John L. Lent, My Maternal 5th Great-Grandfather
John Lent Jr., My Maternal 4th Great-Grandfather
52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks
Week 20
Prompt: At the Cemetery
When this week’s prompt, At the Cemetery, was announced, I thought I already knew exactly which ancestor I would write about—a Revolutionary War patriot whose original tombstone was replaced in 1963 by the Sons of the American Revolution. (That story will have to wait for another time.)
Instead, one simple question sent me down an entirely different path:
Where were my ancestors, John Lent and his son John Lent Jr., actually buried?
I already knew that John L. Lent, my maternal 5th great-grandfather, died in New York Harbor in 1780, and that his son, John Lent Jr., survived the war and died in Wysox in 1837. But knowing when they died was not the same as knowing where they were laid to rest.
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That simple question led me into a family of Revolutionary War patriots, multiple men named John Lent, a pension file, a prison ship in New York Harbor, and ultimately two very different burial places.
According to The Lent Family section of the Van Tassel Family History Homepage:
“The Lents were very numerous in the Continental Army. The muster rolls of the American Army during the Revolution register the names of twenty-eight Lents.”
A search of the Daughters of the American Revolution ancestor database for Lents who served in New York revealed nineteen patriots. Three were named John. All three were born in Peekskill, on land that was once part of Ryck’s Patent in Cortlandt Manor.
Previous research had already revealed that John L. Lent died on a prison ship in New York Harbor in 1780, while his son John Jr. died in Pennsylvania in 1837. Two of those DAR patriots matched my ancestors exactly. John Jr.’s entry even provided a Revolutionary War pension number: S23762.
But of course, I wanted to know more.
An Ancestry hint led me to the Lineage Book of the DAR Charter Members, Volume 30. There I found a detail I had never seen before: the name of the prison ship—HMS Jersey.
It also stated that John Lent Jr. enlisted at age sixteen with his father and four brothers and served until peace was declared.
The Prison Ship Jersey
What follows are excerpts from Prisoners of the Deep: The Terrors of the HMS Jersey by Armonee Wilkins.
The HMS Jersey, a decommissioned 60-gun ship of the Royal Navy, was repurposed in 1780 as a prison ship for American patriots. It was anchored in Wallabout Bay, the small body of water between present-day Brooklyn and Manhattan.
The conditions were horrific. Designed to hold about four hundred men, the ship often held between 1,100 and 2,000 prisoners. Disease, starvation, heat, filth, and overcrowding claimed lives daily. As many as eight to twelve men died each day.
When prisoners died aboard the Jersey, their bodies were often left unattended for days before being lowered from the ship and buried in shallow graves along the shoreline—sometimes only one or two feet deep.
It is believed that my 5th great-grandfather, John L. Lent, was among them.
Honoring the Prison Ship Martyrs
Prison ships remained in use in New York Harbor until the British surrender at Yorktown in 1781.
In 1873, the remains of those who perished aboard the prison ships were removed to Fort Greene Park. In 1908, the magnificent Prison Ship Martyrs' Monument was dedicated there to honor their sacrifice.
Though John L. Lent has no marked individual grave, his memory lives on as one of those prison ship martyrs.
John Lent Jr.’s Early Contributions
I have not yet been able to fully document the family story that John Jr. enlisted with his father and four brothers—but I did uncover stories that suggest he was involved even before he was officially old enough to serve.
One account claimed he was once captured by the British, deemed “too young a rebel to do any harm,” given a kick, and sent home.
Another said that at age fourteen—though large for his age—he frequently joined New York militia scouting parties.
On one occasion in the fall of 1779, his militia unit intercepted a Tory party under Captain John Kane near Hogs Lane, about six miles from Peekskill. After the Tories were defeated and Kane was killed, young John—who was barefoot—removed Kane’s shoes, put them on his own feet, and wore them until they wore out.
John Jr.’s Pension Story
In his Revolutionary War pension declaration, John Lent Jr. stated that he enlisted in April 1780 at Peekskill for one year.
He served under:
Captain Bond
Captain Jonathan Knapp
Colonel Hughes
His company guarded the Continental boats at King's Ferry, between Stony Point and Verplanck's Point.
After his discharge in April 1781, he enlisted again for another year.
In his declaration, he recalled:
seeing Benedict Arnold escape down the Hudson River
seeing John André on his way to execution
seeing Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette directing troops along the river
Although he initially received a pension, it was later revoked because the War Department classified his service as Quartermaster Post Service rather than qualifying military service under the Pension Act of 1832.
He petitioned Congress, insisting that he had been regularly enlisted and had faithfully guarded the ferry crossings under military orders.
He was credited with two years of Revolutionary War service in the New York Militia.
Westward to Pennsylvania
After the war, John remained in New York for a time. Then, hearing of the fertile lands of the Susquehanna River Valley, he decided to move west.
In the winter of 1797–98, he loaded his wife, Barbara Croft, their four children, and a few household goods into a sleigh and headed for Pennsylvania.
There, in Wysox, they cleared land, built a farm, raised their family, and spent the active years of their lives.
Today, John and Barbara rest side by side in Lake Wysauking Cemetery, also known as Pond Hill Cemetery, on land once part of the family farm.
Two Patriots. Two Final Resting Places
In the end, my search for the burial places of two John Lents led me to two very different resting places, each shaped by war, sacrifice, and time. John L. Lent, my 5th great-grandfather, was denied the dignity of a family burial when he died aboard the HMS Jersey in Wallabout Bay, his body likely placed in a shallow, unmarked grave with hundreds of fellow patriots. Nearly a century later, those remains were gathered and honored beneath the Prison Ship Martyrs' Monument, where his sacrifice is remembered as part of a collective memorial. His son, John Lent Jr., survived the war, built a new life on the Pennsylvania frontier, and was laid to rest beside family in Lake Wysauking Cemetery on land he helped settle. One John was lost to history and later reclaimed by a nation. The other came home, raised a family, and rests in the soil he made his own. Together, their stories remind me that not all cemeteries begin with headstones.
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