Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application File R. 23, Samuel Wyman, Mass.

SERVICE
NUMBER
Mass
W 1 Wyman, Samuel Adams, Abigail
R. 23.
(Former Widow)
CONTENTS

238 2 238 24 See ... 20 33

with day of June now last past, who, being first duly sworn according to law, do hereby make the following declarations in order to obtain the benefit of the provisions made by the act of Congress passed July 4 th 1836, and the act explanatory of said act, passed March 3, 1837: That she was married to Samuel Wyman in September (the day of the month she doth not remember with sufficient certainty to make oath thereto) in the year of our Lord, one thousand seven hundred and seventy four, at Woburn, now Burlington, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, by Esquire Schuyler a Justice of the Peace, of said Woburn. That in the March following, that is to say, in March A.D. 1775, she & her husband, the said Samuel Wyman, went to Concord, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. That previous to her said husband's removing to Concord, a number of months before his said removal to that place, according to her best recollection, he had been chosen and served as a min-
uteman in all, during which time he was very frequently called out with other minute men to be drilled and to be kept in readiness in case they should be need to oppose the British - her said husband was called out a number of times to guard prisoners, which the Americans had taken and confined in Concord jail - This Declarant recollects one time in particular her said husband was called down to Concord jail to assist in guarding quite a number of Highlanders who were confined there - he was then gone several days. On the day of Concord fight, April 19 th A.D. 1775, this Declarant, on the morning of that day, well remembers hearing the alarm Bells rung and the Cannon fired. Her said husband was then at home, and as soon as he heard the alarm Bells & Cannon he fired his gun upon the door-stone, which was the signal of alarm agreed upon among the minute men - he then went immediately to Concord and as this Declarant afterwards understood engaged in fighting the British - he was gone several hours when he came running back to the house, and said the enemy were coming - This Declarant looked out, and saw them coming towards the house where she & her said husband lived, which was on the main road - This Declarant was then sick, having just been confined with her first child, which was then only seven days old - she was sitting up in her chair, when her said husband came running in from the fight - he took her up and threw her on to the bed, and wrapping a coverlet round her, caught her in his arms and carried her off into a swamp more than half a mile from house - here he left this Declarant with the woman that was nursing her, and went back to the house - finding that the enemy had passed, he returned to the swamp, carried this Declarant back to the house - he then took his gun again, and went immediately after the British, and was gone till after dark - he told this Declarant

When he came home that he had followed the British as far as Lexington - he went on again the next day to Lexington to be ready in case of any further invasion, and returned home after dark as he had done the day before. And this De- clarant, the said Abigail, further deposes and says, that her husband the said Samuel Wyman sometime in the summer of seventeen hundred and seventy six, she believes, at any rate the summer before the Battle of the White Plains, enlisted as a volunteer to supply the place of a man who had been draughted from the town of Bedford, Mass. - the name of the man, who had been thus draughted and for whom her husband enlisted as a substitute, she thinks Page - at the time of this enlistment and when her said husband went
to Cambridge, Mass. he was at Concord was out in the service three months, according to her best recollection, when he came home - during this time he was engaged in the Battle of the White Plains, as he told this Declarant when he came home - he returned home not long after this Battle in consequence of being destitute of clothing. On two mornings previous to the Battle of the White Plains her said husband, as he af- terwards told this Declarant, and other soldiers with him were called out at an early hour, but soon permitted to return in consequence of not encountering the enemy - on the morning of the Battle they were again called out, and sup- posing they should soon return as they had done on the previous mornings, her said husband and others of the soldiers hastily threw on but a part of their clothes - a considerable part of their clothing was left behind them, which the enemy took upon getting possession of the ground - her husband and a great many others who had left their coats upon being called out went
in the morning as aforesaid, were compelled to lay upon the ground imme- diately before and after the Battle about seven hours as she thinks her hus- band told her - this she believes was late in the fall of "seventy six". On account of the loss of clothing, which she was informed could not then be furnished by the officers for the soldiers (and there might have been other reasons which this Declarant doth not now remember) her husband together with others, as she then understood, was allowed to come home - her hus- band reached home in the fall of the year seventeen hundred and seventy six, late in the fall, after an absence of three months in the army, as near as she can now state - this is as she then understood it according to her best recollection, and as she has frequently heard her husband since say - he was in a very ragged and destitute condition when he came home from this service - he was obliged to beg along on his way home, he lost all his clothing but a pair of tow pantaloons, a shirt and a vest without sleeves - His feet were so raw that blood stained his footsteps when he came home. And this Declarant further says, that her said husband remained at home with her but a short time at Concord, where they continued to reside, before he returned to the service again - she thinks he was at home but a few days, perhaps a fortnight, when he was ordered down to Winter Hill near Boston, Mass. where he was stationed and where he remained on duty till the latter part of March after - that is to say - March 1777 - she thinks he went from home to Winter Hill in the latter part of November 1776 - she may misremember the precise spot where he was stationed, but she knows it was somewhere in the neighborhood of Boston and as she

thinks at Winter Hill - During the time her husband was stationed at Winter Hill, that is, according to her best recollection, from the latter part of Nov 1776 to the latter part of March following - (she knows for a certainty that he was not the whole winter as a soldier and was stationed somewhere in the vicinity of Boston -) he came home but once. Then by permission as he told this Declarant - he then staid at home but one day, and one or two nights - it was not longer than two nights - when he returned to his station. This Declarant is unable now to give the names of her husband's officers when in the army - she does not know what Companies he belonged to, nor the names of the officers to be relied upon, having she might forget them, but after this great length of time they have escaped her recollection - her husband has been in her grace a great many years - when he was alive they used to talk together on the subject of his sufferings and services in the Revolution - then she could have given a much more perfect account of them than she now can - all she can now do is to state a few principal facts, and leave it to those, whom her Country has appointed, to give them such consideration as they may deem just and proper - As near as this Declarant can now remember her said Husband, while at the Battle of the White Plains, was in Col. Brooks Regiment; and there is one incident often mentioned by her husband, which now occurs to her mind, it is, that his Lieutenant was killed with a shell when they were retreating - This declarant further states, that she does not know of any one now living who was in the service with her said husband, or is personally knowing to the fact of his services - old Mr Samuel Hutchinson and his son Samuel, and old Mr Elisha Spaulding, all of said Concord, now deceased, were at the Battle of the White Plains with her husband as she has understood - she cannot state whether they belonged to the same company with him, but they were in the engagement together - She further declares, that she has no documentary evidence of the said services of her said Husband, which was that of a private soldier.
And she further declares, that she was married to the said Samuel Wyman in September A.D. Seventeen hundred & seventy four by - Johnson Esq., a Justice of the Peace, at said Woburn, who was duly qualified by the Laws of Massachusetts to perform that ceremony - that her Husband, the aforesaid Samuel Wyman, died on the third day of February, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and thirty, at said Concord - that she was afterwards, to wit, in April A.D. 1819, married to Benjamin Adams, of said Concord, who died on the ninth day of April, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and thirty; and that she was a widow on the 4 th July, 1836, and still remains a widow, as will more fully appear by reference to the proof hereto annexed. And the said Declarant further states, that her maiden name, before her marriage to the said Samuel Wyman, was Abigail Senter, and that she resided in Chelseaford, now Rumford.

by the name of Carlisle, Mass - and further, that she never learned to write, and cannot now, nor ever could write her own name.
Abigail his X Adams mark
Sworn to and subscribed with her mark by the said Abigail Adams, on the day and year aforesaid, that is, on this twenty sixth day of September, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and thirty seven.
Before, Thomas F. HAMMOND, Judge of Probate for the District of Windsor, aforesaid.
I, Asaph Fletcher, of Caledon, in the County of Windsor, and State of Vermont, aged ninety years, depose and say, that I moved into said Caledon, in February A.D. one thousand seven hundred and eighty seven - previous to that time I resided in Westford, Massachusetts, where I was born and brought up. While I resided in Westford I was acquainted with Abigail Senter of Chelsea, a town adjoining Westford. I was a practising Physician in Westford, as I have been since in Caledon, and I well recollect that the said Abigail once came to me for medical assistance - The same Abigail Senter, as I was afterwards informed, married Samuel Wyman whose name has been mentioned in the foregoing Declaration of the said Abigail - The said Wyman and Abigail his wife afterwards removed to Caledon and resided there until the death of the said Wyman, which took place a long time since, I should think during the last war with Great Britain. The said Samuel and Abigail moved up to said Caledon before I did, and from the time I came up till the death of the said Samuel, he and the said Abigail lived together as husband and wife, and were publickly reputed and believed to be such - I never heard any one call their marriage in question, and I have not the slightest doubt but they were lawfully married.
I further say, that when I lived in said Westford I knew a Mr Johnson of Woburn, who was a Justice of the Peace. I further say, that I was formerly a member of the Legislature of Massachusetts, and was acquainted with the laws of that State, and know that a Justice of the Peace in that Commonwealth was authorized to perform the marriage ceremony. Several years after the death of the said Samuel Wyman, the said Abigail was married to Benjamin Adams of said Caledon, who died several years ago - Since the death of the said Adams the said Abigail has ever remained sole and unmarried - she was a widow on the 4th July, 1836, and still remains a widow. I further depose and say, that the said Abigail Adams, formerly Abigail Wyman as aforesaid, sustains a most unblemished reputation for truth and veracity - I know her to have been a member of a

of a Christian Church for more than thirty years in good regular standing, and that she still retains her standing in the Church, and that she is the same person who has sworn to and subscribed the foregoing Declaration. I did not know her husband, the aforesaid Samuel Wyman, until he moved up to said Concord, and I had no knowledge of his being out in the Revolutionary war, but I entertain no doubt that he served in that war according to the Declaration of the said Abigail as aforesaid.
Asaph Fletcher
Sworn to and subscribed on the day and year above written, that is, on the 10th 11th day of September the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty seven, by the said Asaph Fletcher.
Before, Thomas F. Hammett, Judge of Probate for the District of Windsor aforesaid.
I Francis Wyman, of Concord, in the County of Windsor, and State of Vermont, aged fifty years, do depose and say, that Abigail Adams, formerly Abigail Wyman, who has sworn to and subscribed the foregoing Declaration, is my mother, and that the same Samuel Wyman mentioned in said Declaration was my Father. I was born in said Concord, as I have been told, and from my earliest recollection until the death of my Father, Samuel which took place twenty four years ago last February, the said Samuel and Abigail always lived together as husband & wife . They raised up a large family of children, and at his death the said Samuel left a will, by which he distributed his property among the said Abigail & her children, being a small pittance for each of the children, and a scanty & insufficient support for our mother. We have always supposed [I mean myself and Brothers and Sisters] that our Parents were lawfully married, and I don't believe that a doubt was ever entertained by any one on that subject. I have often heard my said Father and Mother talk together about the Revolutionary war - about my Father's being a minute man, & his being at Concord fight - they said they lived at Concord at that time, and when the British approached their house, Father took Mother, who was then sick and had an infant, and carried her in his arms into a swamp somewhere in the neighborhood - after this he said he followed on after the British. I have heard my said Father talk with different persons in his life-time about his having been at the Battle of the White Plains. I recollect particularly of hearing him talk with one Joel Wheeler, late of said Concord, deceased, about their being at the Battle of the White Plains together - they told about one Simon Wheeler, who belonged to Father's company, and who undertook to run away at said Battle, but one of the officers stopped him and flogged him soundly with his cutlass - they said they were sent out to decoy, or to attract the attention of the British, whilst the rest of the American forces were to attack the enemy in an opposite direction.

I believe they said that they and the soldiers, that were with them lay for about seven hours behind a rail fence partly on the brow of a hill - they said there were as many killed by the fragments or splinters of the rails, as by the balls and shells of the British. Father said he lost his clothes, and went home from the White Plains to Concord in a very naked condition. I don't know as I ever heard Father say how long he was in the service - if I ever did, I have forgotten and am unable now to state. I long ago heard about Father's being stationed during one winter somewhere near Boston, but whether I heard this from Father, or not, I cannot certainly swear - I have heard substantially the same statement contained in Mother's Declaration on this subject, but it might have been from Mother, and it might have been from Father - all I will undertake to swear to in this particular is, that the account given by my Mother in the foregoing Declaration is familiar to me and has been so for a long time. According to Father & Mother's conversation together, they must have been married before Concord fight - I should think the season before. I do not know of any one now living, who was out in the army with Father - there used to be several in this town (Cavendish), but they are all dead - there were the two Hutchinsons (Samuel Senior & Samuel Junr) and Jesse Spaulding all now deceased. I have never to my recollection seen among my Father's old papers any thing about his enlisting, or being discharged, or that had any relation to the matter - a good many of his old papers, which were supposed to be useless, were long ago destroyed - there might and there might not have been any thing in relation to his service. I cannot say that I have never had any knowledge of any papers relating to this subject. Several years after the death of my said Father, the said Abigail his widow married Benjamin Adams of said Cavendish - I believe she was married to said Adams about eighteen or nineteen years ago - the said Adams died about seven years ago - since which time my said Mother has never married, but has ever since the death of said Adams hitherto remained, and is now, sole and unmarried - she was a widow on the 4th day of July A.D. 1836.
Francis Wyman
Sworn to and subscribed by the said Francis Wyman this twenty sixth day of September, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and thirty seven -
Before - Thomas F. HAMMOND, Judge of Probate for the District of Windsor, aforesaid.
I, Catherine Parker, of Cavendish, in the County of Windsor and State of Vermont, aged sixty two years, do depose and say, that my husband and myself moved from Westford, Vt. to said Cavendish, in January, A.D. seventeen hundred and ninety nine, and that in November of the same year we moved into a house belonging to Samuel Wyman mentioned in the foregoing Declaration of the said Abigail Adams, where we resided two years - during all which time the said Samuel and the said Abigail lived in a part of the same house with us - We removed from that house into another

in the neighborhood - only a few rods therefrom - where we lived till the death of the said Samuel; on which occasion I was present, and heard the said Samuel on his death bed address the said Abigail as his wife, and call upon her repeatedly by that name. From my first residence in said Cavendish till the death of the said Samuel, which took place I should think in the year eighteen hundred and thirty, he and the said Abigail constantly lived together as husband and wife, and were generally - I suppose universally - reputed and believed in the neighborhood and among all their acquaintances to sustain that relationship to each other. When I first came up here a number of their children were grown up - I recollect that two of their children were then married, and had children themselves. The eldest children of the said Samuel and Abigail reside at a distance from here, and nearly all their most familiar acquaintances of that day, in their neighborhood and the vicinity, are now dead. I used to hear the said Samuel Wyman speak about his being a soldier in the revolutionary war, and heard years ago the same account of his services in that war as the said Abigail has given in her Declaration aforesaid, but I am unable this late day to distinguish between what I have heard the said Samuel and what I have heard the said Abigail say on this subject. I have carefully examined the said Declaration of the said Abigail, and am able to discern, as I now confidently do, that the circumstances it recites were related to me a long time since either by the said Samuel or the said Abigail, or by both of them, and I have no doubt they at time. I further say, that what the said Abigail has stated in the foregoing Declaration by her made respecting her marriage with Benjamin Adams and the death of the said Benjamin is correct. I could not have stated the dates of her last named marriage and death as particularly and certainly as the said Abigail has in her said Declaration, but I should judge that in this respect she is right. I further say since the death of the said Benjamin the said Abigail has never married - that she was a widow on the 14 th July, 1836, and has ever since remained, as she now is, a widow.
Catherine Parker
Sworn to and subscribed by the said Catherine Parker this twenty sixth day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty seven.
Before,
THOMAS F. HAMMOND, of my Judge of Probate for the District of Windsor, aforesaid.
J. Timothy Adams, of Cavendish, in the county of Windsor, and state of Vermont, aged seventy five years last June, depose & say, that I came into said Cavendish to live where I was nineteen years old - that not long after I came here to live, Samuel Wyman and his wife Abigail, (now Abigail Adams) who has sworn to and subscribed the foregoing Declaration, moved into the same town - that from the time the said Samuel & his said wife moved into Cavendish until the death of the said Samuel, which took place nearly twenty five years ago, I was well acquainted with the said Samuel. I further depose and say, that the said Samuel conversed with me repeatedly about his coming as a soldier in the Revolutionary War - the said Wyman I used to team together between here and Boston, when the country was new, and I recollect when we were teaming together the said Wyman showed me a swamp in Concord, Massachusetts, into which he said he carried his wife with an infant at the time of Concord fight - he told me he was engaged in Concord fight - I well remember his telling me about his being at the Battle of the White Plains, about his sentiments being killed with a shell, and how ragged he, the same Samuel, came home - he told me too that he served during one whole winter near Boston, and I think it was at Winter Hill, as the said Abigail has stated in her Declaration. I know the said Wyman has told me the same story about his being in the Revolutionary War as the said Abigail has told in her said Declaration.

and I have always supposed he was out a soldier in that War as therein stated as to the particular dates I can not be very positive, but as to his being out in the War as herein before stated I am certain, or rather I am certain he told me so; and I know the said Samuel Wyman was always reported and believed among his old acquaintances to have been a soldier in the Revolution - from the time the said Samuel first came to Cavendish to reside, which was not long after the year 1780, until his said death, he and the said Abigail always lived together as husband and wife, and were always believed to be in that condition - I never heard their marriage questioned. Some years after the said Samuel died, the said Abigail married one Benjamin Adams, who has been dead several years. Ever since the death of the said Benjamin the said Abigail has been a widow, and she is now sole and unmarried, being a widow on the 4th July, 1836.
Timothy Adams
Sworn to and subscribed by the said Timothy Adams on this twenty seventh day of September, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and thirty seven.
Before THOMAS F. HAMMOND, Judge of Probate for the District of Windsor aforesaid.
State of Vermont } I hereby certify, that Abigail Adams, who has sworn to and subscribed the foregoing Declaration, and Asaph Fletcher, Francis Wyman, Catherine Parker and Timothy Adams, who have severally sworn to and subscribed the foregoing affidavits are each of them persons of truth and veracity, and that the foregoing statements by them respectively made and sworn to are entitled to full credit and belief.
THOMAS F. HAMMOND, Judge of said Probate Court.
State of Vermont, } I, Salmon T. Dutton, Register of the Probate Court for the District of Windsor aforesaid, hereby certify, that Thomas F. Hammond, before whom the foregoing Declaration of Abigail Adams, and the foregoing Affidavits of Asaph Fletcher, Francis Wyman, Catherine Parker and Timothy Adams were respectively sworn to and subscribed, and who has signed the foregoing Certificate of the Credibility of the said Declarant and Affiants, is Judge of the Probate Court within and for the District (& County) of Windsor aforesaid, being in said State of Vermont, which Probate Court is a Court of Record; and that the foregoing signature annexed to the respective Certificates of the Oaths of the said Declarant and Affiants and to the Certificate of their Credibility aforesaid, purporting to be the signature of him the said Thomas F. Hammond, is his own proper and genuine signature.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto affixed the seal of said Probate Court, and subscribed my name at Cavendish, in the District of Windsor aforesaid, this twenty seventh day of September, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred & thirty seven.
Salmon T. Dutton, Register of said Probate Court.