Revolutionary War widows like Anna Smith Custar didn’t make casual requests when they stepped forward decades after the battles ended and their husbands had passed. Instead, they were survivors seeking long-overdue recognition! The war shaped the entirety of their adult lives, which were marked by uncertainty, frontier hardship, and persistent instability. Still, formal acknowledgment of their husbands’ service often came only at the very end of life, if it came at all.
To mark the United States’ 250th birthday, the Daughters of the American Revolution has joined forces with America250, the nationwide commemoration of our country’s semiquincentennial, to pay tribute to Revolutionary War Patriots. As part of the celebration, I’ll be sharing the stories of those laid to rest in Delaware County, with help from Kathi Hirons Kesterson -the regent of the Paul Revere Chapter of Muncie’s DAR– over the next several Fridays.
On March 26, 1851, eighty-two-year-old Anna Custar walked into a Delaware County courtroom and raised her hand to swear an oath to obtain a pension and bounty land. Identifying herself as the widow of William Custar, she testified that he had served in the American Revolutionary War1.
According to Anna’s account, William’s military service carried him across the western frontier. He first enlisted as a private out of Greenbrier County, Virginia, then marched on to Monongalia and Point Pleasant at the mouth of the Great Kanawha River. There, he served under General Lewis during Dunmore’s War. William’s service didn’t end there, though: Custar later reported for duty at Fort Washington -modern-day Cincinnati- and in Bourbon County, Kentucky2.
In 1782, Custar took part in one of the most infamous frontier clashes of the Revolutionary era: the Battle of the Blue Licks. Fought in what’s now Kentucky, the engagement turned into a devastating defeat for American forces even after major eastern hostilities had ended with Cornwallis’s surrender at Yorktown. Along with several others, Custar was lucky to escape3.
William and Anna were married in 1785 in Kentucky. Just three years later, he joined an expedition against the northwestern Indian tribes under General Logan and Major McGary. When his service ended, Custar tried to settle into civilian life, but that stability proved fleeting. His property was claimed as military land, which wiped out everything the family had worked for. With little choice, the Custars abandoned their possessions and started over once again at Mad River near Urbana, Ohio. Later, the family bought a small tract in Champaign County. Their long journey finally carried them to Miami County in 1825, where they tried to put down roots for good5.
William Custar died there in 1828. Seven years later, Anna and one of her sons purchased land in Delaware County near what’s now the intersection of State Roads 28 and 67. When she appeared in court in 1851, Anna sought a pension of just $3.50 a month. As she testified, Anna Custar admitted that time had blurred some details: she could no longer recall her husband’s regiment number or the name of his commanding officer, but she clearly remembered the men he spoke of serving alongside-Calloway, Todd, Magrar, and McBride.
Anna recalled that her husband often talked about Bryant’s Station, and she believed his service there took place around 1782. She also noted that William was personally acquainted with several prominent frontier figures, including Daniel Boone, Squire Boone, and Samuel Boone, along with scout Simon Kenton6.
Anna Custar’s pension claim was initially denied, but it was finally approved near the end of her life- at least as best we can tell. Her last pension payment was issued in September 1859, and she didn’t appear in the 1860 federal census. That places Anna Smith Custar’s death sometime in that narrow window, but no burial record has ever surfaced. Still, several of her descendants are interred at Granville Cemetery, and family tradition holds that Anna rests there too in an unmarked grave7.
Today, files like Anna’s stand as more than legal records: they are deeply human documents that preserve the voices of women who carried the Revolution’s legacy into the nineteenth century by ensuring that their families’ service remained part of the American story8.
Sources Cited
1 Anna (Smith) Custar, widow of William Custar, affidavit for pension and bounty land, dated 26 March 1851, Delaware County, Indiana; Revolutionary War pension and bounty land warrant application file of William Custar (widow’s claim), National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), Washington, D.C., Record Group 15, Records of the Department of Veterans Affairs; Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files, 1800-1906 (NARA microfilm publication M804); digitized images, Fold3 (https:..www.fold3.com : accessed 3 January 2026); affidavit transcribed by Kathryn Hirons Kesterson.
2 (See footnote 1).
3 Kentucky Historical Society. Blue Licks Battlefield, Historical Marker No. 18, Robertson County, Kentucky. Description accessed via ExploreKYHistory: Kentucky Historical Society Digital Portal, https://www.explorekyhistory.ky.gov/items/show/590.
3 (See footnote 1).
4 (See footnote 1).
5 (See footnote 1).
6 U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Index to Final Pension Payment Vouchers, 1818-1864, entry for Custer, Ann, widow of William Custer (Indiana); job no. 10-001, NARA catalog no. 2833835; Record Group 217, Records of the Accounting Officers of the Department of the Treasury; digital image, Fold3, publication title U.S. Final Payment Vouchers Index for Military Pensions, 1818-1864 (https://www.fold3.com: accessed 5 January 2026).
7 (See footnote 1).
8 Kesterson, K. H. (2026, January 6). Reflection & Historical Context: Widows Applying for Revolutionary Way Pensions. Hoosier Kin Genealogy Services.
