Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application File R. 5772, for Dominicus Jordan, Massachusetts

SERVICE
NUMBER _____
Mass
Jordan, Dominicus
R. 5-772
Mass Lead Service
CONTENTS

United States of America Maine District ss
At a special District Court of the United States began and held at Portland within and for said District on the 12 th day of June A.D. 1834 before the Hon. Asahel Ware Judge of said Court
Personally appeared in open Court before said District Judge Dominicus Jordan of Cape Elizabeth in the County of Cumberland in said Maine District aged ninety four years, who being first duly sworn according to law doth on his oath make the following declaration in order to obtain the benefit of the provision of the act of Congress passed June 7 th 1832 That he the said Jordan entered the service of the United States on or about the first of September A.D. 1815 at the time the town of Falmouth now Portland was besieged & burnt by the British under the command of Capt. Mowat & served in the company commanded by Capt. Clement Jordan of Cape Elizabeth three months and was stationed as a guard on the Cape at Spring Point where Fort Preble now stands. He was on duty as a soldier at the time the town was burnt and saw the first smoke that arose from the conflagration. The Head quarters of the company were at Spring point.
3. 0 Days
Again sometime in the spring of 1776 he entered the service of the United States in the company of Capt. John Wentworth of Cape Elizabeth and was stationed at Spring Point and was employed in erecting fortifications on the Cape During this campaign he served at least three months & that he drew his daily rations as a soldier and was quartered with the rest of the company in private dwellings by request of the inhabitants of that place
3. 0

He was a private in each of the above campaigns.
Again sometime in the summer of 1779 he went to Newbury Port in Massachusetts in a Fishing Schooner to fit out in a Fishing Cruise, at which time they were beating up for volunteers to go to Bagaduce. At that time he the said Jordan was owner & skipper of said Schooner & he proposed to the men with him to volunteer. They agreed and all of his crew save one five in number to wit Bill Dingley, John Miller, Thoms Maxwell & Benjamin Stanford volunteered. He said Jordan was put on board the ship Monmouth of twenty two guns; James Roots commander, Hill Lieutenant. He was made Bargeman. The Monmouth sailed from Hampton Roads and anchored at Townsend near the mouth of the Sheepscot River, when the fleet was made up. Then the fleet sailed to Bagaduce so called now Penobscot Bay, and lay there until the British Fleet came in sight. The Monmouth was blown up near Duck Trap then called, now Lincoln-vill between Camden & Frankfort. While the American Fleet lay at Bagaduce a house on Bakers Island was used as a hospital. He and Bill Dingley had the management of the Barge which was used for carrying the surgeon to and from the Island. The sailors and soldiers were landed at various points on the river & the vessels were blown up. After landing they returned home through the wilderness. He remained during this Expedition at newbury 3.21 least three months & three weeks. He and Dingley the day before the British fleet made its appearance, had permission of the com-

mander of the Monmouth to tarry on the Island on which the Hospital was situated long enough to wash their clothes. The Surgeon being ready to return to the fleet before they got through with their washing and took the Barge with him & left them without any boat. The Barge not returning for them that day they tarried all night on the Island. Early the next morning they discovered two British Ships coming up the Bay. As soon as the Ships were discovered by the American Fleet, they latter weighed anchor and made sail up river. He heard the firing & the explosion of the vessels as they blew up. After the British vessels had passed. He and Dingley in another part of the Island procured a canoe and started for Bayadue. Before they arrived they fell in with a fishing smack belonging to Newbury Port, was taken on board and landed at Cape Elizabeth, where he gave the first intelligence of the defeat. Thence he was taken to Newbury Port
He the said Jordan was born at Cape Elizabeth in the year 1740 April 19th O.S. He has no record of his age but thinks there is one in the town of Cape Elizabeth. He was living in Cape Elizabeth at the time he was called into the service & has been living there ever since. He thinks the company to which he belonged was ordered out for actual service under the authority of the State of Massachusetts. Jedediah Merrill was Col of the Regt. Jonathan Mitchell was his Lieut under Capt Jordan. There was one other company stationed on the Cape at the same time. He never received any written discharge but was verbally dismissed.

He hereby relinquishes all claim whatever to a pension except the present & he declares that his name is not on any pension Roll of any agency in any State
DOMINICUS JORDAN
Signed & sworn to before me this 11 th day of June 1834.
Asahel Water
And the said Court do hereby declare their opinion (after the investigation of the matter & after putting the interrogatories prescribed by the War Department) that the above named applicant was a Revolutionary Soldier & mariner and served as he states
Asahel Water
Declaration of Dominicus Jordan
1834
John Mussey Clerk of the District Court of the United States for Maine District, do hereby certify that the foregoing contains the original proceedings of the said Court in the matter of the application of Dominicus Jordan for a pension.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand & affixed the Seal of said Court on this twelfth day of June A.D.
One thousand eight hundred thirty four
John Mussey Clerk U.S. Courts
Maine District

Sept 4 43 Sup. Parking - Ser 38 Dominion Jordan - 32
Ms. L
FREE
Edwards Esq. Commr of Pensions Washington D.C.

Portland 31st August 1843. To J. L. Edwards Esq. Bureau of Pensions
Sir
I transmitted to your Department on or about the 17 th of Feby 1840. the declaration of Susanna Perkins widow of Enoch Perkins late a pensioner of the U. States, claiming the benefit of the Act of Congress passed 7 th day of July 1838 which act gave five years pension to the widows of such officers & soldiers as served in the Revolutionary War, and were entitled to the benefit of the law of 1832. If I received any letter in reply to the application from your Department it is mislaid. Will you have the goodness to inform me of the disposition of that case. The widow is still alive and has requested me to make further inquiries.
In your letter to the Hon. F. O. J. Smith of the 19 th March 1836. in relation to the claim of Dominicus Jordan of Cape Elizabeth you say "That the Records of Mass s . would shew the term of that Expedition (The Bagaduce) which will be added when ascertained to the 1st 3. months

and if the aggregate shall make 6 mos: it will bring his case within the Provisions of the Act of 7 June 1832"
Will you have the goodness to review those cases and communicate with me in relation to them.
I have the honor to be
Respectfully your Obt Servt
H. Bradford

Dominicus Jordan
$2.000.
Hon. F. O. J. Smith H.R.
Freeman Brattle Portland
Send to care of Mr. Smith H.R.

Cumberland ss. June 14. 1834
We Josiah G. Merrill a clergyman residing in the Town of Cape Elizabeth and Ebenezer Dyer Jr of the same Town hereby certify that we are well acquainted with Domin- icus Jordan who has made application for a pension that we believe him to be ninety four years of age and he is believed in the neighborhood where he resides to have been a soldier of the revolution and we concur in that opinion
Sworn to & subscribed before us Josiah G. Merrill Ebenezer Dyer Jr and the court further certify that it appears to them that Josiah G. Merrill who has signed the preceding certificate is a clergyman resident of the Town of Cape Elizabeth & that Ebenezer Dyer Jr is a resident of the same town and entitled to credit.

Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Secretary's Office, Feb y 27 th 1836
I hereby Certify, That, from an examination of the Books and Documents, relating to Military Services in the War of the Revolution, which remain in this Department, it appears that by a "Return of Armed Vessels, employed on the expedition against Penobscot, by the Board of War for the State of Massachusetts Bay, with their appraised value," it appears that the Ship Monmouth, commanded by Alexander Ross, was employed.— Dominicus Jordan claims for services on board the Ship Monmouth, Capt. Ross, in 1779, but the roll is not found in this Office.
Dominicus Jordan also claims for services under Capt. Clement Jordan, from Sept th 1775, but the roll is not found in this Office.—
Dominicus Jordan claims also for services under Capt. John Wentworth, in the Spring of 1776, but

the roll is not found in this Office - except an abstract for Mileage to Fort Edward, in July 1776 - on which the name of Dominicus Jordan is not borne. —
E. M.
John P. Bigelow, Secretary -

Portland 25 th Decr 1843
J. G. Edwards Esq Commr of Pensions
Sir,
If Conformable to the rules of your Department you will confer a favor by transmitting to me the Declarations and papers in the cases of Dominicus Jordan and Isaac Hilton, applicants for the benefits of the Act of Congress passed June 7 th 1832. If further application shall hereafter be made in behalf of those individuals, the original papers shall be returned to your Office.
Respectfully
Your Obt. Servt.
H Bradford.

Acts of July 14, 1862, and March 3, 1873.
REJECTED
5442
P. O. Dominicus Jordan Service: _____
Enlisted: _____, 18 Discharged: _____, 18
Application filed: _____, 18
Alleges: _____
Re-enlisted: _____
Attorney: _____
P. O. _____
_____ Recognized. _____ Contract.
_____ Cert. of Dis. Searched for _____, 18

Maure
Domeneus Jordan
Suspended
Act 7 June 1832
See let to Hon F. O. G.
Smith March 19. 1834
Letter to same Apr 8. 1836.
Let to F Bradford Sep 7. 1843
same Jan 8. 1844
5772

Declaration and Estate of Dominicus Jordan
Reeman Bradford Portland Maine

I Leth Likely of Scarborough in the County of Cumberland & State of Maine aged Twenty three years do hereby declare that I was a Sergeant in the Company commanded by Capt Benjamin Lambert Col. Nathaniel Jordan in the expedition against the British at Bayadue in the Revolutionary war. That I sailed from Portland in June 1779, with the rest of the troops fitted out from that place (which was then called Falmouth) arrived at Bayadue after being joined by the squadron, at Falmouth, from Boston & lay there until the British Fleet arrived & found our shipping up the Penobscot when they were burned & the men marched back to Falmouth, getting along as they could. I was not engaged in any of the skirmishes that took place there, though several companies were at different times engaged mostly in landing. I was engaged in the expedition between there & Penobscot. And I testify that I was & am now here well acquainted with Commander Jordan of Capt Elizabeth in Maine County & that he was in some expeditions & was attached to the ship. I often saw him doing duty as a sergeant in the boats of the anchored ships. He was one

of the Bargemen of the ship mentioned which ship with the others that were driven into the River was blown up.
Seth Libbee
Cornwallis Pt May 22 nd 1834
I hereby certify that said Seth Libbee is a man of truth & veracity John D. Russell Just Peace.

Marine District
District Clerk's Office June 12. 1834
In testimony that Freeman Bradford & John Anderson are Magistrates and that the signatures to the preceding & annexed depositions purporting to be theirs are genuine I have hereunto set my hand & affixed the Seal Official the day & year last above written
John Mufsey Clerk D. Court Maine

State of Maine
Simeon Davis of Cape Elizabeth in the county of Cumberland and State of Maine aged eighty nine years on oath depose & say that I am well acquainted with Dominicus Jordan who has made application for a pension. Said Jordan was called out with me by the authority of Massachusetts, as I then supposed and was told, to guard the shore of Cape Elizabeth from McHenrey Point to Spring Point. The head quarters of the Company was at Spring Point. Said Jordan served with me in the fall of 1775 three months or more in the Company commanded by Capt. Clement Jordan. We then drew our rations and were quartered in houses near the point. In the Spring of the year 1776 I think, said Jordan served again with me in the Company commanded by Capt. Wentworth. and performed duty at at least three months. We were then employed in making fortifications at the place where Fort Popham now stands. I well recollect the time when said Jordan sailed in the Penobscot Expedition. He said Jordan was the first man that brought the news of the defeat of the Expedition to the people of the Cape. I have no doubt but that he served as he states for I well recollect the circumstances and they are now fresh in my recollection minds. During the whole time of our service as stated have stated above we were in actual service and received our pay & rations as soldiers.
Simeon Davis mark
Cumberland ss. June 4. 1834.
Then personally appeared the above named Simeon Davis a person well known to me as a man of truth and veracity and whose statement under oath is entitled to full faith & credit and subscribed the above as worn written & sworn that the same was true before me.
Freeman Bradford Justice of the Peace