Morrison's Pensions


Pension Application for John Mason

W.18479
Chloe, Widow
State of New York
Fulton County SS.
            Cloah Mason did on the [can’t read] day of September in the year of our Lord one thousand Eight hundred and thirty eight personally appear before the Judges of the Common Pleas Court of the County of Montgomery, a resident of Johnstown in the County of Fulton aged 71 Seventy 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 past July 7th 1838  [crossed out--in order to obtain the benefit of the ?] entitled an act granting half pay and pensions to certain widows that she is the widow of John Mason who was a soldier in the Militia service in the War of the Revolution that according to the best of her knowledge, belief and information her husband John Mason was a private soldier in the Militia in the War of the Revolution that he entered into said service in the town of Johnstown in the county of Fulton (then the County of Tryon) early in the month of April in the year 1777 by order & direction of the Committee of Safely for said County of Tryon that said John served some portion of said time as a scout and Indian spy from Johnstown through the Mohawk Country west of Fort Schuyler and Fort Stanwia [Stanwix] that said John was engaged in the Oriskany battle under General Herkimer and Colonel Willett on or about the sixth day of August of that year that he continued in said service in said year till about the last of October or the first part of November of that year that he was in the militia service and marched with the militia in the month of November 1778 from the Mohawk river to Cherry Valley at the time the inhabitants of Cherry Valley and the adjoining country were cut off and massacred by the Indians and Tories led by Brant & Butler that said John was engaged in and with scouting parties on the Unidilla River and the Mohawk Country for the term of about six months during the summer and fall of the last said year that he was engaged as a scout to watch the motions of Sir John Johnson commanding a body of Indians and Tories in the Valley of the Schoharie Creek and on the Mohawk River at the time of the burning of the Village of Schoharie and Caughnawaga by the Indians and Tories Commanded by Sire John Johnson and the burning and destruction of the property of the inhabitants of the Mohawk river in the fall of the year 1780 about two months at which time said John was engaged in a skirmish with the Indians and Tories commanded by Sir John Johnson at a place called Foxes Mills at or near the Mohawk River under the command of General Van Rensselaer that he was engaged in said war for the time of about six months in the year 1781 that he was in the Battle at the Hall filed called the Hall Field Battle at or near the Village of Johnstown in said county under the command of Colonel Willett that he there received a wound by a musket ball in the left side and that he was engaged in the militia service in the whole for the time of between two and three years some times in scouting parties and in spying out the position of the Indians and Tories in and about the Valley of the Mohawk and in the adjoining country and in the Battle and skirmishes aforesaid.  She further declares that she was married to the said John on the fourth day of August in the year 1788 that her husband the aforesaid John Mason died in the spring of the year 1816 in the town of Johnstown then County of Montgomery and now county of Fulton that she was not married to him prior to his leaving the service but the said marriage took place previous to the first of January 1794 namely at the time above stated and she has remained unmarried and his widow ever since.
            Sworn to and subscribed on the day & year above written.
State of New York
Fulton County  SS.
            I Jeremiah Mason of the Town of Johnstown in the said county being sworn saith that he was acquainted with John Mason in his lifetime that he the said John was an inhabitant of said town then the County of Tyron [Tryon] in said state during the war of the revolution that this deponent is the older brother of him the said John and this deponent further saith that the said John was a soldier in the militia in the company of Captain John Little and under the command of Colonel Marinus Willett of the New York State Troops for the term of one year & six months in the years of seventeen hundred and eighty and seventeen hundred and eighty one, that said John was engaged in a battle with the British troops at one or more places called Johnstown in the month of October in the year of our Lord one thousand and seventeen hundred and eighty one in said County & State that he the said John received a wound in said battle by a musket ball in the left side that said John was in the battle with the Indians at the Unidilla river and also at the battle with the Indians at Cherry Valley at the time of the massacre of the inhabitants by the Indians that said John was engaged as a scout and Indian spy on the Mohawk in said country and then the frontiers of said state for the term of [?] six months in the year seventeen hundred and eighty and this deponent further saith that said John was engaged in the war of the revolution as aforesaid in the militia [can’t read a few lines] term of two years and more and this deponent further saith that the said John was moved to  [can’t read a few lines] hundred and eighty two that said John died in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixteen [can’t read rest]
State of New York
Fulton County SS.
            I Martha Smith of the town of Johnstown in said county aged seventy two years being first duly sworn deposeth & saith that I became acquainted with Chloa Griswold the first year after the war that John Mason was my Brother that I well recollect the time when the said John Mason was married to Chloa Griswold they were married at the house of Nicholas Honer in the Town of Johnstown Now Fulton County by the Revd Thomas Romeyn of the Reformed Dutch Church of Caughnawaga In the year Seventeen Hundred & Eighty Eight on the Fourth day of August as this deponent verily believes this deponent further saith that she did not attend when they were married butt the next day when they all attended the home brining this deponent attended the wedding with them the second day that the Brides Maid was Betsey Grossit who afterwards became the wife Bildad Mills Esqr.  She is now dead that Chloe Mason had by her husband John Mason four living children William, Matthew, John and Oliver three died while young & John is the only living child the said Chloe is still living & remains the widow of John Mason this deponent further saith that she has frequently heard her brother John Mason relate his services in the Revolutionary War he served under Col. Willett & Capt. Liddle he served at Fort Stanwix, Fort Schuyler, Fort Herkimer at Schohary & in the Battle at Johnstown & Further she saith not.
(Signed with her mark) Martha Smith
            Subscribed & Sworn before me this fifth day of September 1846.  Daniel Stewart Justice of the Peace.
Letter in the pension folder.
January 28, 1930
Honorable Edgar Howard
United States House of Representatives
Washington D.C.
My dear Mr. Howard:
            In response to your letter of January 23, 1930, relative to information desired by Mrs. Mary Mason Marshall of Battle Creek, Nebraska, I have the honor to advise you that you are herewith furnished the histories of the only soldiers surnamed Mason, other than Isaac, who served with the New York Troops under Colonel Willett, that are found on the Revolutionary War records of this bureau.
            From the papers in the Revolutionary War pension claim W. 18479, it appears that John Mason (brother of Jeremiah whose history is given below) while a resident of Johnstown, New York, enlisted early in April, 1777, and served at various times until sometime in 1781, amounting to two or three years in all, as a private and Indian spy with the New York troops under Captain John Little and Garrett Putnam and Colonel Marinus Willett.  He was in the battles of Oriskany, Unadilla River, Cherry Valley, in an engagement with the Indians and Tories at Foxes’ Mills and received a musket ball wound in the left side at the battle of Johnson Hall in Johnstown.
            He married August 4, 1788, in Johnstown, New York, Chloe Griswold of Johnstown.
            He died April 20, 1816, in Johnstown, New York.
            His widow, Chloe, was allowed pension on her application executed in September, 1838, at which time she was seventy-one years of age and was a resident of Johnstown, New York.
            John and Chloe Mason had the following children: William, Mathew, John and Oliver.  In 1846 all were dead except John.
[document ends here]        
 

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