Hyde Co., NC Claims, Southern Claims Commission, 1871-1880

    Every war has had conflicting viewpoints, from the American Revolution to more recent conflicts. The Civil War was no different. The Confederacy was far from being a Solid South. Many Southerners felt that the slavery was a less important issue than the need to preserve the Union, which many of their grandfathers had sacrificed their lives to establish. Between 1861 and 1865, some of these pro-Union Southerners supplied, or had taken, goods or property by Union forces. In wartime, armies seldom stopped long enough to ask if citizens were loyal or not.
    In March 3, 1871, Congress enacted legislation which allowed pro-Union Southerners to apply for reimbursement for their losses to the US Army and Navy. The Southern Claims Commission, a three man board, was set up to consider their claims for goods taken by or supplied to Federal forces. The original two year commission was extended several times, finally terminating in March, 1880. During this period, 22,298 claims were filed and of these, 7,092 were approved. The large amount of data from these claims and the testimony given by some 220,000 witnesses is now on file at theNational Archives in Washington, D.C.
    There are three types of claims:

    A disallowed claim is the type you hope to find, as it gives the most information for the genealogist and/or historical researcher. You will get the claimant’s answers to 80 questions asked by the commissioners as well as the answers given by the claimant’s witnesses. Both claimant and witnesses were asked, “What is your name, your age, your residence and how long has it been such, and what is your occupation? If you are not the claimant, in what manner, if any, are you related to the claimant or interested in the success of the claim?” A few other examples of questions asked were “Where were you born? If not born in the United States, when and where were you naturalized? Produce your naturalization papers, if you can. Did you have any near relatives in the Confederate army or in any military or naval service hostile to the U.S.? If so, give names, ages on entering service, present residence, if living, what influence you exerted, if any, against their entering the service, and in what way you contributed to their outfit and support.” For female claimants, “Are you married or single? If married, when were you married? Where does your husband reside, and why is he not joined with you in this petition? How many children have you? Give their names and ages....” Witnesses were asked, “In whose favor are you here to testify? How long have you known that person altogether, and what part of that time have you intimately known him? Did you live near him during the war, and how far away? What was the public reputation of the claimant for loyalty or disloyalty to the U.S. during the war? If you profess to know his public reputation, explain fully how you know it, whom you heard speak of it, and give the names of other persons who were neighbors during the war that could testify to his public reputation.” I think you get the idea of how these claims can provide very helpful and interesting information.
    How do you determine if your ancestor had a claim and how do you get it? There are three finding aides to these claims. The first is an index (on microfilm) from the National Archives titled Consolidated Index of Claims Reported by the Commissioner of Claims Southern Claims Commission 1871-1880 (cabinet 48, drawer 8). The second and third are books by Dr. Gary B. Mills: Civil War Claims in the South, An Index of Civil War Damage Claims Filed Before the Southern Claims Commission, 1871-1880 (GEN 973.7 M657 USA) and Southern Loyalists in the Civil War (GEN 973.7 M657 USA). All these indexes give the name of the claimant, the claim number, and state. The first book also gives the claimant’s county of residence. Once you find your ancestor’s name and claim number, write to the General Reference Branch, National Archives, Washington, D.C. 20408. Be sure to specify that this is a Southern Claims Commission claim, give the name of the claimant, the state, and the claim number. Send no money. The National Archives will reply with the number of pages and the cost for obtaining the claim file. You have 30 days to send for the claim before it is re-filed.
    If you do not find your ancestor listed, try this technique: Go to the 1860, 1870, or 1880 federal censuses, write down the names of your ancestor’s neighbors (head of households) 5 to 10 households before your ancestor on the census and the same number of households following. Then see if any of these neighbors had claims and send for them. There is a very good chance your ancestor was one of the witnesses for the neighbor.
    These claims are a good source of genealogical and historical information for ancestors in the “burned counties,” and if a claimant died during the claim process, often the heir(s) took up the claim. The heir(s) would then have to prove their relationship to the deceased claimant using Bible records, depositions, etc., all of which may hold valuable genealogical information.
    In some cases, the claim was sent to the U.S. Court of Claims. If this happened with your ancestor’s claim, the National Archives will notify you of this and will send you a new case number to use to pursue the claim from the U.S. Court of Claims (Index Section, 717 Madison Place NW, Washington, D.C. 20005). All this may sound complicated, but all you have to do is send in the initial request and follow the instructions.
    Below are the names of the 17 persons from Hyde County, NC who made claims. Although some of the files are missing, At least 9 of these claims were approved.
    If you have information on any of these persons or their families, and would like to be linked to their name in order to exchange information with others interested in the same person, please let me know byemail.

NAME	CASE #	AMOUNT
Ballance, James C.	17,501	$1577
Bragg, Samuel D.	18,582	$3000
Chester, William	17,498	$2566
Cox, William S.	4,103	$475
Farrow, Tilmon	18,893	$700
Fisher, Timothy M.	4,110	$265
Glover, Andrew J.	17,499	$185
Guirkin, Eli H.	17,502	$560
Harris, Thomas D.	17,766	$854
Howard, Abner B.	19,245	$4200
Jones, Edward (estate of)	4,122	$900
McGowan, Sylvester (John B. McGowan)	17,769	$360
Mason, Jesse S.	17,768	$175
Midgett, John	17,503	$286
Owens, Pembrook	17,770	$275
Saunderson, Erasmus H.	4,143	$450
Tooly, Nancy T.M. Tooly & William B. Tooly	17,500	$498

Sources:
    The National Archives, Washington, D.C.
    The Southern Claims Commission, Klingberg, Frank W., Sacramento, CA: Univ. of California Press, 1955.
    Civil War Claims in the South, Mills, Gary B., Laguna Hills, CA: Aegean Park Press, 1980.