Author: Dennis Lee Brokaw, Sr.
Patriot George Davis Brokaw, Sr.

George Brokaw, born 29 March 1755 Somerset, Co., N.J., lived there and in Sussex County, where, on Nov. 19, 1776, he enlisted in the Revolutionary War. (War Rec. No. R-1232.) In his Application for a pension, in 1832, Harrison Co., Ohio, he gave date of enlistment, etc., stated that he was born Somerset Co., N.J. and was living in Sussex Co., when enlisted; that he moved back to Somerset Co., in 1777, after his discharge. In 1781 returned to Sussex Co., and remained several years, then moved to Beavertown (Beasom Town), Fayette Co., Pa. Five years later, to Washington Co., Pa, and three years later Jefferson Co., Ohio and six years later to Harrison Co., Ohio. Stated that he enlisted Nov. 19, 1776 and served five months in "the Flying Camp Corps" under 1st Lieut. Rosegrant (Rosecrans) in Capt. Chambers' Co., Col Ephraim Martin's Reg. and that he marched from Sussex Co., N.J. to New York City. On arriving at the Hudson River the British Man-O-War, Asa (Asia) was seen sailing up the river; the troops fired upon it, whereupon one of its cannon burst and killed seven men.
The company went to Long Island, to New York City, to Fort Washington and to White Plains. He then crossed the North River to Fort Lee, N.J. and from there marched under George Washington "to a large field" and left in Col Martin's Regt., which encountered the British Light Horse, in a marsh. Regiment then "wheeled and joined the main army under Washington," who marched them to Elizabethtown, N.J. Records of the U.S. War Dept. show that he served, as a Private, in Capt. Peter D. Vroom's Co., Col. Abraham Quick's Regt. of Somerset Co. Militia. He was discharged in spring of 1777 at New Brunswick, N.J., but was drafted again in Dec. of that yr. and served one month at Woodbridge, N.J. under Lieut. Henry Hoover. N.J. records state that he enlisted 1776, aged twenty years, as a Private in Capt. Abraham Shimer's Co., Col Ephraim Martin's Regt. of State Troops, for five months and that he participated in the Battle of Long Island, Aug. 27, 1776. George Brokaw was granted a pension on Oct. 23, 1832, of $26.67 per year.
He was married in Sussex Co., N.J. to Jane Custard, a daughter of William and Sarah (Swartwout) Custard. The exact time of their removal from Washington Co., Pa, not known, but he and son Abraham were instrumental in the founding of the Crabapple Presbyterian Church, near Cadiz, Ohio, which was founded prior to 1799, and served well for many years, until 1948, when it was torn down to make way for a road into the strip-mining district there. So they may have moved to there shortly after the land transaction. George and family lived in Jefferson and, adjacent to Harrison Cos., where he farmed. He left no will but there are deeds showing that he and Jane transferred land to their sons and others. One or two of later deeds, read, "land given by the President of the United States," - prob. Bounty Lands. George Brokaw died 27 June 1842 in Cadiz, Harrison Co., Ohio and is buried in the Crabapple church cem., and the old headstone which had become dilapidated and almost illegible, was replaced by a new marble headstone which was later marked with a D.A.R. Marker, in July 1955, by members of the Wheeling, W. Va. Chapter of D.A.R. Jane, George's wife, also bur. there, and on her headstone is a verse -
"Soon shall I pass the gloomy vale,
Soon all my mortal powers must vail,
O may my departing breath,
His living kindness sing in death."
Jane was a member of the Moravian Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and gravestone gives date of death as Oct. 7, 1850; pension rec. of George states that she d. Sept. 8, 1850, at 87 yrs., according to tombstone she was 98 y, 5 m. 6 dys., she was listed in 1850 as 98 yrs.