LEBBEUS HOWE and pensions on Footnote.com

A couple of years ago or more I found Lebbeus Howe's pension application on HeritageQuest. At the time I thought it was a magnificent find, but the more I saw of pension applications the more defective I thought it was. It contained only three pages. As most of you know, HeritageQuest can no longer be accessed at home by ordinary mortals. After 6 months of searching for another source for pension records without going to a NARA office with its shortened hours, or paying the national debt to obtain a copy, I found out about Footnote.com. I was also told that Footnote had the entire pension file available, not just the shortened form used by HeritageQuest. Last night I decided to check it out. Although it took me all night to print it out, and I had to search for both Libeus How and Lebbeus How to find the whole thing, it was a gold mine of information. Why pages 1 through 30 were separate from 31 through 51 I have no idea. Both parts were full of genealogical information. The birth, marriage, and death dates of Lebeus and his wife Anna Austin were positively identified through sworn depositions. The birthplace of Lebbeus was given as the town of Phillips in Dutchess (now Putnam) County. Anna Austin, his widow, was from the same place and testified she had known him most of her life. The various places the young couple lived after they were married are also described. As they primarily lived with Lebbeus' mother or one of his sisters, more names were identified in his family tree. The husbands of a couple of his sisters were also named. Further on in the depositions the names and birthdates of each of his own 13 children is listed together with the name of a son-in-law or two. Most interesting is the fact that his daughter Hannah married Micah Mead. I had ascertained from their tombstones that Hannah had married Micah, but this confirmed her identity as the daughter of Lebbeus and Anna. I also found the lack of literacy interesting to note. Most of my ancestors could read and write at least a century earlier than these.folk. Both Lebbeus and Anna signed their depositions with an "X," as did other family members. Their grandson James, however, was literate and had copied the family Bible when it was falling apart from overuse. He testified that he checked it carefully after copying it. I am left wondering who the ancestors of Lebbeus really were. Certainly they were not the Howes who lived in Orange or Montgomery County. Every census during his life shows Lebbeus in Fishkill, Dutchess County, New York. Prior to residing in Fishkill he lived in present day Putnam County. His widowed mother also lived in Fishkill. I am left with the conclusion that the ancestry I have of Lebbeus is most likely not based on fact. I found it first in my great Uncle Bill's family genealogy. I will have to go back and see what sources he used, but in general he used secondary sources. My other sources were other published genealogies. I now have to throw them all out and start over with Lebbeus in tracing the Howes. Back to Lebbeus is easily traced, as is his war record, for anyone who would like to join DAR through this line. I will have to get a supplemental now that I have done all this work. My interest, however, is to find out where he came from. Anyone have any ideas?