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Wake Wednesday 250 - North Carolina Widows' Pensions

A fitting topic for the last week of Women's History Month is a study of widows' pensions claimed against their husbands service after the end of the Revolutionary War. These pensions contain first-person testimony that often provide clues about location, circumstances, associates and family. 

I want to direct your attention to a fantastic collection that has been curated on the MosaicNC website.  (Mosaic is a digital dublishing venture of the North Carolina Office of Archives and History.) The series of profiles explores several roles filled by women as the men went to war including farmers, nurses, refugees, and family guardians. There are also special focus sections on Free Women of Color and Pension History. 

Read the full story: In Their Own Words: North Carolina's Widows of the American Revolution

I was excited to find that the Free Women of Color section includes two women familiar to me through my recent research.  The first is Nelly Taburn, who applied for a pension based on her husband William's service record. Nelly and William were the parents of  Judah Tabon Harris, wife of Jesse Harris Rev War Patriot featured at the Shiloh Day in October 2025. 

The second is Rachel Locus, who applied based on her husband Valentine Locus' war service. The MosaicNC feature has unearthed some interesting details about the family as well as a tragic story that ultimately had a happy ending. The story also details a common problem of  black pension widows of the era. Rachel's agent was pocketing the money she was entitled to, and she needed federal intervention to finally receive what she was owed.

Read about the war experiences of Nelly and Rachel: Free Women of Color 

Don't miss the section on Pension History. It not only lists dates of the pension acts, but also offers a good survey of how to read a pension file and what you might find there.

Pension History

I encourage you to explore the full study. Click through and read the first person accounts captured in these pension files. That is well in keeping with the Wake 250 theme and I promise you will find insight and fascinating reading. You may even find one of your own ancestors.

Other Places to Search for Widows' Pensions:

FamilySearch.org Full Text Search where pension files are searchable by names, location and keywords. Free.

FamilySearch Wiki has a wide variety of rolls and applications that are free to search.  See online rolls for 1813, 1818, 1820, and 1835.

Revwarapps.org is a free site that offers summaries of pension apps. Search surname and +widow and select “all search terms” as in the example at this page.

Fold3 — a subscription site that you can access for free with your State Library of NC card.

 


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