John Downey Pension Records

Submitted By: Barbara O'Nan

DOWNEY, JOHN PENNSYLVANIA. S 1195

At the time of this application the said pensioner was at the age of 77 years. He first entered the service of his country under the command of Captain John Nelson and Lieutenant William Oldham in the month of February of the year 1776 and he then left the service on February 20 of the year 1777. In the service he served in the capacity of a private.

He was born on October 3 of the year 1755 in Frederick County in the state of Maryland and he had entered the service from Bedford County in the state of Pennsylvania for a tour of twelve months duration. Then in the year 1790 the said pensioner removed to the state of Kentucky and he has resided there ever since that time for the past thirty years.

In his first tour of service he first marched from Hagerstown to New York and from there they marched to Albany and there they joined the company under the command of Captain Thomas Butler and from that place they went by boat to the Falls of Lake George and they then went to Fort Ticonderoga by land. From Fort Ticonderoga they then went by means of boats and by the way of Lake George and they then went to Fort Ticonderago by land. From fort Ticonderoga they then went by means of boats and by the way of Lake Champlain to Saint Johns Fort and from that place they went to Chambelle Fort and from there they went to the Saint Lawrence River. They then next went to Montreal and there the said pensioner joined the First Pennsylvania Regiment under the command of Colonel Lahorde and General Arnold. He then served under the command of General Sulivan and they then went to States Island on Lake Champlain. General Gates was in the command at Fort Ticonderago and General Wayne and General Sinclair were also there. Then in the month of March of the year 1782 he enlisted to serve in the capacity of a private in the company of Rangers under the command of Captain Jonathan Boyd and also under the command of Lieutenant James Johnson and Ensign Henry Manes. He then served in the Fort at Franktown and they then wintered at Bedford in Bedford County in the state of Pennsylvania.

The said pensioner was thereupon honorably discharged on June 4 of the year 1783 by first Sergeant W. Ward. David Adams and Samuel Moore swear that at one time they were both well and favorably acquainted with him and they also state in open court and upon their oaths that in the neighborhood in which he resided he was reputed to have served in the War of the Revolution in the side of the United States of America.

In the month of June of the year 1777 he had acted in the capacity of a substitute for one John Ade for a tour of four months duration to serve under the command of Captain Smallwood. They first marched to Philadelphia and from there they then marched to Chester and in that place they joined the army near Brandywine under the command of General Washington, General Lafayette and Lord Sterling. The said pensioner then served in the Battle of Brandywine on September 11 of the year 1777. He was thereupon honorably discharged at Chestnut Ridge in the last part of the month of September. 

The said pensioner, John Downey, was on the Kentucky Roll of Pensions at the rate of$40.00 per annum and his certificate of pension for that amount was issued on October 8 of the year 1833 and it was thereupon sent to Edward P. Thomas at New Castle in the state of Kentucky.

SOURCE: Kentucky Historical Society Library, Frankfort, Ky 40606 [Copied from a typed transcription found in Henry County, Ky files.]

KENTUCKY PENSION ROLL OF 1835

JOHN DOWNEY, HENRY COUNTY, PRIVATE, PENNSYLVANIA LINE
$40.00 ANNUAL ALLOWANCE, $120.00 AMOUNT RECEIVED
OCTOBER 18, 1833 PENSION STARTED
AGE 78