Genealogy

Researching Southern Claims Commission records | Resources

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> | Step-by-step strategy for finding a claim

The resources are listed in the order in which a researcher would use them, as follows:

  • Indexes
  • Descriptive pamphlets
  • Film/fiche and subscription databases
  • Questions asked

Indexes

Southern Loyalists in the Civil War, by Gary B. Mills, R 973.745 M657S and circulating copy; also available on Ancestry

Lists all claimants in alphabetical order; further tells state and county, commission (claim) number, office and report numbers (needed to find disallowed claims), year, and status of claim. This is considered the definitive index for Southern Claims.

Civil War Claims in the South: An Index of Civil War Damage Claims File​d Before the Southern Claims Commission, 1871–1880, by Gary B. Mills, R 973.717 M657C

Guide to researching Southern Claims Commission records

The filmed Southern Claims Commission files for the approved claims for Alabama, Georgia, Virginia, and West Virginia, and for the barred and disallowed claims for the twelve states from which claims originated, are part of the Julius K. Hunter & Friends African American Research Collection in the History and Genealogy Department of St. Louis County Library (SLCL).

This guide can be downloaded as a single PDF (214 kb).

Background

Between 3 March 1871 and 3 March 1873, Southerners filed 22,298 claims before the Southern Claims Commission (SCC) based on the fact they

Researching Southern Claims Commission records | Using Records of the U.S. House of Representatives: Southern Claims Commission (P2257)

> | Step-by-step strategies
> | Step-by-step strategies --> | Basic steps
> | Step-by-step strategies --> | Approved claims
> | Step-by-step strategies --> | Barred claims
> | Step-by-step strategies --> | Disallowed claims

> | Main page
> | Resources

Researching Southern Claims Commission records | Steps for finding a disallowed claim

> | Step-by-step strategies
> | Step-by-step strategies --> | Basic steps
> | Step-by-step strategies --> | Approved claims
> | Step-by-step strategies --> | Barred claims

> | Main page
> | Resources

Follow the steps listed below ONLY if you are researching a Southern Claims Commission claim that was disallowed. 

Researching Southern Claims Commission records | Basic steps for searching any claim

> | Step-by-step strategies
> | Step-by-step strategies --> | Approved claims
> | Step-by-step strategies --> | Barred claims
> | Step-by-step strategies --> | Disallowed claims

> | Main page
> | Resources

Records generated by the Southern Claims Commission (SCC) are multi-faceted in nature, so it is helpful to use a step-by-step approach to direct your research.

JKH Collection | Holdings

> | JKH Collection main page

Microfilm and Microfiche

The categories of films are listed in alphabetical order. When a number follows a film description, it is the National Archives microfilm publication number.

Cemeteries

Father Dickson Cemetery Burial Books, 1903-1983. This 13-acre cemetery, founded in 1903, served African Americans in the towns of Webster Groves and Kirkwood in St. Louis County, Missouri.

Washington Park Cemetery. Films include listings by alphabetical order, then by section and lot number.

Census

Arkansas: 

Population schedules, 1830-1880, and 1900-1930 slave schedules, 1850 & 1860 Soundex/Miracode for 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, and 1930 agricultural schedules, 1850-1880defective, dependent and delinquent schedules, 1880 mortality schedules, 1850-1880

Social statistics, 1850-1870

Louisiana:

JKH Collection | Reference tools for African American genealogy

> | JKH Collection main page

The following links lead to African American research in sources available in the History and Genealogy Department. Some of the tools were designed and produced by department staff and volunteers for specific resources in the extensive holdings of the Julius K. Hunter & Friends African American Research Collection.

Descriptive Recruitment Lists of Volunteers  for the United States Colored Troops for the State of Missouri, 1863-1865 (NARA Microfilm Publication M1894)

Glossary of Terms for Records of the Field Offices of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands.

Index to Civil War Slave Compensation Claims extracted from Compiled Service Records of U.S. Colored Troops

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