Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application File S. 17361, Seth Cole, R.I.

Page 1

(3-1776)

SERVICE
R.I.

Cole, Seth

NUMBER
S.17361

carded

CONTENTS

Page 2

State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. }

TOWN CLERK'S OFFICE,
WARREN, July 21 - 1832

Seth Cole son of Daniel Cole
and Anne - his wife, was born on the 12th day
of May A.D. Seventeen hundred Sixty

A true copy of record.

Witness [signature] Samuel Randall Town Clerk

[words encompassed by decorative border]

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3142
Rhode Island

Seth Cole
Bristol in the State of RI
who was a Corper in the company commanded
by Captain [blank] of the regt commanded
by Col Martin in the RI
line for 8 mos 15 Ds Private
6 " Corp

Inscribed on the Roll of RI
at the rate of 50 Dollars 32 Cents per annum,
to commence on the 4th day of March, 1831.

Certificate of Pension issued the 14th day of Dec
, 1832 and [Sent?] Levi
Haile Warren RI

Arrears to 4th of Sept 1832 $75.48
Semi=anl. allowance ending 4 Mar 33 25.16
$101.64 [sic]

{ Revolutionary Claim, }
{ Act June 7, 1832. }

Recorded by J F M Blair Clerk
Book D [?] Vol. 3[?] Page 106

see letter to Hon. A. C. Greene, Senate,
April 13.1846.
Alfred Bosworth, July 11./47.

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[on right page]
2238

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Declaration
In order to obtain the benefit of the Act of Congress, passed
June 7, 1832.
The State of Rhode Island & Providence Plantations.
County of Bristol ss. On this twenty eighth day of July
A.D. Eighteen hundred thirty two, personally appeared in open Court
before the Judges or Justices of the Court of Common Pleas now sitting
at Bristol within and for the County of Bristol in said State, Seth
Cale, a resident of Warren in said County of Bristol and State
aforesaid, 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 the 7th, 1832.
That he entered into the service of the United States under
the following named officers and served as herein stated, viz.
On or about the sixth day of December A.D. 1776, he was drafted
in Captain Ezra Ormsbee's Company of Militia in said
Town of Warren and served in the Militia of said County of
Bristol under different drafts the principal part of the time
until the middle of May A.D. 1777. From said December 1776
to said May 1777 he served in the whole in said Militia as a
private soldier about four months. He was employed in guarding
the shores in Bristol and Barrington. Smith Bowen was
Lieutenant of said Captain Ormsbee's Company. This Company was
attached to Colonel Nathaniel Martin, Regiment of which
Thomas Grey was Lieutenant Colonel during about two months
of said service he was drafted; and the remaining two months he
served as a substitute for his his Father Daniel Cole, who
had been drafted.
After he was discharged from said service in the Militia
about the last of May or the first of June A.D. 1777, the precise
time he does not recollect, he again enlisted into the
service of the Revolutionary war as a batman, and served
as a batman in rowing, guarding and managing the boats
which were used in the public service in the waters of
Narragansett Bay until on or about the last day of
March A.D. 1778. He was employed nearly ten months in this
service. He served in this last service under the command
of Major Nathan Munro, said Adams was the chief officer, but whether
he ranked as Major in this service or not he does not recollect
he was so styled. Captain David Gifford and Captain Daniel Daval
were the other officers in said boat service. Then boats were employed
in transporting troops and provisions to differt places on the shores
of the Narragansett Bay. Then boats transported the troops commanded
by Major General Spencer across said Bay to Tiverton. He assisted
in rowing the boat which carried Major Genl. Spencer and his Lieut
Benjamin Howland was also an officer in said boat service.  He thinks said Daval
was styled Captain & was record officer, & that said Gifford was styled Lieutenant

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After he was discharged from said boat service, during
the latter part of the spring and in the summer of A.D. 1778
he volunteered and served from time to time in guarding
the shores on Cole River at the head of Mount Hope
Bay; he was commanded in this service by an officer
detached for the occasion. The commanding officer of this
guard was generally a sergeant in the Militia. He served
about two months from the best of his recollection in
this guard service.

On or about the first of August A.D. 1778, he was
drafted in Captain Curtis Cole's Company of Militia
in said Town of Warren for the term of twenty days, and
served as a private soldier in said Company in General
Sullivan's expedition on Rhode Island, and served on guard
in the night of the great storm of August A.D. 1778; he served
under this draft during said term of twenty days.
Thomas Easterbrooks was Lieutenant and Ichabod Cole was
Ensign of said Company; this Company was attached to Col.
Nathan Miller's Regiment. After he was discharged from
said draft he was again called out with said Company of
Militia and served about ten days at the time of the battle on
Rhode Island; he served at Bristol Ferry. After the Battle on Rhode Island
some time in the latter part of September 1778, he volunteered and served about fifteen
days in the public service in removing the boats from Kickemuit River to Dighton.

On or about the middle of June A.D. 1780 he enlisted
into the Army of the United States, in Captain
Cole's Company in Colonel Christopher Greene's
Regiment in the Continental line for the term of six months,
and he served as a corporal in said Company during
the whole of said term of six months and was discharged
on or about the middle of December A.D. 1780. Said Regiment
was stationed at Providence three or four weeks and he
remained there in said Company during that time, and then
marched with said Company & Regiment to Middletown
on Rhode Island, where he remained until the month of
September, and then marched with said Company & Regiment
to East Greenwich where he remained about two weeks
and then marched back to Rhode Island and remained
at different places on said Rhode Island until he was
discharged. Samuel Ward was Lieutenant Colonel of said
Regiment. He crossed the Bay from Rhode Island to said East Greenwich
and back to said Rhode Island in boats.

On the 8th day of June A.D. 1781 he volunteered and
joined Captain Vial Allen's Company in Colonel
Batten's Regiment of Militia, as a substitute for John
Brown who was drafted in said Company and he served
as a private soldier in said Company and [?] and was

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discharged on the 8th day of July A.D. 1781. He served during
said month on the South end of Rhode Island.

He further declares that he was born in Warren in the
County and State aforesaid on the 12th day of May A.D. 1760;
and that his age is recorded in the Town Clerk's office in
said Town of Warren, a copy of which record is here produced
to the Court. He lived in said Town of Warren  when he entered
said service; he has lived in said Town of Warren since the Revolutionary
war and now lives in said Town. He received no written discharge
from said services; he was verbally discharged by the commanding
officer at the expiration of each of the aforesaid terms of service.
He has no documentary evidence of his service.
He knows of no person, but Ichabod Cole Joseph Munn & Caleb Salisbury,
whose testimony he can procure, who can testify to his service
He is known to the following persons in his neighbourhood who
can testify to his character for veracity, and their belief of his
services as a soldier of the Revolution viz. Samuel Hicks Esq.
& Col. Benjamin Cole.

The Clergyman in his neighbourhood have resided there but a short time
& are not not particularly acquainted with them, & have no personal knowledge
of his revolutionary services.
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.
Sworn to and subscribed, the day and year aforesaid.
Attest Ichabod Davis Clerk Seth Cole

We, Samuel Hicks residing in the Warren aforesaid
and Benjamin Cole, residing in (the same) hereby certify, that we are well acquainted
with Seth Cole, . . . . who has subscribed and sworn to the above declaration ; that we believe him to be upwards of 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 we concur in that opinion.
Sworn and subscribed the day and year aforesaid,
Attest Ichabod Davis Clerk  Samuel Hicks
Benja Cole
And the said Court do hereby declare their opinion, after the investigation of the matter, and after putting the interrogatries
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
Samuel
Hicks, . . . . . . who has signed the preceding certificate, is a . . . . . resident in
the Town of Warren aforesaid and that Benjamin Cole . . . who has
also signed the same is a resident in the Town of Warren aforesaid, and are credible persons and
that their statement is entitled to credit.
Attest Ichabod Davis Clerk

I Ichabod Davis, Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas
do hereby certify that the foregoing contains the original proceedings of the said Court, in the matter of the application
of Seth Cole for a pension.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal of office,
this 28 day of July AD 1832
Attest Ichabod Davis Clerk

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The State of Rhode Island and Providence plantations Bristol Co in Warren, November the 24th A.D. 1832. This day personally appeared before me, the undersigned a justice of the Court of Common Pleas for the County of Bristol in said state of Seth Cole, a resident of Warren in said county, who on the 28th day of July A.D. 1832, made his declaration on his oath before said court in order to obtain the benefit of the Act of Congress passed June the 7th 1832 being duly sworn (?) and saith that by reason  of old age, and the consequent loss of memory, he cannot swear more positively as to the precise length of his service, that he has state in his said declaration, but according to the best of his recollection he served not less than the period mentioned below, in the war of the Revolution in the manner state in his said declaration, and in the following grades: For eight months and fifteen days. I the said Seth Cole served as a private soldier; and for ten months more I served as a private soldier and boatman; and for six months I served as a corporal; and for such service I claim a pension.

Seth Cole
Sworn to and subscribed before me on the day and year above written
Daniel Bosworth Jus. Court of Pleas

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2238
Seth Cole
R.P. 

W.C.E.
has not mentioned with precision the length of his service papers not properly authentication.

Levi Haile
Warren R.G

Page 10

Washington

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17.361

INVALID

File No.: 17361
Seth Cole
Corpl Rev War

Act: June 7 "32
Index: Vol. 1, Page 440

[Arrangement of 1870]

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2238

Seth Cole

8 months & 15 days Private
6 D Corporal
14 month 15 days


$50.32

Levi Haile
Warren R.G.

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BRIEF objections to the admission of Pension Claims, of which those answered in the negative, in red ink, will apply to the claim of
Seth Cole which require further proof or explanation.

I. Does the declaration show where the applicant resides?
Y
II. Did the declarant make the declaration in the county where he resides? Yes

III. If the applicant did not make the declaration in the county where he resides, is there any reason assigned for his not doing so? [blank]

IV. Has the declarant mentioned the period or periods of the war when he served?
yes

V. Has he mentioned with precision the length of his service, and the different grades in which he served, in language so definite as to enable the department to determine to what amount of pension he is entitled?
No

VI. Has he given the names of the officers under whom he served, in conformity with the regulations? Yes

VII. Has he made a relinquishment of every claim to any other pension than the one under the Act of June 7, 1832?
yes

VIII. Has the Court given their opinion? yes

IX. Has the Clerk given his certificate? Yes

X. Is the Clerk's seal affixed? And if so, has it a device or inscription by which it can be distinguished from any other seal? Yes

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2

XI. Has the applicant obtained the evidence of a clergyman and another respectable citizen as to their belief respecting his age and the general belief in his neighborhood relative to his revolutionary service?
No

XII. If the clergyman's affidavit has not been produced, is there any reason assigned for not obtaining it?
yes
-
XIII. If the applicant has no documentary evidence, and has not obtained the testimony of at least one living witness, has he stated in his declaration that such proof cannot be had?
[blank]

XIV. +If the applicant has produced a witness or witnesses as to his service, has the magistrate who administered the oath certified that he, she, or they are persons of credibility?
yes

XV. Does it appear from any of the papers that the witness was in such a situation, or of such an age, as to have a personal knowledge of the applicant's service?
Yes

XVI. Are the papers authenticated as the regulations direct? No

XVII. Are the seven interrogatories prescribed by the War Department answered satisfactorily? And, if not, which of them is not so answered?
Yes

EXPLANATORY NOTES.
QUERE V. In a case where the applicant cannot, by reason of the loss of memory, state precisely how long he served, he should amend his declaration by making an affidavit in the following words:
"Personally appeared before me, the undersigned, a Justice of the Peace, &c. A. B. who, being duly sworn, deposeth and saith, that, by reason of old age, and the consequent loss of memory, he cannot swear positively as to the precise length of his service, but according to the best of his recollection
he served not less than the periods mentioned below, and in the following grades: Foryear
months and --- days, I served as a . For months
days, I served as and
for such service I claim a pension."

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It is important in all cases to determine with precision the period for which the applicant served, and the particular rank he held, as the law directs the pension to be paid according to the grade of the pensioner and the length of his service. The use of the phrase about three or four months is too indefinite, and all such qualifying expressions are objectionable.

QUERE XIV. Proof of Service.
In a case where the name of the applicant is not found on the records of the Department, he must prove his service by two credible witnesses, who are required to set forth in their affidavits the time of the claimants entering the service, and the time and manner of his leaving the same, as well as the regiment, company, and line to which be belonged. The magistrate who may administer
the oaths must certify to the credibility of the witnesses, and the affidavits must be properly authenticated, as above directed.

QUERE XVI. Mode of authenticating papers.
In every instance where the certificate of the certifying officer who authenticated the papers is not written on the same sheet of paper which contains the affidavit, or other paper authenticated, the certificate must be attached thereto by a piece of tape or narrow ribbon, the end of which must pass under the seal of office of the certifying officer, so as to prevent any paper from being improperly attached to the certificate.

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feb 2d 47

Recd of Seth Cole

Alfred Bosworth

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Washington Feb. 2d 1847

In the latter part of the month of January 1846 application has made in behalf of Seth Cole of Warren R.I. for an increase of pension and evidence was furnished in accordance with what I was informed personally would be required. I have not received any communication from the Commissioner of Pensions in  answer to the application. 
I had stated the case to the Commissioner in a personal interview and he intimated then, that upon the production of the testimony which I informed him existed, there could be little doubt that the increase would be allowed. 
Very respectfully
Yours Alfred Bosworth 
Gadsbys note

To J.L. Edwards Esq. 
Commissioner of Pensions

Alfred Bosworth

Page 18

Senate Chamber
Washington April 1st 1846

Sir, 
You will oblige me by furnishing me with the information requested in the accompanying letter from Wm. Bosworth.
I am 
Very respectfully yours servn.t
Albert C. Greene

J.L. Edwards esq
Comm of pensions

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State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations

In general assembly August session AD 1777

It is voted and resolved; that Mr. Daniel Deval be chosen Captain and Mr. David Gifford Lieutenant of Major Munro's Company and that they draw pay from the tenth day of June last they, having been on duty from that time. 

It is voted and resolved that major Nathan Munro be and he is hereby empowered to enlist eighteen men in addition to those already enlisted into his company in the boat service to serve the same time and be entitled to the same Bounty pay and rations as those who shall enlist into the Fifteen Months Brigade; that he enlist the man aforesaid from any town within this state and that upon their enlisting and entering the said company they shall be reckoned to the towns of which they are inhabitants in the same manner as though they had enlisted into the Fifteen Months Brigade and shall be so reckoned towards discharging the Militia of such town from present duty. 

State of Rhode Island 
Henry Bowen Secretary of same state and Keeper of the Records and the Seal thereof do certify. that the foregoing Resolution are true copies of records. 
In testimony whereof I hereunto set my hand and affix the Seal of said State of Providence this fourth day of February AD 1846
Henry Bowen

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Feb 11, 1846
be

Seth Cole
for increase


Hon. J. l. Edwards

Commissioner of Pensions

Washington

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Washington Feb 10th, 1846
Sir
I have handed to you the affidavit
of Seth Cole of Warren R.I. claiming an increase
of pension. His claim is founded on the
service which he performed in a company under
Major Nathan Munroe in the boat Service in
which company he served ten months, as by reference ┃
to the proof by him adduced in his original
application for a pension will appear. It will
also appear that this ten months service was
not allowed. There was, as I understand, at
that time, no proof produced that the boat Service was regularly established and maintained by the authorities of the state. This service has however since been allowed as service entitling the soldier to a pension: and the certificate of the Secretary of State of Rhode Island which is herewith presented proves the nature of the service- On the same proof, a pension was allowed in the case of Elizabeth Cole, widow of Landal Cole, late of Warren 

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deceased.
I will thank you, sir, if
you will examine the papers, in re
ence to Mr. Coles claim at your earliest
convenience, and communicate to me the
result in this city, to the care of the
Hon. Albert C. Greene, Senator from Rhode
Island, who will forward it to me, if
I should leave the city before you have
made the examination
Very Respectfully,
Yours &c.
Alfred Bosworth

Hon.
J.L. Edwards
Commissioner of Pensions
Washington

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Alfred Bosworth

Minin R J
Min A Gods [ illegible]

Page 24

Declaration of Seth Cole in order to
obtain an increase of pension Seth Cole of Warren, in the County of Bristol, in the State of Rhode Island &c being Eighty five years of age and upwards on oath do testify and say that
I am a revolutionary pensioner of the
United States and receive Fifty dollars and
Thirty two cents per annum; that in my
declaration made on or about the 28th day
of July 1832 I stated that I served in
the Revolutionary war in the boat service
a period of ten months; that I enlisted into
said service about the last of May or first of
June 1777 and was discharged about the
last of March or first of April 1778; that
Major Nathan Munroe was chief Office in
said company.  Daniel Davol was Capt. and
David Gifford Lieutenant of said Company. 
Said statement by me made was true
and was proved by several affidavits which
were forwarded to the Commissioner of Pensions, but said service was not allowed to me in the amount of service for which I obtained a pension, as I understood at the time, because the said boat service was not proved to have

Page 25

been performed under authority of the State.  I now make this supplementary statement in order to obtain the increase of pension to which I am entitled under the law, being now able to prove that said service was performed in a company, regularly enlisted under a law passed by the General Assembly of the State of Rhode Island, for the raising, parying and furnishing rations to said company.
Seth Cole

State of Rhode Island Ve.
Bristol J. Warren  February 4th    AD 1846
Then personally appeared the above named Seth Cole and made oath to the truth of the aforegoing statement before me, and I certify that I am acquainted with said affiant and that he is a person of good moral character whose statements are entitled to full credit
Elias Magoun
Justice of the peace

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State of Rhode Island
Office of the Clerk of Court of Probate for the town of Warren Feb 5, 1846
I Samuel Randall of Warren Clerk of the court of probate for the town of Warren in the state of Rhode Island, a court of record and having a seal, do certify and attest into whom it may concern that Elias Magoun whose proper signature is affixed to the certificate to the aforegoing disposition of Seth Cole is a justice of the peace duly appointed and qualified residing and practicing in said Warren.
In testimony whereof I do here unto set my hand and affix the seal of said court this day and year aforesaid. Samuel Randall Clerk of Court of Probate

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I Ichabod Cole, resident in Warren in the County of Bristol in the State of Rhode Island & Providence Plantations, of the age of eighty three years and upwards on solemn oath do testify and say that I have been well acquainted with Seth Cole resident of said Warren from his infancy, and have always resided in the same neighborhood with him, and the said Seth Cole early in the month of December A.D. 1776 was drafted in Captain Ezra Ormsbee's company of Militia in said town of Warren and served in the Militia of said county from December 1776 to about the middle of May 1777, as a private soldier about four months.  During about two months of said service he was drafted & the remaining two months he served as a substitute for his father Daniel Cole, who had been drafted.  He served in guarding the shores in Bristol and Barrington.  He enlisted into the service of the Revolutionary War as a boatman about the last of May & first of June A.D. 1777 and served as a boatman in rowing, guarding and managing the boats which were used in the public service in the waters of Narragansett Bay about ten months according to the best of my recollections.  Major Nathan Munro was the chief officer in this service.  In the spring & summer of 1778 said Seth Cole served from time to time in guarding the shores in Cole's River at the head of Mount Hope Bay.  He served about two months according to the best of my recollection.  On or about the 1st August A.D. 1778 he was drafted in Capt. Curtis Cole's company of Militia and served as a private soldier in said company twenty days in General Sullivan's expedition in Rhode Island.  I served in the same company at the same time.  After this service he volunteered & served about fifteen days in the public service in running boats from Kickemuit River to [unreadable].  On or about the middle of June A.D. 1780 said Seth Cole enlisted into the Army of the United States in Captain Cole's company in Col. Christopher Greene's Regiment in the continental line for the terms of [unreadable] months and he served as a corporal in said company.  According to the best of my recollection & belief he served the whole of said term of [unreadable] months.  I know that he was absent from his home during that time, and have ever since understood that he served during the whole of said time.  He came home about the middle of December 1780.  In June A.D. 1781 said Seth Cole volunteered & joined Capt. [unreadable name] company in Col. Potter's Regiment of Militia as a substitute for John Brown who was drafted in said company for one month.  I understand at the time he served one month in said company.

Ichabod Cole 

Sworn to and subscribed in open court this 24th day of July A.D. 1832.
Ichabod Davis, Clerk

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I Joseph Munro, resident in Bristol in the County of Bristol in the state of Rhode Island, aged seventy two years [unreadable] on solemn oath, do testify and say that I have been well acquainted with Seth Cole, of Warren in the county and state aforesaid, for upwards of sixty years, that said Seth Cole, on the last of May or first of June A.D. 1777 enlisted into the service of the Revolutionary War as a boatman, and he served as a boatman in rowing, guarding, & managing the boats which were used in the public service in the waters of the Narragansett Bay for the term of ten months; he was discharged about the last day of March or first of April A.D. 1778.  Major Nathan Munro was Chief Officer in said boat service & the three other officers were Daniel Duval, [unreadable] Gifford and Benjamin Howland.  I served in the same service during the same time.

Joseph Munro

Sworn and subscribed in open court this 24th day of July A.D. 1832
[unreadable] Ichabod Davis, Clerk

I Caleb Salisbury, resident in Warren in the county of Bristol of the age of eighty eight years & upwards, on solemn oath also testify and say that I have been well acquainted with Seth Cole, of said Warren, for more than sixty years, and that said Seth Cole on the last of May or first June A.D. 1777 enlisted into the service of the Revolutionary War as a boat man and he served as a boatman  in rowing, guarding & managing the boats which were used in the public service in the waters of the Narragansett Bay for the terms of ten months, & he was discharged about the last of March or 1st of April A.D. 1778.  Major Nathan Munro was chief officer in said boat service.

Caleb Salisbury

Sworn & subscribed in open court this 24th day of July A.D. 1832

[unreadable] Ichabod Davis, Clerk

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The Court hereby certify that Ichabod Cole
Joseph Munro and Caleb Salisbury, who have 
subscribed and sworn to the aforewritten depositions, are credible persons, and that their statements are entitled to credit.

[ signature illegible]

Page 30

Charles A Wood David [?] 

State of Rhode Island I [?] [?]

Page 31

THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES
Form VAM-51
12-5-41

BOUNTY LAND WARRANT RECORD CARD*
Division of Veterans' Administration Archives

NAME Cole, Silas | GRADE Private | LINE Hazen's Regiment
WARRANT NUMBER 12877 | ACREAGE 100 | ISSUED October 4, 1789 to Abraham June, assignee

*The information concerning the issuance of warrants carded on this form is found in volumes 2 to 4 of "Land Warrants Issued Prior to 1800" which are registers of bounty land warrants issued to non-commissioned officers and privates under congressional resolutions of September 16, 1776, and subsequent dates.  Other records relative to the applications for warrants appear to have been destroyed in the War Department fire of November 9, 1800.  Information concerning warrants surrendered to the Federal Government is to be found in General Land Office records in The National Archives.