Quebec, untill the retreat of the said Army in May One thousand seven hundred and Seventy five. That this deponents saw the said Jno. Halsted with his family in New Jersey, in the Year one thousand seven hundred and seventy five; where to this deponents knowledge; he and his family, resided during the remainder of the American revolutionary War. And that neither he or his family, did return to, or reside afterwards within the British Dominions prior to the twenty fifth day of November One thousand and seven hundred and eighty three. Subscribed and sworn to }
in the County of Middlesex }
in the State of New Jersey }           Matthias Halsted
this first day of April 1800 } [seal]
Before Jno. Manning, First Judg of the Courts
of Common Pleas in the County of Middlesex
in the State of New Jersey —— [Docket notation on wrapper: AW N^o 1 / Perth Amboy 24^th March 1800 / John Halsted / Inclosing and acertifying his / Certificates as a / Refugee from Canada / and Stating his case / Signed by himself / Rec'd 31 March 1800] Perth Amboy March 24^th 1800. Sir, I herewith transmit, agrably to the act, entitled, "An Act "for the relief of the Refugees from the British provinces of Canada and Nova Scotia". An account of my losses, Services, Sacrifices and Sufferings, as a Refugee from the British province of Canada, on account of my having joined the American Army on their arrival at Point Levy in November 1775 in order to invest the Town of Quebec, and by appointment from General Montgomery acted as Commissary to said Army untill their retreat from before Quebec on the Sixth of May 1776 in consequence whereof I was at that time obliged to abandon my Settlement and property in that Country, and with a numerous Family removed into New Jersey where I have resided ever since. The first item in my account is a balance due me from Colin Drummond Esq^r then Agent to the Contractors in England for supplying the British Army in Canada with provisions, with whom I had been concerned in the flour manufacture for several years, and when I went to Quebec in 1784 to look after my property in that Country, I learned, that M^r Drummond died during the war, and the debt due me from him thereby became irrecoverable. In the year 1775 I engaged in the Flour manufacture with Henry Caldwell Esq^r, for five years, in the year 1784 I called on him with my accounts for the year 1775, and requested the balance due me as stated in my estimate, when he gave for answer, that our engagement was for five years, and that he had a just claim on me for damages, in leaving that Country and not fulfilling my engagement, and threatened me with a prosecution, I thereupon consulted Council, who advised me not to contend with him for the balance due me, as he would most probably recover damages against me. The next item is for sundry debts due me in 1775 some of the persons they were due from had left that Country, others where dead or [undecipherable] unable to pay me my just demand and therefore they could not be collected. The Millstones I imported for my own use, and was employed in the Mills leased by M^r Drummond in which I was concerned with him untill May 1775, and not having immediate use for them they remained in said Mills, and was in 1784 claimed by the proprietor of the Mills, who alledged he had paid M^r Drummond for them, and refused to pay for or deliver them to me. The other articles in my estimate were left in and near Quebec at the time of my leaving it in 1776 and in my search for them in 1784 where totally irrecoverable. On the Subject of Sacrifices and Sufferings which the act of Congress contemplates compensation for, I cannot without injustice to myself and Family, be Silent, as I have reason to believe no Refugee entitled to the bounty of the United States has made so entire a Sacrifice nor experienced so great Suffering as myself, I therefore beg leave to State. That Henry Caldwell Esq^r with whom I had entered into a joint concern in the flour manufacture in 1775 for five years, had the contract for supplying the British Army with flour in 1776 and for several years after, and I was credibly informed, and it was generally believed in Quebec, that he cleared four thousand pounds in the year 1776 by that contract; that for the last four years I was concerned with M^r Drummond the average profits was £1019. 6.11 per annum Halifax Currency my half £509.13.5 and the profits would have been 25 per Cent. more had not M^r Drummond engaged with the Contractors to furnish large quantities of flour at stipulated prices much under the market prices flour sold for in each of those years. — That in consequence of my appointment of Commissary to the American Army in Canada, and my zealous attachment to the cause of the United States, for the want of Public Specie wherewith to purchase Supplies for the Army, I advanced for the public Service, almost the whole I had saved from the wreck of my property, or could command, and that in the retreat from before Quebec on the 6^th of May 1776, I was obliged to leave that Country with my Family (a Wife and six Children) some of them without a Change of Clothes, and with great difficulty brought them to New Jersey where I have remained ever since. That after the Settlement of my public accounts, it was many years before I received payment of the monies due me, for the want of which, myself and family frequently wanted the comforts and sometimes the necessaries of life, and necessity compelled me to receive the monies due me in such payments, as deprived me of the means of entering into any kind of business; thus I have been reduced through my attachment to the United States and zeal in its Service from affluence and lucrative business to a Situation too painfull to describe. I have the Honour to be very respectfully Sir your most obedient Servant John Halsted. The Hon^ble the Secretary for the department of War