Morrison's Pensions

Pension Application for Benjamin Secor

S.22975
Private, Captain Garner, Col. Hay, Sgt-2 mos.
State of New York
Rockland County
            On this twenty ninth day of November in the year A.D. 1832, personally appeared in open court, before the Judges of the court of Common Please [sic] now sitting Benjamin Sears a resident of the town of Ramapo, in the County of Rockland aged seventy nine years, the fourteenth day of April 1832, 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 7, 1832.  That he entered the service of the United States under the following named officers, and served as herein stated.  That about the first of August 1776, I enlisted as a Sergeant for five months in a company commanded by Capt. Abraham Onderdonk, Bisborn and Garner were Lieutenants at the town of Hampsted now Ramapo, where I then and have since resided.  Col. Nicoll of Goshen I believe was the Col’n of the regiment and we first went to Nyack, then to Fort Montgomery, then to Redhills near Peekskill ordered from there to White Plains which orders was [?] then returned to Redhills again and assisted in building a fort where we remained until Jany 1777, our time being expired I was discharged and came home.  I then early in the spring of 1777, was attached to a company of Militia commanded by Capt. Acker in a Regiment commanded by Col’n A. Hawkes Hay, and served therein until the close of the war during the year 1777 there being but few that was willing to take up arms in defending there country I was obliged to be almost continually out on duty but after that time the militia being divided into four classes and one class to serve every fourth week, I had a little more time to stay at home, but serving the time I was off of duty in the division of Militia as aforesaid I was obliged to attend at every alarm which was frequently made and I had to serve then from two to ten days at a time, and our duty was guarding along the Hudson River from Hoboken to Fort Montgomery and in scouting along through the now  county of Rockland and the County of Bergen, and I was with General Warner’s Army the day of the battle of Stony Point and guarded the prisoners taken by Genl Warner as far as Suffern, positively to state the time I was engaged in the service of the United States is now after the lapse of so many years out of my power as I kept no record of my services but can confidently declare that it exceeded two years exclusive of my enlistment. 
            I have no documentary evidence of my services to offer as I did not receive a discharge for my five months service and no written document for my other services and can prove a part of my services by some of the services of the Revolutionary War.
            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.  (Signed) Benjamin Secor.
            Sworn and subscribed the day and year aforesaid in open court.  David Pye Clerk.

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