Revolutionary War Service Affidavits c.(1820-1830)
(Pension Papers from the Court of Common Pleas)
“Entitlement to pensions based on service-connected disabilities for Revolutionary War veterans and for widows and orphans of officers killed during that war had been established by the Continental Congress and continued by the first Federal Congress. However, Congress had not done anything for surviving enlisted men, who had been poorly compensated both during the war and also upon being mustered out. Beginning in 1816, an increase in tariff rates produced a large surplus in the Federal Treasury and in December 1817 President James Monroe proposed in a message to Congress that surviving Revolutionary War soldiers be provided for out of the surplus. Following this suggestion, in 1818 Congress passed such a law and thereby established two precedents: That the government would provide for its former soldiers in their old age and that such payment would be tied to high tariff rates”.
(National Archives and Records Administration, Guide to the Senate Records, Chapter 9, Pensions, 9.36)
View list of affidavits on file
Thomas Shirkey's Affidavit
On July 4, 1820 Thomas Shirkey, a former weaver of New Paltz, made this declaration in the Ulster County Courthouse, in an effort to claim a pension for his service during the Revolutionary War. . .
Transcription:
Southern District of New York
Ulster County Ss: __________
On this the fourth day of July 1820, personally appeared in open Court
of Common Pleas, being a court of Record in and for the said county
of Ulster, the undersigned Thomas Shirkey, who being first duly sworn
according to law, doth on his oath declare as follows, viz: I Thomas
Shirkey, aged about seventy seven years, resident in the town of
New Paltz in the said county of Ulster, do on my oath declare
that I enlisted for the term of six months, about nine months previous to the death of General Montgomery, in the said town of
New Paltz, in the company of Elias Hasbrouck, captain in the
Regiment commanded by Colonel Wynkoop, in the line of the
State of New York, that I continued to serve in the said corps
until the expiration of six months, when, being then at Montreal
in Canada, I again immediately enlisted in the company of
Captain Cooper, for the term of six months, in the line of the
State of New York, and proceeding from there to Quebec, late in
the Fall, I received my discharge the next Spring at Quebec,
and then returned home. After being at home about three
months, I again enlisted in the company of Captain John
Hasbrouck, in the regiment commanded by Colonel Hardenbergh for the term of three months, in the line of the State of New York,
when having served out the three months, I returned home from
White Plains, and then again entered as a private in the company of Captain Philip D. Bevier, in the regiment commanded
by Colonel Lewis Dubois, and served three years under the said
Philip D. Bevier, on the Continental establishment, when I was
discharged at Bashing ridge in the State of New Jersey: That I
was in the battles of St. John’s Quebec, Long Island, White
Plains, at the storming and capture of Fort Montgomery, and
went [to] the Western expedition under General Sullivan. _ That my
house was burnt down about fifteen years ago, and my discharge burnt with it. And I do further swear that I am inscribed on the Pension List, Roll of New York Agency, as a
Pensioner of the Revolutionary Army, and the number of my certificate 16,675. And I do further solemnly swear, that I was
a resident of the United States on the 18th day of March
(cont.)
1818, and that I have not since that time, by gift, sale, or in any manner, disposed of my property, having no property of any kind on earth, excepting a chest, an old bedstead, and two old chairs, and being supported as a pauper at this time by the town of New Paltz. That I once
followed the occupation of a weaver, but am now a cripple, and
have been so for near thirty years, and am totally unable to
keep myself. My family consists only of a wife, aged about
sixty nine years, who is also supported as a pauper, and is
poor, weak, and unhealthy woman.
Sworn to and declared in open Court, on the fourth
Day of July 1820, before
his
Thomas + Shirkey
mark
Lucas Elmendorf
First Judge of the Court of Common
Pleas in and for the County of Ulster
Ulster Com Pleas
July Term 1820
The Court now here are of opinion
that the within named Thomas Shirkey is
dependent on the aid of his country for Support
and that the value of the property contained
in the above schedule is three dollars
Signed in behalf of the Court
Lucas Elmendorf first Judge
[The caption on the back of the document states that Thomas Shirkey
died August 29, 1820 less than a month after this declaration]
