The Remarkable Life of Phineas Camp
by Janice Moerschel
Phineas Camp, my four-times great-grandfather, lived nearly a century and witnessed early America’s defining events.Born 13 Jan 1744 in Durham, Connecticut, he served in two wars, resettled in central New York, and raised a large family.
Before the Revolution, Phineas served in the French and Indian War, including Connecticut service for the relief of Fort William and Henry in 1757 and a later call-up in 1759.
War reached him again with the American Revolution. Phineas took the oath of fidelity in 1777 and enlisted with the Connecticut Continental Regiment, with records placing him in service through Dec 1779. One later record says that by 1 Jan 1780 he was either “discharged or had deserted.” His oath, documented service, later civic roles, and respectful obituary point more toward discharge, though the record is not conclusive.
Phineas married Martha T. Hall on 8 Jan 1767 in Connecticut, and their first son was born later that year. The family appears in Connecticut in the 1790 U.S. census, then moved about 1793 to Whitesboro, Oneida County, New York. There Phineas bought land, farmed, and held offices including surveyor of highways, constable, grand juror, and inspector of provisions. Federal censuses from 1800 through 1840 place the family in Whitesboro as the Erie Canal was built and opened nearby.
Phineas died on 13 Jul 1843. Portions of his obituary, published in the Albany Evening Journal on 17 Jul 1843 after first appearing in the Utica Gazette, are excerpted below.
“Death of a Revolutionary Soldier
… Mr. Phineas Camp, who died at the home of his son in the village of Whitesboro, on Thursday at 3 o’clock P.M., aged 99 1/2 years.
Mr. Camp came into this county 50 years ago; purchased his farm and continued to cultivate or superintend it until about ten years since. He walked about, smoked his pipe, and read his Bible as usual until within twelve hours before his death. The immediate cause was the prevailing influenza.
He was a man of plain, strong sense, firm determination, and of deep, though not lively, affections.
His long life was owing, as nearly as could be learned, to inherited vigor, temperance in eating and drinking, and almost entire abstinence from medicine.”
“He went to sleep full of years, respected and beloved, surrounded by his children, to whose tender and unremitting attentions he was indebted for many benefits during the last of his life.” — Utica Gazette.
The number of children Phineas and Martha raised is unclear. FamilySearch.org lists 12 offspring, but I have seen numbers ranging from 11 to 17, likely reflecting incomplete records, repeated names, or uncertain links.
Phineas is buried at Grandview Cemetery in Whitestown, Oneida County, New York and is recognized by the Daughters of the American Revolution as a verified patriot ancestor #A214794, leaving a legacy that joins documented public service with the quieter endurance of a large and far-reaching family line.
Headstone photo from FindAGrave.