Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application File S 33741, for Jonathan Stearns, Massachusetts

SERVICE
NUMBER
Mass
Stearns, Jonathan
S 33741
CONTENTS

8,970
Massachusetts. 4
Jonathan Stearns,
of Billerica, in the state of Massach'tts
who was a private in the regiment commanded by
Colonel Nixon, of the Massach'tts
line, for the term of three years.
Inscribed on the Roll of Massachusetts at the rate of 8 Dollars per month, to commence on the 23. of April, 1818.
Certificate of Pension issued the 5. of April 1819, and sent to John Davis, judge, Boston, Massachusetts.
Arrears to 4th of March, 1819. . . 83.16
Semi-ann. all'ce ending 4. Sept. 48 "
10 mo. \frac{8}{30} 1819. } $:131.16 \frac{4}{31}
{ Revolutionary claim, } { Act 18th March, 1818. }
Continued
Information sent to John Davis Esq. 26 1820 to Jonathan Stearns, Cambridge, Mass

No 573 Jonathan Stearns private Mason map etc by the year 23 April 1878
Full certificate as to claimants and estate Adm o . wanted
On Roll

United States Dist to District
Jonathan Stearns of Bilrica Mass to a resident citizen of the United States maketh oath that he served in the war of the Revolution on the Continental establish- ment; namely that he served in Capt Elijah Dunforth's Company, Colo d Vixon's Regiment, Sixth Mass to Regiment; under command of Gen Vixon brother to the Colo d , for the term of three years commencing in May A.D. 1777 as a private soldier. That at the expiration of that term he received an honorable discharge in writing which is lost; that by reason of his reduced circumstances in life he is in need of assistance from his — Country for Support Jonathan Stearns
Massachusetts District. Boston 23. April A.D. 1818
Sworn to before me
M c Devitt Dist. Judge Mass. Dist.

MASSACHUSETTS DISTRICT, ss.
1. March 1819.
I AM satisfied that the above named, Jonathan Hearn by reason of his reduced circumstances in life, is in need of assistance from his Country for support.
M c Daer's
{ District Judge U. S. Massachusetts Dist.
TO THE SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF WAR.

MASSACHUSETTS DISTRICT, ss.
Boston June 13 A. D. 1818
IT appearing to my satisfaction, that Jonathan Stearns subscriber to the annexed declaration, sworn to before me, did serve in the revolutionary war against the common enemy, as stated in said declaration, I now transmit the testimony in the case, with the proceedings had thereon, to the Secretary of the department of war, pursuant to the directions of the Act entitled "An Act to provide for certain persons engaged in the land and naval service of the United States in the revolutionary war;" the testimony and proceedings in the premises being the declaration aforesaid, with the accompanying documents marked together with this certificate.
In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the District Court of the United States for this District to be hereunto affixed.
M Davis } Judge of the District Court U. S. Massachusetts District.

I make oath that I served in the Revolutionary army during the time that the within named Jonathan Stearns served; and that to my knowledge the said Jonathan served as a pri- vate soldier in Capt. Elijah Danforth's company within mentioned for the term of three years

Jonathan Stearns
8970
April 19
Widow
[Large handwritten signature/initials]
1833
[Faint mirrored text from the reverse side of the page]

Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
MIDDLESEX, ss.
At the Circuit Court of Common Pleas for the Middle Circuit, begun and holden at Concord, within and for the County of Middlesex, on the second Monday of June A. D. 1820
Before the Hon. SAMUEL DANA, Esquire, Chief Justice, and WILLIAM WETMORE, and } Associate Justices STEPHEN MINOT, Esquires, } of said Court.
In open Court here, being a Court of Record for said Circuit, proceeding according to the course of the common law, with a jurisdiction unlimited in point of amount, keeping a record of its proceedings, and having the power of fine and imprisonment, Jonathan Stearns, resident in Billerica - in said Circuit, who is named in Pension Certificate No. 8.970 now in his possession, of which the following is a true copy, to wit,
WAR DEPARTMENT.....REVOLUTIONARY CLAIM.
I certify that, in conformity with the Law of the United States, of the 18th March, 1818, Jonathan Stearns late a Private in the army of the Revolution, is inscribed on the Pension List, Roll of the Massachusetts Agency, at the rate of eight dollars per month, to commence on the twenty third day of April one thousand eight hundred and eighteen. Given at the War Office of the United States, this fiftieth day of April one thousand eight hundred and nineteen.
J. C. CALHOUN, Secretary of War,
appears, and exhibits to the Court here a Schedule, subscribed by him, as follows, to wit,
SCHEDULE,
containing his whole estate and income, his necessary clothing and bedding excepted, to wit,
  Tea cups, saucers, plates, bowls, mugs, pitchers, glass ware and brown ware . . . . . 3 00   Chairs, tables, chests & looking glass . . . . . 3 .   One Pot & kettle & tea kettle . . . . . 1 50   Kettle & forks tin ware & warming pan . . . . . 2 .   Bed & cover . . . . . 20   $ 9 70 
The Declarant family consists of himself his wife and four children resident with him, his age sixty four her age fifty his son Otis fifteen his son Charles thirteen his daughter Dorinda eleven his daughter Clarissa nine,
The Declarant occupation is that of a

Labourer, unable to work more than half of his time being troubled with the Asthma, his wife is troubled with a lameness in her left ankle which at times prevents her walking, his son Charles is very feeble and has been so from his birth. The said Stearns further states that he first entered the service during the Revolutionary war, for the term of six weeks Stationed at Roxbury in the company of Capt Solomon Kidder, the Reg t he does not recollect, the next engagement was for five months, stationed at Ticonderoga in Capt John Fords company the Regiment he does not recollect, that he served the said five months commencing in the month of June or July 1775 or 1776. The next engagement he enlisted on the second day May A D 1777 for three years and served for that term, that he belonged to Capt Elijah Davenport the company Col Niyons Reg t General Niyons Brigade that it was the 6 th Massachusetts Regiment, that he was honourably discharged on the second day of May A D 1780
Jonathan Stearns,
Sworn before Stephen Minot Judge of said Court"

and at the same time he produces to the Court here the following Oath, taken and subscribed by him, before the Hon. Stephen Minot a Judge of said Court as aforesaid, to wit,
11 I, Jonathan Stearns , do solemnly swear, that I was a resident citizen of the United States, on the eighteenth day of March, one thousand eight hundred and eighteen, and that I have not, since that time, by gift, sale, or in any manner whatever, disposed of my property, or any part thereof, with intent thereby so to diminish it as to bring myself within the provisions of an act of Congress, entitled "an act to provide for certain persons engaged in the land and naval service of the United States in the revolutionary war," passed on the eighteenth day of March, one thousand eight hundred and eighteen, and that I have not, nor has any person in trust for me, any property, or securities, contracts, or debts, due to me; nor have I any income, other than what is contained in the schedule hereto annexed and by me subscribed. So help me GOD.
Jonathan Stearns
Middlesex ss. C. C. C. P. June Term, A. D. 1820
Then the abovenamed Jonathan Stearns took and subscribed the forewritten Oath before me,
Stephen Minot Judge of said Court. 11
I, ABRAHAM BIGLOW , Clerk of the Court aforesaid, do hereby certify, that the foregoing Oath, and Schedule thereto annexed, are truly copied from the record of the said Court; and I do further certify, that it is the opinion of the said Court, that the total amount in value of the property exhibited in the aforesaid Schedule is
Thirty dollars & fifty cents.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand, and affixed the seal of the said Court, at Cambridge, in said County of Middlesex, on this 20 th day of July 1820
Attr.
Abraham Biglow

S33741
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,
BUREAU OF PENSIONS.
Washington, D. C., _____, 19_____
In reply to your request of _____, received _____ for a statement of the military history of Jonathan Stearns a soldier of the REVOLUTIONARY WAR, you will find below the desired information as contained in his (or his widow's) application for pension on file in this Bureau.
   DATES OF ENLISTMENT OR APPOINTMENT. LENGTH OF SERVICE. RANK. OFFICERS UNDER WHOM SERVICE WAS RENDERED. STATE.   CAPTAIN. COLONEL.     x 6 months Pvt Solomon Kidder Stationed at Roxbury Mass   June or July 1776 5 months John Ford Stationed at Scituate   May 2 1777 3 yrs. Elijah Danforth Nipon  
Battles engaged in, were stated
Residence of soldier at enlistment, not stated
Date of application for pension, Apr 22 1818. His wife joined Apr 5 1819
Residence at date of application, Billerica Middlesex Co. Mass.
Age at date of application, 68 yrs. date & place of birth not stated
Remarks: In 1818 soldier refers to his wife aged 50 her name is not stated, his son Otis 18 yrs old, and Charles 13, his daughter Deborah 11 & Clarissa 9. There is no further data on file as to his family.
Respectfully,
cannot verify 1 st service of soldier but Capt John Ford was at Scituate with his Co. in summer of 1776 see Mass. Vol. 5, p. 839
Commissioner.

Hon. JOS. W. BARNWELL, Pres. Hon. H. A. M. SMITH, 1st Vice-Pres. Hon. THEODORE D. JERVEY, 2d Vice-Pres. Hon. F. H. WESTON, 3d Vice-Pres. Hon. JOHN B. CLEVELAND, 4th Vice-Pres. Miss MABEL L. WEBBER. Sec., Treas. and Librarian. Per Sec
CURATORS Langdon Cheves, Esq. D. E. Huger Smith, Esq. Chas. W. Kollock, M. D. Prof. Yates Snowden, Prof. C. J. Colcock, A. S. Salley, Jr., Esq. M. Alston Read, Esq. Henry S. Holmes, Esq. Frank R. Frost, Esq.
Charleston, S. C.,
March 28, 1919 19
Commissioner of Pensions, Rev. War, Bureau of Pensions, Washington, D.C. Dera Sir,
Thank you very much for the prompt reply to my recent letter, and the very satisfactory information which it contained.
The Jonathan Stearns I am inquiring about, was born in Biller- ica, Mass, in May, 1758; he was a brother of the Josiah whose record you have just sent me, and is supposed to have gone through the war with him; he married first, in 1784, Mary Wright; they seem to have been divorced, and his second wife was named Betty---, I have no dates at all for her, nor do I know her last name; the only one his children which I have the name of, is Susannah, born in 1791, married in 1804 to Josiah Stearns, son of Josiah, and her first cousin. This is all of the information I have at hand.
I find a note, made in Mass. a number of years ago, that Jonathan Stearns private, Mass. Line, had a pension granted April 5, 18--( looks like 1832, but it is blurred) and was then either 76, or 66, that also is not clear.
Yours very truly,
Mabel L. Webber.

33741 Rev INVALID.
File No. 33741
Jonathan Stearns Rev Rev War
Act: 15 th March 18 th
Index:—Vol. 2 , Page 895
[Arrangement of 1870.]
1919 April 1. History to Mabel L. Debban. aud.