JOHN AMES IN CAMBRIDGE

So far, I’ve had no success in discovering the identity of Andrew
Bowman or the location of his house where John Ames and other
colonial soldiers were quartered in Cambridge during the siege of
Boston. But as to the claim of frequently seeing Generals Lee,
Putnam and Washington during the period, it’s more than likely
John did. Both Israel Putnam and George Washington frequently
rode about the different positions of the colonial forces to inspect
the troops and defenses, Putnam especially being know for his
speaking to and exhorting the troops. And the fact that Obadiah
Wetherell who testified in John’s behalf was an Orderly Sergeant
in Captain Lawrence’s company leads to the intriguing idea that
they knew each other because John Ames was an orderly,
although again there is no proof so far and in all likelihood John
was just a private and regular soldier.



Lawrence’s company was involved in two notable engagements
during the siege of Boston. One was the “Battle of Bunker
(Breed’s)Hill" in which some of Lawrence’s men fought, and the
other the raid on Noddle’s Island. If John had been present at
Bunker Hill I’m convinced he or his heirs would have made
mention of it the pension request. Bunker Hill was even more
famous than Concord or Lexington.


Noddle’s Island, however, was one of two islands(Hogg Island
was the other) raided to drive off livestock and deny the British
hay for their horses. The raid turned into a small battle. So it’s
possible John might have participated in the fight ….if he’d been
in Asa Lawrence’s Company.


But he wasn’t. He was in Oliver Parker’s and John missed being
part of those actions.



By this time John had briefly returned home and then enlisted in
the new Continental Army. Apparently the militia companies
enlisted together as units and Col. Parker’s nine companies
comprised the 10th Massachusetts Regiment.

The petition about the issue of wishing to serve under Capt
Lawrence instead (as the militamen claimed had been promised)
of under Oliver Parker might have been more of a testimony of
Lawrence’s popularity with his men than a rejection of Parker. It
seems there were other incidents similar to this, even ones where
groups of soldiers and officers sent statements to the new colonial
government expressing their satisfaction with their present
commanders or requests to be returned to serving a previous one.
I suspect Washington’s comment about letting the men choose
their own captains reflects his disenchantment with the
minutemen that David McCullough detailed in his book 1776.


It wasn’t until August of 1775 that John rejoined Asa Lawrence’s
Company. He served out his enlistment time until the “six weeks
men" arrived. Tim Abbott’s earlier comment about what the term
“six weeks men” meant is on the mark. While I haven’t found
anything specific about them in regards to Groton, other sources
do speak of how towns would call up their militias as needed
before the Revolution to serve for designated periods including
six weeks and were compensated by the Town Councils for their
service.


In January,1776, John Ames left the Continental Army and went
home as many other minutemen had or would do, much to
General Washington’s chagrin.

And so ended John Ames’ brief career in the American Revolution!

ABOUT JOHN AMES

I've learned that genealogy is a process of searching for facts and
once they are found establishing the veracity of what you've
found.


So what have I learned so far from John Ames’s pension file?


Well, while I’d already known he was said to have been a veteran
of the Revolution I hadn’t known any details nor had any actual
proof that he was indeed a veteran. Now I did.


He claims to have been at Lexington and then Cambridge and to
have often seen legendary figures of the Revolution, namely
Generals Lee, Putnam and even George Washington himself. The
details of the file in that regard raised intriguing questions for me:

Was John Ames actually at Lexington as he claimed?


Did he participate in any other actions during the siege
of Boston?


Why did John and his comrades prefer to serve under
Asa Lawrence and not Oliver Parker?


What were “six weeks men?”


One of the witnesses, William Spaulding, testifies that he knew
John Ames from childhood and that when he “was a boy I went to
school with him at his fathers house in Groton.” If John’s father,
who was also named John Ames, was a school master, this is the
first I’d seen mention of that. Was this true?



Who were these people who’d given testimony? What happened to
John’s sons and daughters, other than my ancestor Jonathan
Phelps Ames?



Lastly, was there any other proof to back up John’s claim that
he’d fought in the Revolution other than statements given by two
friends? Yes, he’d been given a pension (posthumously) but
there’s that little skeptic in me.


So even as I was transcribing the file I was googling for answers.

JOHN AMES' PENSION PART3

Image 4 is a handwritten statement from witness
Obadiah Wetherell. All punctuation and abbreviations
are as written in the original:


"I Obadiah Wetherell aged Eighty five years a Revolutionary
pensioner depose and say that I was born and brought up within
about five miles of the witness(?) named John Ames knew him
well when a boy and I know that he enlisted under Capt Parker
in the spring of 1775 and that he served under said Parker and
under Capt Lawrence in Col. Prescotts Regiment the full
term of eight months. I was the orderly Sergeant in Capt
Lawrences’ company and distinctly recollect said Ames and
the circumstances of his enlisting under Capt Parker and that
he and several others were at their request transferred to Capt
Lawrences’ company as within stated; at the expiration of the
eight months I was appointed Ensign and marched with
the army to New York. I was afterwards appointed Lieutenant;
I have no particular knowledge of said Ames remaining
in the service after the expiration of the eight months as
I have no distinct recollection of him after I was appointed
Ensign and entered the years service for 1776-- But I have no
doubt of the truth of his statement that he remained in
the service as he has stated. Obadiah Wetherell

subscribed and sworn to in open court , Sept27, 1832
the (illegible) being a credible witness, Before
Nathan Weston,Jr
Just. S. J. C. "

JOHN AMES' PENSION PART2

The next image is of a page with the printed heading
"Declaration."
The setup of the page is hard to reproduce here since I
hesitate to post the image itself. Also, I've placed all
preprinted parts in boldface. The punctuation and abbreviations
are as they appear on the document. Any word or name I am
unsure of is followed by a (?).

" Declaration
In order to obtain the benefits of the Act of Congress of
the 7th of June,1832
STATE OF MAINE,}ss,
Oxford County,
on this twenty seventh day of September, A.D. 1832
personally appeared in the open court at Norridgewock
before the Hon. NathanWeston, Jr. Justice of the Supreme
Judicial Court of said State, John Ames, a resident of Canton in
the County of Oxford and State of Maine, aged seventy six
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 provision made by the
Act of Congress, passed June 7, 1832. That he enlisted in
the Army of the United States in the year 1775 with
Captain Oliver Parker and served in Col. Wm Prescott’s
regiment of the Massachusetts line or troops under the
following named officers: namely, first, the said Parker,
afterwards Asa Lawrence, Captains; William Prescott, Col;
Putnam, Lee & Washington Generals; about eight months and a
half to wit from the last of April 1775 to the 10th of January,
1776; that he first marched to Cambridge, Massachusetts and was
quartered in a barn afterwards in Andrew Bowman’s house in
Cambridge very near the meeting house in Cambridge near Boston
during the first of his enlistment which was for eight months; that
after he had served out the full term of his enlistment his officers
persuaded him to remain in service till a detachment of militia,
called six weeks men, came in, or until new enlistments were made
for the year’s service in 1776; that he accordingly did remain on
duty in Cambridge in the army till the 10th of January, 1776; that
he was then dismissed but did not receive any written discharge.


And to the interrogatories propounded under the
intentions of the war department he answers: that he was
born in Groton near Lexington in Massachusetts in August 1756,
that his age is recorded in the town books in Groton that when he
enlisted he was living in Groton that he had enrolled himself with
a company of militia men under Capt Lawrence in the fall of 1774
was often called out to do military duty, was at the Lexington fight
on the 19th of April 1775 and marched with Capt Lawrence’s
company to Cambridge in pursuit of the British troops when they
returned to Boston and then remained several days at Cambridge
and in the vicinity of Boston and then returned to Groton, and in
a few days he thinks in April he enlisted under Capt Parker, with
the assurance that he should have the privilege of serving under
Capt Lawrence if he chose it but after his company joined the
army Capt Parker refused to let him or any in his company leave
him to join Capt Lawrence until they applied to the Committee of
Safety and until their case was laid before Genl Washington their
commander in chief: who gave directions for the men to select the
Captains under whom they wished to serve that he then was
transferred to and joined Capt Lawrence’s company in July and
served out his time and ten days as above stated; that Genl
Putnam and General Lee had command at first afterwards Genl
Washington; that he often saw them; that Col. Gerishs (?) Regt
was stationed near Col. Prescott, that Henry Wood was his
Major, that Obadiah Wetherell was his orderly sergeant and the
next year was Ensign and then Lieutenant, that John Hazen,
David Hazen, James Shea, Saml Gibson, Jonathan Lewis and
Eleazer Parker were also privates in the same company; that he
continued to live in Groton twelve years after Rev. war, then lived
in Hollis, N.H. four years; then in Livermore, Maine, then in
Hartford & then in Canton where he has lived at eight years."

He hereby relinquishes every claim whatever to a
pensionor an annuity, except the present, and he
declares that his name is not on the Pension Roll
of any agency in any state.

After this is another handwritten entry:
“Obadiah Wetherell Esq who was his orderly sergeant and
____ Spaulding who was in the army in Cambridge with him can
testify as to his account. Hon. Cornelius Holland, member of
congress and Charles Fuller of Canton, Maine and all his
acquaintances and neighbors will testify to his character for
veracity and other tales of his record as his service as a soldier of
the Revolution; that he never received any written discharge.”
Sworn to and subscribed the day and year aforesaid
in the open court before me, Nathan Weston Jr, Justice of the
Supreme Judicial Court.
And the said Justice, before whom said court was held(?) does
hereby declare his opinion that the above named
applicant was a RevolutionarySoldier and did serve as
he states.
Nathaniel Weston Jr."

John Ames’ name is signed just off to the right of the page slightly
above the last section.