He was about 21 years old when he served as Musician for 17 days, following the Concord fight (19 April, 1775) and before the completion of the standing army, in Colonel Lemuel Robinson's Regiment, under the command of Captain John Bradley.

On 4 December, 1778 he married Catherine Amanda Van der Werken, daughter of Roelff Van der Werken and Hannah Ann Vosburg in the Dutch Reformed Church, Albany, Albany County, New York. (Sgt.) married Catherine Amanda Van Der Werken December 4, 1778, Reform Protestant Dutch Church, in Albany, Albany County, New York.(64) John and Catherine were married in the First Church of Albany, New York. They came to what is now Chazy, New York (then Champlain, New York) in about 1790. They moved across the lake to Isle LaMotte, Vermont in about 1810. John and sons Nathaniel, Joseph, William, and Comfort all served in the Isle LaMotte Militia (7th Company, 2nd Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 3rd Regiment of the Vermont Militia) during the War of 1812. Some members of this unit served in the Battle of Plattsburg - 1814. John Fadden ran a butcher business in Alburg, Vermont and he died in Alburg. Most of his sons, however moved to Lower Caldwell Manor, Quebec (now Noyan, Quebec). They attended St. Thomas Anglican Church in Noyan and the records of this church go back to early 1800s and give a good picture of this family. Most of the information here is taken from these records. Catherine Vanderworken Fadden died in Noyan, Quebec. There are two cemeteries connected with St. Thomas in Noyan and the Bush Cemetery in Alburg served the Alburg residents who attended this church. John and Catherine are surely buried in one of these three cemeteries but no monuments exist.