This research project takes us back to British Colonial America. Jacob Covert, was born into a family of Dutch ancestry in the New Jersey colony, before the America Revolution. He grew to be a patriot, a veteran of the Revolutionary War, and served beside General George Washington,
Jacob was born May 1755 in Franklin Township, Somerset County, New Jersey (1) —an area inhabited by Dutch settlers dating back to about 1650. (2) His local church was the Six Mile Run Reformed Dutch Church, where in 1784 his daughter was baptized. The Six Mile Run congregation emerged in 1710, and Reverend Theodorus Jacobus Frelinghuysen was sent from Holland to take charge of the Dutch churches in this area. (3)The church building still stands at 3037 State Route 27, Franklin Park, NJ (4) and operates today as the Six Mile Run Reformed Church.
When Jacob was 10 years old people took to the streets to protest the Stamp Act in 1765, as New Jersey was one of the colonies opposing British rule and their increasing taxation of colonists . The Boston Tea Party –where demonstrators boarded ships belonging to the British East India Company and threw the chests of tea into the Boston Harbor –occurred just a few years later in 1773. This was a protest of British Parliament’s tax on tea (Tea Act). “No taxation without representation” was the colonist’s message in their protests. The British government reacted harshly and events over the next two years would escalate into the Revolutionary War.
By the time Jacob was 21, he had undertaken either an apprenticeship or he was an indentured servant and was living with his “master,” Abraham Brokaw, in neighboring Hillsborough Township, Somerset County. (4)
On April 18, 1775, British troops marched from Boston to Concord Massachusetts. Paul Revere and other riders sounded the alarm, and colonial militiamen began mobilizing to intercept the Redcoats. Battles fought the next day at Lexington and Concord, marked the start of the war. (5) Jacob was still living with Abraham Brokaw when he entered the service just a few months later as a soldier in the Revolutionary War in June of 1776. (1)
Also in the month of June, 1776 a five-man committee including Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and Benjamin Franklin began drafting the Declaration of Independence. The Continental Congress formally adopted the declaration next month on July 4th 1776.
Jacob Covert served initially for a period of 5 months in the company of Captain Joseph Babcock, under Colonel Phillips.
During his initial service, according to Jacob “…service of five months he went with his company up the Hudson river and he was at the Battle of White Plains. The battle was pretty hot. General Washington was there…”. (See below for actual document in his words:)
On October 28, 1776 The Battle of White Plains ended in defeat for General George Washington and his army as they retreated from New York City following a series of British victories earlier that summer. (7)
Discharged in December of 1776, Jacob spent the remainder of the winter at home, and then re-entered service as a militiaman in and around Elizabethtown until at least 1778. As a militiaman he served in the Company of Captain Cornelius Lott; one month under Captain Quick; and under General Israel Putnam.(1)
The war lingered on, and it was not until September 3, 1783, that the Treaty of Paris was signed “in which Great Britain agreed to recognize the sovereignty of the United States and formally end the war.” (8)
Around 1780 Jacob married Elizabeth Beckner. Four years later their daughter Magdelen(a) Covert was born in Somerset County. She was baptized on August 15, 1784 at the Six Mile Run Reformed Church in Franklin Park, Somerset, New Jersey, USA (5,6). Jacob and Elizabeth’s next known child was John Beckner Covert, born on December 13, 1797 in Trenton, Mercer, New Jersey.
In 1832 Jacob Covert filed his pension application, requesting remuneration for his service in the Revolutionary War. Jacob was responding to new legislation enacted that year – giving full pay for life to officers and enlisted men who had served for two or more years and partial pay for service of six months to two years. Note: these pension application documents potentially contain rich information about the soldier and his family, as the soldier provided affidavit recounting his service in the war, identified his unit, commanding officers, battles fought, people he served with, etc…
In his pension application Jacob indicated that over the course of his life, he had lived in Somerset, Middlesex, and Mercer counties; and was presently living with one of his daughters in South Brunswick, Middlesex, New Jersey. Below is Jacob’s signature on the final page of his pension application, dated 31 Jul 1833:
Jacob was awarded a pension for his service, and according to the log file below he received monies between 1831 and Sept 1836. He collected $4 in in back payment assigned to 1831, and then received 2 payments each year, with his annual pension ranging from $4 to $8. The ledger below indicates Jacob passed away Feb 1837.
Below is a close up of these entries for Jacob Covert:
He died in New Jersey in February in 1837, having lived a long life of 81 years.
Thank you Jacob, for your service. I think I’ll go make myself a cup of tea.
SOURCES
- “Jacob Covert in the Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files”, NARA M804. digital collection (https://www.fold3.com/image/13182333 accessed 11 November 2019)
- Township of Franklin History (https://www.franklintwpnj.org/about-franklin/history accessed 11 November 2019)
- Reverend Theodorus Jacobus Frelinghuysen, early minister of 6 Mile church, Wikipedia.org, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodorus_Jacobus_Frelinghuysen accessed 11 November 2019)
- History of Six Mile Run Church (https://sixmilerun.org/history accessed 11 November 2019)
- Jacob Covert mentioned in pension application living with his Master in 1776. Note more research is required to determine the nature of the Master relationship: apprenticeship or indenture relationship.
- “Magdelen Covert Aug 1784 Baptism Six Mile Run Church Franklin Park NJ” in the U.S., Dutch Reformed Church Records in Selected States, 1639-1989. (www.ancestry.com accessed 11 November 2019)
- Battle of White Plains (https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/battle-of-white-plains/ accessed 11 November 2019)
- Treaty of Paris in American Revolutionary War (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Revolutionary_War accessed 11 November 2019)
