What does "8th Class" mean in a Revolutionary War Company?

Question

I'm working on a profile and family for a Revolutionary War soldier. He's listed in the Pennsylvania Archives as being in the "8th Class" in the "Class Roll of Capt Cleders Company Militia". I have two questions: (1) What does "8th Class" mean and how should that be notated, and (2) Would someone help me put the appropriate sticker on his profile? I've not done a Revolutionary War sticker before and I sure don't want to mess it up.

Answer 1

The County Lieutenants kept full rosters of men on what are known as Permanent Billet Rolls. Most Battalion muster rolls in the Pennsylvania Archives dating to after 1777 are precisely these Permanent Billets. For example, the majority of the Companies listed in the 2nd Series, Volume 14 of the PA Archives (also those rolls from the 5th Series), post-1777 are actually these roll sheets.

When a class was called up, all members of that class were called up to serve throughout the county. For example, if the 1st Class was called, whether you fell under the 1st Battalion or the 7th Battalion, you were required to turn out. New rolls were taken by officers; these are known as Active Duty rolls. Many of these Active Duty rolls for 1777 do not survive.

By the ordinance of the Militia Law, the Class number became the Active Duty Battalion number. Additionally, when a class was called up, the men were assigned a different company number on the Active Duty rolls—the company number they were given corresponded to the battalion they were from on the Permanent Billet—than the company numbers on the inactive duty Permanent Billets.

Pennsylvania was weird and confusing about their militia's.

This means that he was in the "8th class" that would be called up for duty. I would simply state that he served in Capt. Cleders Company, Pennsylvania Militia as a [Rank].

Comments

Thank you, Steve. Would the "8th Class" have anything to do with age ("too young before then" OR "too old to really do any good")? Do you have any idea how or why the "classes" were assigned?

I'm only asking because of a wide discrepancy between birth years assigned to this person from different sources, one being 1740 and the other being about 1757. If either was considered in the classification or class, it really doesn't help solve that dilemma, but his known children (1820 will) were born mid-1780 to early 1800s, making the 1757 date much more likely.

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No, age had nothing to do with the classes. The class designation was simply a group of individuals assigned. I have to agree with you about the 1757 date as being more likely.

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Steve:

You made feel better.  I always thought that some of my ancestors must have been the worst soldiers in history to be privates, 7th and 8th class.

Grin.

                           Roger

Answer 2

I can help with the sticker for this one. Pennsylvania's militia regiments are categorized by county and battalion, so you could assign a 1776 sticker as follows:

{{1776 Sticker | rank= Private | unit= 3rd Battalion, Northampton County Militia, Pennsylvania Militia, American Revolution}}

Hope this helps!

Answer 3

I believe I am descended from this soldier.  My lineage would be from his son Peter, who was married to Barbara Haag.  His son Christian (b 1832) was father to Don Stafford, and then my grandfather Henry.  The surname evolved to Creyts, starting with Peter.  Peter is buried in Hurd Cemetery in Dewitt Mi (1876).  If you could find any more information on his revolutionary war record I would be very interested; all I have been able to find so far was that he was a Virginia Militia, even though he was born in Pennsylvania.  I very recently found the connection through family search, and did my best to verify through ancestry as I find that family search has a tendency to not check facts very well.

Comments

Hi, Jennifer,

This family is a slow slog, but there's lots of (unindexed) information available at FamiySearch. I have information on all of their 11 children, and am (VERY SLOWLY) adding and sourcing it. Please check back. I'm doing the children from oldest to youngest, and since Peter was the youngest, he'll, unfortunately, be the last I get around to.

If you have a profile created for Peter, please feel free to attach it to Jacob's profile by adding Jacob and Elizabeth as his parents. (Please do NOT create other profiles for his parents, since that will cause duplicate problems.) If you need help, just ask. You can also send me a Private Message if you have questions.

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I just got on this website, so I'm not sure how to attach it; I have his profile on Ancestry website if that helps; by the way, the death date on Elizabeth if you are using the 1810 date is not accurate; his last will and testament was written in 1820, and it clearly mentions her in the will.  I can't find her in the find a grave site, but I also see that his gravestone is not the original stone; I would agree with you that the 1741 birth date is not right.  I found your bio on Jacob; so far, the only changes I can offer is I have Peter's wife as Helena Barbara Haag, (looks like she went by Barbara, and Elizabeth his wife, possibly maiden name was Kintner