It is hard to believe that we will soon be celebrating the 250th birthday of this great land we call home. I have loved this country for seventy-five years as of this writing. By working on family genealogy, it has helped me to look back in time and get a feel for actually how hard accomplishing that freedom really was through the years.
Learning about how my ancestors came to this country to be a part of this great land has been eye opening to say the least. I am filled with excitement every time I discover the accomplishments of my ancestors. They came by ships, by covered wagons, by trains to lands they had never seen but only heard about from others. Some ancestors came here not knowing anyone, some came because they had relatives or friends that encouraged them to join them in this new land. I watched earlier this year the American Revolutionary War by Ken Burns and have a better understanding as to how challenging this freedom would be to attain.
One ancestor in particular was part of the Revolutionary War fighting for a country that was promising a better way to live with less restrictions and less taxation. The effort paid off in many ways, but it was not easy. Records were not always done correctly or not at all. Many men got lost in the paperwork or fell through the cracks after applying for benefits that were owed to them. The following is the story of John Michael Boltz (my fourth great-grandfather) a Patriot who tried and failed to obtain the Act of Congress passed June 7th, 1832. The Act of June 7, 1832, was a landmark pension law partial lifetime pension to surviving Revolutionary War veterans and their eligible widows.
Boltz/Puls/Pulse/Pults/Pultz
John Michael Boltz (my fourth great-grandfather) was born on November 6, 1759, in Derry, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. His parents are John Michael Boltz, Jr. (1733-1806) and Eleanor Veronica Firnssler (1735-1806). He married Margaret Phoebe Grantham (1767-1847) on July 27, 1790, in Frederick County, Virginia. Their children are Susan Ann (1791-1883), Nancy Ann (1791-1893), Lewis (1795-1865), Mary A (1803-1881) and Joseph Pultz (my third great-grandfather) (1807-1873).
John Michael Boltz went before the Court of Pleas to state his case for his benefit the letter below is his recollection of facts as he remembers them.
State of Ohio and County of Greene} SS On this 16 day of October 1849, personally appeared in open Court before the Court of Common Pleas now sitting John Boltz a resident of Miami Township in the County of Greene and State of Ohio, aged 89+ years who being first 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 June 7th, 1832. That he was born on 6th 1759 in Lancaster County, in the State of Pennsylvania, That he has no record of his age having left it in Virginia, that he was drafted in his seventeenth year and entered the service of the United States under the following named Officers, and served as herein stated, that he joined his Company at Lancaster in the County and State aforesaid, under Captain Michael Fernsler and Lieutenant Caselett, his field Officers were General Peter Grubb, and Colonel Curtis Grubb he is not quite certain of the rank of his other field Officers but knows their names were Ott, Cluninger, Satshaw, and Greenawalsh. That they took up their line of march about the first of May in the year of 1776 that they marched towards the State of New Jersey and marching through a part of that State they came to a place called Paulus Hook where they encamped, as he was young at the time and could not talk any English and his memory has failed so much of late years that he cannot recollect all the circumstances of the march or his service, but remembers seeing Generals Gates, Wayne, and Lee, and that General Washington came to Paulus Hook to view the troops and that he had his life guard with him, he also remembers seeing a battle on Long Island in which the Americans were defeated and which so discouraged the soldiers at Paulus Hook that many of them ran away, among in whom were three of his Company, Anthony Long, Michael Boltz, Jr. and Michael Zimmerman, who tried to persuade him to go with them but he told them that he would not go until his Captain gave him leave, that he stayed until sometime in in December when he was honorably discharged receiving a written discharge signed by Captain Fernsler, when he returned home, having been in the service about seven months or upwards. That he was drafted again either in the year 1777 or 8 he is not quite certain which but knows that he entered the service sometime in July as it was about harvest, that he joined his Company at Lebanon then in Lancaster County of the State aforesaid, under Captain Orderholt and Lieutenant Baselett, that his field officers were those he served under the first time, that they took up their line of march for the State of New Jersey that they were at Princeton, Elizabeth Point, New Brunswick, and a number of other places which he cannot recollect, that they were not long at any one place but were most of the time under march, until the beginning of winter, when they were again discharged he being in the service this time about four or five months, He is not certain of the year, but knows that his father’s team was pressed by Adam Bowers Commissary to the army and that he was taken to drive his father’s team that he hauled grain called Spelts which belonged to his father and which Bowers seized for the use of the army, that he hauled the grain from his father’s farm in Lebanon Township, Lancaster County and State aforesaid, to the barracks at Philadelphia, that he hauled flour from on Soopes Mill the Brandywine and from John Herderings Mill on the Schuylkill and for so whatever Bowers required of him until the beginning of winter when Bowers permitted him to return home with the team, that this was the third time that he was in the service and that he was in it about four months as it was about the last of July, that he entered the service the fourth and last time that he was in the service he was drafted, he thinks it was in the year of 1781 that he joined his Company at Lebanon of the County and State aforesaid under Captain Holdenbaum and Lieutenant Baselett and the field officers aforesaid. that they took up their line of march for Gordstown in the State of Virginia that before they arrived there, they received intelligence that Barnwallace had surrendered and they were discharged and returned home, that he was in the service this time about three weeks or a month that he was in the service altogether sixteen months or upwards, that he never was in a battle, that he removed from Pennsylvania to Berkley County Virginia shortly after the close of the war and resided there until about two years since he came to Green County, Ohio, that his papers of discharge are lost, that he knows of no person whose testimony he can procure to testify to his service, He hereby relinquishes every claim whatever to a pension, except the present, and declares that his name is not on the pension roll of any State, that the persons living in his present neighborhood who can testify to his character and their belief of his having been a soldier of the revolution for veracity, are George Saylor, William George Confin, Mr. Vincenteller, Thomas Conady Baylor, John Pulls Sworn to and subscribed the day and year afore said in Open Court. James Winans Clerk We Hiram Shaull a Clergyman residing in Tiffin Seneca County, Ohio, and John Heaton, residing in Xenia Green County, Ohio hereby certify that we are well acquainted with John Boltz who has subscribed and sworn to the above declaration, that we believe him to be 88 years of age and that he was reputed and believed in the neighborhood where he resided in Virginia to have been a soldier of the Revolution and we concur in that opinion. Hiram Shaull, John Heaton Sworn to and subscribed, the day and year aforesaid in Open Court. James Winans Clerk of The State of Ohio Green County And the said Court do hereby declare their opinion, after investigation of the matter, and after putting the interrogatories prescribed by the war department, that the above named applicant was a revolutionary soldier and served as the States, And the Court further Certifies, that it appears to them that Hiram Shaull who has signed the preceding Certificate is a Clergyman, resident in the County of Seneca and that John Denton who has also signed the same is a resident in the County of Greene, is a credible person, and their statements is entitled to credit. By the Court October Term, 1849 Elijah Rouse the 16 day of Oct. A.D. 1849 President Judge I James Mining, Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas for the County of Greene, do hereby Certify that the foregoing contains the original proceedings of the said Court in the matter of the application of John Boltz for a pension, In Testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and Seal of Office, this 16th day of October A D 1849 James Mining
To Be Continued
Brumley Family Branches 