Comment by Laverne Ingram Piatt follows this text of the document.
State of New York
Steuben County
Joseph Fulkerson of Reading in the county aforementioned being
duly sworn says that (illegible)
deponent (illegible) Joseph Fulkerson who served in the Regular Troops
in the Revolutionary army in the
company of Jacob Pyatt and others, in the Regiment of Col. Mathias
Ogden, and in the Brigade of Genl.
Maxfield [General William "Scotch Willie" Maxwell] of the New Jersey
Troops and is now a pensioner
and this deponent further says that Caleb Fulkerson now a resident
of Starkey in the County of Yates and
State of New York is his Brother - That he was born in the County of
Somerset in the State of New
Jersey - in the year one Thousand seven hundred Sixty One as this (illegible)
is informed and believes. -
That this deponent left his father's family in Seventeen hundred and
Seventy Six or Seven and enlisted
with the regular troops for three years leaving his brother Caleb at
home. That during the some part of
this period as this deponent has been informed and believes the said
Caleb enlisted for one month in the
militia at Somerset aforesaid under one Captain James Wheeler in Col.
Frelinghuysen's Regiment and
served that times at Elizabeth Town. And this deponent further saith
that while he (this deponent) was in
Service during the period of three years aforesaid (but at what precise
time he cannot now recollect) his
brother Caleb enlisted in the regular troops for the period of nine
months - in the company of Captain
John Van Angle the predecessor of Captain Jacob Pyatt before mentioned,
and served with him, the
aforesaid Caleb, during the term of his enlistment, at Elizabethtown
where as this deponent (illegible)
informed and believes, he was duly and honorably discharged.
And this deponent further saith that after the expiration of
his Term of three years this deponent and his
brother Caleb (about the same time enlisted for a period of six months
in Captain Isaac Smalley's
company and in the detachment of Major John Gooches [Goetschius] -
and although this deponent cannot
recollect the time of this service particularly, yet he thinks it was
during this period Major Andre was
taken [British spy, working with Benedict Arnold].
That during this service the said Caleb Fulkerson was taken prisoner
while on a scouting party in the
County of Bergen near the Village of Hackensack and taken as this deponent
was informed and believes,
to the prison in the City of New York called the Sugar House where
he remained about nine months.
And this deponent further saith that on his (this deponent's)
liberation from the prison ship in the bay of
New York late in the fall of seventeen hundred and eighty one as he
thinks and on his return home, he fell
in with his Brother Caleb at the Village of Hackensack who was then
out on duty in the militia on a tour
of three months service as this deponent was then informed and still
believes, in the company of one
Captain Ward and the detachment of Major Gooches.
That after this period of service this deponent has been informed
and believes that his Brother Caleb
performed another term of service of one month under the command of
Captain Lott at Elizabethtown,
but of this service the deponent has no personal knowledge.
Sworn and subscribed
this 19th day of July 1832
before me
Jas. Taylor
Examiner in Chancery
(signed) Joseph Fulkerson
And I do hereby further certify that I am well acquainted with the above
Joseph Fulkerson that he is a
credible person and his statement is entitled to full credit.
Dated 4 July 1833.
Jas. Taylor, Exam. in Chancy.
From Laverne:
While there may not have been a direct connection between Fulkerson
and any particular Piatt, he could have been rubbing elbows with them his
whole life. He was born in Somerset Co NJ, enlisted in the First
New Jersey Regiment of Revolutionary troops, was discharged at Morristown
NJ, lived at the time of his statement in Steuben Co NY, and eventually
moved to Monroe Co OH.