Friday, October 9, 2009

Veterans in Cornwell Cemetery

Back in May of this year, I wrote about Ebenezer Cheever. Eb is buried in Cornwell Cemetery and like Frederick Van Liew, was a veteran of the American Revolution. When I started to work with the Owasco Chapter of the DAR on verification for the grave marking for Frederick Van Liew, I spent some time at Cornell University in Ithaca NY looking at some genealogical records for Scipio. I also used the NYS Library and the NYS Archives, the DAR website, fultonhistory.com and Footnote.com. It is always amazing to me to see how much information is available that would have been nearly impossible to track down and very costly, not so many years past.

In addition to Frederick Van Liew, I have verified that this little country cemetery includes the following Revolutionary War veterans:

Ebenezer Cheever, Privateer for CT
Samuel Hoskins, Private for MA
Elias Manchester, Private for NY
Caleb Wadham Sr., Artificer for CT
Nathan Webster, Private for CT
Elijah Weeks, Private for MA
Israel Ward, Member, NY Militia
Joel Coe, Member, NJ Militia

In addition, I believe that three more men, Nathaniel Olney, Ezekiel Parker and William J. Cook, are also Revolutionary War veterans but I have yet to verify them.
Some of these men can be found on our Scipio census for 1800, placing them here very early in Scipio's existence. Some of these names are still found in Scipio today. I will be writing more about them in the next month as I explore the Cornwell Cemetery more thoroughly, so stay tuned!

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Frederick Van Liew

I have a copy of Frederick's pension. It states that while he was residing in New Brunswick, NJ, he enlisted in the summer of 1776 and served 2 months as a Private in Captain John Taylor's Company of Colonel Duyckin's (also spelled Duychinck) New Jersey Regiment; from sometime in the summer of 1776 to about June 1, 1777, he served at various times on short tours, as a Private in Captain Lawrence Van Cleef's Company, Colonel Henry Vandyke's New Jersey Regiment.
About June 1, 1777 he enlisted in a company of light horse commanded by Captain John Stryker, New Jersey troops. He was not engaged all the time in active service but kept himself in constant readiness to mount and ride for an over all period of about 7 months.
August 1, 1779 he was appointed forage master under Sidney Berry, Deputy Quartermaster General; this service he rendered at different times until the close of the war for at least one year in all. Frederick participated in the Battles of Monmouth and of Springfield, as well as in a number of skirmishes. He was allowed a pension of $30.00 a year by application executed on September 25, 1832 under the Act of June 7, 1832, at which time he was 79 years old and lived in Scipio, Cayuga County, NY.
Frederick died June 20, 1835. Many of his descendants remain in Scipio and nearby towns to this day.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Cornwell Cemetery

Exciting times are coming to Scipio. This Saturday, the Owasco Chapter NSDAR is having a grave marking ceremony in Cornwell Cemetery for American Revolutionary War patriot Frederick Van Liew.
Frederick Van Liew was born on the family farm near New Brunswick, Somerset County, New Jersey. The prior generation of Van Liews had migrated from Jamaica, New York to build farms along the Raritan River in the Harrison Tract. His birth date was 5/20/1753; he was one of 12 children.
During the Revolutionary War he was a Private in the Somerset county Militia serving under Captain John Stryker's Troop of Horse and Captain Lawrence Van Cleave's Company second regiment. Service dates Nov. 1776 to after June of 1780. He was in battles of Monmouth N.J.(June 1778) and Springfield N.J.(June 1780).
Frederick and some of his family migrated to Scipio Center NY in the late 1790's to early 1800's to claim land grants he was awarded or purchased for his service in Revolutionary War. Frederick was buried in Cornwall cemetery in Scipio; he died 6/20/1835.
Cornwell Cemetery sits in a farmer's field to the east of State Route 34, on a slight rise. The land is in the Military Tract Great Lot 16 and was part of a parcel originally purchased by another veteran also buried there - Joel Coe.
Joel bought the land from General George Fleming, the man the nearby town of Fleming was named for. The first burial in this cemetery was sadly an infant son of Joel's in 1799. If you search this blog, there is some previous information so I won't repeat it here.