AMOS HASTINGS 1757-1829

Amos Hastings was born in Haverhill, Essex Co. Ma. on 3 Feb,
1757, the sixth child of John Hastings and his wife Rebecca
Bailey. Rebecca died around 1758 when Amos was 12 years
old and his father remarried, so that Amos eventually had
another 7 siblings.


During the Revolution Amos was present at Bunker Hill but
didn't take part in the battle(he dug trenches the night before)
and at General Burgoyne's surrender.(I'll go into more detail
when I discuss his Revolutionary War Veteran Pension Request
File)

Amos married Elizabeth Wiley(also known as Wyley) in
Haverhill, Ma. or Fryeburg, Me. on 10 Sept 1778 and shortly
after they moved to Sudbury, Canada, which eventually become
Bethel, Maine. They had 8 children, 7 of whom survived to
adulthood. The image of the 1790 census I found on Ancestry.com
shows Amos with three males under 18 and four females in his
household. The 1800 census adds one more male child to the
family.


Amos was a major player in Bethel right from the start. His
farm was the location of the first town meeting on 15 Aug 1796.
And when a state militia company was formed in 1810, Amos
Hastings was named its colonel and commander. He is often
referred to as "General" but that must have been a rank he
achieved in the militia, not during the Revolution since it is
not mentioned in the Pension request.

Amos Hastings died 28 Jul 1829 and Elizabeth never remarried.
The earliest record that I've seen of her applying for Amos'
pension as widow is dated 1839 and apparently it was a long
fight to get the money. So long, in fact, that she died before
she ever saw a cent, for she passed away 12 May, 1846.
The government finally granted the pension to the surviving
children of Amos and Elizabeth Hastings on 16 Sept 1851.