PENSION: Asenath Orvis, widow of Gershom Orvis; LeRay, Jefferson Co., NY submitted by Mabry Benson [benson@acm.org] ************************************************************************ USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb *********************************************************************** Pension Application of Asenath Orvis, widow of Gershom Orvis State of New York Jefferson County On this ?3 day of June 1837 personally appeared before John Macomber one of the judges of the court of Common Pleas in & for said county Asenath Orvis a resident of LeRay in said county aged eighty years, who being duly sworn according to law doth on her oath make the following declaration in order to obtain the benefit of the provisions made by the act of Congress passed July 4 1836 That she is the widow of Gershom Orvis who was a private in the Revolutionary War that he enlisted in April 1775 and served one year under Capt Benedict at then Hinsdale Cumberland Co New York now Vernon Windham Co Vermont during most or all of the this tour he was with the army under the command of Genl Montgomery he was discharged in April 1776 after having served one year she does not recollect the regiment he belonged to or the Colonels name - she however believes he was under the command of Col Van Scheink in this or some after period of his service - that in June 1776 he again enlisted under Capt Merriman for six months and served most of the time in the army under Genl Gates at Ticonderoga and in that neighborhood does not recollect his regimental officers - he was discharged in December after having served six months - that in June or July 1777 he again enlisted and served at Saratoga and in that region in the army under Genl Gates in the company commanded she thinks by Capt Bridgeman not less than two months (she believes more) - she further declares that she was married to the said Gershom Orvis on the 17th day of July 1776 in Brattleborough now Vermont - that her husband the aforesaid Gershom Orvis died on the ninth day of March 1824 and that she has remained a widow ever since that perios as will appear by the prood hereto annexed - Subscribed and sworn to on the day & year above written before me Asenath Orvis State of New York Jefferson County Horatio Orvis being duly sworn according to Law doth depose and say that Asenath Orvis who subscribed the foregoing declaration is his mother and the said Gershom mentioned therein was his father - that his father died as there stated in the 9th day of March 1824 and that his said mother resides with this deponent and has remained a widow ever since his fathers death. Subscribed and sworn to this Horatio Orvis third day of June 1837 before State of New York Jefferson County Martha Wicks of Antwerp in the county & state aforesaid being duly sworn according to law disposeth and saith that (as she has always been informed and believes to be true) she is the eldest child of of Gershom & Asenath Orvis that she was of the age of sixty two years on the third day of September last past that she was brought up and educated by her said parents who always lived together as husband and wife until the death of her father in the month of March in the year eighteen hundred and twenty four - that the earliest period which this deponent recollects was when her said parents lived together in the town of Vernon in the county of Windham in the State of Vermont in the year seven teen hundred and eighty four this deponent being then of the age of six years. And this deponent further saith that she has always understood from her father and from other revolutionary soldiers living at that time, but who have since died. that he was engaged as a private in the service of the United States during the revolutionary war And this deponent further saith that she always understood from her said parents that her father was called out with the Vermont Militia under General Stark about the time of her birth which took place the third day of September in the year Seventeen hundred and seventy seven That she does not know of any persons now living who were acquainted with the circumstandes except her mother and this deponent further saith that her mother has since the death of her father remained a widow and that she is in indigent circumstances and further the deponent saith no ? Sworn and subscribed before me this fifth day of February Martha her mark Wick in the year of our Lord Eighteen hundred and forty Dear Sister ? April 17, 1837 It is a pleasing reflection that amidst all the cares & disappointments to which we are subject one bright attendant is given to cheer our way & which seldom forsakes us, even in the darkest hours of trial. In a world like this where our fondest dreams of bliss too often prove to be only phan toms of the imagination, where out brightest expectation are blasted, and our dearest friends are taken from us, some anticipation of future bliss should be held out to cheer the fainting spirit. When the overburdened mind sinks amidst the termoil and strife of the earth , when fate flings her midnight shadows o'er the treasured dreams of joy Hope sweet enchantress, Hope pictures out bright visions of a sunny future, and sooths the disconsonant spiral with the expectation of happier days to come. The spreads a charm over all the scenes of life, she lightens the toil of the husbandman, nerves the patriotic arm, and inspires him with new courage in the hour of danger. To the votaries of science, she holds out fame and distinction, and to these engages in trafficks, new sourced of welth - she is equallly kind to all poor as well as the rich share the comforts she bestows and the humblest mind is not beneath her notice But it is chiefly on the bed of sickness, and in the closing scenes of life, when we are called to part with friends and relatives that she spreads her sweerest charms around us, and that we must feel her soothing influences . Then indeed it is that "Hope looks beyond the bounds of time, When what was now deplore, Shall rise in full ? prone And bloom to fade no more." When we see friends prostrated on the bed of sickness, with the glow of health faded from their cheeks, the eye deserted of its luster, the hand palsied and the whole form wasted and going to decay, When they are called to yield up their reath, when the passing of spirit, trembling on a bloodless lip, bids a final adue to friends and relatives, to all the endearments of the social circles, to life itself and all its pleasures, Then it is that Hope breaks through the ap- palling gloom, points forward into the regions of futurity nd gives us the joyous anticipation of meeting them again on another and better world to part no more forever. Well Mrs Orvis, What shall I say to you, you were once my brother's wife, and I then knew you well, you are the only sister that I have in this world, would to heaven that I could see you face to face. All my friends if the old race have long since gone the way of all the earth, and none of them attained to my age excepting my mother, she lived to rising 89 Ys I am 79 years and 3 months. Yet my memory is bright and strong, never more so at any time of my life, I so remember many things from three years old up to this very day. And my eye sight is such that I read allmost any print withour glasses. all my children use glasses I use none. And my physical strength is such that I can walk 3 miles an hour, ay more I can run with speed, and do any work much I have no need to work, our property here is large much larger than any former period. I and my son hold warranty deeds of 250 acres of land all paid for long ago and abour 70 acres under improvement, with a house, barn, and orchard, comprising a goodly number of plumb trees of various kind My son will go to Michigan next June to buy 400 acres of land for his boys 4 in number. 100 acres to each boy he can buy the land for $1.25 per acre. he has got the greatest part of the money on hand to pay for it, and more due at a short credit he wants to have me go with him because I understand the nature and quality of soils better than my son. But I told my children that my race in this world is near its end, that I must soon have all sublunary thing and go into Great Eternity, therefore the possession of land would be of little consequence to me. That when young like you (my children) I often dreamed of happiness, yet I did not possess it though I greatly desired it. But it was allways away yonder out of sight. I could not come at it, sometimes indeed it would appear like a jackolantern very bright and dazaling I then would scrabble for dear life to git hold of it and Then it would suddenly skip away into another place and so escape me. At long I recolected the wise saying of Dr John Barrity, that seeking after happiness in this worldwas like a man following a jackolantern which none could ever catch, but many had been ruined by following it, being led into a dark swammp and got bewit dered and so perished. Being thoroughly convinced that happiness cannot be found in this world high nor low, I began to seek it in the world come. But alas I found on examination that my heart was earthly and very corrupt, and none but he who turned water into wine could change my earthly nature into an Heavenly, that I must be born from above (? John 3) before I should learn to crave and truly seek the things above. That I must be taught the work of heaven before I could be settled there because an Earthly heart can no more live in heaven than a fish upon dry land, the element is too fine for both, it makes them sick. they cannot breathe in such an atmosphere. Grace is the blossom bud of glory, and work of grace upon the heart is a needful preparation for glory, by grace men are brought into the school of Christ and trained up for heaven. In this school they learn to walk with God, to love serve and honout him, - to be Pilgrim and strangers on the Earth, - seeking a better country; an house not made with hand eternal in the heavens. Now Mrs. Orvis Do you remember me? I so remember you very well and all your family I remember to have seen you at meeting in Northfield before you was fully grown, Again, I remember the time when you was married. you went from Hinsdale to Brattleborough and was married there by Rev Abner Reaves, minister of the Gospel in that town. You lived at my house in Hinsdale for a number of years after you was married, after that you moved to Lyden MSS I often visited you in Lyden when you lived there, Gershom had the best farm in Lyden that ever he had in his life. Gershom moved from Lyden to Halifax VT. I lived neghbour to him there. But it was not long before I moved to Cobadokill NY. I made a good move at that time though some of my relations thought that I had ruined myself by that move. not so I gained more property there in a few years than I had done in all my life before. After I had lived in Cobuskill a good many years my brother Gershom moved to Paris, and set up a tavern there I and my daughter Urania made you a visit there in the month of March we went by the eay of Mr. Cranes in Warren, your son Horatio lived with Mr Crane at that time And when I had completed my visit to you in Paris I returned to my family in Cobebokill and found them all very well. Some years after this my brother Garshom and you his wife came to my house in Cobuskill and lodged there one or two nights you were going to Northfield, and Hinsdale to see your old friend there, and when you returned back you called at my house again and stayed two days and then went to your home in Paris. And I have not seen you since that time. Mrs Orvis, I have a great to see you once again before I leave this world. But my son expects me to go with him to Michigan, and if I do go with him I cannot see you. Goodby Mrs. Orvis, I hope that if we never see one another again in this world, we may meet in that world of immortal glory, where there is no more Death neither sorrow not crying, neither shall there be any more pain for the former thing are passed away Farewell. Remember me. Mrs. Asenath Orvis Ambrose Orvis Genesee County, ? Ambrose Orvis of the town of China in the county of Gemesee appeareth before me Salah Jackson Esq a Justice of the Peace of the said county, and being duly sworn Deposes and saith, thar he was intimately acquainted with Geshom Orvis from his childhood until the year 1810, and after that time never saw him and that he resided in Hinsdale then Cumberland Co. in the state of New York, and that in April 1775 that the said Gershom Orvis engaged in the Revolutionary War as a private under the command of Capt. Benedict of the state of New York, the col not recollected and that he and the said company joined the Northern Army under the command of General Montgomery, went into Canada, and were at the siege and taking of St Johns, General Montgomery after having sub jected the country as far as the River St. Lawrence Set a strong garrison at St. Johns, of which the said Gershom Orvis was one. Gen Montgomery then marched his army down to Quebec. the said Gershom Orvis remained in garrison until April 1776 and was then discharged from the service having served one year. and this deponent further deposes and saith that about the middle of June 1776 the said Gershom Orvis engaged in the war service the second time for the term of six months, as a private under Capt. Merriman of Northfield Mass. & before his company Marched he the said Gershom Orvis was Married in Brattlborough by Rev Abner Reeves to Asenath Parmenter, daughter of Jason Parmenter of Northfield Mss. he the said Gershom Orvis then marched for the army witness was present at the time. Capt Merriman and his company marched from the school house in Northfield, and went directly to Ticonderoga, where they joined the Northern army under the command of Gen Gates, and the said Gershom Orvis remained in the service until about the Middle of December, and was then discharged having served six months. This deponent does further depose and say that in the year 1777, Gen Burgoyne came from Canada with a large army of British troops, the american army was then small at Ticonderoga they evacuated that place, and went down to the North River, Burgoyne also bent his force to that River with the intention to form a junction at Albany with Sir Henry Clinton commander of the British troops in New York City. This created great excitement amongst the friends of the American cause, the said Gershom Orvis was a staunch Whig says I will fo a third time accordingly about the middle of July 2777 he engaged in the war service the third time as a private and as this witness believes under Capt Bridgman of Hinsdale to serve in the Northern Army at Saratoga under the command of General Gates, accordingly when Capt Bridgmans company was full they marched to Saratoga and joined the army under the command of Gen Gates, and the said gershom Orvis continued there in the service until General Burgoyne had surrendered his army and they had marched off to the sea side, and the great object of this campaign was achieved as all the british power in the North was then broken down and destroyed and that campaign was then ended and the said Gershom Orvis was discharged and as this deponent believes the last of October 1777 and this deponent further saith that he does not recollect the exact time that he the said Gershom Orvis served in the campaign 1777, yet knows that the said Gershom Orvis did actually serve in the Revoluionary War in the year 1775 - 76 & 1777 and that he endured a great share of the hardships and dangers of the war Subscribed and sworn and further this deponent saith not this 7th day of April Ambrose Orvis 1837 before me Salah Jackson Justice of the Peace