Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application File W. 1646, for Caleb Pratt, Massachusetts

SERVICE
NUMBER
Mass.
Pratt, Caleb Mary
Nr. 1646
CONTENTS
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154.
Reported May 3/49.
Massachusetts
Mary Pratt
widow of Caleb Pratt
who served in the Revolutionary
war, as a Private Mass Line
Inscribed on the Roll at the rate of 28 Dollars 32
Cents per annum, to commence on the 4th day of March, 1848.
Certificate of Pension issued the 3 rd day of May 1849 and sent to
Caleb J. Pratt 80. Summer St Boston Mass
Recorded on Roll of Pensioners under act February 2 1848, Page 65 Vol. 1
29 July
Book D

1607.
Massachusetts
Caleb Pratt
of Suffolk, in the State of Mass who was a Private in the Company commanded by Captain [blank] of the Regt commanded by Col Tufts in the [blank] line for 8 May 15 Days
Inscribed on the Roll of [blank] at the rate of 28 Dollars 32 Cents per annum, to commence on the 4th day of March, 1831.
Certificate of Pension issued the 7 th day of Nov r 1832 and sent to [blank] Child Boston Mass.
Arrears to 4th of Sep r 1832 $42.48 Semi-ann l allowance ending 2 nd Mar 33: 14.16 $56.64
{ Revolutionary Claim, } { Act June 7, 1832. }
Recorded by J. H. S. Blair Clerk, Book D, Vol. 2 nd , Page 75.

N o 3029 Caleb Pratt
Po
Caleb P. Pratt

United States District Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
County of
ss.
On this thirty first day of July in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty two, personally appeared in open court before the Honorable Judge of the District Court now sitting at Boston in and for said County, Caleb Pratt a resident of Chelsea in said County, aged 69 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 7th A. D. 1832.
THAT he was born at said Chelsea
on the first day of March A. D. 1763, and that there is a record of his birth in said Chelsea in his bible that he was in the United States service from about the first day of October A. D. 1777, to the fifteenth day of Dec r A. D. 1777 as a private soldier in the Massachusetts State troops : that he was residing at said Chelsea.
when he entered the service ; that he enlisted with Capt Shad for some time (about 3 rd 1 st of October) and served for the period aforesaid under the command of said Shad and Samuel Pratt was Lieutenant of the company.
that he marched from Boston to Albany, from to  to to thro Old Hadley Springfield & Chesterfield : that he served at said Albany with none of the regular troops ; and
no regular officers were known to him : that he was in no battle
and at the end of his service received no written discharge : that since the Revolutionary war he has resided at said Chelsea and that he left the service some time in the month of December of the same year.
ALSO : that he was in the United States service from the sixteenth day of July A. D. 1780, to the sixteenth day of Jan y A. D. 1781 as a private in the 10 th Mass s Regiment of the line : that he was residing at s d Chelsea
when he entered the service ; that he enlisted for the town of Chelsea on s d Jan y and served for the period aforesaid under the command of Col Saffer in Gen Patterson's Brigade, Saffer's Reg t & Clark's Company. Lt Col Littlefield & Major Knapp were the other field officers : that he marched from Boston to Springfield, from thence to West Point from thence to Otterbein & thence back to West Point : that he served at West Point mostly with Col Brooks Regiment of the regular troops ; and Gen Washington, Lafayette, Koschiusko, Col Brooks Gen Patterson & other regular officers were known to him : that he was in no battle
and at the end of his service received a written discharge which is herewith transmitted and left the service on the said 16 th of Jan y (A)
ALSO : that he was in the United States service from the day of A. D. 17 , to the day of A. D. 17 in the : that he was
residing at when he entered the service ; that he and served for the period aforesaid under the command of
that he marched from to , from to from to : that he served at with of the regular troops ; and
regular officers were known to him : that he was in battle
and at the end of his service received written discharge.

The general circumstances of his first service so far as he recollects them were as follows: When he was first called into the service it was when Gen Burgoyne was coming down upon us from Canada, and this applicant and the rest of Capt Shedd's Company were destined to proceed to Fort Stanwix, but received orders to halt at Albany & wait for further orders which they did for three weeks or a month (he thinks it was full a month) and were then discharged. His company was never regimented. When he left Chelsea for this service and marched thro the country, the corn was ripe for harvesting and when he returned there was about a foot of snow on the ground, and the weather quite cold. That he knows no persons whose testimony he can procure, who can testify as to his service.
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 first aforesaid.
Caleb Pratt
aid 15 th
We Horatio Alger ————— a clergyman, residing in the town of Chelsea John F. Payson, Provision dealer, and Joseph H. Dyer, Provision dealer residing in said Chelsea hereby certify that we are well acquainted with Caleb Pratt who has subscribed and sworn to the above declaration; that we believe him to be sixty nine 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 as aforesaid.
Horatio Alger. John F. Payson
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 abovenamed applicant was a revolutionary soldier and served as he states. And the court further certify that it appears to them that Horatio Alger, who has signed the preceding certificate, is a clergyman, resident in the town of Chelsea; and that Joseph H. Dyer John F. Payson who has also signed the same is a resident in said Chelsea and is a credible person; and that their statement is entitled to credit. This opinion expressed at the request of the Secretary of War, in regulation, in pursuance to an Act of Congress of June 7 th 1832 Mr Dyer Mr. Dyer
I John L. Davis, Clerk of the Massachusetts District Court do hereby certify that the foregoing contains the original proceedings of the said court in the matter of the application of Caleb Pratt for a pension.
In testimony whereof I hereunto set my hand and seal of office on the day and year first aforesaid.
John L. Davis, Clerk of the United States District Court for the Massachusetts District

Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Suffolk County, ss
On this eighth day of January 1849 personally appeared before the Subscriber Judge of Probate of the Court of Suffolk of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Mary Pratt a resident of Brook Chelsea in the county of Suffolk aged eighty one years, who being first duly sworn according to Law, doth on her oath make the following Declaration in order to obtain the benefit of the provision made by the Act of Congress passed July 29. 1848 entitled "an Act for the Relief of certain surviving widows of officers & soldiers of the Revolutionary Army" that she is the widow of Caleb Pratt who was a private in the War of the Revolution, and served as set forth in his Declaration to obtain a Pension under the Act of 7 June 1832 now on file in the War Department and draw a Pension of twenty eight dollars and thirty two cents per annum under that Act of 7 June 1832.
She further declares that she was married to the said Caleb Pratt on the twenty first day of December in the year seventeen hundred ninety four that her husband the aforesaid Caleb Pratt died on the twenty eighth day of December 1844, that she was not married to him prior to his leaving the service, but the marriage took place previous to the first day of January one thousand eight hundred, viz, at the time above stated.
Sworn to and subscribed on the day and year above written Richd Loring Jug. of Probate
Mary Pratt
Attest Caleb S. Pratt

No Mary Pratt, widow of Caleb Pratt.
Oct 29 July 1848
Married Dec 1794 Husband died 1844, Adu o 8 mo. 15 days, Inc. $28.32 per ann.
Caleb S. Pratt, 80 Summer St., Boston, Mass.

Suffolk ss. Commonwealth of Massachusetts Chelsea December 8 th 1848.
I Ralph Beatley do hereby certify that it appears by the records of the said town of Chelsea that Caleb Pratt Jr. and Mary Ingraham were joined in marriage on the twenty fifth day of December in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and ninety four
This will certify that that the foregoing is a true copy of the record with the exception of the date which is expressed on the Record in fair legible figures as follows
Viz. 1794. Decem r 25.
I Ralph Beatley above named depose and say that I hold the office of Town Clerk in the County Town and State of said and that the above is a true extract from the records of the said town of Chelsea with the exception above named as certified by me
Ralph Beatley
By Town Clerk of Chelsea.
Suffolk ss.
Subscribed and sworn to before me this ninth day of December 1848.
John Dow Justice of the Peace

Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Secretary's Office, Boston January 10 th 1849.
I hereby Certify, That at the dates of the annexed attestations John Low and Ralph Beatley were Justices of the Peace for the County of Suffolk,
in the said Commonwealth, duly commissioned and constituted; and that to their acts and attestations, as such, full faith and credit are and ought to be given, in and out of Court.
In Testimony Whereof, I have hereunto affixed the Seal of the Commonwealth, the date above written.
W. B. Cushing
Secretary of the Commonwealth.

I the undersigned Mary Pratt do certify that I am the widow of the before name Caleb Pratt Jr.
Mary Pratt
Signed in Presence of Ralph Beatley.
I Tho s B. Pratt of the aforesaid town of Chelsea do depose and say that I was present at the marriage of the aforesaid Caleb Pratt Jr. and Mary Ingraham and have been personally acquainted with her ever since and know her to be the widow of the aforesaid Caleb Pratt Jr.
Tho s B. Pratt
Subscribed and sworn to before me this 15 th day of December 1848
Ralph Beatley. Justice of the Peace.
This will certify that the deponent Tho s B. Pratt is a disinterested stable and credible person
Ralph Beatley, Justice of the Peace

3029 Caleb Pratt
Private
8 Mo. 15 Days W. E.
Admitted
$28.32.
D. L. Child Boston

3029
BRIEF in the case of  Caleb Pratt of Chelsea of Suffolk by in the State of Mass. (Act 7 June, 1832.)
 1. Was the declaration made before a Court or a Judge? about  2. If before a Judge, does it appear that the applicant is disabled by bodily infirmity? _____ 
3. How old is he? 69
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.     about 1 Oct '77 to about 18 Dec '77 — 2 15 private Gen. Capt. She D - company never regimented   16 July '80 to 16 Jan'y '81 — 6 — " Capt. Clark. Col. Tappan - Gen. Patterson  
 5. In what battles was he engaged? Memoranda  6. Where did he reside when he entered the service? Chelsea  7. Is his statement supported by living witnesses, by documentary proof, by traditional evidence, by incidental evidence, or by the rolls? a discharge  8. Are the papers defective as to form or authentication? and if so, in what respect? 
_____  right
I Certify that the foregoing statement and the answers agree with the evidence in the case above mentioned.
W. C. Easton Examining Clerk.

The Barrack of Caleb Pratt a Soldier In the Tenth Massachusetts Regiment having Served as a faithfull good Soldier In Said Reg t the term of Six Month s it Being the full term for which he Enlisted is Hereby Discharged from the Same
Given Under my Hand at Westpoint this Sixteenth Day of Jan y 1783 Moses Knap Maj r Com d
According to a Gen l Order the Sprieng Comissary at Litchfield is to Issue to the above named Soldier his Daily Rations to carry him to the next Sprieng Comiss y and So on till he Shall arrive at his place of Residence In Chelsea Mass t State Moses Brannan Maj r Com d

The within ledger Eighteenth Subdivision of Jan 7. 1781
Estimated to include the
1781 - Mr. Hamlin
Issued Three Nations
H. Grace
Hartford Jan 9 28 th 1781
Winter H.
Issued 2 days Nations
Issued 25 days 1781
Daniel P. Kim
44 th Duncan H.

Revtran
WIDOW, &c.
File No. 1646
Mary Pratt
Widow
Caleb Pratt
Pris. Rev. War
Act: July 29, 1878
Index:—Vol. M. , Page 139
[Arrangement of 1870.]

Boston April 30. 1849
Dear Sir - Mary Pratt the widow of Caleb Pratt of Chelsea Mass, who was a Revolutionary pensioner, had her papers forwarded to Washington on the 8 th of Jan y 1849 for her to obtain the benefit of the Act of July 29. 1848 - by G. S. Bulfinch Esq - I have called on him several times and he says he has had no return; the Old lady being in her 83 rd year and dependant on others for her support. She is anxiously waiting for what she thinks her just due, her late husband's claim being acknowledged; your immediate attention is earnestly solicited - Please address Caleb I. Pratt N o 80 Summer Street Boston,
Very respectfully
Your most of -
Caleb I. Pratt

Jas. L. Edwards Esq.

Sir,
Merchants Bank Boston 10 Jan. 1849
Enclosed is the Declaration &c, of Mrs Mary Pratt, to obtain the Benefit of the Act of 29 July 1848. She wishes that her Pension Certificate may be sent to my care.
A Declaration made by Mrs Miriam Choate under the Acts of 1843 & 1844, accompanied with another Declaration by her under Act 2 Feb. 1848, was forwarded by me on 18 Nov r last.
As it has been mentioned to me that the papers were not found at your office, on a recent application made there respecting them, I would respectfully suggest, that one of the Declaration having been made under the Acts of 1843 & 1844, whether it might not have been filed separately from the Declaration under Act 2 Feb y 1848, and that perhaps it was asked for under the last mentioned Act.
Very Respectfully Your obed t Serv t G. S. Bulfinch
Jas. L. Edwards Esq. Comm r of Pensions.

3029 Celia Pratt
D. L. Chica 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 Caleb Pratt 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 ? [Handwritten line] 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 ?
[Handwritten wavy line]
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 ?
[Handwritten wavy line]
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 ?
[Handwritten wavy line]
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 ?
[Handwritten wavy line]
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 ?
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 affidavits must be properly authenticated, as above directed.
‡ 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.

(A)
Westpoint Jan: 15 th 1783
This May Certifie that Caleb Pratt hath Returned In His gun and accutrements I also Certifie that The above named Pratt hath found his own Blankets.
William M c Kinney

Caleb Pratt
Daniel Child Grafton Portland