Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application File S. 30716, for Levi Stearns, Connecticut

SERVICE
Stearns, Levi
NUMBER
S. 30716
CONTENTS

N. 217 Massachusetts
Siri Stearns
of Charlemont in the State of Mass who was a Private in the Company commanded by Captain Waterman of the Regt commanded by Col Douglas in the Connecticut line for 17 months 18 days
Miles
Inscribed on the Roll of Massachusetts at the rate of 18 Dollars 67 Cents per annum, to commence on the 14th day of March, 1831.
Certificate of Pension issued the 22 nd day of March 1833 and sent Wm Geo Greenfield Mass
Arrears to the 14th of March 1833 $ 117.34 Semi-ant. allowance ending 4 Sept. 1833  29.33 $146.67
{ Revolutionary Claim, } { Act June 7, 1832. }
Recorded by W. W. Adison Clerk, Book 6 Vol. 2 nd Page 76
79 Franklin

Levi Stearns
22317
Private 17 months 18 days
E. Alvord En Greenfield Mass

BRIEF in the case of Levi Stearns of Charlemont in the State of Massachusetts (Act 7th June, 1832.)
 1. Was the declaration made before a Court or a Judge? In open court  2. If before a Judge, does it appear that the applicant is disabled by bodily infirmity?  3. How old is he? Seventy Seven  4. State his service, as directed in the form annexed. 
   Period. Duration of Service. Rank. Names of General and Field Officers under whom he served.   Years, Months, Days. As a Gen.     In 1775 about 21 Minuteman Munderst: Osgood   1775 7 15 private Capt: Waterman   1776 2 " Col: Douglass & Capt: Hasey   In July 1776 4 " Col: North & Capt: Sharp   1776 1 12 " Col: McClellan & Capt: Lyon   *1778 1 " Capt: Bunker   1780 1 " Genl: Tyler  
 5. In what battles was he engaged? Bunker Hill  6. Where did he reside when he entered the service? In Pompey Connecticut  7. Is his statement supported by living witnesses, by documentary proof, by traditional evidence, by incidental evidence, or by the rolls? Documentary & traditional evidence  8. Are the papers defective as to form or authentication? and if so, in what respect? correctly authenticated 
I Certify that the foregoing statement and the answers agree with the evidence in the case above mentioned.
W. H. Adams Examining Clerk.
* During this term he served as a Sergeant, as will be seen from his Warrant as such - He has not claimed this term as a Sergeant -

Levi Stearns Charlemont
D 22317
Levi Stearns.

General Putnam requested as many of his Regiment as could stay to continue in the Service another month & I with others I believe about half the Regt. engaged to serve a month but was discharged before the expiration of the time I believe the 15 Decr. So that I served seven & half months at this time I returned to Pomfret. In 1776 I enlisted for two months in Capt. Samuel Macey's company in Col. Douglas Regt. & again marched to Cambridge & was stationed in Cambridge till the British left Boston. I think in March after that I was stationed at Roxbury the remainder of the two months & was discharged the first of April. In July 1776 I again enlisted for four months in a company commanded by Capt. Elijah Sharp in Col. Samuel North Regt. & marched to Ticonderoga, was stationed on Mount Independence at the expiration of the four months I was discharged & returned to Pomfret. immediately after my return the Regt. of Militia to which I belonged commanded by Col. Samuel M c Leallen was ordered to march to Rhode Island for six weeks. I was in Capt. Daniel Lyons Company & marched to Providence where I continued in the service six weeks and then returned home. About the first of August, 1778 I enlisted in a company of Volunteers commanded by Capt. Jos. Durkee for one month & marched for Rhode Island but met the Army under General Sullivan retreating from the Island. we returned to Providence & remained there till the expiration of the term when I returned to Pomfret. In 1780 I was detached with others of the Militia of Connecticut to serve one month in Rhode Island was in General Tyler's Brigade but do not remember the names of any other Officer under whom I served at this time. I was stationed at Pawtuxet in Rhode Island and while there we had orders from the Govr. of Connecticut to march to the protection of New London in that State. we marched one day twenty four Miles. when counter orders were received and we returned in two days to Pawtuxet, where I remained in service till the expiration of the term for which I was detached & then returned to Pomfret. making in the whole seventeen months & three weeks service.
As I live at a great distance from the place where I then live. I do not know of any person now living whose testimony I can procure to prove the Service actually performed. I removed from Pomfret to Enfield in Connecticut in the year 1781. and in 1799, I came to Grafton Vermont where I now reside.
   first term of service 3 weeks   Second do — 7. 2 Seven months & half   Third do — 2 months   fourth — 4. months   fifth — 6 weeks   Sixth — 1. month   Seventh — 1 month   17. 3 17 months 18 weeks  

Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
FRANKLIN COUNTY ss.
ON THIS fifteenth day of August A. D. 1832, personally appeared in open Court, before the Justices of the Court of Common Pleas of the said Commonwealth, now sitting at Greenfield within and for the said County of Franklin, Sevi Stearns a resident of Charlemont in the County and Commonwealth aforesaid, aged seventy seven years, who being first duly sworn according to law, doth, on his oath, make the following declaration in order to obtain the benefit of an 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.
at the commencement of the revolutionary war in 1775 I lived in Pomfret in the State of Connecticut and was enrolled in company of minutemen being then twenty years of age. on hearing of the battle of Lexington I believe the next day after it took place I marched with a part of the company under the command of Lt William Osgood to Cambridge in Massachusetts. and was afterwards stationed at Roxbury where I remained about three weeks in the service, when I was discharged & returned to Pomfret, and immediately after, I enlisted for seven months, in a company which was called General Putnam's Company, it being then the custom in Connecticut for general field officers to have a company, it was commanded by Jedediah Waterman, in Putnam's Brigade & Regiment in the Connecticut line, I marched again to Cambridge in Massachusetts, and was stationed there all summer. I was in the battle on Bunker Hill the 17 June, General Putnam, Col Storrs & Major Dwyer of the Connecticut line were in that battle; at the expiration of the seven months
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.
Attest E. Alvord Clerk
Levi Stearns
WE, Wales Tilton a clergyman & Asahel Judd
residing in Charlemont hereby certify that we are well acquainted with Sevi Stearns who has subscribed and sworn to the above declaration; that we believe him to be seventy seven 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 and subscribed the day and year aforesaid. Attest E. Alvord Clerk
Wales Tilton Clergyman Asahel Judd
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 certifies, that it appears to them that Wales Tilton who has signed the preceding certificates is a clergyman resident in the said town of Charlemont, and that Asahel Judd who has also signed the same is a resident in said Charlemont, and is a credible witness, and that their statement is entitled to credit.
Attest E. Alvord Clerk
I, ELIJAH ALVORD, Clerk of the said Court, do hereby certify that the foregoing contains the original proceedings of the said Court in the matter of the application of Levi Stearns for a pension.
IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my Hand and affixed the Seal of the said Court, this fifteenth day of August in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty two.
E. Alvord Clerk.

BRIEF objections to the admission of Pension Claims, of which those answered in the negative, in red ink, will apply to the claim of Levi Stearns further proof or explanation.
I. Does the declaration show where the applicant resides? yes II. Did the declarant make the declaration in the county where he resides? yes 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? yes 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? except one term of about 21 days VI. Has he given the names of the officers under whom he served, in conformity with the regulations? yes VII. Has he made a relinquishment of every claim to any other pension than the one under the Act of June 7, 1832? yes VIII. Has the Court given their opinion? yes IX. Has the Clerk given his certificate? yes 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? yes

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? yes
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? yes
XVII. Are the seven interrogatories prescribed by the War Department answered satisfactorily? And, if not, which of them is not so answered?
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.

30 716 Rev INVALID.
File No 30,716
Levi Stearns
Rev Mr
Act: June 7 th 82 nd
Index:—Vol. 2 , Page 396
[Arrangement of 1870.]

Levi Stearns S. W. 30. 716 Conn.
Levi Stearns Scripps Warrant 1778

William Worthington Esq. Col. of a Regiment of Foot rais d by the States of Connecticut for the defence of the united States of America.
To Levi Stearns greeting, Reposing Special Confidence in y r Courage Skill and good Conduct I do by these Presents, Constitute and appoint you the said Levi Stearns to be the First Serj t in Capt. Joseph Durkee's Company of Volunteers in the Regt. now under my Command. you are therefore Faithfully and Diligently to exercise the several acts and duties of y r office in a strict & Carefull Discharge of the same, and you are to observe & obey all such orders as you may from time to time receive from me or other your Superior officer & to Instruct y r Company in the use of arms, & all Necessary duty, Commanding them to obey you as their Serj t . For which this shall be your Sufficient Warrant. Given under my Hand at Providence this 11 th Day of Sept r . A o 1778
W m Worthington (c)