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John's signature in 1799

At the age of 22 John joined the Revolutionary army from his home town of Berkley. The folllowing is taken from his Revolutionary War pension application:1

I was in service as a soldier in the War of the Revolution at Roxbury in the latter part of 1775 or early part of 1776 one & a half months under Capt. James Briggs whose Lieut. was Philip Hathaway. Benjamin Evans was Clerk of sd. Company. I served two months in 1776 at Dorchester under Capt. Joshua Wilbur whose first Lieut. was Jacob French, Jr. My Father John Briggs enlisted in this Company [at about 57 years old] for four months & he served two months of the time, and I served two months as a substitute for my said Father John Briggs in said Company. We were employed in taking down barracks at Winter Hill & moving them to Dorchester Heights. I further say that at the time the British landed at Newport in Oct. 1776, I was ordered to March to Providence, R.I. [this was the so-called "secret expedition" to Rhode Island] That I went as far as Sabin's in Rehoboth & was then ordered to Warren, R.I., where we went and remained three weeks. Simeon Burt was then Captain of the Company. We were then ordered to Howland Ferry, so called, where we remained until a Regiment was raised viz. to the last of December 1776. I cannot say that I served under Capt. Burt all the time & do not recollect under whom I did serve. It was however in Col. John Hathaway's Regiment. I further say that I served under Capt. James Briggs in Spencer's Expedition, so called, at Tiverton in [September] 1777 one month. Talbot was Lieutenant of said Company...I further served one & half a month or more under Lieut. Ebenezer Paul, who had the command of the Company, in Sullivan's Expedition to Rhode Isand in 1778, in this service I was drafted.

     The "secret expedition" to Rhode Island is explained in Lossing's Field Book of the Revolution. "This expedition was arranged by General Spencer at considerable expense, and with fair promises of success. The Americans were stationed at Tiverton, near the present stone bridge, and had actually embarked in their boats to cross over to Rhode Island to surprise the enemy, when Spencer prudently countermanded the order. He had ascertained that the British commander was apprised of his intentions, and seeing no effort on the part of the enemy to oppose his landing, apprehended some stratagem that might be fatal. Such, indeed, was the fact. The British had determined to allow the Americans to land and march some distance upon the island, when they would cut off their retreat by destroying their boats, and thus make them captives. General Spencer, indignant at the censure implied in the proposed inquiry of Congress, resigned his commission, and General Sullivan was appointed in his place."2 A longer description of the reasons for Sullivan's Expedition is also in Lossing.

John's application was made in the Summer of 1838. The person taking the deposition says:

The reason why he did not make application sooner for a Pension is because the terms of his service were very short & he could not make proof of six months service in the whole & finding he could not produce direct evidence as th his services, to the amount of six months, he now makes this declaration with some evidence as to his services & with reference to the Rolls of his Officers for the balance.

     John must have given his deposition at home, since there is a note saying he couldn't come to court due to "bodily infirmity." John named Rev. Thomas Andros as a character witness and his neighbors John Clark and Philip Caswell appear to have gone to court on his behalf. He made a mark for his signature on the deposition, surely due to his age and declining health. The pension was denied and he died four years later.
     John deposed for fellow soldier John French six years earlier, and his testimony was significantly different. He was also able to sign his name, although shakily. In the earlier documents, confirmed by French and another of his deponants, says he served in Capt. Samuel Tubbs company of Col. Jacob French's regiment in February and March of 1776. They were stationed at Winter Hill and Dorchester near Boston. French testified that they marched from Berkley to Roxbury and then Winter Hill, where they stayed until the beginning of March. "Whilst he was at Winter Hill he was upon guard and sometimes, although it was very cold weather, he was upon fatigue duty." They then marched to Dorchester, where they stayed for the rest of their agreed term of service. "Whilst at Dorchester, he was sometimes upon guard, but generally upon fatigue duty upon Dorchester neck. That is when the troops were throwing up fortifications upon Dorchester neck, the British shipping lay near to them, and were almost constantly throwing large shot and shells at the American works. In this period of his service he well recollects of the evacuation of Boston by the British troops in March 1776. He recollects that many of the Americans were killed at Dorchester by the shot and shells that were thrown by the enemy. He recollects of having seen Generals Washington and Thomas in this period." Samuel Paull, another soldier in John Briggs's company, said that the troops in fatigue duty were involved in building fortifications on Dorchester Neck when the weather permitted, and confirmed the British bombardment.
     John Briggs also deposed for John French about Spencer's Expedition. "I served as a private soldier in a company commanded by Capt. James Briggs...said company marched from...Berkley to Fall River...where said company was stationed one or two weeks and from thence was marched to Fogland [Howland] Ferry, so called, in Little Compton or in Tiverton, Rhode Island. The company marched to that place for the purpose of landing upon the Island under Gen. Spencer. There were several attempts made to land, but they were given up as the British ships of war lay near to and just below Fogland Ferry. The company, after getting to said Ferry, was there stationed and in the vicinity therof, untill the term...of one month had expired, when the company was there verbally discharged..." Ebenezer Hathaway, a Justice of the Peace, served as a character witness, saying John Briggs "is personally known to me and that his character for truth is good and that the above statement by him made is entitled to full faith & credit."
     Lorania, John's widow, reapplied for the pension on 9 September 1851. She went in person to Judge Oliver Prescott and said she was of Berkley and aged 85 years. She was also denied.
     Luther Jenney Briggs, Jr.'s, notes on his family say that John was a farmer and mason. The latter is confirmed by The History of the Town of Berkley,3 which says "John Briggs was a mason, and performed the mason work on the second meeting house and in payment took a pew which he usually occupied on the Sabbath." The church was dedicated 22 November 1798.4 He must have been the John Briggs who was elected a "hog reave, field driver & fence viewer" at a town meeting in March 1800.5 The following April it was voted that "hogs may go at large in the common and roads provided they are reigned & yolked."6 A hogreeve oversaw hogs being kept on the town's common land and dealt with strays. A field driver dealt with livestock in general that were kept on the commons. Fence-viewing in this context probably was specific to the commons, but in general, a town's fenceviewers kept track of the condition of fences throughout the town, private and public. Strays were a common problem.
     Nothing of John's later life has been found, but his probate papers give a curious look at his state of affairs at the time of his death. He didn't write a will, but an inventory of his estate was ordered. Not a single personal item is listed, but by March 1843 the personal estate had been "duly administered." His real estate is mentioned, but briefly: "The Homestead farm of the said Briggs deceased & buildings thereon standing apraised at the value of Six Thousand and Fifty Dollars." There was a mortgage on the property held by his son John, leaving a cash value of $800. This was divided among the heirs to calculate Lorania's "dower thirds."" Three pieces were given to her, one of them was the lot their house was on, and she had rights to half the house. Dowers were typically convoluted when it came to houses, since widow's with children usually had to share. Lorania was also given the right to take water from the well and pass to and from the well to her part of the house "in the way commonly used." She must have had the half of the house with the stairs, since "the owners or occupants of the other part of the said house [have] the privilege of passing and repassing to and from the cellar and chamber...by the stairs as now used." The family likely carried on as usual, but estate divisions were based on monetary value as well as convenience, so the lines had to be drawn somewhere.
     The estate was declared insolvent by 7 August 1843, which was surely already apparent to Lorania. As adminstrator of the estate, she had petitioned the court to allow her to sell all the real estate to cover debts amounting to $761.00. A list of creditors shows her son Simeon was their major support, aside from what they gained from the mortage to John, Jr. Simeon claimed "sundries from Dec. 9th 1837 to Feb. 28th 1843," with interest, amounting to $655.76. He started covering their costs just before John applied for his pension. He may have fallen on particularly hard times at that point, but there is evidence of this even earlier. He mortgaged his farm to neighbor Christopher Paull in 1824 for $230.00, which he paid off the same day he got $233.50 by mortgaging it again to John, Jr. He was eight months overdue. John, Jr., also apparently made several loans. The first was in June 1842 and the second apparently was made to Lorania, given that it was dated January 1843, a month after his father died. The total was $83.92. When Lorania drew up her first financial account of her administration, she "charges herself" $39.29, for "real estate sold for more than mortgage including the reversion of the widow's dower sold to John Briggs of Rochester in the State of New York he being the highest bidder," she being both recipient of the reversion and sale, and the executrix. Although it must have been a hard change in John, Jr.'s young life when his mother died and his father remarried, this shows he went out of his way to help her after his father died. His half-brother Simeon was much younger and was probably living with his father and mother when they died.
     The only child of John's who isn't obviously accounted for as an adult is Jotham. "Jotham Briggs" wasn't a common name in the early 19th century. Circumstances show he was likely the man who served on "gunboat no. 162" during the Battle of New Orleans. He was discharged in 1818 and was given a pension. His pension file may say more about him. He may have gone to sea long before that, maybe on a whaling ship or a merchant vessel, and ended up in the Navy.
     Censuses suggest John and Lorania had six children. Phebe, Ruth and Ebenezer's births are recorded. Lucretia and Simeon's death records name their parents. Although Lucretia's mother is called "Lena," she is in the same age category as a female in John's 1820 census household who is otherwise unidentified. Preserved Briggs died before civil registration began for Massachusetts, but his probate records include references to Simeon of Berkley as his brother. He also fits the age category of a mystery child in the 1810 and 1820 enumerations for John's household. Another male child who appears in the 1820 census under the age of 10 may have been another son unless this is an enumerator error. He isn't in John's household in the 1830 census. The latter census has two boys age 5-9 who clearly weren't his children and were unlikely to have been any of his known grandchildren.

children of John Briggs and Hannah Redding (Berkley vital records):

i. Margaret, 5 February 1775?
ii. Samuel, b. 22 October 1776, not married
iii. Charity, b. 2 July 1778, not married
iv. Diadama, b. 1 May 1780
v. Jotham, b. 10 July 1782
vi. Lydia, b. 16 December 1784
vii. John, b. 10 February 1788
viii. Hannah, b. 8 February 1793, d. 1795
ix. Hannah, b. 12 June 1796

children of John and Lorania Staples (Berkley vital records except Perserved and Lucretia):7

x. Phebe, b. 14 April 1799
xi. Ruth, b. 30 October 1801
xii. Ebenezer, b. 25? January 1805 (sometimes confused with Ebenezer Dean Briggs, a cousin the same age)
xiii. Preserved, b. abt 1807
xiv. Lucretia, b. abt 2 Oct 1810
xv. Simeon, b. 31 August 1813

sources for vital records: John's birth date comes from the published Berkley vital records. His marriage record to Hannah is from the published Dighton vital records, intentions also recorded (John of Berkley and Hannah of Dighton). His marriage to Lorania is found in the published Taunton vital records (both of Berkley). His death record is in the MA State Health Dept. register of deaths, which says he died in Berkley at 89 years, 2 months and 3 days of old age and debility, occupation bricklayer and mason.

1. Revolutionary War pension file #R1208 (1838)
2. Benjamin J. Lossing, Lossing's Field Book of the Revolution, vol. 1 (1850). 3. Rev. Enoch Sanford, History of the Town of Berkley, Massachusetts, etc. (New York:1872), 43. 4. Ibid, 32.
5. Berkley Town Record Book #3, 13.
6. Ibid, 14.
7. Censuses suggest John and Lorania had six children. Phebe, Ruth and Ebenezer's births are recorded. Lucretia and Simeon's death records name their parents. Although her mother is called "Lena," she is in the same age category as a female in John's 1820 census household who is otherwise unidentified. Preserved Briggs died before civil registration began for Massachusetts, but his probate records include references to Simeon of Berkley as his brother. He also fits the age category of an 1810 and 1820 census mystery child in John's household. Another male child who appears in the 1820 census under the age of 10 may have been another son, unless this is an enumerator error. He isn't in John's household in the 1830 census. The latter census has two boys age 5-9 in the household who clearly weren't his children and were unlikely to have been any of his known grandchildren.