Hi all!
Found something interesting at our local library today. It's a list of
people in the south who made claims from the Federal Govmt. after the
Civil War. "Mar. 3, 1871, Congress enacted legislation which opened
official channels through which pro-Union Southerners could apply for
reimbusement of their losses... Southern Claims Commission was formed
to consider claims of "loyalists" & reparations were to be considered
for those commissary & quartermaster goods taken by or supplied to the
US Army..."
Listed were the following:
James CATOR, Stafford Co., VA #17, 839
John D. CATO, Warren Co., MS #3,322
Lewis CATO, Jefferson Co., MS #7,055
Sterling CATO, Jefferson Co., MS #7,054
This book went on to say that many genealogically important records were
in with these since the people had to prove their claims, listing
children & getting reference letters written from various friends &
enemies & etc. in order to get their claims.
To find the actual cases, the following info was given as ref:
Nat'l Archive Pub. 87, Roll 13 (Geographic list of claims)
Annual Report of Commissioner of Claims, 42nd Congress, 2nd Session &
46th Cong. 2nd Session, Wash., DC, 1871-1880
(If I read it correctly, the above film was where the indexes were
gathered from.)
The actual data for the claims should be in:
RG (Record Group) 56 (Treasury Dept.), RG 233 (House of Reps.) & RG 217
(US Court of Claims) Stated in book that RG 56 would be most
expeditious.
The book also stated that the info must be taken with a grain of salt
since the South had lost the war & hence couldn't pay anything, whereas
the Federal Gov't. could... However, many of their neighbors & friends
would have known they were putting in these claims.
More later,
Bonnie