Southern Claims Commission: Difference between revisions

''[[United States|United States]]  [[Image:Gotoarrow.png]]  [[United States Military Records|U.S. Military Records]]  [[Image:Gotoarrow.png]] [[United States Civil War, 1861 to 1865|U.S. Civil War]] [[Image:Gotoarrow.png]] [[Southern Claims Commission|Southern Claims Commission]]

Southerners from 12 states ([[West Virginia|West Virginia]], [[Virginia|Virginia]], [[North Carolina|North Carolina]], [[South Carolina|South Carolina]], [[Georgia (state)|Georgia]], [[Florida|Florida]], [[Tennessee|Tennessee]], [[Alabama|Alabama]], [[Mississippi]], [[Louisiana|Louisiana]], [[Arkansas|Arkansas]] and [[Texas|Texas]]) filed claims before the Southern Claims Commission (SCC) between 3 March 1871 and 3 March 1873, based on the fact they:  

#had quartermaster stores or supplies '''''officially''''' taken by or furnished to the Union Army during the rebellion

Southern Loyalists (those who were Union sympathizers) made 22,298 claims for property losses totaling $60,258,150.44. However, only 7,092 claims (32%) were approved for settlements totaling $4,636,920.69. Each claimant sought to prove their loyalty and loss through the testimony of others. The paper trail created by the claimants and the people who came forward to testify, for or against a claimant, provide a wealth of information about individuals living in the South during the Civil War.  

Southern Claims Commission records may include information about people of all classes, all races, all political/military backgrounds, and explain their relationships potentially including:  

The most effective strategy is to search '''all''' the Southern Claims Commission records for '''everyone living in the same Southern county''' as an ancestor. Any particular ancestor is unlikely to have actually applied to the Commission (only 0.2 percent of population), but he or she is more likely to have testified (2.3 percent) about an applicant, and an ancestor is even more likely to be discussed (about 10 ? percent) in the hundreds of answers to questions in other people's testimony. This is an advanced, time-consuming strategy with a less than 50 percent chance of locating information about your ancestor. But you will learn about the way of life in the county where your ancestor lived, and much about relationships between his or her neighbors.  

[http://www.footnote.com Footnote.com] has some of the [http://www.footnote.com/browse.php#34|-1 Southern Claims Commission collection online].  Footnote.com is often available at [http://www.publiclibraries.com/ public libraries] and at [[Introduction to LDS Family History Centers|Family History Centers]].  Footnote's collection currently includes:  

*''Barred and Disallowed Case Files of the Southern Claims Commission, 1871-1880.'' NARA M1407

*''Southern Claims Commission Approved Claims: Georgia, 1871-1880.'' NARA M1658

*''Southern Claims Commission Approved Claims, 1871-1880: West Virginia''. NARA M1762

*''Southern Claims Commission Approved Claims, 1871-1880: Virginia''. NARA&nbsp;M2094<br>

NOTE: These collections are not all complete.&nbsp; Click [http://www.footnote.com/documents/_27/ here] to check the status of these collections on [http://www.footnote.com/browse.php#34|-1 Footnote.com's website].

 

 

These are the steps to use to find '''all''' the Southern Claims Commission records in a county. This strategy will involve reading thousands of manuscript pages with no guarantee you will find a particular ancestor mentioned in them.  

'''Step 2. Printout <u>all</u> the claimants in that county from the''' '''"Geographical List of Claimants'''''<b>.</b>'''''"''' <br>

'''Step 3. Copy data for each claimant in the county in''' '''''Southern Loyalists in the Civil War.'''''  

'''Step 5. Order from the National Archives a microfiche copy of the file for each claimant in your ancestor’s county.'''  

'''Step 7. Search related Commission journals, agent letters, and miscellaneous letters at the FHL.'''

=== Resources  ===

'''On the Internet'''  

*[http://www.footnote.com/page/71/ Footnote.com], a subscription site also available at some libraries,&nbsp;has the following NARA&nbsp;publications of the SCC&nbsp;(index and images) on their [http://www.footnote.com/documents/_27/ website]: M1407, M2062, M1658, M2094, M1762. See [[Southern Claims Commission#SCC Records Online|above]].<br>

*Gary B. Mills, "U.S. Southern Claims Commission Master Index, 1871-1880" in Ancestry.com [Internet site] at http://search.ancestry.com/iexec/?htx=List&amp;dbid=1216&amp;offerid=0%3a7858%3a0 (accessed 28 November 2009).<br>

*St. Louis County Library, "[http://www.slcl.org/branches/hq/sc/scc/scc-main.htm Researching Southern Claims Commission Records]" in St. Louis County Library [Internet site] at http://www.slcl.org/branches/hq/sc/scc/scc-main.htm (accessed 1 April 2009). Many of the NARA descriptive publications are actually online at this website including:<br>

*Dick Eastman, "Southern Claims Commission 1871-1880 Online" in Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2007/03/southern_claims.html (accessed 1 April 2009). Explains SCC records.<br>

*Gary B. Mills, ''[http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/30591123&referer=brief_results Southern Loyalists in the Civil War: The Southern Claims Commission]'' (Baltimore: Genealogical Publ., 1994). [FHL book 975 M2s]. A composite directory of case file in alphabetical order by name of claimant; also provides county name, office number, report number, and status of claim.

*Gary B. Mills, ''[http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/7210237&referer=brief_results Civil War Claims in the South: An Index of Civil War Damage Claims Filed Before the Southern Claims Commission, 1871-1880]'' (Laguna Hills, Calif.: Aegean Park Press, 1980). [FHL book 975 H22m]. Index in alphabetical order by state, then by name of claimant.

*United States, House of Representatives, Commissioners of Claims, ''{{FHL|452638|title-id|disp=Records of the Commissioners of Claims (Southern Claims Commission) 1871-1880}}'' (Washington, D.C.: National Archives, 1945). [FHL film 1463963-76].

The records have not all been filmed or fiched,&nbsp;note the chart below to learn what is currently available through the National Archives; the Family History Library (FHL) has not accquired them as of April 2009. As noted below search on line sites for additional information.