Document B.32 · pension declaration · transcription: verbatim
Andrew Bray's Revolutionary pension declaration, page 4 (Pension S. 856), sworn in open court at Hunterdon Co., 15 August 1832. He names "Benjamin Cooper" among the captains he served under in the Lebanon Battalion.
- repository
- The National Archives (NARA), Record Group 15 — via Fold3
- collection
- M804, Case Files of Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Applications Based on Revolutionary War Service, catalog ID 300022; Pension S. 856, a 44-page file.
- identifier
- Page 4 of 44 — the declaration narrative.
- date
- 1832-08-15
What is transcribed: Page 4 only, and it cuts off mid-sentence at "nor". The remaining 43 pages of S. 856 are not pulled.
People named
| As written | Role | Identified as | What this document says |
|---|---|---|---|
| Benjamin Cooper | mentioned | Benjamin Cooper 1741–1794 probable | |
| Andrew Bray | applicant | ||
| Capt. Thomas Jones | official | ||
| Godfrey Rhinehart | official | ||
| Col. John Mehelm | official |
What this document records
It names benjamin cooper as a captain
"I was out at different terms under Captain Thomas Jones — Benjamin Cooper, George Hover, Richard Stelwell, William Carhart and I think I was once under William Hazlett" — in the Lebanon Battalion, Hunterdon Co., from 1776. This is a private's sworn recollection of who commanded him, given in open court under the 1832 act — a completely different kind of source from the NJSA cards at [B.1]-[B.6], and independent of them.
The annotations are a second reader
Fold3's image-annotation sidebar lists fourteen indexed names for this page, and "Benjamin Cooper" is number 11 — read by a human indexer working from the same image. So the two hardest-to-read things on the page, the officer names, each have two independent readings that agree. That does not make the cursive biographical passage any more legible — it is still full of [?].
A convergence worth recording
Bray says Godfrey Rhinehart "was first a captain afterwards Major of the Battalion" — and [B.3a] is the certificate of the election that made a Godfrey Rinehart First Major, dated 25 April 1778, written and signed by Benjamin Cooper as Clerk. Bray's battalion is the Lebanon Battalion; MSS 701's is the 4th Battalion of Hunterdon Militia. Whether those are one unit is NOT asserted here — neither document says so. The argument belongs in Benjamin Cooper; the entry records only that both name the same man as Major.
The same captains recur
Thomas Jones and William Carhart appear in Bray's list and in Jacob Smith's affidavit at [B.2a]. Two privates of the same county naming overlapping captains is what one would expect; recorded as an observation, not an argument.
Transcription and notes
Provenance, why Fold3's annotation sidebar acts as a second reader, the Godfrey Rinehart
convergence with [B.3a], and the recurring captains are in the source: and coverage: headers
and are not repeated here.
Verbatim — Fold3 image annotations (printed sidebar, post-OCR human-edited)
Fold3's image-annotation feature provides 14 verbatim indexed names/dates for this page:
| # | Annotation |
|---|---|
| 1 | County of Hunterdon |
| 2 | State of New Jersey |
| 3 | 15 Aug 1832 (declaration date) |
| 4 | John Mehelm (= Colonel of the Regiment) |
| 5 | Thomas Jones |
| 6 | Godfrey [Rhinehart] |
| 7 | Thomas Jones |
| 8 | Andrew Bray (= the pensioner) |
| 9 | George Hover |
| 10 | Thomas Jones |
| 11 | Benjamin Cooper |
| 12 | William Hazlett |
| 13 | Richard Stelwell |
| 14 | William Carhart |
These annotation names match (and resolve cursive ambiguities in) the handwritten declaration text below.
Verbatim — handwritten declaration page 4 (transcribed from Fold3 image, partial; cursive)
State of New Jersey, County of Hunterdon Ss.
On this fifteenth day of August 1832 in Open Court before the Court of Common Pleas in and for the County of Hunterdon now sitting personally appeared Andrew Bray a resident of the township of Lebanon in the said County aged 72 years past, who being first duly sworn according to law on his oath doth 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 and served as herein stated.
I was born on the 18 day of February in the year of our Lord 1760 in the township of [Readington? Bedminster? — illegible cursive] my [father?] residing in the family [given?] my [grandfather?] at the time was [residing?] in the County of Hunterdon. [...] I [first?] entered the service of the United States [from?] where I now live in the township of Lebanon, I lived there for about 14 years afterwards, then I moved to [illegible — possibly "Sussex" or "Tewksbury"] county and lived there 5 years then I came back to where I now live, and have lived there ever since.
I entered the service first in the year 1776. The militia was called for a month I belonged to Captain Thomas Jones company the Lebanon Battalion. I do not recollect whether Godfrey Rhinehart was then a captain or was [an Ensign?] then a Major he was first a captain afterwards [then?] Major of the Battalion. John Mehelm was Colonel of the Regiment and [John Ten Brock?] was Lieutenant Colonel — we were drafted and it came to my turn to go. I do not recollect whether Captain Thomas Jones went as our Captain the first term or which Captain did. I was out at different terms under Captain Thomas Jones — Benjamin Cooper, George Hover, Richard Stelwell, William Carhart and I think I was once under William Hazlett, but of this I cannot be certain, nor [...continues on page 5]
(The page cuts off mid-sentence at "nor"; remainder of declaration continues on subsequent pages of the 44-page file, not yet pulled.)
KEY DATA — Capt. Benjamin Cooper of Lebanon Battalion Hunterdon Co. NJ militia, 1776+
Verbatim primary-source datum from this declaration:
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Officer name | Benjamin Cooper |
| Rank | Captain (named in list with Thomas Jones, George Hover, Richard Stelwell, William Carhart, William Hazlett — all referred to in the prefatory phrase "I was out at different terms under Captain Thomas Jones") |
| Battalion | Lebanon Battalion |
| Regiment | Commanded by Col. John Mehelm + Lt. Col. John Ten Brock [?] |
| Battalion commander | Major Godfrey Rhinehart (first Captain, then Major) |
| County | Hunterdon County, New Jersey |
| Era | 1776+ (the year Bray first entered service) |
| Source citation | NARA M804, RG 15, Pension S. 856 (Andrew Bray), declaration sworn 15 Aug 1832, Hunterdon Co. NJ Court of Common Pleas |