Gideon Gifford Data from Overlooked Source
Tracking Down 18 Children of a Rhode Island to Vermont Family
Jul 4, 2009
Countless genealogy mysteries have been solved by looking at pension claims filed by Revolutionary War soldiers or their widows. Yet, family researchers often overlook this source.
Revolutionary War Pension Applications
The era of Revolutionary War veterans is an important one. This generation and the next were highly mobile ones. The war opened up pathways over the mountains for the initial stages of the westward migration. Many soldiers that did battle in the Lake Champlain and Great Lakes area were impressed by the cheap land in peaceful valleys of Vermont and New York state. In addition some soldiers received bounty land in these regions.
Some genealogists have had to literally stumble into these records to become aware of their value. One reason for this neglect may be that most of these applications were filed after 1818. Another is that genealogists don’t know the extent of biographical and family data they contain and that they often chronicle a family’s move from one of the original 13 colonies westward, location by location.
The Gifford Family File
Harry E. Gifford’s 1896 Gifford genealogy shows Gideon-5 Gifford on page 20, naming him as a son of Canaan and Abigail (Salisbury) Gifford. It names only one of his children. Gideon, who was born in 1760 at Little Compton, RI, died in 1810 at Pawlet, VT.
His wife Betsey, as part of filing for his pension, had to say where he lived when he enlisted, give an account of his service, including the name of an officer he served under, or the name of his company, and prove that she was his wife. Her application is file W3676 at the National Archives.
The Pension Application Evidence
The evidence she presented showed where Gideon was born, when he moved to Vermont, who married them, and when and where he died. As proof of the marriage and the births of her children, Betsey presented the title page of a Testament printed in 1793. On its reverse side Gideon had entered a family record which gives information about 12 of his children.
Betsy outlived her husband by more than 45 years and when she received her last pension payments was residing at Castile in Wyoming Co., NY, as were her sons John and Asa , and her daughter Maryann (Gifford) Chaffee.
The Family Data
The record kept by Gideon begins with his Sept. 29, 1796 marriage to Betsey Willey and notes that she was born Aug. 15, 1767. The first child was born Aug. 26, 1797 and did not live more than one day. The next children were Asa Willey Gifford, born July 30, 1798, and Ruth, born March 25, 1800.
Next came “President John Adams Gifford,” born March 4, 1801, named for the president who was leaving office that day. (He later dropped the “president” part of his name.)
Other children named are: Betsy Adams Gifford, born July 27, 1802; Stephen Butts Gifford, born Oct. 17, 1803; Ezra Dyer Gifford, born Jan. 23, 1805; Maryann, born April 28, 1806; Elijah Lilley Gifford, Dec. 18, 1807; and, Henry Gifford, born April 29, 1809.
There are two other children entered as: “Joseph our son departed this Life the 18 day of August AD 1801 aged 18 years and five days perfectly easy and we believe entirely happy after death was entered the 19day” and “Delilah our Daughter departed this world for a better we hope on the 4th Day of November AD 1808 in the 19th year of her age.” These would be two of the 8 children born to Gideon Gifford and his first wife, Ruth Butts, who were wed in 1780
How to Obtain Pension Files
Revolutionary War pension files and related documents may be obtained from the National Archives, consulted on microfilm at regional branches of the National Archives and some libraries with large genealogy collections, or with an online subscription to footnote.com.
Sources:
The National Archives, The New England Historical and Genealogical Register (Vol. CX, April, 1956) and references to St. Helena, Ghost Town of the Genesee, 1797-1954, which contains information on some of Gideon Gifford’s children and their descendants.
