Morrison's Pensions
Henry Smith Application for Pension
W.6126
State of New York
Montgomery County
This 20th
day of September 1832 personally appeared in open court Hon. Aaron Haring,
Abraham Morrell, Samuel A. Gilbert, Henry Dievendorf and John Hand of the court
of Common Pleas in and for said County now sitting Henry Smith a resident of
the Town of Ephrataj in said county and state of New York aged sixty eight
years and six months, 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 1832.
That he
entered the service of the United States under the following named officers
and served as herein stated:--
In the year
1778 this applicant then fourteen years of age enrolled himself as a volunteer
in the militia company of Capt. Nicholas Richtor. (1) This company was located
in the north part of (what was then) the town of Palatine. And the inhabitants
were in continual alarm from the mauradering parties of Indians and Tories
that were then infesting Tryon County. Captain Richetor (2) and his company
had frequent skirmishes with those parties in one of which a number of his
men were killed and he himself was wounded and remained a number of years to
the time of his death a pensioner to the United States.
That this
applicant served in this company two years during which time he knows of no
officer higher in command than his captain. That once while in this company
they were ordered and marched from the fort at Stone Arabia to assist in repelling
an alarm at Fort Stanwix but their principal duty was to guard the inhabitants
in there own immediate vicinity until the latter part of his service in this
company when being overpowered by the enemy the company and the inhabitants
were obliged to seek refuge in the block house and at the fort at Stone Arabia.
That about
the 1st part of April 1780 (3) he enlisted into the company of rangers under
Captain John Casselman and served in said company nine months the period of
his enlistment and was discharged about the 1st January 1781.
The service
in this company was ranging the country in small parties (called scouting parties)
whose duty was to give an alarm in case of danger and was of much service to
such of the inhabitants as were obliged leave the forts to attend to agriculture
and other pursuits.
That about
the 1st of April of the latter year viz 1781 (4) he enlisted into the company
of nine months men under Captain Lawrence Gross under Col. Marinus Willett’s
regiment that his service while in this company was also guarding the frontiers
from Fort Hunter in the Mohawk River to Fort Stanwix and the interior of Tryon
County.
That he
fought at the Battle at Johnstown on the 22nd of October 1781 (5) he was at
this time in Captain Gross’s Company in the immediate command of Col.
Willett.
That on
the day preceding the battle he was sent express by Col. Willett to the Commander
of the fort at Stone Arabia (6) ordering him to advance what force he could
spare toward Johnstown.
That after
the battle he returned with his company to Fort Plain and continued in the
service until the first of Jan'y 1782 when he was discharged and was again
enrolled in the Militia Company now under the command of Captain Henry Miller
and continues to do duty in said company at the fort at Stone Arabia until
the close of the war.
That he
knows of no more or other testimony than the affidavits hereunto annexed. That
he hereby relinquishes every claim whatsoever to a pension or annuity except
the present and declares that his name is not on the roll of any agency of
any state.
To the questions
directed to be responded he answered:
He was born
in the town of Cattskill in the county of Green State of New York on the 31st
day of March 1764. He has at present no record of his age, that he formerly
had one recorded by his father in his Bible it was burnt several years since
at his brother’s house in Ephratah. He lived at Stone Arabia when he
entered the service after the Revolutionary War he has ever lived where he
now lives in Ephratah, Montgomery County.(7) He entered the service as a volunteer
under Captain Nicholas Richtor and afterward enlisted into the companies of
Captain Casselman and Gross as stated above. He served along with Col. Willett,
Col. Brown, (8) Col. Klock, Major Fink and the officers in the stations along
the Mohawk River and in Tryon County.
Sworn and subscribed this 20th day of September 1832
Signed with his mark, Henry Smith.
In open court, Geo D. Ferguson, C. Clerk
After Henry’s death May 3, 1840, his widow Nancy Smith applied for his pension.
End Notes for Henry Smith W.6126
By James F. Morrison