While my sister and I have been researching our 4th great grandfather, Col. John Andrews, who was born in 1766, probably in Pennsylvania, who was a War of 1812 soldier, a resident of Salem Township, Jefferson County, Ohio from the year 1803 until his death in 1842, we found many of the records created in a man’s life. There are tax rolls from 1810 to 1817 which show John, his brothers David and Samuel in Salem Township on Section 6, Township 10, Range 3, deeds when John bought that original section from the United States government and when he sold property to his brother David and others, U.S. census records, his will naming his wife Nancy, children David, John, James, Mary, William and Isabella, and probate of his will in May of 1842, and his tombstone in the Presbyterian Cemetery behind the church in Richmond along with those of his family.

Then there is the account of John Andrew[s], a native of the south of France with a long record of military service in the revolutionary war and accounts of his wounding at the battle at Stony Point.

“John Andrew, whose grave in the Salem Cemetery is marked by a small sandstone, with the inscription, “John Andrew, a native of Marseilles, in the South of France; a soldier of the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812… was one of the Pathfinders of Jefferson County, coming here at the opening of the century. He came to America with Lafayette, and was with Wayne in storming Stony Point, on the night of July 16, 1779, and was one the eighty-three patriots wounded in the bold attack on the British stronghold….although a native of Southern France, the name, Andrew (or Andrews as it often appears in public documents) would indicate that this hero whose bones are an honor to the ground that received them, was of Scotch parentage; not only this, the fact that the first Associate Reform church in the township was organized at his house would convince the compiler that Col. John Andrews was of the blood of John Knox.” [Pathfinders of Jefferson County, Ohio, p. 196,197]

My intention at first was to ‘prove’ that this John Andrew is not the Col. John Andrews, our fourth great grandfather but now I would like to let each man’s story stand alone. This report covers John Andrew and should be considered a work in progress as there is still more I hope to find for this soldier who often is confused and combined with the Col. John Andrews first described. He has his own very interesting story.

My research to date has turned up nothing of the early years of John Andrew. He was born between 1743 and 1750. In a pension application in 1819 he gives his age as 69 years but his 1827 obituary says he died in his 84th year. Neither source gives a place of birth.

John enlisted in the town of Chester, Chester County, Pennsylvania on January 8 1777, in the 5th Pennsylvania Regiment, commanded by Colonel Francis Johnston, for a period of three years or during the war. He served in this company from date of enlistment until May 1779 when Captain Thomas Boude received permission from General Anthony Wayne to take from this regiment a company of Light Infantry, John was one of those chosen and he served in this corps during the battle of Stony Point the night of July 15 1779 and until the end of the war when he was discharged in Philadelphia. The last entry in his compiled military service record is dated Sep 1 1780, then in Sep 1784 there are final pay settlements, no explanation for the delay or what the actual date of the last military activity was, probably 1781-82 after the Carolina Campaign under General Greene. ``

In his November 2 1819 application for pension for revolutionary war service John Andrew stated “ that he was in the battle of Saratoga and surrender of General Burgoyne- at the capture of the Hessians at Trenton – in the battle of Brandywine – Germantown – Monmouth – White Plains – Stony Point , and at Yorktown at the surrender of Lord Cornwallis army” and his compiled military service record supports his statement; he fought in battles where Lafayette fought, at Brandywine, at the Valley Forge Winter Encampment, at Monmouth and at Yorktown, but there is nothing to suggest that he came to America with Lafayette found in any of his service records. His enlistment in January 1777 was 3 or 4 months before Lafayette landed in South Carolina in April 1777 and headed north to join George Washington. The account that he came to America with Lafayette came from somewhere but not from the military records I have seen.

On 23 January 1805 John Andrew appeared in court in Washington County, Pennsylvania to appoint Abraham Mosser as his attorney to settle with and receive of the United States the one hundred acres of land granted to him for his services as a soldier, he signed with his mark in the presence of Wm. Meetkerke and A. Swearingen. [On all military pay receipts and in all court papers I have seen so far John Andrew signs with his mark (X)] In this bounty-land application file there is a sworn statement by Andrew Swearingen, Esq. of Washington County, Pennsylvania, that John Andrew is personally known to him and has been a resident of the county upwards of one year and is well known in the county; another sworn statement in the file, dated 27 August 1805, by Samuel Carson stated that he had served with John Andrew for six years nine months in the 5th Pennsylvania Regiment commanded by Thomas Boude and that he is the same John Andrew who was “wounded at Stony Point in the year 1777”; another statement dated 29 October 1805 by Capt. Thomas Boude, “late of the first Regiment of Pennsylvania”, states he is “well and personally acquainted with John Andrew” and verifies his service.

John received his patent for the one hundred acres, on 22 May 1806, for section 2, township 10-N, Range 2-W, in the U.S. Military Survey , now in Tuscarawas County, Ohio; it adjoins a four thousand acre patent for Abraham Mosser and Thomas Boude. John is not listed on the 1808 list of taxpayers of Lawrence Township, Tuscarawas County and on the 1816 tax list the property is owned by Abraham Mosser. I have found a reference to a 24 Feb 1807 deed by John Andrew to Abraham Mosser, both “of the county of Muskingum” , for 100 acres of land. Tuscarawas county was formed 13 February 1808 from Muskingum County.. [ I have not seen this deed but it is on my research list.]

On November 2, 1819 John made application at Brooke County, Virginia for a pension, under the provision made in March 1818 by congress entitled “an act to provide for certain persons engaged in the land and naval service of the united states in the revolutionary war”. He stated that was in “arduous circumstances and stands in need of the assistance of his country for support”. He was added to the Roll of Virginia at $8.00 per month starting the 25th of October 1819; his certificate of pension number 15896 was issued 2 November 1819 and sent to Wellsburg, Brooke County, Virginia.
John returned to court on 1 June 1821, in Cadiz, Harrison County, Ohio, and asked to have his pension transferred as he had moved from Virginia and intended to make his home in Ohio. He declared that he had been a citizen of the United States on 18 March, 1818 (the date the pension act was created), that “I have not, nor has any person in trust for me any property or securities contract or debts due me – nor have I any income other than what is contained in the schedule”…..he further said he has “no property of any kind whatsoever except for his necessary wearing apparel and that of the most indifferent kind”, further he said “he was by occupation a laborer and farmer, but from old age and infirmity is now unfit for hiring” ….”and is totally dependent on his children and friends for support, that he has no family at present, his wife being dead, and his children being of age and providing for themselves and that he usually resides with his son in law and daughter”.

John Andrew died on June 21, 1827. His obituary in the Steubenville Republican Ledger, 27 June 1827, p. 3 as follows: DIED- At Anapolis, Ohio, on the 21st inst. MR. JOHN ANDREWS, a soldier of the revolution, in the 84th year of his age. A few hours before his death, he spoke with much composure of the many strugles [sic] of his military career and pointed to his numerous wounds, received, he said, in defence[sic] of a grateful country. He had fought at many of the most important battles during the revolutionary struggle, and when speaking of the final triumph at York town, his eyes seemed for a moment to brighten; he observed, that as to himself all was over, but that he would have been gratified to have lived to see the Hero Jackson presiding over the destinies of his beloved country. His remains were interred with military honors, and followed to the grave by a large number of his fellow citizens, who felt grateful for his past services. –Communicated He is buried in the Hill (Heisler) Cemetery in Anapolis (Salem), Jefferson County. In the Tombstone Inscriptions & Family Records of Jefferson County, Ohio by Esther Weygandt Powell, p. 109, it says the cemetery was copied in 1960, “This cemetery where he is buried is in horrible condition, surrounded by a broken down fence. One wonders why the grave of this loyal soldier is not honored and cared for. The cemetery is abandoned and trampled by animals.” What the condition of that cemetery is today I do not know, many old cemeteries do end up in such circumstances.

I have a list of further research I would like to work on for John Andrew, looking at War of 1812 records to see where and in what company he served, he would have been between 62 and 69 years old but did have the military experience of the revolutionary war; the list of places he lived in, Chester and Washington County, Pennsylvania, Muskingum County, Ohio, Brooke County, Virginia, and Harrison County, Ohio offer many possibilities to search for his wife and children and perhaps the mystery of where he was born.

Sources:
John Andrew, compiled military record, private, Captain Francis Johnston’s Regiment, Fifth Pennsylvania Regiment of Foot, Compiled Service Records of Soldiers Who Served in the American Army During the Revolutionary War, micro publication M881 (Washington: National Archives) (www.footnote.com: accessed 1 October 2009)

John Andrew (Private, Capt. Chas. McHenry’s 5th Pennsylvania), bounty land warrant file 258-100; Military Bounty Land Warrants and Related Papers; Records of the Bureau of Land Management, Record Group 49; National Archives, Washington, D.C. (www.footnote.com : accessed 30 September 2009)

John Andrew file no. S44305, Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, micro publication M 804,(Washington: National Archives) (www.footnote.com :accessed 29 May 2007)

Bureau of Land Management, “Patent Search”, database, General Land Office Records (http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/PatentSearch: accessed 10 May 2009), entry for Patentee John Andrew (1806) Township 10N, Range 2W, Section 2, 100 acres, U.S.Military Survey, Tuscarawas, Ohio.
John Andrew obituary, Steubenville Republican Ledger, Steubenville, Ohio, 27 June 1827, p.3

Sandra Andrews Page
1082 Ortman Road
Marquette, Michigan 49855
flpage@charter.net

Linda Andrews Sanders
8700 Post Oak Lane #134
San Antonio, Texas 78217
sanderslk2@sbcglobal.net