Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application File S. 855, Thomas Brewer, New Jersey
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State of New Jersey   )
Middlesex County ss: )

On this seventeenth day of September in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred & thirty two personally appeared before the Judges of the Inferior court of common Pleas in & for the county of Middlesex in the State of New Jersey in open court the same being a court of records and now sitting Thomas Brewer a resident of the City of New Brunswick in the county & State aforesaid who being duly sworn according to Law and being examined and interogated by the sd. court according to the instructions from the war department doth on his oath make the following declaration in order to obtain the benefit of the act of congress passed June 7, 1832 - viz -
  That he was born sometime in the year 1750 and is now 82 years of age or thereabouts.  He has no record of his age in his own possession but has been informed by The Rev. James S. Cannon former pastor of the Reformed Dutch Church at six-mile-run in Somerset county N. Jersey that the records of that church shew that he was baptised in that year.  He has never seen the record himself & it would be of no avail if he had as he can neither read nor write.  He has always estimated his age from that information & dont doubt its correctness.  Was born in the Township of Franklin in Somerset county aforesaid.  At the commencement of the Revolutionary was & when
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he first entered the services of the United States he lived in the Township of North Brunswick in Middlesex county N.J. & had lived there for a number of years but dont know how long - Since the war he has resided in the counties of Monmouth Middlesex & Somerset in N. Jersey but for the greater part of the time in Middlesex where he now lives.  He entered the service of the United States as a volunteer & private at branbury in the county of Middlesex in a company commanded by Captain David Chambers & in the regiment commanded by Col. John Nielson.  This was in the Spring of 1777 and when the British lay at New Brunswick & then served there successive months at and about Branbury & the Cheesequakes along the shore of the Raritan or Amboy bay. During this period was in several skirmishes with the British.  Immediately after the expiration of said three months, he went out again as a volunteer under Captain John Van Nemberg & in the regiment commanded by Col. John Nielson to Paulus Hook opposite New York & served there two months & then came back as far as Elizabethtown & the Blazing star on the shore of Staten Island sound & there served two months, during which had an engagment with the British at Elizabethtown, was in the hottest of the battle.  The last two months above mentioned he served as a substitute being hired by one John Hatfield but whether he served in the place of Hatfield or another he cannot say knows that he was
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hired by him.  At those placed too he served under different officers to wit Captain Freeman & Colonel John Duyckineck. Col. Nielsons Regiment having gone home. Immediately after his service at Elizabethtown as aforesaid he went to The Cheesequakes again & served there under Captain John Day & Col. Chambers one month as a substitute for one John Gerlick.  He then joined a company commanded by Captain John Pyatt & served as a substitute for one Abraham Gulick for two months at Shrewsbury in the county of Monmouth - was with Capt Pyatt & under Colonel Genney when the British stores were taken in Shrewsbury town.  From this time he continued to serve to the end of the war, always as a substitute for some one or other but cannot now tell whom.  As soon as one tour was out he was applied to to serve in the place of another & did serve.  He served three years in the whole & under several other officers than those above named whose names he cannot recollect except Capt. Joachim Gulick under whom he served for a considerable time.  Was at the battle of Springfield under Capt. Freeman & Col. Duyckineck.  Lay at Crosswicks creek in Burlington county at the time the battle of Princeton took place.  At the battle of White plains he lay under the mountain & acted as a guard for the bagage.  When the battle of  Monmouth took place he was on Staten Island under Capt Van Nembugh.  The country through
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which he marched was the counties of Burlington, Somerset, Monmouth Middlesex, Essex & Bergen & Staten Island.  He has no written discharge from the services nor any written or documentary evidence of his service, but known to Lewis Johnson, Abraham Bennet, Thomas Egbert & several others who all still living & John Slover & Daniel Slover (if their attendance at court can be procured) can testify to his services & is not known to who can testify to his character for veracity & his belief of his services as a soldier of the revolutionary war.  And he hereby relinquishes every claim whatever to a pension or annuity except the present & acclaims that his name is not on the pension roll of the agency of any State.
Thomas (his mark) Brewer
Sworn & Subscribed )
in open court the      )
day & yr. aforesaid   )
  Simeon Mundy

We John Slover & Daniel Slover of the county of Middlesex & State of New Jersey do hereby certify that we are well acquainted with Thomas Brewer the above named applicant & knew him during the war of the revolution, that he served as a soldier dur
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ing that war but how long we are unable to say.  We believe from our knowledge of him & our recollection of the events of that day that he served nearly the whole of the war of the revolution in his own behalf or as a substitute.  He was soldiering nearly all the time.  We believe him to be of the age represented by himself & that he is a man of veracity & that his statement is entitled to credit.
Daniel (his mark) Slover
John (his mark) Slover
Sworn & subscribed  )
in open court the       )
day & yr. aforesaid    )
  Simeon Mundy

And the court do hereby declare their opinion after the investigation of the matter & after putting interogatories prescribed by the war department that the above named applicant was a soldier of the revolution and served as he states.
Dated Septr. 17, 1832.
Simeon Mundy
J. Ford
Robert McHemey

I Ferdinand S. Van Arsdalen Clerk of the Inferior court of common Pleas in & for the county of Middlesex aforesaid do hereby certify that the foregoing contains the original proceedings of said court in the matter of the application of Thomas Brewer for a pension.
[seal affixed]
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the seal of said court this 19th day of September eighteen hundred and thirty two.
F. S. Van Arsdalen Clerk
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State of New Jersey  )
Middlesex County     )  Ss:
Be it known that on this twenty ninth day of July one thousand Eight hundred & thirty three, before me, the undersigned a Justice of the Peace in and for said County personally appeared Elizabeth Brewer, of said County, who being duly sworn, doth on her oath  say, that she is the widow and legal representative of Thomas Brewer, dec. the applicant for a Pension named in papers marked 8708, that said Thomas Brewer died on the 21st or 22d day of January 1833, leaving her in a destitute situation - that she is in the 76th year of her age, and Knows of said Brewer's being frequently out in service in the Revolution, and believes he served as he states,- and she hereby makes application for the Pension which would have been allowed to her husband the said Thomas Brewer, had he lived.
Elizabeth (her mark) Brewer
Sworn & subscribed before me)
the day & year aforesaid           )
J.S. Ford
Justice of the Peace

State of New Jersey   )
Middlesex County      ) Ss:
Before me the undersigned one of the Justices of the Peace in & for the County aforesaid, personally appeared, William Letson, who being duly sworn, doth on his oath say, that he is acquainted with Elizabeth Brewer, the above named deponent - that she is the widow of Thomas Brewer as therein set forth - That said Thomas Brewer, to this deponent's knowledge died on the 21st or 22d day of January last, 1833.
   William Letson
Sworn & subscribed this 29th day )
of July 1833, before me                  )
J.S. Ford
Justice of the peace
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I hereby certify that William Letson, the foregoing deponent, is a credible person, and that his statement is entitled to implicit belief.
   JS Ford Justice of the peace

I Nicholas Booraem, Clerk of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas in & for the County of Middlesex, New Jersey, do hereby certify that the foregoing are the original & supplemental proceedings in the case of Thomas Brewer an applicant for a Pension and of his widow Elizabeth Brewer that Simeon Mundy before whom the afffidavit of Daniel Slover & John Slover was taken was & is a Judge of said Court, & that his signature thereto is genuine; and that Peter P. Runyon & Jonah Ford before whom the supplemental proceedings were had, are Justices of the Peace, duly commissioned, and that their signatures thereto affixed are genuine.
[seal affixed]
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand & seal of office this twenty ninth day of July one thousand Eight hundred & thirty three.
N. Booraem
Clerk
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  Affidavit in the case of Thomas Brewer, an applicant for a Pension under the Law of June 1832.
Middlesex County  )
New Jersey ss         )
Be it known that on this tenth day of July Eighteen hundred & thirty three, before me the undersigned a Justice of the Peace in & for said county, duly commissioned & sworn personally appeared Abraham Bennet, a Sergeant in the Revolutionary War & now receiving a full Pension as such who being duly sworn on his oath Deposeth & Saith, that he was well acquainted with Thomas Brewer, the applicant for a Pension named in the paper marked & numbered 8708, believes him to have been a man of veracity & that his statement in relation to his services (which has just been read to him) is entitled to full credit. Knows that the said Thomas Brewer was in the service one month at least commencing in June in 1780 at Cheesquakes in the County of Middlesex New Jersey under Capt. Morgan for that he, the deponent, was there at the time as Sergeant.  The said Brewer serviced under him.  Deponent is enabled to fix upon the year & the time of the year, from a search warrant for contraband goods now in his possession, with the execution of which he was entrusted as guard.  Deponent has no other personal knowledge of said Brewer's services, but remembers to have heard of him frequently as in service, both before and after the  period named above, and has no doubt that he served as he has stated in his declaration.  Deponent is upwards of seventy years old.
   Abrham Bennet  Serent
Sworn to before me the day  )
& year above mentioned       )
Peter P. Runyon
Justice of the Peace
I hereby certify that Abraham Bennett Ser. named in the foregoing affidavit is a credible person and that his statement is entitled to credit.
Peter P. Runyon Justice of the Peace
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State of New Jersey  )
Middlesex County     ) ss:
  Before me on this twenty fourth day of July 1833, one of the Justices of the Peace in & for the County aforesaid, personally appeared Lewis Johnston, a suriving soldier of the Revolution, who being duly sworn doth on his oath Depose & Say, that he was well acquainted with Thomas Brewer, now deceased, the applicant for a Pension named in pension papers marked 8708, in his life time.  Knew him to be in service in the War of the Revolution, saw him in said service one tour at least in 1779 and one tour in 1778, at both times at Pompton, Morristown, & that neighborhood.  Dont know how long those tours lasted, but they could not have been less than a month, as a month was the shortest regular tour then performed.  Said Brewer, he believes was frequently out besides but he has no personal knowedge of any other service than that spoken of above.  Thinks his statement entitled to credit.
   Lewis Johnston
Sworn & Subscribed before me)
this 24th day of July AD 1833    )
  J.P. ford
  Justice of the Peace  I hereby certify that Lewis Johnston, the above named deponent, is a credible person, and that his statement is entitlted to implicit belief.
  J. P. Ford