AMANUENSIS MONDAY: THE PENSION FILE STATEMENT OF ELISHA HOUGHTON

 I mentioned in an earlier post that I would be exploring the
Revolutionary War service of my ancestor Elisha Houghton.
I'm starting off with his testimony from his Pension Request 
file as given to Justice Samuel Putnam :


"Commonwealth of Massachusetts
(“District of” crossed out) Berkshires  of Commonwealth of 
Massachusetts .
On this sixth day of May 1818 Before me the subscriber one of 
the Justices of the Supreme Judicial Court of said Commonwealth  
personally appears Elisha Houghton aged sixty eight years
resident in the town of Adams in said district who being by me
first duly sworn according to law doth on his oath make the 
following declaration in order to obtain the provisions made 
by the late act of  congress entitled `an act to provide for 
certain persons engaged in the land and naval services of the 
United States in the revolutionary war ‘ that the said Houghton
enlisted as a private in May 1778 in the town of Harvard in the
state of Massachusetts in the company commanded by Captain
Joshua Brown of the fifteenth Regiment of commanded by Col. 
Timothy Bigelow.That he continued in the service of the United 
States  until May 1781 when he was discharged from service 
at West Point in the State of Newyork. That he was in the 
Battles of  Bunker Hill Stillwater Monmouth and Newport and 
that he is in reduced circumstances and stands in need of the 
assistance of his country for support and that he has no other 
evidence now in his possession of his said services and
relinquishes all claim to any other Pension but what he now 
asks for.

Sworn to and declared before me this day and year aforesaid
Berks.ss                                                        S. Putnam Just
May 6 1818                                                 S.J. Court of Massts


I Samuel Putnam one of the Justices of the aforesaid Court do 
certify that it does appear to my satisfaction that the said Elisha 
Houghton did serve in the Revolutionary war as stated in the
preceding declaration against the Common enemy and I now 
transmit it the preceding and testimony taken here before me to 
the Secretary of the Department of War. Given under my hand 
at said Court.

S. Putnam Justice S.J. Court of Massachusetts"



Bunker Hill is squeezed into the document and appears to have been
added later. Elisha's signature is written above the words " the year
aforesaid.

We'll start exploring the facts of the statement next.

I posted this today to take part in "Amanuensis Monday" which is a
blog meme started by John Newmark at his TransylvanianDutch blog.
John's definition of an amanuensis" is "a person employed to write
what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another."
In which case, Samuel Putnam was Elisha Houghton's amanuensis and
I in turn am his!