In 1819 Reuben Champion of Lyme, Connecticut, swore that he had enlisted in December 1775 in Capt. Christopher Darrow's company of Col. Samuel Holden Parsons' regiment, and he drew a pension. In 1896 John N. Champion of New Haven wrote to the Pension Bureau about a Reuben Champion of Parsons' regiment, and then about a "Dr Reuben Champion" who died in the war. Read four papers from the pension file and decide whether they are the same man.
Exhibit AOpening of Reuben Champion's first declaration, before the probate judge of New London district, April 10, 1819. "May" is struck out and "April" written above it.
Transcript
On this 10th day of [May struck out, April written above] 1819
Exhibit BFrom his second declaration and property schedule, sworn in the Superior Court for New London County on January 29, 1829. This page is a copy certified by the court clerk, Charles Lathrop, so the name "Reuben Champion" at the end is copied, not his own signature.
Transcript
I am now 72 years old - am blind with one eye
which I lost on board of a prison Ships in New York
Exhibit DThe same writer's second letter, October 2, 1896, answering the Bureau's reply of September 25. The day of the newspaper date is written over another figure.
Transcript
New Haven, Ct. Oct 2 1896
Bureau of Pensions
Washington D.C
In reply to your letter of Sept 25/96
would say that the "Dr Reuben Champion
I had reference to died in service at
Ticonderoga March 29 - 1777 aged 50 years as
that is on his headstone in West Springfield
and was printed in Springfield Republican
on Sept [2 written over another figure]5 and he could not have asked
Was the Reuben Champion of Lyme who swore Exhibits A and B the "Dr Reuben Champion" of the 1896 letters?
Correct
Not quite
Turn each age into a birth range. "About sixty two" on April 10, 1819 points to a birth around 1756 or 1757. "72 years old" on January 29, 1829 means born between January 30, 1756 and January 29, 1757. Ten years apart, the two ages agree, which is what you expect from one living man giving his own age. The doctor, by the 1896 letter, died on March 29, 1777 aged 50, so he was born about 1726 or 1727, some thirty years earlier, and had been dead for 42 years when the Lyme man first swore before the judge. Two men with one name is the plain explanation, and it is the one the 1896 writer reached himself ("Please see if their are two Reubens Champion"). The impostor answer needs a fraud for which these papers give no sign; the regiment answer leans on a regiment the writer named before he had compared dates, and in Exhibit D he gave up the match himself; and the "about" in Exhibit A is answered by the exact 72 in Exhibit B. One caution: the doctor's dates come secondhand, from a letter quoting a headstone and a newspaper, so check the stone before you rely on them.
When two people share a name, compare birth ranges first. A gap of thirty years settles more than any matching regiment or town.
A dead man cannot swear in court. A dated, sworn appearance is strong proof that a person was alive on that day.
Two ages given years apart should differ by the same number of years. When they do, they were probably given by the same living person.
Family researchers' letters in a pension file are clues, not proof. Note what they rest on (here, a headstone and a newspaper) and check those yourself.
Spelling (Rhuben, Reuben) and "about" in an age are normal; do not let small variations hide a large difference in dates.
Daily Ancestor