Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application File S. 30603, for Joseph Mountfort, Massachusetts

SERVICE
NUMBER _____
Mass. Sea Service Navy
Mountfort, Joseph Mountford, Jor
S 30603
CONTENTS

Wavy 10 3211
Massachusetts
Joseph Mountfort Mountford of Norfolk in the State of Mass who was a seamen in the Schooner Lynx commanded by Captain Adams of the U.S. commanded by the in the service time for 18 May.
State Navy
Inscribed on the Roll of Mass at the rate of 72 Dollars — Cents per annum, to commence on the 4th day of March, 1831.
Certificate of Pension issued the 12 th day of Apr 1833 and sent to Debby Boston Mass
Arrears to the 4th of Apr 1833 $ 124 — Semi-annual allowance ending 4 Sept — 36 — $180 —
{ Revolutionary Claim, } { Act June 7, 1832. }
Recorded by J H to Blair Clerk, Book 10, Vol. 2 nd Page 52.
New Certificate issued 25 Nov. 1836, payable to Charles Mountford, Guardian, if sent to him at Boston, Mass.
82 Suffolk

N o 5248 Joseph Mountford
Seaman 18 Months
ordered arrear to show that the above Lynch was a public mind upol
16 06
Jan y 1833
$72
P-207
E. H. Derby Esq r Boston Ms.

BRIEF in the case of  Joseph Mountford of the County of Suffolk  in the State of Mass  (Act 7th June, 1832.)
 1. Was the declaration made before a Court or a Judge? Court  2. If before a Judge, does it appear that the applicant is disabled by bodily infirmity?  3. How old is he? 81 years  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 1779 March to Oct. 78 1 6 — Seaman In public Service Schooner Lynch, Capt. Adams  
 5. In what battles was he engaged? at Sea  6. Where did he reside when he entered the service? Boston  7. Is his statement supported by living witnesses, by documentary proof, by traditional evidence, by incidental evidence, or by the rolls? Depositions  8. Are the papers defective as to form or authentication? and if so, in what respect? 
I Certify that the foregoing statement and the answers agree with the evidence in the case above mentioned.
Levin Belt Examining Clerk.

Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Suffolk ss. Boston
On this sixth day of August Boston personally appeared in open Court before the Municipal Court now sitting at within and for the County of Suffolk  the 15th of July aforesaid
Joseph Mountfort of Boston aged eighty two  one years
Who being 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 7th, 1832. That he entered the service of the United States, under the following named officers, and served as herein stated. That is to say
On the second of March 1777. He shipped at Boston as a seaman on board the armed Schooner Lynch then in the service of Congress under the command of John Adams, bound to the Port of Nantes in France.
He sailed on said voyage & continued in her until she was taken on her return from France in June 1777. by an English eighty four gun ship under the command of Admiral Garris. He was carried to Plymouth in England & detained in captivity till December of the same year when he escaped from prison with six fellow prisoners crossed the channel to France in an open boat, incurring many perils by the way. Immediately on his arrival in France he shipped on board the French Frigate, then just built, Captain Nickerson Commander, Mr Clark & Mr Lyggs first & second Lieutenants. He sailed in her for Boston, where he arrived the ensuing summer & was discharged some time in September or October as near as he can recollect. This was in the year 1778.
He knows of no one living who served with him on board the French Frigate or who can testify to his service, & has no documentary evidence. The whole period of his service amounts, as near as he can calculate, to eighteen months.
He is uncertain whether the Lynch was fitted out by the Province of Massachusetts or by Congress, she was however a public vessel & her officers duly commissioned. When captured the mail containing a great number of despatches & letters was thrown over. When he shipped on board the Lynch he shipped as a substitute for David Pabifer, he signed the articles at the Office of John Bradford Esq. on Boston and seamen being very

scarce and the service dangerous he was to receive fifty dollars per month.
He relinquishes every claim, whatever, to a pension or annuity whatever, 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
August 6: 1832 Sworn in open Court before me, Peter D. Thacher Judge
We James L. Mills & Edward T. Taylor
the latter a Clergyman residing in the town of City of Boston in the County of Suffolk and William Ballendon of said Boston hereby certify that we are well acquainted with Joseph Mountfort who has subscribed and sworn to the above, and that we believe him to be rightly  one years of age, that he is reputed and believed in the neighborhood, where he resides, to have been a soldier in the Revolution, and that we concur in that opinion. Sworn and subscribed the day and year aforesaid,
James L. Mills E. T. Taylor William Ballendon
And the said Court thereupon proceeded to propound the following interrogatories, which he answered under oath, as follows:
1. Where and in what year were you born?
Answer, In Boston, in the year 1751 I was baptized the third day of February in the year year 1751.
2. Have you any record of your age, and where is it?
Answer, I have no record of my age, but my baptism is recorded in the records of one of the Churches of the City of Boston, where I suppose it still remains.
3. Where were you living, when called into service, where have you lived since the Revolutionary War, and where do you now live?
Answer, In Boston.
4. How were you called into service, were you drafted, did you volunteer, or were you a substitute, and if a substitute, for whom?
Answer, I volunteered.
5. State the names of some of the regular Officers, who were with the troops, where you served, such Continental, and Militia Regiments, as you can recollect, and the general circumstances of your service?
Answer, I have embodied in my preceding declaration all I recollect on these subjects. except that The Lynch when captured was laden with military stores & clothing for the United States Army.
6. State the names of persons to whom you are known in your present neighborhood, and who can testify as to your character for veracity, and their belief of your services as a Soldier of the Revolution?
Answer,
The Reverend Edward T. Taylor & James L. Mills. my son Major John Mountfort is now in the service of the United States & com- mands a post near New Orleans.

7. Did you ever receive a discharge from the service; & if so, by whom was it given, & what has become of it?
Answer. I have no written discharge I do not confidently recollect that I ever received any.
Subscribed & sworn to, Before me J. S. H. H. H. Peter O. Thacher Judge of the Municipal Court
And the said Court do hereby declare their opinion, that after the investigation of the matter, and 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 Edward T. Taylor who has signed the preceding Certificates is a Clergyman resident in the credible person, and that their statement is entitled to credit.
I
Clerk of the Court of
do hereby certify that the foregoing contains the original proceedings of the said Court, in the matter of the application of for a pension.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal of office this in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty
day of
And the said Court do hereby declare their opinion, that after the investigation of the matter, and putting the interrogatories prescribed by the War Department, that the above named applicant was a Revolutionary Soldier & Seaman, and served as he states. And the Court further certifies that it appears to them, that Edward T. Taylor who has signed the preceding Certificate is a Clergyman resident in Boston aforesaid and is Pastor of the Seaman's Church of the Boston Port Society there and that James L. Mills and William Fallender, who have also signed the same, are credible persons and that their statement is entitled to credit. Peter O. Thacher Judge of the Municipal Court
Boston Jan'y 26 th 1833. I further hereby certify, that Ebenezer Mountford, whose affidavit is herein before contained, personally appeared in Court on the first day of August 1832 & made oath to the truth of the contents of the same - and that I considered him at that time & also now to be a credible person & that his statement was entitled to credit. Peter O. Thacher Judge of the Municipal Court

Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Suffolk ss
I, Thomas W. Phillips, Clerk of the Municipal Court of the City of Boston a court of Records legally established in this Commonwealth, do hereby certify that the foregoing contains the original proceedings of the court aforesaid, in the matter of the application of Joseph Mountfort for a pension, that the Honorable Peter S. Thacher is sole Judge of said Court and that his signatures on these papers are genuine.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and the seal of said Court at said Boston, this sixth day of August A.D. Eighteen hundred & thirty two Thomas W. Phillips Clerk
No 5248

Certificate of Baptism Joseph Mourfford

This Certifies that, from the records of Baptisms in Hollis Street Church, it appears that Joseph, son of Joseph Mountfort, was baptised on the 3 rd day of Febr. 1751; and that Ebenezer, son of Joseph Mountfort, was baptised on the 13 th of May 1759.
* According to the letter of the record, Joseph was baptised on the 3 rd Febr. 1750 - yet, as, according to the letter of the same record, the Febr. in which the baptism took place follows Oct., Nov. and Dec. of 1750, and immediately precedes March and April 1751, it seems probable that the year, 1751, was postponed from its place opposite to Jan y , to the place it holds, opposite to March, by a clerical mistake. - I therefore certify that "it appears" that Joseph was baptised in 1751.
Witness Jn. Pierpont
Minister of Hollis Street Church
Boston 2 Aug. t 1832
Exhibited in open Court this 6 th day of August AD 1832. Attest, Thomas A. Phillips, Clerk of the Municipal Court of the City of Boston

Ebenezer Mountford Deportion for Joseph Mountford.

Sworn in Court
6 Aug
Sworn to in open court this 6th day of August A.D. 1832
Attest, Thomas D. Phillips, Clerk of the Municipal Court of the City of Boston.
I Ebenezer Mountfort of Boston in the County of Suffolk and Commonwealth of Massachusetts aged seventy  76 three  two years on oath before me that during the year 1776 in the revolutionary war I sailed on a cruise in the armed Schooner - Lynch fitted out by the States against the British. I returned in her to Boston. Soon after her return she was refitted & prepared for another cruise on which she sailed in March 1777. My Brother Joseph Mount fort who still survives and this day applies for a pension sailed in the Lynch on this second cruise. At the time he sailed I was in Boston & saw him on board of her the day or the day before she sailed. I also recollect hearing by Capt Adams the Commander of the Lynch who was exchanged or sent home on parole that the Lynch was captured by the D'Artois a British ship of war, and my brother impris- oned. I also remember hearing about the time of my brother's return or soon after that he had come home in the Dean Frigate. When I returned to Boston after an absence of some months I found the Dean Frigate lying in the harbor & my brother Joseph at home.
The words seventy three first inserted
Eleazar 3rd attested

Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Suffolk ss
I, Thomas W Phillips, Clerk of the Municipal Court of the City of Boston, a Court of Record do hereby certify that the within papers contain the original proceedings of the aforesaid Court in the matter of the application of Joseph Elmer for a pension; that the Honorable Peter O Thacher is sole Judge of said Court and that his signatures on these papers are genuine.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and the seal of said Court at Boston this twenty sixth day of January A.D. eighteen hundred and thirty three.
Thomas W Phillips, Clerk of said Court

Invalid WIDOW, &c.
Rev
Mary 30603
File No.
Joseph Mountfort Seaman Schooner "Lynch" Rev War
Act: June 7. 1832
Index:—Vol. 2nd , Page 52
[Arrangement of 1870.]

Mass. Sea Service Mch 1777 at Boston June 1777 Seaman
Schooner "Lynch" Capt John Adams
"Dean" Frigate Capt Nickerson 1st blank 2nd Digg Navy Yard p. 645 dis Sept. or Oct 1778
Miss Wilson said note in pencil

Nov 22 o
for Bradford Morn
J L Edwards Esq. Commissioner of Pensions Washington D.C.
PAID

Boston Nov r 17 th 1836 J. J. Edwards Esq.
Dear Sir
I forward to you for examination, the claim and papers for Pension of Joseph Mountford. - he not having applied for his pay for eighteen months. - having been under guardianship during that time. - will you please forward the proper directions here (in Boston) for the payment of the same - also forward back to me the certificate of his claim. -
and you will much oblige your friend, and well wisher
Charles Mountford

J. L. Edwards Esq.
Washington -

Boston Jan. 26 th 1833. 26 State St.
J. L. Edwards Esq.
Sir,
I have the honor to transmit to you the amended declaration of Joseph Mountfort. The Records in the Office of the Secretary have been diligently searched, but I could find no papers relating to the "Lynch," the same having probably been lost or mislaid. Ebenezer Mountfort, a Brother of the present applicant, applied for a pension under the new law, for service performed in the same vessel & received his certificate many weeks since.
Very respectfully Yr. Obt. Serv't
E. Haskell Derby per D. H. Andrews

Payments to be made at Boston Mass by the Paymaster B Bank Agent for paying Pension- ers, the Agency of Mass.
Issue a new certificate payable to the guardian Charles Mountfort - write the jurisdiction name Joseph Mountfort -
Recorded in the Pension Of- fice, Book E Vol. 2 Page 22. by J. H. S. Blair Clerk.

Payments to be made at Boston Mass by the Paymaster B. B. Barr Agent for paying Pension- ers, the Agency of Mass.
Spine a new certificate payable to the guardian Charles Mountfort - write the Julian's name Joseph Mountfort
Recorded in the Pension Of- fice, Book E Vol. 2
Page 2. by
J. H. S. Blair Clerk.

WAR DEPARTMENT
Revolutionary Claim.
I certify that, in conformity with the law of the United States of the 7th June, 1832, Joseph Mounford of the State of Massachusetts who was a Seaman in the Navy of the Revolution.
is entitled to receive Seventy Two dollars and cents per annum, during his natural life, commencing on the 4th of March, 1831, and payable semi-annually on the 4th of March, and 4th of September in every year.
Given at the War Office of the United States, this Twelfth day of April one thousand eight hundred and thirty-three
L. Wood Secretary of War.
Examined and Countersigned. }
J. L. Edwards
Commissioner of Pensions.

No 5248 Jos. Mountford
E. H. Derby Esq
Boston

BRIEF objections to the admission of Pension Claims, of which those answered in the negative, in red ink, will apply to the claim of Joseph Mountford which require 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? yes 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 has produced a witness or witnesses as to his service, has the magistrate who administered the oath certified that he, she, or they are persons of credibility? no.
Has the official character and signature of the magistrate been certified by the proper officer under his seal of office? yes
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? yes
XVI. ‡Are the papers authenticated as the regulations direct? no
XVII. Are the seven interrogatories prescribed by the War Department answered satisfactorily? And, if not, which of them is not so answered? yes.
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 the 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.
† 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 authenticated 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 end 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.
Evidence must be produced to show that the Schooner "Lynch" was a public armed vessel. This property may be obtained from E. D. Bangs Esq. Secy of the State of Mass