

Matthew Thompson of the same township aged 68 years being sworn says he has lived for over forty years in said township and was personally acquainted with James Power deceased the claimant and he knows that claimant was always reputed and believed in the neighborhood where he resided to have been a soldier of the revolution and deponent fully concurs in that opinion.

Matthew Thompson

Sworn & subscribed before me the 14th day of Feb 14, 1857

J Bermingham - Pro
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4

And the said court do hereby certify and declare their opinion after investigating the matter and putting the questions prescribed by the war department that it appears to the court that the witnesses James B Power, Roliter Power, James Halstead and Mathew Thompson who signed the foregoing deposition are residents of the places stated in their depositions and that they are credible persons and that their statements are entitled to credit.

Witness the hand and seal of the President Judge of the Court of Common Pleas Feb 14, 1857

William B McClure
Pres. Judge Com Pleas

Allegheny County

SEAL

I John Braugham Prothonotary of the District Court of Common Pleas for said county certify that hon. Wm B McClure Esq by whom the above certificate was given and whose name is thereto subscribed in his own proper handwriting was at the date thereof President Judge of the said court duly commissioned and sworn and acting.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the seal of said court the 24 day of March AD 1857.

John Braugham - Prothonotary
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Power of Attorny 
of Samuel Power
son of
James Power
of Pennsylvania
Act of June 7, 1832
Suspended Case
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POWER OF ATTORNEY

State of Pennsylvania
County of Allegheny

Be it know that before me a Justice of the Peace in and for the county aforesaid duly authorized by law to administer oaths personally appeared Samuel Power a resident of Derry township in the county of Westmoreland in the state aforesaid who being first duly sworn according to law states that he is the sone of James Power dec'd in the county of Allegheny and state of Pennsylvania who was a revolutionary soldier and that he believe the United States are still indebted under existing laws for the pension that was due under the application heretofore made and that he is directly interested as a claimant in the pension for which application was heretofore made as aforesaid, and constitutes and appoints Isaac N Coffin of Washington D.C. his true and lawful attorney with irrevocable power to examine into  investigate and establish the claim for said pension and do all acts necessary thereto.

In witness whereof the said Samuel Power has on this 15th day of October 1852 signed his name and affixed his seal.

Samuel Power - SEAL

Witness - Thos Steel

Signed, sealed, acknowledged and sworn to before me on this 15th day of October 1852.

Thos. Steel J.P.

State of Pennsylvania
County of Allegheny

I Geo S Hays clerk of the Court of Common Pleas of the county and state aforesaid do hereby certify that Thomas Steel before whom the foregoing power of attorney was acknowledged and affidavit made was at the time of so doing a Justice of the Peace i and for the county aforesaid duly commissioned and sworn and that his signature above written is genuine.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the seal of said court this 15 day of October 1852.

Geo S Hays
Prothonotary

Here if the soldier or officer is living insert this name; if he is dead and the widow is living, insert her name; if both dead insert one of the living children's names; if the children are all dead and either of them survived the former unsuccessful applicant, insert the name of the administrator of that former applicant.

Here if the soldier or office is living insert his name again; if the widow is living, insert the words, "widow of" and the name of her husband; if both dead, insert the words "Son or daughter of" and name of the former unsuccessful applicant.

Here insert the word "soldier" or "officer" whichever he was.

Note: When a female is the person who executes this paper, please put the letter "s" before the word "he" in every place where it occurs.
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June 15, 1935

James Power
R.8406
BA-J/MLB

Mrs. W.F. Phillips
Oil City, N.S.
Pennsylvania

Dear Madam:

You are furnished herein the record of James Power as obtained from the papers on file in pension claim R.8406 based upon his service in the revolutionary war.

James Power was born in Prince William County, Virginia; the date of soldier's birth and names of his parents are not stated.

James Power applied for pension May 16, 1848, at which time he was aged between ninety-two and ninety-three years, and a resident of Indiana township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania where he had resided fifty years.

The soldier stated that while living at Old Town, at the forks of the Potomac River in Maryland, he enlisted about June 7, 1776 served as private in Captain Andrew Hynes' company, Colonel Shryock's Maryland regiment, stationed at Fort Lee, and that he was present at the surrender of Fort Washington on York Island; he was discharged December 7, 1776.

Soldier's claim was not allowed as he failed to furnish proof of six month's service according to the requirements of the pension law.

James Power died September 4, 1851, on his farm in Indiana Township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.

The name of soldier's wife and date of his marriage were not given in the claim.

The names of the following children of the soldier, James
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Power are shown:

Samuel Power who in 1852 was a resident of Derry Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania.

Roliter Power - a sone who in 1853 was living in Fairview, with post office at Houston, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania; in 1857 he gave his age as fifty-nine years and was then a resident of Indiana Township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania where he was born and reared: in 1862 he gave his address as Jefferson Furnace, Clarion County, Pennsylvania.

James B. Power who in 1857 was fifty years of age and residing in Indiana Township, Pennsylvania.

Very truly yours

A.D. Hiller
Executive Assistant to the Administrator
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James Power
R 8406
Md.
Page 16

I do hereby certify that James Power has served as a soldier in my company the full time for which he engaged and is hereby discharged from the same.

Philadelphia, December 7th, 1776

Andw Hynes - Col.
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Jefferson Funace Jan 1, 1862

S F Glenn Esq

Dear Sir

I notice your card in the old soldiers advocate and wish you to examine the case of James Power a revolutionary soldier, the certificate together with all the documentary evidence that could be obtained you will find on file in the proper department. You will please examine the whole and let me know your opinion and if a pension can be obtained. I am willing to pay you a liberal fee.

Yours respectfully

R. Power

Address
Jefferson Furnace
Clarion Co Pa
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It is respectfully submitted in the case of James Power that the original discharge is the best evidence of which the nature of the case is susceptible - particularly when it is known that nearly all the revolutionary rolls were burnt in the Treasury in 1833. There is positive testimony in addition and recommendations of his character.

The discharge has always been considered equal to the best record evidence - especially when the presumption is that the rolls were lost or destroyed.

The pension is only asked for a private and for six months service. A liberal view of the case will I think grant a long-delayed justice.

S F Glenn
Atty

Jan 7 /62
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James Power
illegible
PA

1832
Page 20

37613
James Power
Following is Scratched Out

Hon C Darragh Judge
PA
T Howard Apr 8/57

Act June 7th, 1832

37613
James Power
Penn'a

Following is scratched out

Hon C Darragh July 21 18
T Howard Apr 8, 1836
I.N. Coffin Aug 21, 1856
Thos Howard April 16, 1857
Hon Wm Steward Mch 2/60
S.F. Glenn Jany 6, '62

8406

June 7, 1832