BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES - WATSON ANCESTORS BARE (Also recorded as BAER and BEAR) 42-Jacob BARE was born in 1757 in Lancaster County, PA. He served in the Revolutionary War in the Lancaster County Militia in the companies of 86-Captain John ROLAND and Captain Thomas DORSEY. According to family sources he took part in the battles of Brandywine and Germantown* and was assigned as a personal guard to General Casimer PULASKI, the Polish soldier and patriot who served as a General in the American Revolutionary Army. After the war 42-Jacob BARE married 43-Catherine ROLAND, a daughter of his former commanding officer and they moved to the Mount Morris area, Perry Township, Greene County, PA. They had eight children, David, Samuel, Israel, Nancy, John, Jacob, Catherine-21, who married 20-Solomon RUSSELL, and George, who married Catherine DONLEY, a sister of 22-Daniel DONLEY. Catherine (DONLEY) BARE died at age 29. 42-Jacob died 28 February 1837 at age 80 and 43-Catherine 1 Sept. 1846 at age 87. Both are buried in the M. E. Church Cemetery at Mount Morris. * The battles of Brandywine and Germantown were fought in the outskirts of Philadelphia in September and October 1777, respectively, by American troops under the command of General George WASHINGTON. Shortly thereafter WASHINGTON withdrew about eleven thousand troops to Valley Forge, some thirty miles west of Philadelphia, to spend the winter. Since General PULASKI was an aide to WASHINGTON throughout this period it makes one wonder if Private Jacob BARE spent that difficult winter of 1777-78 at Valley Forge. SUPPLEMENTAL BIOGRAPHIC MATERIAL -
BARE
(Added after initial printing) The following applies to my 3G Grandparents 42-Jacob BARE (1758-1837) and 43- Catherine ROLAND (1759-1846). 42-Jacob BARE (BAER) died 28 February 1837, aged 79 years. He is most likely the only Revolutionary War soldier buried in the old cemetery at Mt. Morris; however, no recognition of his service is evidenced on his grave marker. Beside him lies the remains of his wife, Catherine, who died 1 September 1841, aged 82 years. Jacob BARE was born 12 June 1758. At the time of the Revolutionary War he resided in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania where, in September 1776 he was drafted into Captain John ROLAND’S Company of the Pennsylvania Militia for a short period. He served this tour of duty guarding parts of New Jersey while the British were on Staten Island, New York. In January 1777 Jacob BARE enlisted in the Army of the United States for a period of three years and was paid twenty dollars bounty for his enlistment. He was attached to the company of Thomas DORSEY and Colonel MILEN’S Regiment composed of three companies from Pennsylvania and three companies of Maryland Horsemen. They marched from Lancaster to Philadelphia where they were organized and remained until about the end of harvest season of that year. They crossed the Delaware River at Trenton and marched to Princeton where the British then lay. After a time they marched to Philadelphia and served in the Battle of Brandywine under General WASHINGTON. Soon afterward the British took possession of the city of Philadelphia, which culminated in the Battle of Germantown. Jacob BARE was also engaged in that battle, soon after which General WASHINGTON went into winter quarters at Valley Forge. At the same time the company to which Jacob BARE belonged was ordered across the river where they went into winter quarters near Trenton, New Jersey. In the spring of 1778 General PULASKY removed Jacob BARE from his old company and placed him as one of his personal guards. He then was transferred to Baltimore where he was soon taken sick and his father, from anxiety on account of Jacob’s illness, bought his discharge from General PULASKY for which he was obliged to pay one hundred pounds. Again in 1781, Jacob BARE was drafted: this time into the Regiment of Colonel Jacob CARPENTER. They were marched to Crooked Billet where he served for a brief period, making a total of about two years that he served during the Revolutionary War. Jacob BARE related all of the foregoing information in court, in September of 1832, when he applied for a pension for said service. At that time he said he remained in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania seven or eight years after the end of the war and then moved west where he then lived, in Greene County, Pennsylvania upwards of twenty years. He further stated that he had a record of his age at home in his bible. At the same time John FORDYCE, a clergyman, Patrick DONLEY and Mathias CLOVIS, residents of Whiteley Township, appeared as substantiating witnesses. Certificate of Pension #11858 was issued to Jacob BARE in 28 January 1833 in the amount of $70.00 per annum. Following the death of Catherine, his widow, the children attempted to prove a claim for an amount due their mother. However this pension was denied because the claim did meet the requirements of the acts passed by congress. Jacob BARE and Catherine ROLAND, daughter of Captain John ROLAND, were married in December 1779 by a Lutheran clergyman named KURTZ. Jacob and Catherine were first cousins and there was some opposition to the marriage for this reason. Only two persons were present to witness the marriage: Isaac BARE and John ROLAND. Jacob and Catherine settled within a few miles of the Lancaster, York County line in Pennsylvania. After the birth of their second child they removed to Washington County, Maryland and from there, about 1800, to Bedford County, Pennsylvania where they remained only one year before removing to Greene County, Pennsylvania where they resided until their deaths. Jacob induced three of his sons to enlist during the War of 1812 and all were honorably discharged at the conclusion of the war. In 1832, Isaac BARE, brother of Jacob, appeared in court in Washington County, Maryland and made affidavit of Jacob’s service during the Revolutionary War and of his residence in Lancaster County. In 1849, J.V. BOUGHNER, acting as an agent for the heirs of Jacob and Catherine BARE, presented much of the forgoing data in a letter requesting monies for the heirs of Jacob BARE. At that time the living children were listed as David, aged 64 years; Israel, aged 61 years; Jacob, aged 51 years; Catherine RUSSELL, aged 52 years and George (the youngest); aged 50 years. The will of Jacob BARE also lists children Samuel and John and states that Israel and Jacob resided “east of the mountains”. SOURCE: A TIME TO REMEMBER (1976) by Dorothy T. HENNEN |