Jonas Long: War of 1812 Bounty Land for His Widow

In the prior article, I mentioned that Elizabeth Merrill, widow of Jonas Long, filed an equipment claim for $50 in 1860 stemming from Jonas's service in the War of 1812.

In 1855, Elizabeth filed for 160 acres of bounty land based on Jonas's service as authorized under the "Act approved March 3, 1855."

I obtained copies of these papers in hopes of uncovering genealogical information. I used the company Civil War Records to retrieve the records from the National Archives.

Jones Long's service in the War of 1812 was through both New York and New Jersey. In her application, Elizabeth only mentioned three months of service from September 3, 1814 - December 4, 1814 with Captain Abraham Webb of the 2nd Regiment of New Jersey. She wrote that he was "draughted" at Perth Amboy on Sept 3, 1814 for the term of three months.

Declaration of the Widow of a deceased person who has not before had a Land Warrant.

These dates of service are consistent with the muster roll card.

Muster Roll. Captain Abraham Webb's Company,
2 Reg't New Jersey Detached Militia.
Card of Private Jonas Long.
Present in Hoboken [New Jersey] November 8, 1814 - November 24, 1814.

Company Pay Roll. Captain Abraham Webb's Company,
2 Reg't New Jersey Detached Militia.
Card of Private Jones Long.
Paid 24 dollars and 52 cents for service of 3 months and 2 days.

Jonas also served December 18, 1812 - March 2, 1813 and March 1, 1813 - May 22, 1813.

Muster Roll. Captain James Bruce's Company,
1 Regiment United States Artillery Volunteers.
Card of Private Jonas Long.
Present on Bedlow Island [New York] March 1, 1813.
[Now called Liberty Island]

Muster Roll. Captain Charles Lawton's Company,
1 Regiment United States Artillery Volunteers.
Card of Montross Jonas Long.
Present in New York May 22, 1813.

Note that Elizabeth provided Jonas' date of death as the 13th day of August 1835 (five overwrote another number) in Richmond County. I have not uncovered any contemporaneously created record of his death. The other date of death is from Elizabeth's application for Letters of Administration, which she filed in 1860. On this probate document, the year of death was 1837.

The correct date of death of Jonas Long has not been verified with contemporaneous records.

The date of marriage, October 13, 1816, matches the typed transcript I found for the church in Staten Island.

Elizabeth Owen, widow of Jonas Long, was granted 160 acres of land in Missouri for his service in the War of 1812.

Elizabeth did not relocate to Missouri. She assigned or sold the property, as was common practice. Through the Bureau of Land Management you can search these property records.

Online search
Bureau of Land Management
General Land Office Records

A Tedious Courtship

 In the records of the First Presbyterian Church of Morristown, New Jersey is a curious entry for "a tedious courtship of 24 hours." The short courtship was unusual- maybe that is why it was mentioned? What does "tedious" mean in this context?

By Same [Reverend James Richards] January 17, 1806
David Munn, Orange
Miss Phebe Youngs, Malapardis,
"After a tedious courtship of 24 hours."

David Munn, the groom, was from Orange, Essex County. The bride, Phebe Youngs, was from Malapardis, which is now an area within Hanover, Morris County.

Map of Town of Hanover, Morris County, New Jersey. 1868.

The marriage was also recorded at the county level without mention of the courtship.

Marriages in the County of Morris, State of New Jersey.
These can be viewed from home for free via FamilySearch.org.
Film 1314453.

In spite of this unconventional beginning, the marriage endured for 33 years until the death of David Munn.

This union is mentioned in a book from 1907, Vicar Christopher Yonges. His Ancestors in England and His Descendants in America. A History and Genealogy. Three children are listed for David and Phebe. 

-Alson C Munn (died 1841)

-Ira Youngs Munn (1809-1882), married Mary Matilda Forsyth (1836-1920)

-Ruth Munn (1811-1889) married William Denman (1807-1879)

The family relocated from New Jersey to Missouri.

Excerpt from the Youngs Family Genealogy Book by Selah Youngs, Jr, 1907

David Munn served in the military for five years, from 1812 through 1817. He attained the rank of sergeant. He was in the light artillery of Captain John L Eastman's Company. During the Battle of York, War of 1812, he lost a finger. He died in 1839 in his 50s. A military marker sits atop his grave in Ohio.

Certain parts of David Munn's records relating to his military service are available from Fold3 (behind a paywall). Phebe became eligible for a widow's pension under a federal act passed in 1871. The soldier's service needed to have been at least sixty days and the marriage prior to the end of the War.

Act of 1871
Soldiers who served at least 60 days in the War of 1812 could apply for a pension,
as could their widows- if they married before the end of the War.

Phebe applied for her widow's pension under the Act of 1871. She had to prove that she was married prior to the end of the War in 1815. The clerk of Morris County, Richard Speer, copied by hand the lines from Book A of marriages, page 204- the same image above that we can now view on a computer.

Phebe's application to collect her widow's pension for David's service
in the War of 1812.
Number 4835.

The date of recording also had to be included- November 10, 1806- ten months after the event. The time lapse between events and recording of those events must be remembered when we evaluate the accuracy of records. In this case, we have to recordings- one from the county and one from the church, and they are consistent.

Phebe was awarded $8 per month.

Phebe died in 1875. She was buried with her daughter, Ruth (1811-1889), and son-in-law, William Denman (1807-1879), in Illinois.

Pending Orders

Below is the list of records not available online that were ordered and not yet fulfilled.

More items were ordered since the last published list on January 21, 2024.

Service Record and Application for Bounty Land of Jonas Long, War of 1812

Requested from CivilWarRecords.com on February 12, 2024.

$55 via credit card online.

Death certificate of James Cummings, 1912

Requested of the New York State Department of Health. Form DOH-4384 mailed February 9, 2024.

$22 check.

Death certificate of Jane Cummings, 1899

Requested of the New York State Department of Health. Form DOH-4384 mailed February 9, 2024.

$22 check.

Death certificate of John Grant, 1882

Requested of the New York State Department of Health. Form DOH-4384 mailed February 9, 2024.

$22 check.

Death certificate of Beryl Nanejian, 1989

Requested from the State of California. Form VS 112 mailed January 19, 2024.

$24 check cleared February 8, 2024. Confirmation email received February 7, 2024.

Probate records of Jonas Long, 1837, and William Owens, 1853

Requested of the Richmond County, New York Surrogate's Court. Email dated June 25, 2023.

No fee at this time.

Social Security Earning Information of Jeannette ODonnell, 1937 through 1993

Requested of the Social Security Administration. Form SSA-7050-FR mailed June 2, 2023.

$100 check cleared October 26, 2023.

Death certificate of Mollie Schwartz, 1925

Requested from City of Bridgeport and State of Connecticut. Forms VS-39DST mailed April 6, 2023. (Same form number on both town and state forms.)

$20 each via money orders.

Death certificate of Edward Sheeby [Edmond Sheehy], 1893

Requested of the New York State Department of Health. Form DOH-4384 mailed March 1, 2022.

$22 check cleared April 2, 2022.

Originally requested in 2015.

Town of Amenia provided an obscure ledger entry in 2023.