Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application File W. 25893, William Waterman, Navy (R.I.)
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(3-1776)
SERVICE NUMBER
Navy RI
Waterman, William  W. 25893.
Esther
CONTENTS
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8,238        4     
Rhode Island       
William Waterman of Cranston in the state of Rhode Island who was a Lieutt. ship Providence commanded by Capt. Whipple, for the term of      War        
inscribed on the Roll of Rhode Island at the rate of 20 Dollars per month, to commence on the 21 of April 1818.          
Certificate of Pension issued the 22 of March 18-. and sent to Hon David Howell Judge, Providence, R.I.    
Arrears to 4th of march 1819 – 83.69     
Semi-anl. All’ce ending  4 Sept. 1819    48.
$131.69
10 14/30 of 4/31
{Revolutionary Claim, Act 18th March 1818}
10        $200
11/30        1.11
4/31          2.58
4/31      207.24
              120
             $327.24
Decd. See letter to Esther Waterman his widow Sept 27, 1836
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1.420      
Rhode Island       
Esther Waterman dcd. widow of William R I Waterman who was a Lieutenant in the Revolution Inscribed on the Roll at the rate of 360 Dollars 00 Cents per annum, to commence on the 4th day of March, 1843. Including 54 Schlemlien 1844 increased from $320.       
Certificate of Pension issued the 3rd day of Feb 1852 and sent A. Ray Esq.      
[Acts of March 3, 1843, & June 17, 1844.]      
Recorded in Book A Vol. 2 Page 49
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William Waterman      
Lieutenant of Marines     
Frigates Providence & Dean      
29 April 1778 to June 1783      
Admitted       
Declaration of 21 April 1818.       
David Howell - Judge     
Benj. Cowell, Clk D Court Providence R.I.       
Admitted       
Recd 26 June 1818
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I William Waterman Cranston in the District of Rhode Island on solemn oath do declare and say that on the 29th day of April 1778 I recd a Commission appointing me first Lieutenant of Marines in the navy of the United States signed by Henry Laurens, then President of Congress which commission is herewith annexed -- Under said Commission in the month of April aforesaid I entered on board the Frigate Providence a vessel of war then in the service of the United States commanded by Abraham Whipple, Esquire, in which Frigate I went to France & from there back again to Boston & afterwards we went on a cruise and fell in with the Jamaican fleet of merchant men and captured ten sail near the Banks of Newfoundland and soon after returned again to Boston said Frigate again refitted & sailed to Charleston South Carolina where we arrived & when that that city surrendered to the enemy said Frigate was taken also & I was made a Prisoner of War -- after my exchange which was not until I had been a prisoner 20 months or thereabouts -- I rcvd an order from the Naval Board to set sail on board the Frigate Dean, vessel of war then in the service of the United States Commanded by Samuel Nicholson Esquire which order
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is herewith annexed to go on a cruise
with the Alliance. In which service I continued
until June 1783, when said Frigate was
ordered to be sold in consequence of the Peace,
-
I further declare that I am now in reduced
circumstances & stand in need of the assistance of my country for support -
Wm Waterman

Rhode Island District
Be it remembered that on this Twenty first day of April 1818 came before me the above named William Waterman & made solemn oath to the truth of the above declaration
by him subscribed In witness whereof I have hereto set my hand & have caused the Seal of the Court to be hereto affixed-
David Howell
District Judge.
the signature of the Judge and the seal
the District Court of the United States
are hereto affixed - Witness
Benjamin Cowell Clk
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98
Esther Waterman
widow of Wm
R. Id
married 13 July 1783 - 
---
Act. 7. July '38-
---
admd
2 years Lt. of Marines
---
320$
---
no deduction
Claimant
Cranston
R Id
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State of Rhode Island SS.
On this thirty first day of July in the year one thousand Eight hundred and thirty eight before William R Staples one of the Justices of the Supreme Judicial Court of said State, Esther Waterman a resident in Cranston in the County of Providence in said state, aged seventy seven years, who being first duly sworn, according to law, doth on
her oath make the following declaration in order to obtain the benefit of the provision made by the act of Congress passed July 7. 1838
entitled an act granting half pay and pensions to certain widows: That she is the widow of William Waterman who was a first
Lieutenant of Marines. He first entered the service in the ship Providence,
Commodore Abraham Whipple. He remained on board said ship in said Capacity until the capture of said ship at the seige of Charleston.
He subsequently served in the same capacity on board the Hague, the Queen of France as the believes, but of this she is certain that he was in the service of the United States in the navy as Lieutenant as aforesaid, until the close or about the close of the war. A part of the
said time he was a prisoner of war. She further declares that her memory of the facts of his service in the American War of the
revolution, is impaired by age and sickness, but she refers to the declaration and evidence heretofore transmitted to the proper office at Washington by the said William in his lifetime
on which a pension was granted to him, which he received for a short time, but which had been discontinued at the time of his death.
She further declares that she was married to the said William on the thirteenth day of July in the year seventeen hundred and eighty three; that her husband the aforesaid William died
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on the Eighteenth day of June in the year Eighteen hundred and twenty one; that she was not married to him prior to his
leaving the service, but the marriage took place previous to the first of January Seventeen hundred and Ninety four
viz. at the time above stated.
With respect to the service of the said William in the navy as aforesaid, the declarant would also refer to a petition which she professed to the Congress of the United States at their last
Session, and the papers and evidence accompanying the same.
Esther Waterman
Sworn to and subscribed on the day
and year above written
Before me
W R Staples Jus. of the court
I William R Staples, one of the Justices of the Supreme Judicial Court of the State of Rhode Island, before whom Esther Waterman made
and subscribed the foregoing declaration, do certify that the said Esther from bodily infirmity is unable to appear in court to make the said declaration
W R Staples Jus of the Court
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I hereby certify that Capt William Waterman of Cranston and Miss Esther Field daughter of Capt William Field of Cranston aforesaid were lawfully joined together in marriage in Cranston aforesaid the thirteenth day of July Seventeen hundred and eighty three me 

Nehemiah Knight Jus. Peace 
Town Clerks Office Cranston 
July 31st 1838 

I hereby certify that the above is a true copy from the records of marriages in said town with the exception of the date which is expressed on the record in fair legible figures as follows "13th day of July 1783" 

Jesse Howard Town Clerk 

I Jesse Howard above named depose and say: that I hold the office of Town Clerk in the town of Cranston in the County of Providence and State of Rhode Island &c and that the above is a true extract from the records of said town with the exception above named as certified by me

Jesse Howard Town Clerk 
of the town of Cranston 

Sworn to before me WR Staples Jr. J.P. Court
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BY HIS EXCELLENCY
 William Sprague
Governor, Captain-General and Commander in Chief of the State of Rhode- Island and Providence Plantations. BE IT KNOWN, That the name, "HENRY BOWEN," to the aforewritten attestation subscribed, is in the proper hand writing of Henry Bowen, Esquire, who at the time of subscribing the same, was Secretary of the State aforesaid, duly elected and qualified according to law. Wherefore unto his said attestation full faith and credit are to be rendered. In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of said State to be affixed, at Providence , this thirty first day of July in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight and of Independence the sixty third WM Sprague By His Excellency's Command. Henry Bowen  Secy State .
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State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.
Secretary's office July 31 AD 1838.
I testify that at the session of the general assembly of said State holden on the first Wednesday of May last, William R Staples (whose proper signatures is to the certificates annexed) was elected associate Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of said State, for one year and has been commissioned accordingly: as appears of record in this office.

Witness Henry Bowen
Secry State
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State of Rhode Island &c 
County of Providence
Personally appeared in open Court being the Municipal Court of the City of Providence residing in said City on this 7th day of October 1851, William F. Waterman of Cranston in said County who being duly sworn makes the following declaration in behalf of himself his brother Nathan Waterman in order to receive all all arrears of pension due to his mother Esther Waterman late of said Cranston deceased who was the widow of William Waterman who had served five years and upwards in the Navy of the Revolution as a Lieutenant- That he served as a Lieutenant on hand the Frigate Providence under the command of Abraham Whipple Esq where that vessel sailed for Five in May 1778 was bound until he was captured at Charleston in 1780. He also served in that capacity on board the Deane Frigate under the command of Samuel Nicholson as he has often heard him say, and he further declares, that when the act of Congress of March 18, 1818 was passed he applied for & obtained a pension at the rate of $240 per annum under said act payable at the pension Agency at Providence, but said pension was not continued under the act of May 1, 1820 on account of his having property.- That after his death when the act of July 7 1838 was passed
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granting pensions to widows of those who had served in the army & navy of the Revolution - his mother the said Esther  Waterman applied for & obtained a pension as his widow at the rate of $320 per annum only which she drew until her death which event took place on the 24th day September 1844. and the said William F. further declars that by a Resolve of the Continental Congress of November 15th 1776; the established pay for a Lieutenant in the Navy was thirty dollars per month on board before of 20 quest upwards that rank of said Frigate carried more than that number as he has always understood-  and he further declares that his said monthly pension ought to have been $360 per annum at least during the time the drew a pension to wit from March 4, 1836 to the time of her death as aforesaid William F. Waterman October 7 A.D. 1857. Subscribed and sworn 
to by William F. Waterman 
in open Court.
 Albert G. Greene Clerk
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Esther Waterman
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State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations ,
Providence sc.
Municipal Court of the
City of Providence, in the county
of Providence, in said State, 
exercising Probate Jurisdiction.
October 7th, 1857.

Be it remembered, that satisfactory testimony has been this day produced before this Court that Esther Waterman late of Cranston in said county of Providence, deceased, widow of William Waterman, a Lieutenant in the Navy of the Revolution, died on the twenty fourth of September AD one thousand eight hundred and forty four; that at the time of her death, she left two remaining children only; to wit, William F. Waterman and Nathan Waterman, both of said Cranston, and that both children are over twenty one years of age:-and  also, that she was a pensioner of the United States, at the rate of three hundred and twenty dollars per annum, payable at the Pension Agency in the City of Providence. 

In attestation whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and have affixed the seal of said Court, this 7 day of October A.D. 1857 

Albert G. Greene Clerk -
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Rhode Island 31
Esther Waterman widow of William Waterman, decd (late pensioner) who died on the 18th of June 1821, of Providence in the State of R. Island who was a Lieutenant of Marines on board of the Ship Providence commanded by Comm Whipple   2 years, Lieutenant of Marines        
Inscribed on the Roll of Rhode Island at the rate of 320 Dollars per annum to commence on the 4th day of March, 1836.            
Certificate of Pension issued the 23 day of August 1838, and sent to Claimant Mrs. E. Waterman at Cranston, R. Island        
Arrears to the 4th of March 1838         $640.00 
Semi-annual allowance ending 4 Sept $ 160.00       
$800.00       
 5 years pension       
{Revolutionary Claim, {Act July 7th,1838   Section the 1st}      
Recorded by G.T. Rhodes Clerk Book A Vol. 2 Page 28.
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IN CONGRESS
The DELEGATES of the UNITED STATES of New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia TO William Waterman.
WE, reposing of special Trust and Confidence in your Patriotism, Valor, Conduct and Fidelity, 
DO, by these Presents, constitute and appoint you to be first Lieutenant of Marines in the Navy of the United States of North America, fitted out for defense of American Liberty, and for repelling every hostile Invasion thereof. You are therefore carefully and diligently to discharge the Duty of first Lieutenant of Marines doing and performing all manner of Things thereunto belonging. And we do strictly charge and require all Officers, Marines and Seaman under your Command, to be obedient to your Orders as Lieutenant of Marines. And you are to observe and follow such Orders and Directions from Time to Time, as you shall receive from this or a future Congress of the United States, or Committee of Congress for that purpose appointed, or Commander in Chief for the Time being of the Navy of the United States, or any other Superior Officer, according to the Rules and Discipline of War, the Usage of the Sea, and the Instructions herewith given you, in Performance of the Truth reposed in you. This Commission to continue in Force until revoked by this or future Congress. DATED at Boston, April 29, 1778.
By Order of the CONGRESS,
Henry Lawrens, PRESIDENT
ATTEST: Cha Thompson [illegible]