Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application File S. 15,517, for Joseph Meeker, Connecticut
Page 1

SERVICE                                             NUMBER

Conn              Meeker, Joseph            S 15517
                       Maker
                                                             carded
Page 2

Connecticut    22, 576

Joseph Maker [crossed out] Meeker written 
                      above
of Fairfield in the State of Connt.\ who was a Private on the Co commanded by Captain Gadly, of the Rgt commanded by _______________________ in the Con't line for 10 mos & 14 day
                             33.33
                               1.11
                                 99
                            ______
                            35.43

________________________________________________
Inscribed on the Roll of Connect.
at the rate of 35 Dollars 43 Cents per annum, to commence on the 4th day of March, 1831.
________________________________________________
Certificate Of Pension issued the 5th day of Oct. 1833 and sent to Hon. G. Tomlinson, Fairfield, Ct.
________________________________________________
Arrears to the 4th Sep. 1833 -         88.58
Semi-anl. allowance ending            17.71
                                    Mar '34       _______
                                                     $106.29

                                    {Revolutionary Claim,
                                     Act June 7, 1832.}

Recorded by Wm R Palmer Clerk,
Book e   Vol three     Page 28.
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State of Connecticut
County of Fairfield} Js 
       District of Fairfield October 29th AD 1832

On this 29th day of October 1832 personally appeared before the Court of Probate now in session at Fairfield in and for the district of Fairfield in said County, in open Court, it being a Court of record, Joseph Meeker of the Town of Fairfield in the District County & State aforesaid, aged seventy one and a few months, 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 June7th 1832 - namely - That in 1778 he was a soldier, enrolled, in the company of Militia of the State of Connecticut, in the Town & County of Fairfield in said State, commanded by Captain Eliphalet Thorp, that in the summer of the year he was drafted for the continental service for the term of six months, & in the summer of that year immediately after he was drafted he entered the service of the United States in a company of Connecticut State Troops under[next three words crossed out] Captain [next two words crossed out]  Daniel Godfrey, the first service [illegible word], other company in which he served and, was to guard the Court in session in  at Greenfield in said Fairfield; the Court sat about three weeks and after they [illegible], we [word crossed out] went to Danbury
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to guard the public stores we remained in Danbury about to months we then went to said Fairfield to guard the coast, the night after we got to Fairfield we received orders to march to White Plains in the State of New York, accordingly me & the company in which we served marched to White Plains, and we there remained until the time of service had expired, that undersaid depst he served the full term of five months, and was then [illegible] discharged.  That in 1779 he volunteered to go to Fairfield & Norwalk when the two towns were burned, & was out on service when White Plains was burnt, & in the engagements at both places, was gone more than a week, that in 1781 as near as he can recollect, he was again drafted for the term of three weeks & entered the service of the United States under Cptain [sic] Thomas Nash in the Connecticut State Troops, and actually served that term - That during the whole of the revolutionary war he lived in said Fairfield in the  County [?] of Greenfarm within about four miles from the War  Awhen [sic] he was not drafted & in the service as a drafted soldier, he belonged to a company of Militia  & was  obliged at all times to be in readiness & to march to the War when -
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the alarm gun was fired, & during nearly the whole war, we were harassed by the landing of British soldiers to plunder & burn, that with others would often be called out three or four times a week, & sometimes would be gone from home, when not drafted, two or three days at a time, that he was obliged to go when the alarm was given; that he actually served ss he verily believes in the manner above stated in "defending the coast. during the revolutionary war, decides the time he was drafted, more than a year, the service aforesaid was all performed for the United States in the manner  afsd -

To the following interrogators propounded by the Court he gives the answers subjoined  - Viz - by the Court - When & in what year were you born  Answer by claimant - that he was born in Fairfield on the 25th day of March 1761 - as he always understood [illegible] -

By the Court - Have you any record of your age & if so when is it?
Answer, That he has none, the record made by his Father, was accidentally destroyed by his daughter many years ago -
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By the Court - Where were you living when  called into service
Answer, That he was living in said Fairfield, he was born at said Fairfield & he always lived in that Town & now lives there -

By the Court - How were you called into service -
Answer, He has notes in the body of his declaration -

By the Court - State the names of some of the regular officers, who were with the troops, when you served  & such continental & militia regiments as you can recollect
Answer - He has noted the Captains, Booth was Lieutenant when he was in the five months service under Captain Godfrey, He was in no important battles during the time he was drafted - He never had a commission & never received any written discharge   The officers under whom he served are all dead -

By the Court - State the names of the persons to whom you are known in your present neighborhood & who can testify as to your character for veracity & their belief of your service a a soldier of the revolution
Answer - That he would mention Aaron Sherwood & Peter Wynkosh Esquire -

And the said Meeker further says, that he has no documentary evidence & knows of no person living who fought with him, or knows of his service
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for any part of the time above stated, except Jonathan Coley whose deposition is hereunto annexed - That he hereby relinquishes every claim whatever to a pension or annuity except the present, & declares that his name is not on the pension roll of the  agency of any State -
Sworn to & Subscribed
on the Day & year aforesaid
in Open Court        [Signed] Joseph Meeker
before David Hill Judge of 
the Court  of Probate for the District afrsd

Mr. Aaron Sherwood & Peter Wynkosh both of the town & County of Fairfield aforesaid __________ hereby certify that we are well acquainted with Joseph Meeker who has subscribed & sworn to the above declaration, that we believe him to be over seventy years of age, that he is respected & believed in the neighborhood when he resides to have been a soldier of the revolution & we concur in that opinion, we have [illegible word] in the neighborhood of said in the neighborhood of said Meeker more than forty years last past, & [illegible word] have not been the report during all the time we have lived near him, from the revolution that said Meeker has always sustained a fair character for truth & veracity -  
                    [Signed]  Aaron Sherwood
                                   Peter Wynkosh
Sworn to & Subscribed
on the Day & year  aorefsaid
in Open Court - before
G. David Hill Judge of Probate for the aforesaid District
Page 8

I Jonathan Coley of the Town of Weston in the County of Fairfield, being duly sworn according to law, depose & say: that I am more than seventy years of age, that in the summer of 1778 I was drafted for five months to go into the service of the United States, in the Connecticut State Troops- under Captain Daniel Godfrey, there were others drafted at the same times, I then, when I was drafted belonged to said Captain Godfrey's Company of Connecticut State Militia; that I well recollect, I with others who had been drafted, from said Godfrey's company, were one night at a frolic, at the town of one John S Andreus in said Weston, late in the evening Capt. Godfrey with a file of men, one of which was Joseph Meeker who has sworn to be subscribed the foregoing declaration, surrounded the house where I was, for the purpose of taking the drafted men & compelling them into [two illegible words]., there were 7 or 8 of us who had been drafted, at the house, and all made their escape except myself -

When it was first discovered that Cpt Godfrey had surrounded and the house to take us, there was angst and confusion,     They all escaped their way out of the house, girls & all, some through doors & some through windows & ran in different directions. I was taken and compelled to go with the file of men under said Godfrey, to the house of one Humphrey Ogden  [last line crossed out]
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where they kept me till about day light next morning, when I perceived the had all fallen asleep, & I sprung from the house & ran through  the lots towards home, when  I was ten or fifteen rods from the house the aforesaid Joseph Meeker came out. & with a pistol in his hand, [illegible word] me, I found I could our run him, & took my cover for the woods & made my escape. I afterwards returned & hired a substitute for my five months draft, & paid him twenty round dollars, to [illegible word] my plan - - The aforesaid Joseph Meeker did not belong to Captain D. Godfrey's company of militia, he belonged to another company in a different part of the Town of Fairfield, but he was under him that night, & as I supposed then & still suppose, he was a drafted man, for five months service - the four times & for the same service for which I was drafted & hired a substitute as aforesaid -
    [Signed]  Jonathan Carey
Sworn to & Subscribed
on the Day & year aforesaid
in Open Court
before me David Hll Judge of the 
County of [illegible] for the District aforesaid
Page 10

And this Court aforesaid, do hereby declare their opinion after the investigation of the matter & after putting the interrogatories prescribed by the War Department
that the above & before named applicant was a revolutionary Soldier and served as he states, and the Court further certifies that it appears to them that Aaron
Sherwood & Peter Wynkoop Esquires are residents in the Town of Fairfield aforesaid, & who have sworn to & subscribed the preceding certificate, & that they are
credible persons & that their statement is entitled to credit and also that Jonathan Coley the other witness is a man of truth and his deposition is entitled to full belief.
David Hill Jr Judge of Probate
I David Hill Jr Clerk of the said Court of Probate do hereby certify that the foregoing contains the original proceedings
of the said Court in the matter of the application of Joseph Meeker for a pension. 
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand & seal of office this 29th day of October 1832
David Hill Jr Clerk
Page 11

State of Connecticut
County of Fairfield} Js
On this 4th day of September 1833 personally  appeared in Open Court before the Court of Probate for the District of Fairfield in the County & State aforesaid Joseph Meeker aged seventy two year last March who being first duly sworn according to Law, doth on his Oath make the following declaration in addition to and explanatory of the declaration he made the 29th day of October 1832 and in order to obtain the benefit of the act of Congress passed Junethe7th 1832 - The declarant says the reason of his not being more particular in his former declaration was because he has forgotten much of what he knew respecting occurrences of the Revolution - Time has very much impaired his memory and a fit of sickness has destroyed a considerable portion of the remainder of it.  However since his former declaration was made, he has thought much upon the war of Independence and particularly upon the part he  himself acted in it and he has been unable in this way to recollect some Facts and periods of service which has escaped him at the time he made his former declaration -  He says that according to the best of his recollection and belief the Term of duty in 1778 mentioned in his former declaration when he was drafted for six months commenced in the month of June and continued some time in the month of December that year - he served as a private believed  the whole period for he was drafted when he was regularly discharged as stated in his first declaration although he has no written discharges.  The Troops he believes were state troops: and although employed against the common enemy and in that respect may be said to be in the service of the United
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states as stated in his former declaration, yet he believes they were raised and paid by the state of Connecticut and were of consequence state troops - Jonathan Dimon of Fairfield was Col of the militia he believed at the time and Gould P. Silliman General. That they according to the best of his recollection had a general superintendence of the Guards along the coast in the District allotted to their command.  The general Officers in command at the White Plains the applicant says he cannot now recollect - he also says that the next period of service mentioned in his former declaration as having taken place in 1779 when he volunteered with Capt Thomas Nash of Fairfield to repel the British when they burnt Fairfield and Norwalk was performed in the month of July of that year and for the length of time stated in his former declaration. The term of service of three weeks in 1781 under Capt. Thomas Nash of Fairfield mentioned in his former declaration was he says, according to the best of his recollection & belief in the month of September of that year.  The Troops as he believes were state troops and were stationed as a place called Cedar Point in  Cempo on the sea coast of Fairfield to guard the Coast against the Enemy. He served ss a private soldier and  the business of the soldier was his only business during the term of this draft.  He served out the time and was regularly discharged but has no written discharge. And he served as a private soldier in all his Terms of military duty during the course of the revolutionary War. And in the desultory volunteer militia served an
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alarums, [sic] mentioned in his former declaration, wherein no specific, or definite periods, of military duty, are clearly stated; the declaration says, from more mature considerations and reflection. he recollects.  More periods of volunteer militia duty of one week each, in the course of the revolutionary war, which he entrd [sic] and states with certainty when his former declaration was made - One of which period of one Week of continuous duty as a volunteer under Capt Thomas Nash of Fairfield with others of the militia, was in April of the year 1780, when the British and Tories, made an attack upon Mill River, a small Sea Park in the Town of Fairfield, now called Tenth Park.  They spent this time in driving them off and in patroling [sic] the coast to prevent their return, until they disappeared with their vessels of War from the sound in that Vicinity - the declarant also says that in June in 1781 according to the best of his recollection and belief, he with the militia Company to which he belonged, under Capt Thomas Nash of Fairfield, teamed [?]  out as volunteer, upon an alarum, and spent one Week on the shore of Long Island Sound in Fairfield, in watching and guarding against the Enemy who then threatened a landing and [illegible word] from their Vessels of War anchored off the said coast of Fairfield in the Sound.  The other period of one Week was in July 1781 when he volunteered with others of the militia upon an alarum under Capt Thomas Nash of Fairfield to repel and expected [illegible word] of the Enemy, who then threatened a landing from the Vessels of War hovering on the coast of Fairfield. One Week was employed in this Service - These terms of service were continuous as were his
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sole employment for the time - In addition to the foregoing, the applicant says there is another Tour of military duty [last word inserted] of his which on account of the treachery  of his memory he did not include when his former declaration was made - on or about the first of April 1779 he says according to the best of his recollection and belief he was drafted for Nine months to serve on guard under Capt Eliphalet Thorp of Fairfield. He was stationed at a place called Mar Rumsies [?]  Point- on the Sea Coast in Fairfield when he served out the term for which he was drafted. Then he was discharged but had no written discharge. The duty of this soldier was his only business during the term of the draft - The Troops he believes were state Troops. He knows of no one now living (if there be any such) who can testify for him in this case - The evidence so far as he knows is the best evidence in his power & he believes the only evidence.
     [Signed]  Josep [sic] Meeker
Sworn to and subscribed on'\
the day and year aforesaid
before David Hill Judge
of the Court of Probate for the district 
                aforesaid -

I Thomas F Davis a clergyman residing in the Town of Fairfield in the State of Connecticut do hereby certify that I am acquainted with Joseph Meeker who has subscribed & sworn to the above 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 and that I concur in that opinion and I also believe him to be a man of truth -
              [Signed Ths. F Davis
Sworn to & subscribed on the day &
year aforesaid before David Hill Judge
of Probate for the district aforesaid -
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And the said Court hereby declares its opinion after this second investigation of the matter that the above named applicant was a revolutionary soldier and served as he states and the said Court [last word inserted] certifies that Joseph Meeker who has subscribed this second declaration is the same person who subscribed the first declaration in this collection of papers - and also that Thomas F Davis who has signed the preceding certificate is a clergy man residing in the Town of Fairfield, a man of the highest reputability for moral excellence & that his statement is entitled to [illegible] credit.    
    [Signed] Daniel Hill Judge of Probate

I David Hill Junior Clerk of the Court of Probate for the District of Fairfield aforesaid do hereby certify that the forgoing contains the [illegible] of the said Court in the matter of the application of Joseph Meeker for a Pension.  In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and the seal of Office this 4th day of September 1833

                                [Seal affixed lower right]
   [Signed[  David Hill Jr Clerk
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18969 [crossed out]              22,576

      Joseph Meeker
         Connecticut

Adm 10 Months 19.days

                                                  33.33
 [Three words crossed out]         2.10
                                                _______
                                               $ 35.43

                                                  70.86
                                                  17.72
                                                _______
                                               $ 88.58


                        Hon. G. Tomlinson
                                           Fairfield
                                               Connt

E.G. Smith [crossed out]
Saugatuck, Con
Page 17

                          WAR DEPARTMENT,
                                   Pension Office.
N18969                                                 183

Sir:
   The evidence in support of your claim, under the act of June 7, 1832, has been examined, and the papers are herewith returned.  The following is a statement of your case in tabular form.  On comparing these papers with the following rules and the subjoined notes, you will readily perceive that objections exist, which must be removed, before a pension can be allowed. The rules and regulations will show what is necessary to be done. These points to which your attention is more particularly directed, you will find marked in the margin with a brace ( thus: ] ).  You will, when you return your papers to this Department, send this printed letter with them; and you will, by complying with this request, greatly facilitate the investigation of your claim.
________________________________________________
A Statement, showing the Service of 
                                   Joseph Meeker
                                    Fairfield Co. Connecticut
{A table follows with nine main headings]

Period when the service was rendered
Duration of the claimant's service
      Years    Months    Days.
Rank of the claimant.
Name and Rank of the Company officers under 
     whom he served.
Name and Rank of the General and Field 
      officers.
Battles in which the applicant was engaged.
Country through which he marched.
Place of abode when he entered the service, and age at the present period.
Evidence by which the declaration is supported.

[Responses]
-  draft 1778  6 months     Privt   Capt Godfrey   2 Battles in Connecticut   Danbury    71 Years  Traditionary

- vol 1779       7 days  Privt   Capt Godfrey
White Plains New York     Fairfield Connecticut
Evidence & 

- vol 1781   21 [?] days   Privt      Nash
   [last comment illegible]

- "     "  the service time not stated)

   2.20      [numbers overlap, do not compute]]
   9.49
______
 10.19 (or 11.19)


               I am, respectfully,
                     Your obedient servant,
                            J. L. Edwards.
                             Commissioner of Pensions.
Page 18

[Page 1] 

Regulations Under the Act of June 7, 1832.
Page 19

[Page 8]

Regulations Under the Act of June 7, 1832.
Page 20

15,517
INVALID

File No  15517
Joseph Meeker  {originally noted as Maker]
Pri Rev War
_____________--
Act:  June 7" 1832
Index:- Vol 1.  Page 245

[Arrangement of 1870.]
Page 21

                           Fairfield Sept. 4.1833.

Sir. 
At the instance of Joseph Meeker I herewith transmit his pension application His character for truth is well supported. The two gentlemen who have heretofore testified on that point are among the most respectable inhabitants of this community & the Rev. Mr. Davis doubtless sustains the high standing represented by Judge Hill. In the statement of the applicant therefore you may justly confide.

You will perceive that by the use of sealing wax the seal of the Court of Probate for the District of Fairfield clearly and fully exhibits a "device'.  I understand that the seal affixed to the enclosed papers has been used for a great number of years and is the same
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by which all the pension declarations made before the Court of Probate for Fairfield District have been authenticated.  The use of wax, in this case, was, in accordance with my suggestion to the Judge of that Court.

   I am yours very respectfully,

       [Signed]   G. Tomlinson