Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application File S. 23698, Oliver Hitchcock, Mass.
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SERVICE                                                                  
Mass_____     

NAME
Hitchcock, Oliver 

NUMBER
S23698
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4423
New York
----------------------------------------------------
Oliver Hitchcock
of Granville in the State of New York who was a Private in the company commanded by Captain ____ of the [illegible] commanded by Col  Howe in the Masstts line for 15 months

Inscribed on the Roll of New York at the sale of 50 Dollars ___ Cents per annum to commence on the 4th day of March, 1831. 

Certificate of Pension issued the 16 day of July 1833 and sent to L. C. Parker
                         North Granville

Arrears to 4th of July, 1832                          $75
Semiannual allowance ending 4th July '33   $25
                                                                         
                                                                    $100

{Revolutionary Claim, Act June 7, 1832.}

Recorded by Geo C. Stiles.     Clerk
Book D.      Vol. 5.        Page 127




Right  Page (Outer Envelope):

Letter to Ezra Ames  Eq   Aug. 10, 1833
"             " J.C. Parker       "                     "
"             " Pensioner               " 28,  "    "
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7852
Oliver Hitchcock
(Page 75)
15.16
[horizontal] 20 Sep 1832
                   21 Nov 1832
J C Parker
North Granville
NY
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7852
BRIEF in the case of Oliver Hitchcock of Washington [crossed out] Granville County of Washington in the State of New York\
(Act 7th June, 1832.)

1. Was the declaration made before a Court or a Judge?
In open Court
2. If before a Judge, does it appear that the applicant is disabled by bodily infirmity?
_____
3. How old is he?
72 years
4. State his service, as directed in the form annexed. 
Period                      Duration of Service
                                Years, Months, Days
In 1776 Sept 14th     ----, 2,----
1777 March              ----, 1,----
1778 July 1st            ----, 6,----
1779 Sept                 ----, 6----   

Rank.              Names of General and Field       
As a                Officers under whom he served.
private            Col. Howe - Genl Lincoln
    "                  Col. David Leonard. Col Anthony
                        Wayne -
 "                     Col. Jacobs. Genl. Cornwall
[illegible]         War Dept. Sr. Master Genl.

5. In what battles was he engaged?
at Rhode Island
6. Where did he reside when he entered the service?
Springfield, Massachusetts
7. In his statement supported by living witnesses, by documentary proof, by traditionary evidence, by incidental evidence, or by the rolls?
No (by hearsay evidence of 3 proving.)
8. Are the papers defective as to form or authentication? and if so, in what respect?
They appear to be [illegible]
X Certify that the foregoing statement and the answers agree with the evidence in the case above mentioned.
James [illegible] Examining Clerk
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Declaration for a pension of
Oliver Hitchcock
---
____ sent to John C. Parker
North Danville Wash. Co. N.Y. from
War Department-
1852
_____
15 mo. private
$50
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I (?) S. Leigh Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas for the County of Washington and State of New York do hereby certify that the affidavits of George Gillis Lewis Hitchcock & Samuel Hitchcock together with the Declaration of Oliver Hitchcock the applicant for a pension, the opinion of the Court and any original Certificate are the original papers in the said application and that H. Shepherd before whom the affidavit of George Gillis purports to have been taken was at the time thereof a Justice of the Peace in & for the said County duly authorized to (?) Oaths & that his name signed to the (?) is his proper hand writing known to me and that I will know the said George Gillis and certify he ia Reputable person - And that John C. Parker before whom the several affidavits of Lewis Hitchcock & Samuel Hitchcock and the recent affidavit of Tyler L Freeman & Certificate of the Clergyman H. Noble purport to have been taken was at the several times and still is a Justice of the Peace in the for said County duly authorized to  administer oaths herein and that the name J.C. Parker to the (?) of the several affidavits and to the said several certificates of Credibility is the proper handwriting of the said (?) known to me in testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and affixed my Seal Office (?) of this my certificate upon the narrow Ribbon binding the papers together this 21st day of December in the year 1832

Signature of I. S. Leigh (?)
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at of New York 
Washington county ss. 
Tyler Freeman of the Town of Granville in the County of Washington and Sate of New York aged forty five years & (?) being duly sworn saith that he has been acquainted with Oliver Hitchcock of Columbia one year, in Pittstown in the County of Rensselaer years and in Argyle & Granville in the County of Washington five years that in Columbia County he was reported in his neighborhood to have been a soldier of the Revolution and in Pittstown he was very generally so reputed and in Argyle he was generally reputed to have been such Soldier of the Revolution and at no time has he ever heard it doubted that he was such soldier and he further says he believes and he further saith he is well acquainted with Doctor George Gillis and Lewis Hitchcock & Samuel Hitchcock whose several affidavits are hereto attached and they are reputed and believed to be credible witnesses and men of strict veracity and he concurs in that opinion & belief and he cheerfully concurs in the belief and traditionacy opinion that the said Oliver Hitchcock was a Revolutionary soldier and he further saith that the Oliver Hitchcock received from Argyle to Granville his presint residence last April. 
Signature Tyler L. Freeman

Subscribed and sworn this 
day of December 1832 before me 
John C. Parker Justic. Peace and I certify that I am acquainted with Tyler L Freeman the above Deponent and with Doctor George Gillis whereas affidavit attached is the original papers and they are credible witnesses and Lewis Hitchcock & Samuel Hitchcock whose affidavits are also attached I am not personally acquainted with but have been credibly informed that they are both members of and ruling Elders in the Presbyterian Church in Pittstown Renselear County State of New York & which I believe to be true

Signature of J. C. Parker J. Peace

over for Clergyman certificate
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State of New York 
Washington County ss. I Jonathan H. Noble a Clergyman residing in the Town of Granville in said County do hereby certify that I have resided in said town only from the Latter past of September Last past since which time I have been well acquainted with Oliver Hitchcock who has subscribed & sworn to the annexed Declaration that I believe him to be seventy two years of age that he is reputed and believed in the neighborhood where he resides to have been a soldier of the Revolution by a number of persons with whom I have conversed and have not heard any who have expressed Doubts as to his service as a Soldier and I certify that the said Oliver Hitchcock is deemed in the neighborhood where he resides to be a man of exemplary piety and to posses a strict regard to truth
Signature of Jonathan Noble

Subscribed & sworn this 11th December 1832 before me

J.C. Parker J. Peace and i certify that I am well acquainted with the above J. H. Noble that I knew him while he was in College and afterwards in the theological Seminary at Princeton N. Jersey and that he is now a Clergyman employed in the village of North Granville the place of the residence of the applicant for a pension above named

Signature of J.C. Parker J Peace
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State of New York
Washington County ss.  
George Gillis of the Town of Argyle in the County and State aforesaid being duly sworn saith that Oliver Hitchcock now of Granville in said County removed from Argyle aforesaid to (?) in April last that he is well acquainted with him the said Oliver Hitchcock that he resided in the Town of Argyle about five years next preceeding his removal to Granville as aforesaid that he sustained in Argyle aforesaid an irreproachable character as well for truth & veracity as otherwise and whatever he should say might (believed?) as strictly true - and he further saith that the tradition of his being a Soldier of the Revolutionary War in the Militia or State troops became general in the neighborhood of his residence in said Town and this Deponent has no Doubt but that he did serve in the militia against the Common enemy in said Revolution from (?) I heard by Reports among his neighbors - that this Deponent is a practicing Physician in Argyle aforesaid and it would be difficult for this Deponent to attend the next Court of Common Pleas in said County and this Deponent further saith that from the appearance of the said Oliver Hitchcock and his knowledge of officers of the opinion & he Judges him to be more than seventy years of age. 
Signature of George Gillis

Sworn this third day of July 1832 before me
H. Shipherd  Justice of the Peace
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(?) experiencing (?) years of age (?) his appearance and the communication on that subjetts formerly made by me and I think it will be inconvenient for me to attend the next Court of Common Pleas in this County
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State of New York
Washington County
Lewis Hitchcock of Pittstown in the County
of Renselaer State of New York aged forty five years and ?
being duly sworn according to Law saith he is the son of Oliver
Hitchcock named in the annexed Declaration and while he
lives with his father at Lebanon Springs Columbia County and
State of New York he heard his father and other old men frequently
conversing about this having served in the Revolutionary 
war as soldiers and      ??    the different places they were
at _ and he heard the neighbors of his father at Lebanon
aforesaid frequently speaking of his said father having been
a Revolutionary Soldier and it was generally believed 
in the neighborhood           ??                                      that his
said father had been a soldier in the Revolutionary 
war _ and he further said while his father lived
in Pittstown in the County of Renselaer and State of New York
as stated in the annexed Declaration he has frequently heard in the neighborhood of the Declarant at Pittstown aforesaid from his neighbors of the said Oliver Hitchcock
having been a Revolutionary Soldier and the tradition
as a Soldier and the    ??    is quite general and since
the removal of his father from Pittstown he had heard
several persons in that neighborhood speak of his
father as being entitled to a pension after the passing of the
pension Law of 1818 and he remembers his father went
to ? inquire if that act reached his case as
a Soldier entitled to a pension and also to Josiah Masters
Late member of Congress  from the County of Renselaer to Make
the         ??             since the     ??  passing the State Law by  ?     
 he has heard his neighbors at Pittstown aforesaid   ??      that 
the act of June 7th 1832 would surely make the case of
the said Oliver Hitchcock and they manifests an
anxiety that he should receive the benefit of that act and
they consider that he needed it in his present circumstances
further said that he has heard him speak of being employed as an ?
Subscribed ?  this                for government as stated in this declaration
18th day of August 1832 -
John C Parker     ?           Lewis Hitchcock
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Samuel Hitchcock of Pittstown in the County of Rensselaer & State of New York aged thirty years being duly sworn saith the son of Oliver Hitchcock named in the annexed Declaration and that he has heard the affidavit of Lewis Hitchcock on the other side of this half (?) read and he concurs in the Statement therein related and has heard the like in the former neighborhood of Said Oliver Hitchcock at Pittstown aforesaid and it is still there deemed by the said neighbors that he was a Soldier and he concurs in the particulars stated in said affidavit as knowing the like facts except at Lebanon Springs which he knows nothing about - 
Signature of Samuel Hitchcock

Subscribed & sworn before 
me this 18th August 1832
Signature John C. Parker J Peace
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State of New York 
County of Washington Ss.
On this twenty (ninth?) day of August in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty two personally appeared in open Court before the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas in and for the County of Washington now siting Oliver Hitchcock a resident of the Town of Granville in said County of Washington and State of New York aged Seventy two years and upwards 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 July 7th 1832 That he entered the  service of the United States under the following named officers and served as herein stated to wit that in September 1776 and he thinks on the 17th day of that month he was drafted at Springfield then County of Hampshire in the State of Massachusetts for two months service into Capt. Burts Company in Col. How's Regiment and General Lincolns Brigade and shortly thereafter marched from Springfield to Hartford, New Haven Fairfield Stratford in the State of Connecticut and to New Rochelle & East Chester in West Chester County and State of New York where they had a skirmish with the British in which Col William Shepherd of the Massachusetts years men was wounded in the neck that he went to the vicinity of the White plains and from place to place in that vicinity where he was at the time of the Battle at the White plains on which occasion he was sick in his tent and remained sick until the termination of his said two momths service when the Company in the latter part of middle of November of the year aforesaid were dismissed and he was carried home sick - (recvd?) in this Campaign Col  Moseley his surgeon Donaldson (?) was killed by the British at a farm house and he further declares that early in March 1777 he volunteered in Springfield aforesaid for one months service in Capt. Burts Company an Col David Leonards Regiment and immediately marched for Ticonderoga through Pittsfield Williamstown in Massachusetts and Bennington & Manchester in Vermont and from there to Whitehall them ca;;ed (Skunsborough?) in New York and thence on the Ice down Lake Champlain to Ticonderoga where he continued under the Command of Col Anthony Wayne until dismissed in April when he went home after an absence of five weeks or more no other Regiment there at this time.

And he further Declares that about the first of July 1778 he volunteered for six months in Springfield aforesaid in Capt. Rowley's Company of this Springfield and soon marched from Springfield for Rhode Island in a direct rout to Providence in that State from thence went on to the Island where he was put in Col. Jacobs Regiment & General Conrnwals Brigade with his Company and continued on the Island until after the Battle with the
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State of New York
Washington County ss,
I Lewis Hitchcock of Pittstown in the County of Rensselaer & State of New York aged forty five years and upwards being duly sworn according to Law saith he is the son of Oliver Hitchcock named in the annexed Declaration and while he lived with his father at Lebanon Springs Columbia County and State of New York he heard his father and other old men frequently conversing about there having survived in the Revolutionary war of Soldiers and mentioned the different places they were at and he heard the neighbors of his father at Lebanon aforesaid frequently speaking of his said father having been a Revolutionary Soldier and it was generally believed in the neighborhood there at the time mentioned that his said father had been a Soldier in the Revolutionary war - And the further saith while his father lived in PIttstown in the County of Rensselaer   and State of New York as stated in his annexed Declaration he has frequently heard in the neighborhood of the Declarant at Pittstown aforesaid from his neighbors of the said Oliver Hitchcock having been a Revolutionary Soldier and the tradition there was and still is that he did served in the Revolution as a Soldier and the same is quite general and since the removal of his father from Pittstown he has heard several persons in that neighborhood speak of his father as being entitled to a pension after the passing the pension Law of 1818 and he remembers his father went to Judge Door to inquire if that act reached his case as a Soldier entitled to a pension and also to Josiah Masters late member of Congress from the County of Rensselear to make the lik inquiry and since the passing the State Law by Congress he has heard his neighbors  at Pittstown aforesaid remark that the said Oliver Hitchcock and (?) manifested an anxiety that he should receive the benefit of that act and they considered that he needed it in his recent circumstances further saith that  has heard him speak of being employed as an (?) for government as stated in this declaration
Signature of Lewis Hitchcock

Subscribed & sworn this 
18th day of August 1832

Signature of John C. Parker Just Peace
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Samuel Hitchcock of PIttstown in the County of Rensselaer & State of New York aged thirty years being duly sworn saith he is the son of Oliver Hitchcock named in the annexed Declaration and that he heard the affidavit of Lewis Hitchcock on the other side of this half (?) and he concurs in the Statement therein related and has heard the like in the former neighborhood of said Oliver Hitchcock at Pittstown aforesaid and it is still there deemed by the said neighbors that he was a Soldier and he concurs in the particulars stated in said affidavit as knowing the like parts except at Lebanon Springs which he knows nothing about - 
Signature of Samuel Hitchcock

Subscribed & sworn before 
me this 18th August 1832

Signature of John C. Parker  J Peace
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State of New York 
County of Washington ss. 
On this twenty eighth day of August in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty two personally appeared in open Court before the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas in and for the County of Washington now siting Oliver Hitchcock a resident of the Town of Granville in said County of Washington and State of New York aged Seventy two years and upwards 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  The he entered the service of the United States under the following named officers and served as herein stated to wit That in September 1776 and he thinks on the 17th day of that month he was drafted at Springfield there County of Hampshire in the State of Massachusetts for two months service into Capt. Burts Company in Col. How's Regiment and General Lincolns Brigade and shortly thereafter marched from Springfield to Hartford, New Haven Fairfield Stratford in the state of Connecticut and to New Rochell & East Chester in West Chester County and State of New York where they had a skirmish with the British in which Col William Shepherd of the Massachusetts years men was wounded in the neck, that he went to the vicinity of the White plains and from place to place in that vicinity where he was at the  Battle at the White plains on which occasion he was sick in his tent and remained in the latter past or middle of November of the year aforesaid were dismissed and he was carried home sick - know in this Campaign Col. Moseley his surgeon Donaldson (?) was killed by the British at a farm house and he further declares that early in March 1777 he volunteered in Springfield aforesaid for one months service in Capt. Burts Company and Col David Leonards Regiment and immediately marched for Ticonderoga through Pittsfield Williamstown in Massachusetts and Bennington & Manchester in Vermont and from there to Whitehall then called (Skunsborough?) in New York and from thence on the Ice down Lake Champlain to Ticonderoga where he continued un the Command of Col Anthony Wayne until dismissed in April when he went home after an absence of five weeks or more no other Regiment there at this time

 And he further declares that about the first of July 1778 he volunteered for six months in Springfield aforesaid in Capt. Rowley's Company of West Springfield and soon marched from Springfield for Rhode Island in a direct rout to Providence in that State from thence went on to the Island where he was first put in Col. Jacob's Regiment & General  Cornwals Brigade with his Company and continued on the Island until after the Battle with the
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British when the army retreated off the Island at Howlands ferry to the main lands the last of August or first of September and the troops (?) in various places along the Shore that he continued there until the first of January 1771 where the Company was dismissed and he went home to Springfield having served in this Campaign the term of six months in the company aforesaid. That in this Campaign he said (?) Genl Sullivan the Commander in chief as he understood also said Genl Green on this Island who he believes had some Command during the action, that he saw there Lieut Glover, Col Shepherd of Massachusetts, 

And he further declares under oath that he served in the Staff Department (as he supposes) as an Express under the Directions of the Deputy quartermaster Lieut William Smith stationed at Springfield from the fore last of September 2779 to the fore part of March 1780 being six months  That he was sent with a package from Springfield to Maj Green a Brother of Genl Green to Coventry in Rhode Island and thence to Providence in Rhode Island to a person whose name is not now recollected thence to Boston with a package to John Adams from thence to Exeter in Newhampshire Salem Newburyport to Ipswich with a package to a person whose name is not now recollected to all which plans he had packages of Communication from Springfield given him by said Deputy quartermaster and also went two or three times with Communications to (Grassville?) in Massachusetts, and also to Northhampton in Massachusetts & to South Hampton in that State and to Northfield in that State and one or twice to Hartford in Connecticut with Communications from said Deputy quartermaster General and was sent by him to Great Barrington in Massachusetts with a package to a McPinchon and also a package to General Green at West Point and also at another time with Letters and an order for money to Biddle or Bidwell the Commissary General of the Continental army at Morristown in New Jersey and by him send to Philadelphia as his assistant where this Declarant obtained fifty thousand Dollars which be forth to said Deputy quarter master general at Springfield aforesaid that during all this six months he was under the controul and at the call of said William Smith as quartermaster General and was not in any other business during said Term - That he never at any time received a written Discharge and that he does not know of any person now living by whom he can prove
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any services in this his Declaration. and to the questions put to him by the Court this declarant answers as follows to with a

1.  The he was born in Springfield in the State of Massachusetts & that he has a record of his birth taken from that of his father by which it appears he was born on the 18th February 1760 which he believes true

3. That several times when he entered into the services as aforesaid he was living in Springfield Massachusetts where he continued to live until February 1785 when he settled in Chester in the County of Hampshire and State of Massachusetts from there he moved to Lebanon (?) in the County of Columbia &  State of New York in March 1788 and from thence to Pittstown in the County of Rensselaer & State of New York in April 1813 from then removed to Argyle in the County of Washington to State of New York in May 1821 and from thence to Granville in the same County on the 24th day of April 1832 where he now resides that never served as a Substitute for any person in the service of his Country and entered the service at the several time as above st forth and that the names of officers recollected and those set forth as above (?) a written discharge is not much known in his presant neighborhood by reason of last residence  He thereby 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 or territory whatever
And he says there is no clergyman in his neighborhood who can testify to the tradition of his services nor any documentary and time 
Signature of Oliver Hitchcock 

Sworn & Subscribed this day and year aforesaid
Signature J S Leigh
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I Jesse S. Leigh Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas in the & for the County of Washington do hereby certify that the foregoing contains the original proceedings of t said Court in the matter of the application of Oliver Hitchcock for a pension and that H. Shipherd and John C. Parker before whom he annexed affidavits of George Gillis and Lewis Hitchcock & Samuel Hitchcock purport to have been taken & sworn separately were at the several dates of the same Justices of the Peace in & for said County authorized to take affidavits and that I am well  acquainted with the handwriting of the same Justices and believe their names subscribed to the said affidavits to be their proper handwriting

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name and affixed the seal of the said County this twenty ninth day of August in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty two
Signature of J S Leigh Clerk
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Oliver Hitchcock            Free

Mr. Granville Ms
Aug 4th

J.L. Edwards Esqr
Commissioner of 
Pensions
Washington City
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State of New York 
Washington County ss. 
I Oliver Hitchcock of Granville in the County & State of New York aforesaid being duly sworn saith that shortly after obtaining his certificate of pension he had a paralytic assertion which for a long while disabled him from calling to mind past event but is now restored to his recollection and he saith that he claims for his services set forth in his Declaration now on file in the Department where he served in the Staff Department under quarter master General William Smith the pay pf Captain during that period of service as his predecessor in that office was Captain Nathaniel Alexander of the United States Army who recommended this Deponent to (?) Smith as his successor to which posts this Deponent was appointed as Stated in his Declaration and for which service he (?) himself entitled to the pay of a Captain instead of that of a Common Soldier and did hope that the Department would have allowed him an officers pension and he now hopes on a review of his Declaration that the department will discover that he is so entitled. This Deponent being aged infirm and without property hopes this  his application will meet with proper attention from the Department and if any thing more is wanting from this Deponent he requests the Department would inform him 

Signature of Oliver Hitchcock

Sworn & Subscribed this 3rd day 
of August 1835 - Before me 

John C Parker J Peace and I certify the Deponent is a man of fair character for truth and veracity and in all respects much esteemed as a man
Signature of John C Parker J. Peace
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North Granville   August 2nd 1835

J L Edwards Esqr
Comm of Pensions 

Sir
Mr. Hitchcock has frequently for a year past spoken to me on the subject of his Pension being enlarged from the pay of a Comm Soldier to that of Captain for a portion of Services as an express for the (?) as he succeeded Capt Alexander he supposes he served under the rank of Captain as a matter of course & having last summer sent a Statement to the Department for the purpose of obtaining a larger pension which is not but $50=00 I have no doubt he served as he states - but dont know whether he can be allowed a larger sum as he is poor & infirm & would take it very kindly to be informed if your (?) will permit, should you deem him not entitled to anything further - 

Your obedt Servant
John C. Parker
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[Vertical]
Revolution

23698
INVALID
File NO. 23 698
Oliver Hitchcock
Pri Rev War

Act: June 7th 32
Index: - Vol. 2 Page 185

[Arrangement of 1879.]