Morrison's Pensions


Pension Application for Henry Cool

S.44794
Montgomery County
State of New York
            On the seventh day of April in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eighteen, personally came before me Daniel Bedford, Esquire one of the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas in and for the County of Montgomery and state aforesaid, Henry Cool who being duly sworn deposeth and saith, that he served in the Continental service in the Army of the United States against the common enemy in the Revolutionary War as a private soldier in the manner following that is to say, he enlisted in the Town of Stillwater in the now County of Saratoga and State of New York as a private soldier under Captain Job Wright in Colonel Van Schaick’s Regiment & Line of New York some time in March 1776 for ten months which term of ten months he served in the service aforesaid against the common enemy and was honorably discharged by written discharged which is now lost at Albany with the Company sometime in January 1777. (1)
            The deponent further deposeth and saith that he is an inhabitant of the Town of Oppenheim County of Montgomery in the State of New York and is a resident of the United States.  He further deposeth and saith that according to the best of his knowledge and belief he was sixty two years old the tenth day of September 1817 and owing to his age and infirmities of body and misfortune in life is now in reduced circumstances, that he is in need of assistance from his country for support.
(Signed with his mark) Henry Cool
            Subscribed & sworn to this seventh day of April 1818 before Me Daniel Bedford one of the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas in and for the County of Montgomery & State of New York.

January the 30th 1826.
State of New York
Montgomery County
Isaiah Nestle of the Town of Oppenheim (2) in said county being duly sworn says that he has been told by Henry Cool that he the said Henry draws a pension from the government of the United States for an amount of service rendered to the United States. 
That he his deponent believes that the said Henry still draws a pension and that he this deponent in the year eighteen hundred and sixteen this deponent thinks he had a conversation with the said Henry (who also lives in the said Town of Oppenheim) who then informed this deponent that he the said Henry had served in the service of the United States in the State of New York as a soldier enlisted for about nine months, & also in said conversation informed this deponent that at the finish of said nine months he then said Henry had been situate to enlist again in the army of the United States but then stated that he the said Henry would not do so but that he the said Henry (3) went to Canada so that he had served the British faithfully during the Revolutionary War and had left the service of the United States and that he the said Henry while in a British Service came into the United States with a party of British men or soldiers.
& this deponent thinks the said Henry also told him that he the said Henry had painted himself up & this deponent has had a conversation with his neighbor as well as those of Henry Cool who informed this deponent that the said Henry had made the same confession to them as to this deponent.  That said Henry further informed this deponent that he had been as aforesaid in the service of the British during the Revolutionary War for about five years and during which time he had served the British to the end of the war.
And also said that he had land in Canada for his services to the British and obtained from the British Government & the reason of this deponent in making this affidavit is that he conceives it his duty as a citizen of the United States & that the said Henry is not entitled to a pension from the government of the United States & further he says not. 
(Signed) Isaiah Nestle

This letter is in the pension application folder.
            I advise you that from the papers in the Revolutionary War pension claim, S.44794, it appears that Henry Cool was born September 10, 1755, place not stated.
            He enlisted in Stillwater, Saratoga County, New York about March 10, 1776 and served ten months as a private in Captain Job Wright’s Company, Colonel Goose Van Schaick’s New York Regiment.
            He was allowed pension on his application executed April 7, 1818 while a resident of Oppenheim, Montgomery County, New York.
            Early in 1825, information was received by the bureau that after the expiration of this soldier’s services in the American Army as stated above, he went to Canada, enlisted and served about five years, or to the close of the Revolution in the British Army, therefore his pension was suspended and the records show the date of last payment of pension on March 4, 1826.
            In 1821, his wife, Margaret was aged fifty-nine years, and a daughter Polly aged sixteen years.  There are no further family data.
            This is the history of the only soldier surnamed Cool, under any spelling of the name, who served in the New York Troops that is found on the Revolutionary War records of this bureau.

End Notes—Henry Cool (Cole)

    1. Henry is listed as Henrick Cole as a private in Captain Job Wright’s Company in Colonel Goose VanSchaick’s New York Continental Regiment.  He enlisted on March 2, 1776 and he was discharged on December 17, 1776.  On the Muster Roll he is listed as “On Furlough Sick Stillwater”.  FROM: Revolutionary War Rolls 1775-1783, Series M-246, Roll 77, Folder 163, National Archives, Washington D.C.
    2. The Town of Oppenheim in 1826 included the present day Town and the Village of St. Johnsville.  In 1838 Fulton County was formed from Montgomery County.  Lower Oppenheim became St. Johnsville and remained in Montgomery County.  Upper Oppenheim became the Town of Oppenheim, Fulton County. 
    3. There is a Henry Cole listed in Jessup’s Corps in Canada but I am not certain at this time if it is the same man.  Two men that served with Henry in VanSchaick’s Regiment confirmed his 1776 service.  They were Second Lieutenant Holtam Dunham and Private Simeon Rockwell.  Dunham and Rockwell after this enlistment returned to their homes and served in the 13th Regiment of Albany County Militia under Colonel John McCrea.  There is no record of Henry serving in this regiment which also took in Stillwater.  A Henry Cool is listed as serving as a private in Captain Elijah Bostwick’s Company in Colonel Morris Graham’s Regiment of New York State Levies in 1780.  It may not be the same man but there is not listing of a Henry Cool/Cole for any other service in New York State.  One other note: Holtam Dunham was appointed a Captain in Colonel Marinus Willett’s Regiment of New York State Levies in 1781.  He was cashiered for associating (treasonable practices and desertion to the enemy is what he was found guilty of as a result of a Court Martial) with the enemy.
    Copyright © 1998, -- 2005. James F. Morrison and Berry Enterprises. All rights reserved. All items on the site are copyrighted. While we welcome you to use the information provided on this web site by copying it, or downloading it; this information is copyrighted and not to be reproduced for distribution, sale, or profit.