“Widow’s Weeds” tells the story of Mary Ingalls, the widow of Elihu Ingalls, who was a lieutenant in the New York militia during the revolution. They married in Pine Plains in 1777 and had at least eight children. Elihu died in 1823, at the age of 75.
In 1836, Congress passed a revised pension act that extended benefits to the widows of Revolutionary War veterans, and Mary applied for one in 1842. Her application, however, was challenging: The relevant records, including her husband’s service papers and even proof of their marriage, were lost.
