Patriot In Lay Terms

Widow Pension Law Checker

What it tells you: law by law, which of the federal pension and bounty-land laws for Revolutionary War widows a widow's marriage date and her husband's service fit, from the 1836 law to the 1878 law.[1]

Why it matters for finding pension files: widows could apply for pensions beginning in 1836.[2] A widow's application may give her age, residence, maiden name, the date and place of the marriage, and the date and place of her husband's death.[1] So her file can prove a marriage in your line. Widows' files are marked "W" followed by a file number.[1] Her papers can sit in the same file as her husband's: in Zebulon Applegate's file, his widow Rebecca's 1853 pension begins on page 14.[3] Knowing which laws her dates fit helps you judge whether she could have applied, and under which law.

It does not look anything up, and it never makes a decision about membership or a pension; your society does that. Everything you type stays in this browser.

Use the checker

How this works. This checker does not search any records or databases. You type the marriage date and what you know about his service. It tests them against the date rules in each federal widow pension and bounty-land law, as the National Archives describes them, and shows the result law by law. Nothing you type leaves your device; it is saved only in this browser.

"Load an example" fills in a made-up couple so you can see a result right away. "Start over" empties the form and deletes this checker's saved data.

1 Type what you know about the widow and her husband

Fill in what you know and leave the rest blank. Numbers only, e.g. 1776 or 1776-07 (a full date like 1776-07-04 also works).

2 What to do next

3 Print or save your results

Open my printable report

Saved only in this browser (keys starting "pi.toolA"). Nothing is sent anywhere.

The laws the checker uses

The 1836 act required the widow to have married the veteran before his last period of service expired.[1] It relied on the service rules of the 1832 act, which covered veterans with at least 6 months of service.[1] The 1832 act covered service in the Continental Line or State troops, volunteers or militia.[1] The checker tests the 1836 marriage date and months of service only; it does not check the 1832 service-category rules the 1836 act inherits.[1] The 1838 act granted 5-year pensions to widows married before January 1, 1794.[1] The July 1848 act granted life pensions to widows married before January 2, 1800.[1] Acts in 1853 and 1855 removed the marriage-date restrictions.[1] The source used here gives no other terms for those two acts, so the checker marks them "Not checked". The 1878 act covered widows of soldiers who served as few as 14 days or were in any engagement.[1] The March 1855 bounty-land act covered veterans with as few as 14 days of service, and their widows and minor children.[1]

What a result means

Where did the service-date check go?

Typing a patriot's service dates on their own told you little, so that check now lives in the patriot step of the Lineage Evidence Matrix. There it checks his dates against the period DAR accepts for his type of service[4], points you to the records for his state and type of service, and can pass his service end date to this checker.

Related guides: How to Read a Pension File, Bounty Land Warrants.

Sources

  1. NARA M804 descriptive pamphlet — Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land-Warrant Application Files. Retrieved 2026-10-31. https://www.archives.gov/files/research/military/army/dc/m804.pdf
  2. NARA — The American Revolution (research page). Retrieved 2026-10-31. https://www.archives.gov/research/military/american-revolution
  3. National Park Service — Revolutionary War Pension Files: Tips and a Guide for the Curious. Retrieved 2026-10-31. https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/what-might-you-find-in-the-revolutionary-war-pension-files.htm
  4. DAR — Accepted Revolutionary War Service. Retrieved 2026-10-31. https://www.dar.org/national-society/accepted-revolutionary-war-service