Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application File R. 5819, for Peter Keister, Pennsylvania
Page 1

Service
Penn

Keister ,Peter

Number
R.5819
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State of Ohio. Montgomery County ss
On this thirtieth day of September eighteen hundred and thirty nine
personally appeared in open Court before the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas of said County now sitting. Peter Keister
a resident of said County aged about eighty years who being first duly sworn states on oath this declaration in order to obtain
the benefit of the Act of Congress passed June 7, 1832. That about the first of October Seventeen hundred and Seventy three he
enlisted in the Company of Peter Grove (captain) at Sunbury Northumberland County Pennsylvania, he cannot say whether
they were enlisted under the authority of the Confederation (US) or whether by the State of Pennsylvania he enlisted for the term of
three years, their captain was Peter Grove, their Lieut. James Allison, they acted only as a Company, not being connected with
other troops as Rangers, Captain Thomas Hartley before that came up with his Regiment to defend the frontier and
settlements and lay with his troops in Buffalo Valley on the West Branch of the Susquehanna some short time under the
orders of General Washington as it was said, The Indians concealed themselves and the Regiment did not prove of much
service and was recalled and two company's of Rangers formed, one on the West Branch, and the other on the North
Branch of the Susquehanna of one of which he was as aforesaid, the other Company of Rangers was commanded by
Captain Whitsell from Reading, Berks County, Pennsylvania
he states that up to the time of their discharge they were continuity
in active service, the Indians never attacked them in a body
and the largest number that was seen together was forty two, they ranged up to Bald Eagle Creek and Muncy Valley about seventeen or eighteen miles from Sunbury.
The indians lurked around but never attacked them .
The County had been abandoned by the inhabitants in
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consequence of the indians but upon forming these company's of Rangers a few of the men came back to their farms without
their families and some of them were killed by the Indians.
The indians would take advantage of any temporary absence of the Rangers, and burn property, kill and make prisoners, and
drive off cattle, they were kept continually on the alert marching to and fro to protect the County from an enemy whose presence
was only known by his sudden burning and murders and his escape to the depths of the forrest {forest}. It was their practice to send out a single ranger in the night to lurk
round a farm to discover Indians ,he was ordered to join the
main body by day light and they lost several men in that manner, in this manner he served until the month of August
seventeen hundred and seventy six when he was discharged at Sunbury, the Company was marched there to be discharged.
They were all well armed as Riflemen during this service & drew their arms at Sunbury, such was the nature of their service that he cannot state any prominent fact which
entered into the history of the Country, it was an arduous service marked by individual murders and burnings of the Indians
of our men. I recollect Michael Lamb, John Ebby, John Clinesmith and
Jacob Beeckle were killed by the Indians. John Stormbel and his wife were murdered on their farm up the North Branch. The news came that the Indians had been their{there} and one company
came up, they were tomahawked and scalped and the old man
had {illegible} he helped to bury them. When he enlisted he
was a resident of Northumberland County, he had a certificate
of discharge signed by Captain Grove, he lost it in Pennsylvania.
be burnt some of his old papers when he left Pennsylvania
Forty years ago and moved to Adams County nine miles from West
Union State of Ohio and as he is no scholar he may have burnt
it at that time as he cannot read English, he thought old papers
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would not be much use to him so far into the woods, he knows no man who can prove his service at this date, he has written
several letters to Pennsylvania without getting an answer, Captain Grove is dead, and after much enquiry he found four years ago
that Lieutenant Allison lived on the Little Miami, he went to see him and upon arriving then he was dead & had been buried two days. Since that time he despaired of
getting a pension being told that he must have some evidence of his service, until lately he has been induced to present his
claims, he removed from Adams County Ohio twenty eight years ago to Big Twin Creek in Montgomery County Ohio near
GermanTown where he now lives, he was born in March year not {illegible} but was near fifteen when he enlisted in Northumberland County Pennsylvania, has no record of his age his youngest brother has the Bible in which his age was but when he came to examine
the Bible twenty years ago the leaf was torn out, he is the oldest of Sons, that part of the family other than him if they had lived are dead, the other questions by the Court are fully answered  in the body of the deposition, the names of those in my neighborhood who can testify to my veracity and their belief in my
services as a soldier of the Revolution are Judge Thomas Winters & William C. Emerick.
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.
Peter Keister

Sworn to and subscribed
in open Court the day and
year aforesaid
E W Davies Clk

We Thomas Winters, a clergyman residing in the County of Montgomery aforesaid and William C. Emerick, living in the same, hereby certify that we are well acquainted with Peter
Keister who has subscribed and sworn to the above statement or declaration. That we believe him to be about eighty years of age
that he is reputed in the neighborhood where he resides to have
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been a soldier of the Revolution, and that we concur in that opinion-
And the affiant Thomas Winters, further states that he the said Peter Keister has been for twenty six years past, now is, a communicant
member of the German reformed Church of which he is Pastor.-


Thos. Winters
William C. Emrick

Sworn to & subscribed
in open Court this 30th
day of September 1839-
E.W. Davies Clk

State of Ohio Montgomery County ss
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 certifies that it appears to them that Thomas Winters who has
signed the preceding certificate is a clergyman
resident in said Montgomery County and also one of the Associate Judges of this Court and that William C. Emrick is a credible person and that their statement is entitled to credit.

I, Edward W Davis Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas of the County
of Montgomery aforesaid do hereby certify that the foregoing contains
the original proceedings of the said Court in the matter of the application of Peter Keister for a pension.
In Testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal of Office at Dayton, this 22d day of October Eighteen hundred & Thirty nine.
-
E.W. Davis Clerk

34.874
Peter Keister
Ohio
Peter Keister
Application for Pension
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November 11, 1937
XXXXXXXXX
BA-J/EEL
Peter Keister-R.5819

Mr. Edward A. Glatfelter
247 Kurtz Avenue
York, Pennsylvania

Dear Sir:

Reference is made to your letter in which you request the records of Peter and Gerhert Keiter, of Berks or Dauphin Counties,
 Pennsylvania, soldiers of the Revolutionary War. You state that there was a Peter Keyster in Berks County, Pennsylvania, in 1781, and you ask if this Peter Keyster might be one
and the same person as the Peter Keiter in whom you are interested.
A search of the Revolutionary War records has been made and no record found of a claim for pension or bounty land having been
made to the United States based upon the military service in that
war of any soldier with surname Keiter or similar spelling. The record has been found, however, of a Peter Keister, of Pennsylvania,
and his history is furnished you herein as it may be of interest to you. This office has no means of determining whether or not
this Peter Keister is identical with the Peter Keiter in whom you are interested.
Peter Keister
R. 5819
Peter Keister (his name appears, also, as Teter) was born in March, day of the month and year not stated nor are the names of his parents and place of birth shown. Peter stated that he
was the oldest son of his family and referred to his younger brother but gave no names.
About 1799, Peter Keister moved from Pennsylvania to Adams County, Ohio, and about 1811 to Montgomery County, that state,
September 30, 1833, while living in said Montgomery County, and aged about eighty years, Peter Keister applied for pension on
account of service prior to the Revolution and during the Revolution
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(Revolution) and stated that while residing in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, he enlisted about October 1, 1773 and served
until in August, 1776, in Captain Peter Grove's Pennsylvania Company of Rangers, which was one of two independent companies
of rangers, the other company commanded by Captain Whitsell of Reading, Berks County, Pennsylvania, which served on the
Western frontier of Pennsylvania, protecting the settlements from the attacks of the Indians, that it was an ardous {arduous} service
marked by individual murders and burnings of the Indians of our men."

The claim of Peter Keister was not allowed because he failed to furnish proof of service of six months in a regularly organized military corps. That part of his service prior to
the Revolutionary War and that part which extended into the period of the Revolution, being as a ranger protecting the inhabitants
against Indians, were not provided for in the act of Congress under which he applied.

He signed his application for pension in German and stated that he could not read English. He was a member of the German Reformed Church.
The date of his death is not given and there are no data as to wife or children.
Very truly yours,
A. D. HILLER
Executive Assistant
to the Administrator.

{The following is hand written in the margin}
Found this capt. {Peter Grove} in Pa. Archive Vol. VIII, pages 684,685,687
Northumberland Co. ,Frontier serv. but this soldiers's name not given. However this was a later serv.
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5819
P. O. Peter Keister
Service:
Enlisted: REJECTED  , 18
Discharged:   , 18
Application filed:   , 18
Alleges:
Re-enlisted:  
Attorney:
P. O.
Recognized. Contract
Cert. of Dis. Searched for   , 18
1929 - Feb. 27 H. E. Nutt advised names of witnesses, See claim of Charles Brooks - R.1256, ME.E.
1937 - Nov. 11 - Hist to Edward A. 
Glatfelter - EL
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Peter Keister
Ohio
Rejected
let 29 Nov. 1839
P. Odlin.
did not serve by order of competent authority during the revoly [revolutionary] war
5819
Act 7 June 1832
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Free
Commissioner of Pensions
Washington City
Dist. Colum. 

Oct. 28, 1839
Ohio
7 June, 1832

[stamp with DAYTON Oct 25 on left margin]
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Dayton Oct 22 1839
Commissioner of Pensions
Washington City
Sir
Enclosed I send the declaration of Peter Keister for Pension under the act of 1832.
Please inform me of the result of your action upon it.
Very Respectfully
P. Odlin
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P. Odlin
Nov. 29, 39
A.C.
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War Dept. Penn. Office
Nov 29, 1839

Sir,
The declaration of Peter Keister has been examined .He alleges to have enlisted as a Ranger in Pennsylvania in 1773 for three years to battle the Indians. The service on the
Indian frontier was before the commencement
of the revolutionary war and was
not of that character provided for
by the act of 7 June 1832. That act provided for none who did not serve during the revolutionary war in a regularly organized corps, called into service by competent authority. The claim has therefore been rejected and the
{illegible} filed.

P. Odlin Esq
Dayton
Ohio
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HANNAH PENN JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL
EDWARD A. GLATFELTER, PRINCIPAL
YORK, PENNSYLVANIA

{stamp-received Sep 21 1937 Mail Sus. Div. Vets. Adm. reader 35}

September 20, 1937

The Pension Bureau
Washington, D. C.

Gentlemen:
I am interested in tracing the family
history of the Keiter family and wondered
if one Peter Keiter or Gerhert Keiter applied
for pension. They might be listed in Berks
or Dauphin County.
There was a Peter Keyster on the payroll
of a Berks County Company in 1781. Might this be one and the same person as Peter Keiter who might later have moved to Dauphin County where I am tracing the family line.
Assuring you of my appreciation, I am
Respectfully yours,
E A. Glatfelter
Edward A. Glatfelter,
247 Kurtz Avenue
York, Pennsylvania
EAG/eb