Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application File S. 16259, for Eliphaz Steele, Vermont

SERVICE
NUMBER
Vt.
Steele, Eliphaz
S16259
bearded
CONTENTS

Letter Benj. N. Carlton Nov. 18 th 1841
17.402 Vermont
Eliphaz Steele
of Chittenden in the State of Vermont who was a private in the Company commanded by Captain Stevens of the Regt. commanded by _____ in the Vt. Regt. time for 7 mos. 5
Inscribed on the Roll of Vermont at the rate of 23 Dollars 33 Cents per annum to commence on the 14th day of March, 1831.
Certificate of Pension issued the 20 day of Augt 1832 and sent to M. B. Harwell. Burlington.
Arrears to the 14th of March 1833 $ 46. 00 Semi-annual allowance ending 1 Sept - 11. 56
$ 58. 32
{ Revolutionary Claim, } { Act June 7, 1832. }
Recorded by W. L. Williams Clerk, Book L Vol. 3. Page 91

Eliphaug Steele
F.H.
rose
Mr. Washington D.C.
600 m. of Union
J. L. Church Esq.
17 Nov 1841
do
That Honor of the
See

West Hartford Conn t .
Nov r 14 th 1841
Sir
I have been informed by the heirs of Eliphas Stule of Hinesburgh in the State of Vermont that their father claimed in his declaration for a pension 16 months Service in the War of the Revolution, and that your Dept t allowed only 7 months. On a muster-roll that belongs to the heirs of Bayge Well and which has been forw d to your Dept t for a copy I find the Name of Eliphas Stule, commencing Service Feb y 5 th 1776. The roll is headed as follows "A muster-roll of Capt c John Stevens Comp y in Col o Burrells Battallion of forces raised in the State of Conn t and Now in the Service of the United States of America dated in Camp Mt t Independence Nov r 25 1776"
By reference to the proof in support of his claim (which I suppose is on file in your Dept t ) it can be ascertained whether that term of Service was allowed and if not I suppose his widow if now living, or if not his heirs have a right to claim it. Eliphas Stule was born in this place and resided here during the Revolutionary war which fact can be satisfactorily proved. As it will be attended with a considerable expense & trouble in making a formal application I have taken the liberty to ask you to do me the favor to examine the papers on which Eliphas Stule was pensioned

and if the proof I have referred to has not been allowed, will you have the goodness to say whether it now will be allowed provided satisfactory proof is given of identity etc —
I am very respectfully yrs. Atte. Secy.
Benj n Cotton
J. L. Edwards Esq r Comm te of Pensions Washington D.C.

State of Vermont Chittenden County
I hereby certify that the papers hereto attached marked A B & C are the same documents which were originally forwarded to the Pension Office to substantiate the destruction of Eliphas Steel of Hinesburgh, and that since their return from the Pension Office the document marked Additional No 1 has been added
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the seal of Chittenden County Court This 10th day of June A D 1833
Nathan B Mearns Clerk

State of Vermont } Chittenden County }
Additional 1831
Personally appeared Eliphaz
Steele of Hinesburgh, before me the undersigned a Justice of the Peace for Chittenden County, and to me known as the same person who made his declaration before the Honorable Chittenden County Court on the 21st day of August A.D. 1832, who being duly sworn, doth make the following additional declaration, that by reason of old age and the consequent loss of memory he cannot swear positively as to the precise dates and length of his services, but according to the best of his recollection he served not less than the periods mentioned below and in the following grades
For four months as a private in the year 1775
For three months as a private in the year 1776
I was out in other services but by reason of infirmities fits I am unable to give the particulars — I claim a pension for seven months as a private, — I never received a discharge, — when I ended the service I lived in West Hartford Connecticut, since the Revolution I have lived the principal part of the time in Vermont, having lived in Hinesburgh, my present place of residence for the last forty years.
Eliphaz Steele
Sworn and subscribed this 6th day of June A.D. 1833. and I hereby certify that the above named Eliphaz Steele has been afflicted with fits but has never been adjudged a lunatic and I have no doubt but he is of sound mind and capable of managing his affairs. Nathan Blackwell Justice of the Peace
Nathan Blackwell Justice of the Peace

State of Vermont Chittenden County
I Nathan B. Mearns Clerk of Chittenden County Court do hereby certify that Nathan B. Mearns Esqr. before whom the within declaration was taken was at the time thereof a Justice of the Peace, duly qualified acting under the authority of this State and that his name thereto subscribed is his own proper signature.
In Testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the seal of said Court this 10th day of June A.D. 1833
Nathan B. Mearns

STATE OF VERMONT. Chittenden County, ss.
6 I Nathan Mearns Clerk of Chittenden County Court, do hereby certify that, Charles Russell Esqr. before whom the annexed affidavit is taken, was at the time thereof, a Justice of the Peace, duly qualified, acting under the authority of this State, and that I believe his name thereto subscribed, to be his own proper signature.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the seal of said Court, at Burlington, this 21 st day of August — A. D. 183 2
Nathan Mearns

33 We Mason Knapp  Knapp Minister of the Gospel - Mitchell Hinsdill and William Hunt of Windburgh in the County of Chittenden - hereby certify that we are well acquainted with Eliphaaz Steel who has subscribed and sworn to the above declaration, that we believe him to be Seventy four 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 to and subscribed this 21 st day of Aug t . 1832 Before me
Mason Knapp Minister of the Gospel Mitchell Hinsdill William Hunt Charles Russell Justice of the Peace

A Revolutionary Claims.
STATE OF VERMONT, } Chittenden County, ss. }
On this 21 st  seventeenth day of August A. D. 1832, personally appeared in open Court, before the Honorable County Court for the County of Chittenden, now sitting, Elishaz Steele a resident of Winesburgh in the County of Chittenden and State of Vermont, aged Seventy 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 Act of Congress passed June 7, 1832, That he entered the service of the United States under the following named officers, and served as herein stated. - That I entered the service at Westport under Capt Rowley as a volunteer in the first year of the war of the Revolution - Col Huntington commanded the Regiment - we marched to Roxbury in Massachusetts - and continued in the service at this time five months and was dismissed and returned home having served the time for which I engaged for. Afterwards (the next year) I enlisted under Capt John Stevens in Major Buttsfield's Regiment, for one year - We marched from Westport Connecticut through Massachusetts and Vermont into Canada up the St. Lawrence to the Cedars - where we remained about a week while we were at the Cedars we were attacked by a party of British troops and Indians - a skirmish continued about three days - when we were taken prisoners - about four hundred of us in number - Two of the prisoners and myself escaped from our captors and returned home - after having been in service for more than three months - The other prisoners, I believe were afterwards exchanged. I do not recollect who the other officers were who were attached to this northern army as it was called - being then young and from the great length of time that has elapsed since then, I have no documentary evidence of these services nor do I know of any living witness or witnesses who can testify to these facts - I was born in West

Heardfield Ct March 4 th 1758 Have no record of my age except one in my bible made by my Father
I lived in West Heardfield Ct. when I entered the service Since the Revolution I have lived for the last forty five years in Hinesburgh Vt. where I now live
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, }
Eliphoz Steele
Before
Nathan Mearswell Clerk
And the 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 Soldier and served as he states,—And the Court further certify, that it appears to them, that Mason Thayer Mitchell Hindsall Williams Shelburne
who have signed the annexed certificate and who are residents of the town of Hinesburgh are credible persons and that their statement is entitled to credit. and that Mason Thayer is a clergyman
Attest
El. Brainerd } Affiant John Vanburen } Judges of Chittenden County Court
STATE OF VERMONT. Chittenden County, ss.
I Nathan Mearswell Clerk of Chittenden County Court, do hereby certify, that the foregoing contains the original proceedings of the said Court in the matter of the application of Eliphoz Steele for a Pension.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal of office, this 21 day of August
A. D. 1832.
Nathan Mearswell
8457

P
16259
INVALID.
File No. 16259  Clifton State  Miss Rev 1881
Act: June 7 th 89
Index:—Vol. 1 , Page 300
[Arrangement of 1870.]

8457 Eliphas Steel
Adon 7 months $23.33
Mrs Hasnell Burlington Vt

BRIEF objections to the admission of Pension Claims , of which those answered in the negative, in red ink, will apply to the claim of Eliphus Steele which require further proof or explanation.
I. Does the declaration show where the applicant resides? II. Did the declarant make the declaration in the county where he resides? 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? IV. Has the declarant mentioned the period or periods of the war when he served? No 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 See page 5 VI. Has he given the names of the officers under whom he served, in conformity with the regulations? No VII. Has he made a relinquishment of every claim to any other pension than the one under the Act of June 7, 1832? VIII. Has the Court given their opinion? IX. Has the Clerk given his certificate? 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?

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?
XII. If the clergyman's affidavit has not been produced, is there any reason assigned for not obtaining it?
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?
XIV. †If the applicant's name is not found on the rolls of military service, has he produced a witness or witnesses as to his service?
If he has produced direct proof as to service, has the magistrate who administered the oath, certified to the credibility of the witness or witnesses?
Has the proper officer certified to the official character and signature of the magistrate as the regulations direct?
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?
XVI. ‡Are the papers authenticated as the regulations direct?
XVII. Are the seven interrogatories prescribed by the War Department answered satisfactorily? And, if not, which of them is not so answered? not all
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; For _____ year _____ months, and _____ days, I served as a _____ For _____ months and _____ days, I served as a _____; and for such service I claim a pension."

It is important in all cases to determine with precision the period for which each 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. Some persons who apply for pensions merely state they served two years in the militia, &c. without specifying the tours; the names of the officers, and other particulars respecting their service. This form of a declaration is highly objectionable. It must in every case be clearly shewn under what officers the applicant served; the duration of each term of engagement; the particular place or places where the service was performed; that the applicant served with an embodied corps called into service by competent authority; that he was either in the field or in garrison; and for the time during which the service was performed, he was not employed in any civil pursuit.
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 he belonged. The magistrate who may administer the oaths must certify to the credibility of the witnesses, and the official character and signature of the magistrate must be certified by the proper officer, under his seal of office.
QUERE XVI.  Mode of authenticating papers.
In every instance where the certificate of the certifying officer who authenticates 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 ends 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.
In every case where the clerk of the court, or other certifying officer, has no public seal of office, the certificate of a member of congress, proving the official character and signature of the certifying officer, should accompany the papers.