A little light on a genealogical mystery

William Meffert (1760-1849) is a fifth great-uncle on my father's side.  I don't usually spend much time on branches of the family tree other than as color commentary of the places and the times.  

In this instance though, it shines some sort of light on an existing mystery.  William Meffert was first generation American out of a Palatinate German family who arrived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1751.  The story of William Meffert in broad strokes:

He was born April 9th, 1760 in Chester County Pennsylvania and died November 16th, 1849 and was buried in Peters Creek Baptist Church, Library, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.  

There is a record of his application for a pension owing to his service during the Revolutionary war (in which his father and four brothers also served.)

William Mefford appeared before court April 7, 1835, (then a resident of Fayette Co., Pa). Under the new act passed 7 June 1832, he had hoped to obtain benefits. He is now 75. His claim states:

"Sometime in the month of Dec. 1781, he was called out in the Maryland Militia and entered in Fredericktown in company commanded by Capt John Ickes, from whence he was marched in said county to guard some British prisoners taken from Cornwallis' army, was dismissed from said company sometime in March 1782.

Afterwards entered into the Naval Service in the City of Philadelphia month of April following on board of a vessel he believes called the Philadelphia, commanded by Capt. Thomas Lollard, then put out to sea. Captured 21st of same month (being a Sunday) by British frigate Charleston of 44 guns. Then shipped on British ship-of-war Rotterdam (50 guns), taken to Charleston, S.C., remained off Charleston about a week, thence to Barbados - lay about three days - thence to Antigua. Put on board a prison ship and detained a prisoner til 5 Feb 1783 - exchanged in evening. Sailed on a vessel to St. Kitts where landed 5 Feb. Then on vessel to Baltimore. Arrived there 10 March. Next day shipped on board privateer schooner at Annapolis under Capt. Olansel. On board till 23 April when peace proclaimed. Never received a discharge - 'name not on pension roll'. The application was rejected because he did not serve in a military capacity, and also the Philadelphia was a privately owned vessel".

The thing is, he is known to have been on the muster roll of Maryland Continental on June 9th, 1778 in Colonel John Gunby's regiment.  

In sum, there is documentary evidence that he was in the service of the Maryland Continental Line on June 9th, 1778 and therefore likely to have served at the Battle of Monmouth (June 28th, 1778), then later in the Maryland Militia in December 1781 into March 1782, and then further in naval operations through 1784, much of that time as a sailor prisoner.  

Why does his 1835 testimony with regard to his application for the authorized pension not reference his earlier service in the Northern Theater?

I have a similar issue with 4th great-grandfather John Bayless (1746-1823).  Applications were made on his behalf in 1818 under an earlier veteran pension program.  Again, in the testimony, there is plenty of eye witness evidence with regard to the Southern campaign from 1780 onwards.

But I also have extensive documentation of John Bayless's service from January 9th 1777 when he enlisted in the Virginia Continental Line for three years and from the Battle of Brandywine all the way through Guilford Court House and Eutaw Springs, mustering out in December 1781.  He was at Valley Forge in the winter of 1777.  

The challenge has been that his pension testimonial only mentions his service during the Southern Campaign and none of his service in the Northern Theater.  In my research, I have not been able to reconcile this and have had to leave open the possibility that there might have been two John Baylesses from the same geographical area, one serving in the the Northern Theater and the other in the Southern Campaign.  All the evidence points towards it being a single person except for that one-sided pension application that does not refer to the service early in the war.

However, the Baylesses had been around for a long while (arriving in the mid-1600s on Long Island before migrating south), were geographically widespread and very numerous.  Family sizes were frequently 6-12 and with a strong tradition of recycling Christian names.  So the possibility of two John Baylesses in a similar geographic location cannot be dismissed out of hand.  

But now I have a second instance where someone is known to have served both in the Northern Theater and in the Southern Campaign but whose application for pension only documents the Southern Campaign.  And in this instance, William Meffert, I am much more confident that the individual is one and the same.  Meffert was not a common name, the family migration was very recent, and most of the family members are known as well as their locations.  There wasn't another William Meffert floating around.

My suspicion now is that there might have been some real or perceived structural aspect in the application that made the Southern Campaign either more legitimate or more pertinent when applying.