Volunteers sought to transcribe documents from Revolutionary War vets

Warwick — “Deponent saith that he was born in Bedford in West Chester County, in said State, on the 18th day of February in the year 1755, as he believes, and as he has often read the same in his father’s family Record. That deponent was living in said town of Warwick where he first entered the services of the United States. Saith that in the month of April as he believes, in the year 1776, he volunteered in the company of Militia commanded by Captain John Wisner, Asa? Wisner being Ensign and belonging to Colonel John Hathorn’s Regiment, and as a corporal in the said company, was mustered for one month.” - Taken from the deposition for a Revolutionary War pension for Azariah Ketchum. Ketchum, who built the Old School Baptist Meeting House in Warwick, applied to the government in 1832 for a pension for his service in the Revolutionary War. Congress made pensions available to those who served and their widows. But there was a good amount of red tape involved, even back in 1832. Many times, pages of handwritten statements were sent to make the case for the veteran. Those pages are part of the National Archives. The records requesting military pensions were recently scanned and made available to the public. Sue Gardner, the local history librarian and archivist for the Warwick Historical Society, decided to look for those Warwick residents who served during the Revolutionary War. She found 80 of them—she estimates this is about 95 percent of the Warwick residents who actually served. Each person’s file contained between 30 and 50 screens, and each one had to be saved. It took Gardner nearly six months just to save all of the information. Now, she is looking for volunteers to transcribe them. Remember, they were written with a quill and ink and, while the strokes are sharp and resemble some of the finest calligraphy, they are difficult to read. But they are also fascinating. “You learn about that person and their first person account on where they were and what they did,” said Gardner. In the case of Henry Bertholf, it was his son who was requesting a pension for his widowed mother. They sent his account ledger showing no entries for a certain period of time in an effort to prove he served during that time period. Ultimately, their request was rejected. “You practically had to prove you were penniless and destitute to get the pension approved,” said Gardner. And service back then was not like it is today. You didn’t serve for years at a time. Instead, you would serve for six weeks one year, and six weeks the next. One letter from Colonel John Hathorn of the Colonial Militia complains that all of the men were going home to plant the crops and he needed more help. Eileen Patterson is one of the volunteers who answered Gardner’s call in the Warwick Historical Society’s newsletter. She is transcribing Henry Bertholf’s pension request from 1825. Patterson downloaded the files and printed them, and uses a magnifying glass to help decipher the handwriting. “I did this because I thought it would be interesting and it is,” said Patterson. “The tragedy is even Revolutionary War veterans didn’t get the support they deserved.” Gardner estimates this project will take a few years to complete. She hopes to put together a book with all of the pension requests. “It’s time consuming and can be difficult,” she said. “But rewarding too. We are resurrecting their voices.” To take a look at two of the files, go to the library Web site, www.albertwisnerlibrary.org, and click on Warwick History, to the left of the page. When the Warwick History page comes up, click on either Henry Bertholf or Thomas Burt at the left of that page. You will see the scanned pages of their requests. Anyone interested in volunteering for the project should contact Gardner at sgardner@rcls.org, or call the Historical Society at 986-3236.