Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application File S. 42342, for John Smaw, Virginia
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(3-1776)

SERVICE
Navy
Va.

Smaw, John  

NUMBER
S.42342

CONTENTS
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16828

New York R

John Smaw of N. [New] York in the State of N. [New] York who was a Mast. [Master's] Mate in the [crossed out: regiment] Frigate "Virginia" commanded by [crossed out: Colonel] Capt. Nicholson of the U.S. Navy  [crossed out: illegible] for the term of 15 mo. Va

Inscribed on the roll of New York at the rate of Eight Dollars per month, to commence o[n] the 24th of August 1819.

Certificate of Pension issued the 25th of Sept. 1819 and sent to Peter A. Jay, [illegible District?] 1, N. [New] York

Arrears to 4th of Sept. 1819 6:4 31:30 $2.60
Semi-anl all'ce ending 4 Mar. 1820  $48.00
$50.60


(Revolutionary claim,Act 18th March, 1818.}

Continued
N. [New] York City
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Notification sent September 5th, 1820 to Geo. Wilson, No. 25, Murray Street, N York
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John Smaw.
Master's Mate
Frigate Virginia
Capt. Nicholson.
1777 - 15 months
24th August 1819
Admitted
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State of New-York, City and County of New-York,} SS.

I, Benjamin Ferris, Clerk of the City and County of New-York, and Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas, in and for the said City and County, Do hereby Certify, That PETER AUGUSTUS JAY, Esquire, before whom the annexed affidavits were made, and who hath subscribed his name to the Certificate, also hereto annexed, was on the day when the said Affidavits were made, and the said Certificate, signed, Recorder of the City of New-York, and a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, called the Mayor's Court of the City of New-York, and duly commissioned and sworn.  And further, that the said Court is a Court of Record; that I am acquainted with the hand writing of the said Peter Augustus Jay, and verily believe that the signature of P.A. Jay subscribed to the said Certificate, is the proper hand writing of the said Peter Augustus Jay.

In Testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the seal of the said Court, this second day of September 1819.

Benjamin Ferris
Clerk
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To the honorable Peter A Jay Recorder of the city of New York & one of the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas called the Mayors court of this said city which is a Court of Record of the State of New York-
The Declaration under oath of John Smaw formerly a Soldier & a Sailor engaged in the Service of the United States during the Revolutionary war Respectfully soweth that the said John Smaw is an Inhabitant of the City of New York and a Citizen of the United States born in Maryland and now aged Sixty Nine Years & upwards 
That in the Year 1776 he enlisted for nine Months in the Company commanded by Captain Blair in the Regiment commanded by Colonel Hays in the Virginia line on the Continental establishment & served in the said Regiment the full term for which he enlisted - That he received a Discharge which was afterwards lost together with his other papers at the time of the Capture of the Virginia frigate hereafter mentioned. That soon after being discharged from the said Regiment this applicant
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(having been bred a sailor,) entered on board the Virginia Frigate, as a seaman, & was immediately appointed Master's Mate by Captain Nicholson who commanded the said Frigate; & served as Master's Mate on board the said Frigate upwards of fifteen months & until she was captured by the British Frigates Emerald & Broom. That this applicant & divers others of the Crew of the Virginia were paroled by the Captors. That about seven months after, this applicant again entered on board the Trumbull Ship of War of the United States the same Captain Nicholson command [illegible] & served on board the Trumbull about fourteen months until she was taken by the British Ship General Monk, after which this applicant being a prisoner was confined on board the Jersey prison ship in the port of New York for about nine
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months when he was exchanged after which he entered on board the private armed Ship Hyder Ally Captain Barney. That the applicant [crossed out: illegible] afterwards served as a volunteer at the Siege of Yorktown & capture of Cornwallis. That he hath lately been quarter Gunner on board the United States Ship Franklin. That this applicant is now old, & poor, has a wife & two children & hath nothing for his maintenance except his profession as a sailor, which he is now too old to pursue much longer - and being in reduced Circumstances in life he is in need of assistance from his Country for support. Therefore he conceive himself entitled to the benefit of the Act of Congress entitled on act to provide for certain persons engaged in the Land and Naval service of the United States in the Revolutionary war approved March 18, 1818, and he requests that your Honor will examine into the truth
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of the Matters aforesaid and certify and transmit the testimony in this care & the proceedings had thereon to the Secretary of the Department of War, to the end that such relief may be had in the Premises as is by law provided.
Dated 24 August 1819 John Smaw

City of New York: John Saw the above named applicant being duly sworn saith that the matter by him at forth in the foregoing Declaration are in all respects just and true-
John Smaw
Sworn the 24 August 1819 Before me P. A. Jay}
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City of New York: Jacob Dewitt being duly sworn saith that in the Year 1776 he enlisted as soldier in the company commanded by Captain Blair in the Regiment commanded by Colonel Hays in the Virginia line on the continental establishment & that this Deponent afterward enlisted again in the said Regiment & served therein & in other Regiments upwards of five years. That the applicant John Smaw was a Sergant in the said Company at the same time that this Deponent was a private therein & to the knowledge of this Deponent served in the said Company as a Sergeant nine months or more. That the said John Smaw hath since been in the Navy of the United States.
Jacob DeWitt his "x" mark
Sworn the 24 August 1819 Before me
P. A. Jay

City of New York: Joseph Roberts being duly sworn saith that in the year 1777 & & 1778 he was a boy on board the United States Frigate Virginia Captain Nicholson That the above named John Smaw entered on board the said Frigate
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in the said year 1777 according to this Deponents recollection in the summer of that year. That the said John Smaw acted as or Master Mate on board the said Frigate for fourteen months, after which this Deponent was left on shore sick, but the said John Smaw continued on board the said Frigate but how long he continued in the said Frigate afterwards this Deponent doth not know. That this Deponent is now well acquainted with the said, John Smaw & knows him to be old & poor in reduced circumstance in life & needing the assistance of his Country for support.
Joseph Roberts
Sworn the 24 [illegible] 1819 Before me P. A. Jay

City of New York: Enoch Sears being duly sworn saith that during the revolutionary War he was a Sailor on board the United States Vessel of War Trumbull carrying twenty eight Guns & was in her when she was taken by the British Frigate General Monk
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that this Deponent when he first came on board the Trumbull found there the above named applicant John Smaw who was also taken prisoner [crossed out: on] together with this Deponent & together with this Deponent was confined in the Jersey prison ship. That after an imprisonment of about five weeks this Deponent was exchanged & released & left the said John Smaw till a prisoner on board the Jersey. That the said John Smaw served on board the Trumbull after this Deponent entered on board that ship & before her Capture about six or seven months. This Deponent hath since served with the said John Smaw on board the Franklin & knows him to be in reduced & indigent Circumstances in life & need the assistance of his Country for support, by which this Deponent doth not mean that he is in a suffering condition but that he hath saved little or nothing & hath only his profession as a Seaman to depend upon, which at his age is
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an uncertain Dependence
Sworn the 27 Aug. 1819 Before me P. A. Jay}
Enoch Sears

City & County of New York: Be it remembered that on the twenty fourth day of August in the year of our Lord one Thousand Eight Hundred and Nineteen before me Peter A. Jay Recorder of the city of New York & one of the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas called the Mayors Court of the said City which is a Court of Record of the State of New York personally appeared the above named John Smaw and made oath to the truth of the facts stated in the foregoing Declaration which said facts are also proved by the Depositions of Jacob Dewitt, Joseph Roberts and Enoch Sears  whereupon I being satisfied that the said applicant did serve in the Army + Navy of the United States on the Continental Establishment in the revolutionary war against the common enemy for the term of Nine months and longer and that he is entitled to the benefit of the act aforesaid do hereby certify and transmit the testimony in
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the case and the proceedings had thereon, as before set forth, to the honorable the Secretary of the Department of War.

Given under my hand and the Seal of the said Court at the City of New York the thirty first day of August in the Year 1819 -
P. A. Jay -

I the said Peter A. Jay do further certify that it satisfactorily appears to me that the above named John Smaw is in reduced circumstances in life and needs the assistance of his Country for support. And further that the above named Joseph Roberts is proved to me to be a person of veracity & good reputation to whose testimony full faith ought to be given. And that I am acquainted with the other witnesses before named, but know of
nothing which ought to impeach their Credit. Dated the 31st August 1819 -
P. A. Jay -
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John Smaw a Revy Pensioner}
25 Sept 1819
Con
mar 1820
14828
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Sold by J.B. Jansen.

NEW-YORK MAYOR'S COURT.

In the Court of Common Pleas, called the Mayor's Court of the City of New-York, held at the City-Hall, in and for the said City, before the Judges of the same Court, of June
term, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty

PRESENT the Honorable Peter Augustus Jay Esquire Recorder of the City of New York 

City of New-York, ss. Be it Remembered, That on the twenty sixth day of June in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty - personally appeared in the Court of Common Pleas, called the Mayor's Court of the city of New-York, in open court, the said court being a court of record for the city and county of New-York, according to the charter of the said city and the laws of the state of New-York, John Smaw aged Sixty nine years, resident in the City and County of New York in the United States of America who being first duly sworn according to law, doth on his oath declare, that he served in the revolutionary war as follows: that is to say, that he enlisted on the seventeenth day of April 1776 as a sergeant in the ninth Virginia Regiment commanded by Colonel Hays in the company commanded by John Blair, deponent enlisted in Northampton County in Virginia for nine months in the Continental Service, and marched from Northampton to Philadelphia and there joined the Grand Army commanded by General Washington deponent was in the battle of Brandywine where Captain Blair was wounded and afterwards died at Philadelphia. Captain Nathaniel Derby then took command of deponents company deponent was a Sergeant in the Army and was discharged in October 1777 by Captain Daily in Philadelphia, and [illegible] in May 1778 Joined the Virgina Frigate rated 36 guns commanded by Commodore Nicholson in Chesapeake Bay and about 6 months after deponent shipped they were captured by the British Frigate's Emerald and Broome each 44 guns deponent was enrolled and sent home, and shortly after shipped aboard the Trumbull Frigate as masters mate, mounting 32 guns under the same Commodore deponent was in the engagement with the Frigate Watt of about 36 guns, deponent was in the engagement with the Frigate General Monk, mounting 40 guns and was captured and sent a prisoners on board the Jersey Prison Ship in the Wallabout [Bay], deponent was exchanged and shipped on board the Hyder Ally under Commodore Barney mounting 32 guns was in the engagement with the General Monk and Captured her and was discharged in the fall of the year 1781 by Commodore Barney in Philadelphia and that his original declaration is dated the twenty fourth day of August one thousand eight hundred and nineteen and that his pension certificate is No. 14. 828 -
John Smaw
[crossed out: (sign?)]
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AND I do solemnly swear that I was a resident citizen of the United States on the 18th day of March, 1818, and that I have not since that time, by gift, sale, or in any manner, disposed of my property, or any part thereof, with intent thereby so to diminish it as to bring myself within the provisions of an act of Congress, entitled, "An act to provide for certain persons engaged in the land and naval service of the United States, in the Revolutionary war," passed on the 18th day of March, one thousand eight hundred and eighteen: and that I have not, nor has any person in trust for me, any property or securities, contracts or debts, due to me; nor have I any income other than what is contained in the schedule hereto annexed, and by me subscribed, to wit:
Real Estate - None -
Personal Estate - None (except wearing appart)
Deponent has no trade, is a sailor - he is at present in the Alms house has had a paralytic stroke of the Palsy which has taken away the use of his legs and it renders him unfit for any kind of business. He has at present no occupation and has no family.
Sworn in Open Court this 26th June 1820}
John Smaw
Benj Ferris Clk
[crossed out: copy]
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I, Benjamin Ferris Clerk of the city and county of New-York, and Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas, called the Mayor's Court of the city of New-York, Do hereby certify, That the foregoing Deposition and the schedule thereto annexed, are truly copied from the records of the said Court: and I do further certify, that it is the opinion of the said Court, that the total amount in value of the property exhibited in the aforesaid schedule is Nothing

In Testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and affixed the seal of the said Court, this Seventh day of August 1820
Benj Ferris Clk
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[crossed out letterhead: La Salle Hotel La Salle at Madison Chicago 2]

[handwritten]
Nov. 1963
I believe this name SMAW was originally SMAR (SMARR) - from which SMURR may have come. John Smaw (Smarr) was from Md + [and] Va - I believe the pronunciation [word underlined] of Smar (Smarr) became Smaw [word underlined] in N.Y.C. when he 

[footer: Franklin 2-0700 Teletype CG 28]
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applied for pension. Note in the enclosed documents that someone has "doctored" SMAW ["w" underlined twice] to make the last letter look like [two words underlined] a "W".

My Smurr family is of Va. and Md. and I have searched original records in Va. (+ W. Va). L.L.
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Invalid

Navy

File No. 42342
John Smaw
Master mare
Frigate Virginia
Revolutionary

Act March 18. 1818.
Index: Vol. [left blank], Page [left blank]

[Arrangement of 1870.]