52 Ancestors - Week 19
Prompt - Service
Jonathan Mason Grover 1759-1844
My 5th great-grandfather
Nancy Simmons to
Paul Simmons to
June Putman to
Ernest Putman to
Mary Ellen Putman to
Joseph Putman
Nancy Grover
Jonathan Mason Grover
I have many ancestors with military
service but want to highlight an ancestor who fought in The Revolutionary War
in the First Maryland Regiment that was part of the Continental Army under
General George Washington. Jonathan Mason Grover was a patriot in the War of
Independence for three years; 1777-1780.
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| Jonathan Mason Grover - Tombstone Bethel Cemetery, Ribolt, Lewis County, Kentucky |
Jonathan Mason Grover was born to
Jon Grover and Sarah Fishin in 1859 in Maryland.[1]
He married Sarah Musgrove November 17, 1780 in Frederick County, Maryland[2]
and their first seven children were born in Maryland. By 1799, Jonathan M
Grover is on the tax list for Mason County, Kentucky[3]
and he lives for over 40 years in Tollesboro, Lewis County, Kentucky where he
was laid to rest in 1844 as a Revolutionary War veteran in Bethel Cemetery.[4]
Jonathan and Sarah have at least eight children including my 4th great
grandmother, Nancy, who married Thomas Putman.
 |
| Grover, Jonathan Mason marriage to Sarah Musgrove November 17, 1780 in Frederick County, Maryland |
Jonathan's service records are
contained in his Revolutionary War pension claims. Jonathan enlisted in
Annapolis, Maryland on February 14, 1777 and served as a private in Captain
Alexander Roxburg's Company in the First Maryland Regiment commanded by Colonel
John Stone and was discharged as a corporal on February 12, 1780.[5]
The First Maryland Regiment originated as Smallwood's Battalion from Maryland
in 1776 but it’s designation changed to the First Maryland Regiment upon the
creation of the Continental Army under George Washington.[6]
 |
| Jonathan M Grover's Military Service Record U.S., Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application File Papers |
One of the first major battles
Jonathan M Grover participated in was the Battle of Brandywine on September 11,
1777. The British General William Howe was moving troops to capture
Philadelphia, the seat of the colonial American government. Patriot General
George Washington was leading the Continental Army and was intent on stopping
Howe. The battle occurred at Brandywine Creek where more troops fought than any
other battle in the Revolution and it was also the longest single day battle
lasting eleven hours.[7]
The British won this battle and afterwards the British General William Howe
marched into Philadelphia and took the city.
A month later General Washington
tried to retake Philadelphia on October 4, 1777 at the Battle of Germantown.[8]
The First Maryland Regiment was involved in this battle and Jonathan Grover was
once more engaged in battle. This was a very unsuccessful attempt and
Washington was unable to re-capture Philadelphia. The British forced Washington
to retreat and killed or wounded 400 men and captured another 400. One positive
outcome of the battle was that many European counties were impressed with the determination
of the Americans. This led to the winter of 1777-1778 where the Continental Army
sheltered in Valley Forge and Jonathan Grover and the First Maryland sheltered
in Wilmington, Delaware.[9]
 |
| The Chew House where the British took cover in the Battle of Germantown - October 4, 1777 |
Jonathan, at the age of nineteen,
had endured the winter in Wilmington and along with the First Maryland Regiment
was ready to take on the mighty British Army again. They rejoined Washington
and the Continental Army who met the British in June 1778 at the Battle of
Monmouth in New Jersey. George Washington and his newly trained Army were ready
to meet Sir Henry Clinton and the British forces.
 |
| Washington Rallying the troops at the Battle of Monmouth in New Jersey - June 1778 |
The British were instructed by their
superiors to leave Philadelphia and return to New York City. Washington did not
want to engage the British Army but wanted to attack their rear as they moved
through New Jersey. As the battle started, General Lee botched the attack at
the Monmouth Courthouse and made his troops retreat ceding to the British.
Washington had to counterattack and with his newly trained troops engaged the
British till nightfall. When the troops
awoke the next morning to their surprise the British had slipped away under the
cover of darkness. While the Continentals held the field at day's end the
British resumed their retreat and most historians consider the battle a draw.
It was after the Battle of Monmouth
that Jonathan was promoted to corporal on July 1, 1778.[10]
Jonathan Grover and the First Maryland Regiment fought at Phillips Heights in
New York in September 1778, wintered 1778-1779 in Middlebrook, New Jersey and
he was probably in the Battle of Stoney Point July 1779. The winter of 1779-1780 Jonathan and the
First Maryland were in Morristown, New Jersey.[11]
It was here in Morristown that he was honorably discharged after his enlistment
period of three years.[12]
 |
| Jonathan Grover - Corporal in Captain Roxburg's Company |
Jonathan Mason Grover filed his
pension application papers on October 12, 1829 in Lewis County, Kentucky[13]
at which time he was living in Lewis County aged seventy years. His wife,
Sarah, was also listed as seventy years old and a granddaughter, Sally Ann
Grover, whose parents were dead, was fourteen years old. On January 6, 1839,
his wife Sarah of 59 years died[14]
and in March 1839 Jonathan sells his 120 acres to his son, Thomas Grover.[15]
 |
| Sary (Sarah) Grover - Tombstone Bethel Cemetery, Ribolt, Lewis County, Kentucky |
Jonathan lives the next five years with his
son Thomas and his family in Lewis County.
On May 26, 1844 Jonathan Mason Grover died at the age of 85 and is
buried in Bethel Cemetery next to Sarah.[16]
He was one of the last pensioners in Lewis County, Kentucky to have died as a
Revolutionary War veteran who served in the First Maryland Regiment under
command of George Washington and the Continental Army.
 |
| Revolutionary War Pension Roll Lewis County, Kentucky |
[1]
Ancestry, U.S. Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, 1800-1900, Lewis County,
KY.
[2] Maryland
State Archives. Frederick County, 1778-1851 Male Marriage Index MSA CM493, page
140.
[3] FamilySearch.org.
Mason County, Kentucky Tax Book, #7834483, 1790-1797, 1799-1809, image 326. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS3J-DQLB-Z?i=325&cat=156148
[5] Ancestry.com.
Maryland Revolutionary War Records; Newman, Harry Wright. Maryland
Revolutionary War Records. Baltimore, MD, 1938, p. 24.
[7] Wikipedia.
Battle of Brandywine; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Brandywine#/media/File:Independence_Hall_belltower.jpg
[10] Ibid.
[11]
Ibid.
[12]
Ancestry.com. U.S., Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant
Application Files, 1800-1900.
[13]
Ibid.
[14] Find
A Grave. Memorial # 45413042; https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/45413042/sarah_sary_-grover/photo
[15] FamilySearch.org.
Lewis County, Kentucky Deeds, 1807-1902, Lewis County, Film #008109180, Book H, page 244, image 132
[16]
Find A Grave. Memorial #45412596
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