Geographical List of Southern Claims Commission Claimants

Source: M87 - Roll 13

People that applied to the Southern Claims Commission for reimbursement of their property by claiming to be Union loyalists

Search Strategy

An important search strategy when researching Southern Claims Commission (SCC) records is to review the claims filed by all the people in a given community. The reason for this is that while only claimants are listed in SCC indexes, approximately 220,000 others, many of whom were family, friends, neighbors, former slaves, and fellow slaves, came forward to give testimony for or against a claimant. In the process of giving their affidavits, claimants and witnesses mention many other family members, friends, and neighbors. The result is a wealth of information about individual people in the South during the Civil War.

To carry out this strategy, the researcher must determine who in a neighborhood filed claims. That task is made easier by a printed list of claimants, previously only available on the National Archives micropublication M87 - roll 13, Records of the Commissioners of Claims (Southern Claims Commission), 1871-1880. The list is geographical in arrangement and is organized by state, county, and then name of claimant.

Names and page numbers of Bibb County Claimants:

Copy of original list - click here

Maria Dean
Emeline Dexter
Thos. W. Gaylord
Isaac M. Hicks
John Hicks
Estate of James A. JOnes
Palmer A. Kendrick
Cornelius Latham
Jane Lathum
John Latham
L. T. McGuire
Jesse W. Mahan
Nathaniel C. Moreland
Thos. E. Potts
H. B. Ray
Estate of John Smith
Jesse Smitherman
John F. Walker
Michael K. White

To request a search for the file:

General Reference Branch (NNRG-P)
National Archives and Records Administration
7th and Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20408

You can request only one applicant per letter. You will need to supply the State and County, as well as the name of the claimant and the claim number if you have it. A page count will be done and they will then create a Reproduction Order Price Quote and mail it to you.

You can also file online to this address.
wayne.decesar@nara.gov

The same rules apply as above.