Bovina and the American Revolution

 

It’s been 250 years since the start of the American Revolution, so now is a good time to look at Bovina’s role in the nation’s fight for independence. Officially, it had none – mainly because there was no Bovina until almost 50 years after the war. In fact, Europeans had yet to discover the delights of the Northern Catskills, and while Indians hunted here, they probably never settled. 

So, identifying Revolutionary War soldiers from Bovina is a bit tricky. I focused on finding Revolutionary War veterans who settled in or at least spent some of their time in Bovina. This involved reviewing a variety of records in order to track these veterans down. The service records are challenging to find, given that there were several militia companies in each state. But the records are out there, thanks to sources like Ancestry and Fold3. Several states in the late 19th/early 20th centuries published books on their state’s role in the revolution, including various lists of soldiers in the war. 

In 1818, the federal government started to offer pensions to Revolutionary War veterans. These pensions are incredibly useful, though it also means that soldiers who died before 1818 won’t have a pension record (though sometimes you can find a widow applying for her husband’s pension). Veterans had to apply for their pensions, presenting information about their service and their current circumstances. These pensions are very helpful, though the information presented in these applications are based on memories over 40 old. One Bovina soldier was in a battle, but he could not remember the battle’s name. These pension records are mainly held by the National Archives and can be found on Ancestry and Fold3. If a veteran opted not to apply, there won’t be any pension records to review. 

Pension records also can be found at the county level. In the 1980s, Shirley Houck and the Delaware County Clerk’s office published a book of these applications from soldiers in Delaware County – “Delaware County’s War Papers.” This helped me identify two of Bovina’s five soldiers. I identified two other soldiers through their pension applications filed elsewhere. A fifth soldier died before pensions were offered, so I only found a bare service record. 

Over the next few months, I will be creating blog entries on each of the five American Revolution War vets that I have identified as having connections to Bovina. And there’s a possible sixth I also will write about. The five definite Bovina Revolutionary War veterans are:

• James Cooley (1755-1823)

• Samuel  Ludington (1744-1814) 

• Elisha Maynard (1763-1840)

• Jesse (or Justice) Purdy (1748-1840)

• James Vandenburgh (1758-1840)

Two of these veterans were Prisoners of War, one of the British and the other of Indians allied with the British. 

Two of them are definitely buried in Bovina. One more may be buried here and is memorialized on his granddaughter’s monument. One other veteran very likely is buried here but if so, the grave is unmarked and unlocatable. And one veteran we know is not buried in Bovina because he moved away over a decade before his passing. 

So more to come.