Genealogical and Biographical Research Part 2

Genealogical And Biographical Research:
A Select Catalog Of National Archives Microfilm Publications (Part 2)

"Old Loan" And Tax Records

During the Confederation and early federal period, the government raised revenues by borrowing money from private citizens, businesses, and foreign nationals. In exchange, the Treasury Department issued loan certificates and, later, stock. These "Old Loan" records can be used to determine individual wealth or affiliation with a business concern.

The earliest federal tax records containing information about individuals are from the Direct Tax of 1798. The National Archives has microfilmed the only records of this tax in its custody, the records of Pennsylvania.

Most federal tax records available to researchers, however, date from the Civil War. These Civil War records contain information on individual wealth. They may also be used to determine certain occupations, such as doctor, attorney, peddler, manufacturer, or dealer in spirits, because these professions were taxed separately.

Records of the Bureau of the Public Debt (Record Group 53)

The public debt functions of the Treasury Department go back to 1776, when loan offices were established in each of the 13 states by the Continental Congress. These offices were set up to receive subscriptions to the domestic loans for financing the Revolution. After the federal government was established in 1789, the first Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, continued the loan office system as part of his plan for funding the Revolutionary War debt. In 1817 the duties and records of the State Commissioners of Loans were transferred to the Second Bank of the United States, which had been chartered in the previous year, and the loan offices ceased to exist.

Continental Loan Office Records

The National Archives has microfilmed Continental loan office records for Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island. The records consist mainly of registers of loan office certificates and liquidated debt certificates. The loan certificate represents an early effort to fund the war and circulate the currency; the liquidated debt certificate was an instrument used to consolidate the public debt by settling the claims of individual citizens. In the absence of a circulating medium, certificates of interest ("indents") were issued on these obligations. Other types of records include registers of interest certificates, indexes, journals, ledgers, and accounts current.

Loan certificate registers typically consist of entries under specific denominations, arranged chronologically by date of issue with the name of the subscriber and serial number of the note. Some registers of interest certificates show the signatures of subscribers, but the records seldom show their addresses or other identifying information.

Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island, 1777-1789. M1005. 2 rolls. DP.

Delaware and Maryland, 1777-1790. M1008. 1 roll. DP.

Massachusetts, 1777-1791. M925. 4 rolls. DP.

New Jersey and New York, 1777-1790. M1006. 2 rolls. DP.

Pennsylvania, 1776-1788. M1007. 3 rolls. DP.

Other "Old Loan" Records

The Loan of 1790

These microfilm publications reproduce accounts relating to the loan authorized by an act of August 4, 1790, for the purpose of liquidating the entire foreign, domestic, and assumed Revolutionary War debt. These accounts include journals, ledgers, a list of receipts, an index to receipts, an interest dividend book, receipts for both interest and principal, and a register of unclaimed dividends. The journal entries are arranged chronologically, the ledger entries by account title, and the register entries numerically. The ledgers are indexed alphabetically by account title.

Like the records of the Continental loan offices, these records contain minimal biographical information but can be used to document wealth or affiliation with a business concern. Not all states include indexes. No descriptive pamphlets accompany these publications. Because the amount of information in the records is limited, only the titles are listed below.

Connecticut Loan Office T654. 10 rolls.

Delaware Loan Office. T784. 1 roll.

Georgia Loan Office. T694. 2 rolls.

Maryland Loan Office. T697. 9 rolls.

Massachusetts Loan Office. T783. 7 rolls.

New Hampshire Loan Office. T652. 6 rolls.

New Jersey Loan Office. T698. 2 rolls.

North Carolina Loan Office. T695. 4 rolls.

Pennsylvania Loan Office. T631. 8 rolls.

Rhode Island Loan Office. T653. 13 rolls.

South Carolina Loan Office. T719. 4 rolls.

Virginia Loan Office. T696. 12 rolls.

Maryland Loan Office, Records Relating to Various Loans of 1798 and 1800. T957. 1 roll.

Georgia Loan Office, Records Relating to Various Loans, 1804-1818. T788. 1 roll.

Card Index to "Old Loan" Ledgers of the Bureau of the Public Debt, 1790-1836. M521. 15 rolls. 16mm. DP.

This microfilm publication reproduces a three-part card index to certain ledgers among the "Old Loan" records of the Bureau of Public Debt. Prepared by hand on slips of paper, the index shows the name of the bond holder, the class of the loan, the volume and page reference in the ledger series, and the name of the loan office. The index covers the period 1790 to 1836 and relates to selected ledgers of the New York Loan Office, the Pennsylvania Loan Office, and the Loan Office at the Treasury Department.

Records of the Internal Revenue Service (Record Group 58)

The Office of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue was established in the Treasury Department by an act of July 1, 1862, to help finance the Civil War. The agency under the Office was known as the Bureau of Internal Revenue until 1953 and thereafter as the Internal Revenue Service. During the periods 1791-1802 and 1813-17, the Treasury Department collected internal revenue taxes through an office headed by the Commissioner of the Revenue.

United States Direct Tax of 1798: Tax Lists for the State of Pennsylvania. M372. 24 rolls. DP.

This microfilm publication reproduces 717 volumes containing tax lists and related summary abstracts for Pennsylvania, created under an act of July 14, 1798 (1 Stat. 597), the first direct tax law of the U.S. government, and under certain related acts.

The tax lists show names of persons who owned real property or slaves subject to the direct taxes levied by the act of July 14, 1798. Many lists also show valuations of the properties or amounts of taxes assessed; some show amounts of tax collected. Among the types of lists created after the initial assessment and included in this microfilm publication are lists of property omitted from the assessment or dwelling houses built after it, lists of property sold or transferred, lists of uncollected taxes, lists of property sold because of unpaid taxes, and lists of receipts by the U.S. Marshal from property sales.

Internal Revenue Assessment Lists, 1862-1874.

The Internal Revenue Act of July 1, 1862 (12 Stat. 432), was intended "to provide Internal Revenue to support the government and to pay Interest on the Public Debt." Monthly specific and ad valorem duties were placed on manufacturers, articles, and products ranging from ale to zinc. Annual licenses were required for trades and occupations; annual duties were placed on the ownership of carriages, yachts, billiard tables, and gold and silver plate.

An annual tax was levied on income in excess of $600. Legacies and distributive shares of personal property were also taxed. Stamp duties were imposed on legal and business documents and on medicines, playing cards, and cosmetics.

All persons, partnerships, firms, associations, and corporations submitted to the assistant assessor of their division a list showing the amount of their annual incomes; articles subject to special tax or duty; and the quantity of taxable goods, made or sold. The assistant assessors then compiled two alphabetical lists: (1) the names of persons or entities residing in the division who were liable for taxation and (2) the names of persons or entities residing outside the division who owned property in the division. Under each name are recorded the records of recorded value, assessment, or enumeration of taxable income or items and the amount of duty or tax due.

The assessment lists are divided into three categories: annual, monthly, and special. Entries in the annual and monthly lists are for taxes assessed or collected in those specific periods. The special lists augment incomplete annual and monthly lists and include special taxes, such as the special income tax of October 1864.

An act of December 24, 1872 (17 Stat. 401) abolished the tax effective July 1, 1873. On May 20, 1873, the assessment lists were shipped to the Office of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, Washington, DC.

Most of the publications listed below cover 1862 through 1866. The lists are arranged by collection district and thereunder by division. They are filmed in the order in which they are bound in the volumes. The three types of lists are identified by the symbols A (annual), M (monthly), and S (special). Assessment lists for cities often include street addresses.

Internal Revenue Assessment Lists of Alabama, 1865-1866. M754. 6 rolls. DP.

Arkansas, 1865-1866. M755. 2 rolls. DP.

California, 1862-1866. M756. 33 rolls. DP.

Territory of Colorado, 1862-1866. M757. 3 rolls. DP.

Connecticut, 1862-1866. M758. 23 rolls. DP.

Delaware, 1862-1866. M759. 8 rolls. DP.

There was only one collection district established for Delaware.

District of Columbia, 1862-1866. M760. 8 rolls. DP.

Florida, 1865-1866. M761. 1 roll. DP.

Georgia, 1865-1866. M762. 8 rolls. DP.

The Territory of Idaho, 1865-1866. M763. 1 roll. DP.

Illinois, 1862-1866. M764. 63 rolls. DP.

Indiana, 1862-1866. M765. 42 rolls. DP.

Iowa, 1862-1866. M766. 16 rolls. DP.

Kansas, 1862-1866. M767. 3 rolls. DP.

Kentucky, 1862-1866. M768. 24 rolls. DP.

Louisiana, 1863-1866. M769. 10 rolls. DP.

Maine, 1862-1866. M770. 15 rolls. DP.

Maryland, 1862-1866. M771. 21 rolls. DP.