American Revolutionary War pension files can contain a variety of submitted materials to support a claim. This sampler comes from the pension file for John and Lucy (Chapel) Demoss. Not all submissions are this decorative, but one never knows what one may find. Revolutionary War pensions are available from the National Archives or online at Fold3.com. Check out the Genealogy Tip of the Day book.
If your male ancestor died before his wife and owned real property at the time of his death, there might have been a quitclaim deed drawn up by the heirs after the widow died.  That quitclaim deed might have transferred ownership to one of the other heirs or someone else. It may not mention the widow or her death at all. “Searching Female Ancestors” is one of my pre-recorded webinars which are available for download.
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