EPHRAIM THOMAS REV WAR PENSION, WASHINGTON, NEW YORK

Copyright (c) 2001 by Donna Bray (Braydon29@cs.com).

************************************************************************
USGENWEB 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 submittor has given 
permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently
for free access.
************************************************************************


State of New York        County of Washington   File No. 6227

On this twenty eighth day of August in the year of our Lord one thousand
eight hundred and thirty two personally appeared in Open Court before the
Court of Common Pleas held at the court house in the Town of Salem in and
for the county of Washington in the state aforesaid now sitting Ephraim
Thomas a resident of the town of Whitehall in the county of Washington a
State of New York aforesaid aged seventy three years and five months who
being 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 7th
June 1832

That he entered the service of the United States under the following named
officers and served as herein stated....

His first service was in the militia of the Sate of New York commanded by
Col. Alexander Webster in a company commanded by Captain Levi Stockwell and
Lt. Boggs, Major Childs  was attached to said Webster Regiment. He doe not
remember whether there was any general in command at or near the place of
his service.  That he volunteered his service in the said company of Militia
and commenced his service in it some time in the fall of 1779 two years he
believes after Burgoyne was taken. He cannot state the day of the month but
is pretty sure it was in the month of September 1779. That he entered said
service.    That he served at that time a little over six months during
which time he was stationed at Skenesborough, now called Whitehall, in the
county of Washington and state of New York, and was frequently sent out with
scouting parties as they were called as far north as Ticonderoga and Crown
Point on Lake Champlain to watch the movements of the Tories and Indians,
was in no considerable battle, but there were two or three of his company
wounded by the Tories and Indians.  That in March 1780 he was discharged but
that in less than a month he was again called on and again volunteered under
Captain Elisha Tozer (sp) of Skenesborough in the militia of said state
under Col.. John William..  The major's name he don't remember and served
under this officer off and on for more than half until some time in June,
this service was also at and about Skenesborough in the County and State
aforesaid Where he resided when he first entered the service of aforesaid
and where  he has resided since that time.........in service in the
revolutionary was as hereinafter mentioned.  That there were regular or
continental regiments ......service at Skenesborough at the time of his
service as above.  That he knew Col. Seth Warner who raised a regiment
called the Green Mountain Boys.  and he also knew Col.. Herrick and Captain
Adams of Herrick's Rgt.

His next service as a soldier in this revolutionary was in a company
commanded by Captain Adiel Sherwood in a regiment of State Troops raised by
the State of New York and command, as he believes by Col. Copeland. That in
the month of June 1780  this day of the month he cannot remember he enlisted
under the said captain Sherwood the term of three months.  that he enlisted
as aforesaid at a place there and now called Sandy Hill in the Town of
Kingsburg said county of Washington; that he was then stationed at Fort Ann
in said County, State of New York where he assisted in building a picket
fort, after building the fort he was frequently sent on Scouting expeditions
through the woods north as far as Ticonderoga  and Crown Point. At one time
the party consisted of 12 men discovered two British guard ships lying the
lake between Crown Point and Ticonderoga, three of his party fired from
their ambush on shore at the ships, immediately two small boats were manned
from the ships, when these boats had approached within a few rods of the
shore, his party fired and wounded some of the of the men , when the boats
put about and returned to the ships.  He continued in this service ....Fort
Ann until some time in the month of September following when Major Carlton
or Tarlton approached with the fifty fourth regiment of the British forces
with Tories and Indians  in all amounting to about sixteen hundred men and
surrounded the picket fort there, when Captain Sherwood  the officer
commanding the fort capitulated and surrendered the while American force
there consisting only of about seventy men were surrounded as prisoners
among which was  the said Ephraim Thomas,the declaiming, and  Captain
Sherwood . Lt. Baldwin and Lt. Robintz.  That the declaimant with the other
prisoners were then taken  by the British to Fort George at which place the
army met with a part of Col. Seth Warner's Regiment of Green Mountain Boys
and a battle or skirmish inside and Warner's Regiment were many of them
either killed or taken prisoners,. Col. Warner was not then with his
regiment, it was commanded by Major Clipman (?).  That he was then marched
by land with the other persons taken at For Ann and Fort George to
Ticonderoga and then to Crown Point where all the said prisoners were put on
board open boats and conveyed through Lake Champlain to the Isle Aux Moix
and then to St. Johns from there to Chambly then to Montreal where he was
detained a prisoner till ? the month of March following when he was taken
back to Chambly and kept about a month. he was then sent with about 15 other
prisoners to Quebec and there imprisoned all summer and in October following
was put on  board the British Ship Isabella Captain Robinson and transported
to th Cove of Cook (Cork)in Ireland  was then placed in a
British(seventyfour) called the Lenox and in about a week after was
transferred to the Dolphin a 44 gun ship in the British Navy Commanded by
Captain Robinson where he remained about  a year, when he deserted that ship
in Barbados in the West Indies and went on board a Schooner bound for
Savannah  was  ? from the schooner and placed on board the British Ship
Leander a 50 gun Ship and sailed to Tobago where he deserted that ship and
made his way to Grenada?  and from thence to Virginia and from there he
returned to his home at Skenesborough now called Whitehall, where he arrived
in the month of December next after Peace was proclaimed.

That he was born in Tiringham? in the state of Massachusetts in the year
seventeen hundred and fifty nine.. has no record of his age, the family
Bible of his father contained a record of it but that was burned many years
ago with the house of his brother Eliphalet. He lived in Skenesborough(now
called Whitehall)in the County of Washington and Sate of New York when he
was called into the service and has lived there ever since with the
exception of the time he was absent in service and now resides there. That
he volunteered in the service, both in the militia and State Troops and was
not a Substitute. That he never received any written discharge from the
service but was paid off on his return from his imprisonment by his former
Captain Adiel Sherwood at Fort Edward for the whole time he served including
the time he was detained as a prisoner as aforesaid which was more than
three years, the amount he received for such service was ninety five pounds
six and two pence. It was paid in States Notes with which he bouth the small
farm he now lives on at Whitehall aforesaid. He knows of no officer now
living by whom he can prove said service nor any other person except whose
whose statement is hereto annexed He enlisted and served as aforesaid as a
private soldier and has no documentary evidence to support he declaration.
That he is known to Daniel Earll (?) Supervisor of Whitehall, Elisha
Andrews,(unreadable name) in his present neighborhood who will he believes
testify to his character.

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 or agency
or any state. Sworn to and subscribed the date and year aforesaid. J.S.Leigh
Clk          signed Ephraim Thomas  (in his own hand)

Mr. Elisha Andrews -  a Clergyman residing in the Town of Whitehall in the
County of Washington and State of New York and Daniel Earll --- residing in
the same town hereby certify that we are well acquainted with Ephraim Thomas
who has subscribed the above declaration and we believe him to be seventy
three years of age or over, that he is reputed and believed the neighborhood
where he now resides to have been a soldier of the revolution and that we
concur in that opinion and the said Daniel Earll further certifies that he
has been well acquainted with said Thomas since about the close of the
Revolutionary War and that he has always understood  - believes that said
Thomas was a Soldier of the Revolution and that he had been a long time
detained as a prisoner by the enemy. /s/ Elisha Andrews Daniel Earll

 Sworn this 16th of August 1832 before  me by Elisha Andrews  W. H. Parker,
Justice of the Peace

State of New York Washington Co., I Thomas Bigelow of the Town of Whitehall
in the County of Washington and State of New York being duly sworn makes
oath and says that he this deponent is sixty three years of age, that he was
born in Tiringham, in the state of Massachusetts and moved with his father's
family from that place to the town of Skenesborough (now called Whitehall)
in said County of Washington when he was about two years old and before the
commencement of the Revolutionary War, that he became acquainted with
Ephraim Thomas who has subscribed the foregoing declaration as early in life
as he can remember any person whomsoever, that said Thomas resided in the
same neighborhood with this deponent, further that he has a perfect
recollections of said Thomas going into the service as a soldier in the year
1780 although he did not see him in the service he knew he was absent from
home and it was well understood in the neighborhood that he had enlisted in
Captain Sherwood's Company and was stationed at Fort Ann, a town adjoining
Skenesborough.  This deponent also well recollected that in the month of
September 1780 Captain Sherwood's Company were taken prisoner by the British
as it was then said and believed and the three sisters of this deponent who
were then at Sandy Hill were taken prisoners at the same time as was the
said Thomas so this deponent then understood - and this deponent further
saith that his said sisters were kept and detained as prisoners in Canada
for three years and when they were at length returned they stated that said
Ephraim Thomas was sent off to ??/, said Thomas had been absent all this
time and did not return until after his said sisters did and then said
Thomas did return he stated once and he has very frequently since stated to
this deponent his service imprisonment and sufferings in substance as he has
detailed them in the foregoing declaration by him subscribed, and that this
deponent has been intimately acquainted with said Thomas since his return
and still resides in the same town with him and that he is reputed and
believed in the neighborhood to have been a revolutionary soldier and
further saith that he remembers hearing his Brother Samuel speak of said
Ephraim Thomas being in the service of the United States in the militia with
him previous to his enlisting under Captain Sherwood - further he saith not.

/s/ Thomas Bigelow Sworn before me this 28th February 1832 W. H.  Parker
J.Peace

State of New York Washington County. I Robert Hopkins of the town of Fort
Ann in the County of Washington and State of New York being durly sworn
makes oath & says that he this deponent is now in the seventy seventh year
of his age, and that he was born in the town of West Greenwic in the state
of Rhode Island.  That at the age of fourteen he together with his father  &
Father's family moved to the town of Salem in the state of New York - that
in the second year after the termination of the Revolutionary war he moved
to the town of Fort Ann in the State of New York where he has resided ever
since, that he was a soldier in the said war.  That in the year 1780 he was
stationed at Fort ann in a company commanded by Captain Abile Sherwood in a
Regiment of State Troops raised by the State of New York & commanded as he
believes by Colonel copeland, that sometime in the year 1780  he should
think about the month of June  Ephraim Thomas who has subscribed his name to
the foregoing declaration enlisted into said Company - that he knows of the
said ephraim being in the service as stated by him in his said declaration
until they were both taken prisoner by the British , that said Thomas was
taken to Montreal as stated by him in his said declaration, that he this
deponent  was carried prisoner to Montreal with the said Thomas. That he
this deponent was kept in Montreal about two years but that Ephraim Thomas
was taken out of the prison as stated by him in the said declaration after
which he saw nothing of him till(/) about three weeks since. /s/  (Printed
letters large and blotted. Maybe Hopkins)

Sworn before me this 28th February 1832, W.J. Parker J. Peace

Other pages consisting of file covers

Revolution War Pension File of Ephraim Thomas 1832 No. S6227