Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application File R. 10659, John Townsend, Conn.

SERVICE
NUMBER
Conn.
Townsend, John
R. 10659
CONTENTS

State of Connecticut } S. City of New Haven County of New Haven }
On this 20th day August A.D. 1882, personally appeared in open court, before the County Court of New Haven County, now sitting in said city of New Haven, John Townsend, a resident of said city, in the County of New Haven and State of Connecticut, aged eighty three years, who being first duly sworn according to law, took on his oath make the following declaration, in order to obtain the benefit of the act of Congress passed June 7th. 1882.
That he entered the service of the United States under the following named officers, and served as herein stated. viz. That he was born in the city of New Haven, Conn. where he has ever since lived, on the 10th day of August Old Style, 1749. — That the record of his age is in a small paper book kept by my father, Jeremiah Townsend, who came to said city of New Haven in 1739, where he lived until his death, which record is now in my possession. — That in the year 1774, he thinks in May, he enlisted in a company of Gov. Morris's foot guards raised by authority of the Connecticut Colony, and commanded by Ben. Edick Arnold of said New Haven; said company hired two English deserters from the British troops, to drill them, and used to turn out summer and winter for drill two or three times

a week, under said deserters for drill, until the battle of Lexington; and made a great de- gree of military proficiency; on hearing the intel- ligence & alarm of the battle at Lexington on April 19 th 75 , said company paraded on the public square in New Haven, and Capt. Arnold put the question to said company having about sixty four men, an lieutenant, who Jesse Leaven- worth of said New Haven, and an ensign, who was Nehemiah Labine Jr. of said town, whether they were willing to march on to the scene of battle, and all but about 15 or 20 gave their assent, and then Capt. Arnold marched the company round inviting the citizens to fall in such as were wil- ing to march on to Massachusetts & many joined us making the whole number 90; this was the afternoon of Friday April 22 d . 1875 ; the company was dismissed to meet the next day for departure with knapsacks; on Saturday the 23 d . it paraded, but was kept in suspense almost the whole day by the town authority doubting whether they would give the put- ting ammunition to the company; and Edward Wight took the ammunition by force and took up our march near night & proceeded to Cambridge on a quick march, where the com- pany arrived the next week to the number of about 90 men, and put itself under com- mand of General Ward; the applicant rec- ollects that Gen. Putnam was also there; the company was quartered in the house of Lieutenant

Governor Oliver; when it continued, until Gen. Ward, had acquired as he thought sufficient strength from the volunteers, when he dischar- ged it, the company having left their families & business with- out any preparation for a long absence, and the company reached New Haven in seven seven weeks after it started, as near as the ap- plicant recollects, having borne their whole expenses almost entirely themselves; thirteen of the men company afterwards went on with Arnold to Canada year the same, Capt. Arnold and said thirteen remaining at Cambridge when the applicant and the rest of the company came home; the company when it went on took the lower route to Boston through Cam- bridge Poughkeepsie & Killings Conn. & returned the upper road through Worcester & Springfield; a few days after the company returned, (about four he thinks) heard of the battle of Bunker Hill; That he remained at home until 1776 , when in June he thinks, he started for New York with the Connecticut militia, as a substitute for his brother, toward the end of the war. brother, in the company of Capt. Christopher Alling, in the Regiment of Col. Thompson, Peter John- son was Lieutenant & Caleb Mix was ensign of the company; - the company went through the sound to New York in a packet sloop; & we were placed under the command Brigadier General John S. Lilliman, David Mear- mays was Brigade Major; then the ap-

pliant remained, until the retreat from New York city to Harlem, and at the battle of Flatbush, he was left in New York city to guard the baggage of Col. Thompson, Major Humphreys, Lieutenant John Humphrey, Lieutenant Cur- tis, and Quarter master Sheldon Clark; after the retreat to Harlem, in which Col. Thompson was killed, Major Humphreys taking the com- mand of the regiment as near as the applicant recollects, he remained at Harlem with the army of Gen. Washington & Gen. Putnam about six weeks as a private, when the regiment was dis- charged, & he returned home by land through Hudson-neck, Stamford, Norwalk and Stratford with Henry York of New Haven who belonged to the same company; him & reached New Haven, as he thinks, the last of October 1776; ha- ving been absent about five months to the best of his recollection; he never received any dis- charge in writing; that Capt. Steven Common Sumner now living in New Haven, was at New York at the same time with the applicant, and attached to the same Regiment, but to a different com- pany commanded by Robert Brown of said New Haven; that he is well known to Nathan Lusk, Ralph I. Huggins, William Bristol, Jeremiah Day, who belong to New Haven and live in the immediate vicinity of the applicant, who can testify to his character for veracity and Deacon Beers of New Haven, now living and a person who was with him at Cambridge; that

310 the applicant went in the year 1777 to Fair- field & Compso, in a volunteer company rais- ed at New Haven under James Hillhouse, at the time of the running of Danbury; and was a flank guard at the time of at Compso river Skirmish, un- der command of Col. James  Jonas Root, of New Ha- ven, a continental line officer, and was absent from home five or six days , on said expedition; that when the British visited New Haven on the 5th. of July 1779, he volunteered volunteered with his musket and was engaged in preventing the enemy from enter- ing the place; that in the meantime during the war he continued a member of the company of Governor's foot guards at New Haven, which relieved him from liability to be drafted.
He hereby relinquishes every claim to a pension or annuity except the present, and declares that his name is not on the pension roll of any state. Sworn to and subscribed the day & year aforesaid. Attest In ch Beach Clerk, John Townsend (John Townsend)
We Rev. Leonard Bacon, a clergyman - residing in the town of New Haven and Ralph J. Ingersoll residing in the same, hereby certify, that we are well acquainted with John Townsend, who has subscri- bed and sworn to the above declaration; that we be- lieve him to be 82 years of age; that he is belie- ved and reputed in the neighbourhood where he resides, to have been a soldier of the revolu- tion and that we concur in that opinion. Sworn to and subscribed the day & year aforesaid. Attest In ch Beach Clerk, Leonard Bacon & R. J. Ingersoll

I, Master Parrott, residing in New Haven, hereby certify that I was in a company of Connecticut State troops commanded by Christopher H. King, Peter Johnson, Lieut. & Caleb Newbrough, in the summer and fall of 1776, stationed at New York; and that said company was absent at New York 4 or 5 months, as near as I recollect, and that I have no doubt, John Townsend was in the same company, though I do not recollect it, for his word is entitled to full credit. Given & subscribed day & year aforesaid. Master Parrott
Attest J. H. Beach Clerk
I, Nathan Beers, residing in New Haven, now a pensioner on the Connecticut pension agency, for services in the revolution, hereby certify that I was in the company of Governor's foot guards, of New Haven, commanded by Benedict Arnold, which left New Haven on the alarm and report of the battle of Lexington and marched to Cambridge as volunteers, in April, and that said company had done duty about a year before, being under the drill of two English deserters and turning out several times a week, and was remarkably skillful; that said company was the only corps which volunteered to go on at that time, and it had a most beneficial effect on the war, and gave an impulse to the whole state of Connecticut; that said company continued at Cambridge under Gen. Ward, until he had acquired sufficient strength to discharge them, and returned in June, having been about eight weeks I think; and that John Townsend, publisher of the foregoing declaration went on in said company & belonged to the same, and remained at Cambridge till discharged, and that said Townsend, is a most meritorious, though aged & decrepit man, whose statements are entitled to implicit credit; and that I have known said Townsend ever since and lived in his neighbourhood.
Nathan Beers
Given & subscribed the day & year aforesaid. Attest J. H. Beach Clerk

That as member of said company of foot guards, after the battle of Lexington, each year until the close of the war, in the month of October, for about four weeks, during the session of the General Assembly of Connecticut, he was required to be drafted in divisions, as often as every third night to perform guard, in the City of New Haven patrol the city & keep guard around the quarters or lodgings of the Captain General, the Governor of the State.

No 5380 John Townsend's application for a Pension -
New Haven -
✓
DO

We, Nathan Smith, William Bristol, Abra- ham Bishop, residing in the town of New Haven hereby certify that we live in the immediate vicin- ity of John Townsend, subscriber of the foregoing appli- cation, and have intimately known him for many years; that we believe him to be 82 years of age, that he is believed and reputed in the neighbourhood where he resides, to have been a soldier in the revolution and that we concur in that opinion; that he is a most worthy & respectable man, and his statements are entitled to the fullest credit, & we should implicitly rely on them; that he is needy, and has been long and sore- ly afflicted with disease, but his mind is yet vig- orous. Sworn to & subscribed in open court Aug 6 th 1852 attest J. B. Beach Clerk
Sworn & subscribed this day & year aforesaid.
And 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 sol- dier and served as he states. And the court further certifies, that it appears to them that the Rev. Leonard Bacon Leonard Bacon - is a clergyman Rev. Rev. Leonard Bacon - is a clergyman Deacon Nathan Beers, Rev. Nathan Smith, Rev. William Bristol and that they are residents in the town of New Haven and are credible persons and that their statements are entitled to credit.
By order of court attest J. B. Beach Clerk
I, John Beach, Clerk of the County Court of New Haven County, do hereby certify that the foregoing contains the original proceedings of the said court in the matter of the ap- plication of John Townsend for a pension on testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal of office this 6 th day of August, 1852 attest J. B. Beach Clerk

We, Francis Townsend and Rebecca married of the town and county of New Haven, hereby certify, that the aforesaid applicant for pen- sion John Townsend was our father; that he died on the 8th. of February A.D. 1833, at New Haven; that he left no widow, and we said Francis and Rebecca Townsend, are his only surviving children, and the only ones liv- ing at his decease on said 8th. Feby.; that we have heard the foregoing declaration read over, and that it corresponds with the account of his revolutionary service that we have often heard him give for many years; that our father said John Townsend was in his 84th. year when he died, and had been many years confined before his death with the Rheuma- tism, and had been for many years a bodily cripple, though his mental faculties - his mem- ory - were very good; that in August. 1832, when preparing his declaration, we were knowing of his making a good deal of exertion to obtain evidence of his services.
Francis Townsend
Rebecca Townsend
New Haven County S. S. Nov. Dec. 30th. 1833.
Personally appeared Francis Townsend and Rebecca Townsend; and made solemn oath to the truth of the foregoing certificate & subscri- bed the same before me - I hereby certify them to be credible persons. Silas Mix, Justice of the Peace.

New Haven County S. New Haven, April 17 1834.
I John Beach, clerk of the county court for the county of New Haven, hereby certify, that the signature of Silas Mix, within contained, is his own appropriate handwriting & signature, & that he now is and for the last year has been a Justice of the Peace in and for New Haven County duly appointed and qualified. In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand & official seal at New Haven, date above.
J. Beach Clerk

March 29, 1937.
Mrs. Pauline Townsend Vaughan Terry Road Hudson, Ohio.
BA-J/ILL John Townsend R. 10659
Dear Madam:
Reference is made to your letter in which you request information in regard to John Townsend of New Haven, Connecticut, apparently later of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, his widow, Rebecca.
The record of a John Townsend of New Haven, Connecticut, has been found; the data given herein were found in pension claim, R. 10659, based upon his service in the Revolutionary War, as it may aid you in your research.
John Townsend was born August 10, 1749 (Old Style) in New Haven, Connecticut; his father, Jeremiah Townsend, came to said New Haven in 1739 and lived there until his death, the date of which was not given. The name of John's mother is not shown.
John Townsend belonged from about May 1774, to Captain Benedict Arnold's Company of Governor's Foot Guards, in which he drilled regularly; he marched with that company, just after the battle of Lexington, to Cambridge, where they were quartered in Governor Oliver's house, and served about seven weeks. Some time after the news of the battle of Bunker Hill, he went in Captain Christopher Allen's Connecticut company, as substitute for his brother, Timothy Townsend, to New York, guarded the baggage of the officers after the battle of Flatbush and, after the retreat from Harlem, served about five weeks. In 1777, he served as private in Captain James Hillhouse's company when Danbury was burned; on July 5, 1779, he was called out when New Haven was attacked by the British. He served in the fall of each year in the Governor's Foot Guards, at New Haven, Connecticut. This can be found in Bunker Hill Book-Page
The soldier applied August 6, 1832, for the pension which might have been due on account of his service in the Revolutionary War.

His claim for pension was not allowed as he did not serve six months in a regularly organized military corps, as required by the pension law under which he applied.
John Townsend died February 6, 1833 in New Haven, Connecticut, where he had resided during his life. He was not survived by a widow; the name of his wife and the date and place of their marriage are not shown. In December 1833, Frances and Rebecca Townsend of New Haven, Connecticut, were his only surviving children.
Very truly yours,
A. D. HILLER, Executive Assistant to the Administrator.

Connecticut
John Townsend
Rejected
Ans? Silas Miss
apt 26 th 1834
10659

Acts of July 14, 1862, and March 3, 1873.
10,659
P. O. John Townsend
Service: _____
Enlisted: _____, 18
Discharged: _____, 18
REJECTED
Application filed: _____, 18
Printed Volume - Rejected + Suspended Pensions -
Alleges: Reason for Rejection - page 76
He did not serve six months!
Re-enlisted: _____
Attorney: _____
P. O. _____
_____ Recognized. _____ Contract.
_____ Cert. of Dis. Searched for _____, 18
1937-Mar. 29 - Hist. to Mrs. Pauline Townsend Vaughan JLL

Bureau of Pensions, Washington, D. C.
Gentlemen:
Does the list of soldiers in the Revolutionary War, who received a pension, include the name of one John Townsend , of New Haven, Connecticut, apparently later of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, or show that a pension was ever paid to Rebecca  child Townsend, his widow?
I find reference to him, but nothing tangible, and will greatly appreciate your giving me this information.
Respectfully yours,
Mrs. Pauline Townsend Vaughan Terry Road, Hudson, Ohio.
Pauline T. Vaughan
March 10, 1937.
101