Guest blogger Nancy Maxwell’s series on Federal Legislative Petitions continues today with Part 2.

Nancy Maxwell

CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DEALING WITH VARIOUS TYPES OF PETITIONS AND CLAIMS

From the beginning, Congress has been very good at forming committees. Fortunately for us, some committees dealt directly with claims or petitions of individuals. They were called the Claims, Invalid Pensions, Revolutionary Pensions, Revolutionary Claims, and Private Land Claims Committees.

CLAIMS COMMITTEE

Established on November 13, 1794, this committee’s job was to consider all petitions and matters or things touching claims and demands on the U.S. that were referred to them by the House, and to report their opinion on the validity of the claim and how relief should be given to the petitioner. Here is an example of Margaret Stevens’s claim on behalf of her late husband:

Library of Congress, American Memory, A Century of Lawmaking, Senate Journal 55:91, Petition for Committee on Indian Affairs, Senate Journal, 9 January 1863

A petition is always referred to, but is not reproduced, in these federal documents. Petition references appear in House and Senate Journals and petitions referred to appropriate committees. In this petition, we can see that Margaret was a busy person, petitioning for compensation of services provided by her late husband. Once the petition was granted, the Committee presented a bill for her relief:

Library of Congress, A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation, Bills and Resolutions, House of Representatives, 38th Congress, 1st Session, Bill 195Top of Form

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If you find a petition reference, look for the bill that allowed the petitioner’s claim.

INVALID PENSIONS COMMITTEE

The committee was created on January 10, 1831 with jurisdiction over matters relating to pensions for disabled veterans. Originally, it included pensions from the War of 1812. It was so overburdened with Civil War pensions that on March 26, 1867, jurisdiction for pensions from the War of 1812 was transferred to the Committee on Revolutionary Pensions. After that, jurisdiction of the Committee on Invalid Pensions included only matters relating to pensions of the Civil War, with the committee reporting general and special bills authorizing payments of pensions and bills for relief of soldiers of that war. Below are some examples of invalid pension petitions:

Library of Congress, American Memory, A Century of Lawmaking, House Journal 54:968

PENSIONS AND REVOLUTIONARY WAR CLAIMS AND COMMITTEE ON REVOLUTIONARY WAR PENSIONS

The Committee on Pensions and Revolutionary War Claims was created on December 22, 1813, largely to alleviate the burden of the Committee on Claims. Its job was to consider all such petitions, and matters, or things, touching military pensions, as well as claims and demands originating in, or arising from, the Revolutionary War. On December 9, 1825 the committee name was changed to the Committee on Revolutionary Pensions, while its jurisdiction remained unchanged. A few days later, on December 13, 1825, the committee was abolished and its jurisdiction split between two new committees–the Committee on Military Pensions and the Committee on Revolutionary Claims. Below are examples of Revolutionary War pension and claims petitions:

Library of Congress, American Memory, A Century of Lawmaking, House Journal 12: 213

Library of Congress, American Memory, A Century of Lawmaking, House Journal 54: 948

PRIVATE LAND CLAIMS COMMITTEE

This committee was established on April 29, 1816, with jurisdiction over matters relating to private land claims. The committee reported general as well as special legislation relating to the settlement of individual claims to public lands. It reported bills to establish a land court and to provide for judicial investigation and settlement of private land claims in certain states and territories. It was abolished in 1911 after several years of diminished legislative activity. Below is an example of a petitioner from Louisiana:

Library of Congress, American Memory, A Century of Lawmaking, Senate Journal 9: 168

AVAILABILITY AND GENEALOGICAL VALUE OF THE ACCOMPANYING PAPERS FILE

Committee papers may include original petitions or memorials. Researchers should check for both petitions and memorials when examining papers of these committees. They are kept in a file known as the Accompanying Papers File.

According to the National Archives, the Accompanying Papers File documents several forms of private relief claims submitted directly to Congress and is part of Records of the U.S. House of Representatives (Record Group 233). The series is under the subgroup Records of Legislative Proceedings, and forms part of the private claims records of Congress.

Types of Claims

The records consist of a specific series of bill files and supporting documentation related to private claims and other forms of private relief petitions submitted directly to the House for the 39th through 57th Congresses (1865–1903). Before 1865, these records were filed among House committee papers; after 1903 they were filed more systematically in a collection of legislative bill files. The records may include petitions, affidavits, letters, copies of House resolutions, and other documentation that support or oppose claims for relief for which a private bill was introduced. These claims included:

Claims for property damage caused by the military
Indian depredation claims
Pension claims for the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, Old Indian Wars, the Civil War, and miscellaneous peacetime pensions for military service
Claims for services rendered to the government
Claims for patent extensions or violations
Civil War–related courts-martial and amnesty petitions

The Accompanying Papers File is arranged chronologically by Congress, then alphabetically by person, state, territory, or subject. The finding aid is a title list containing approximately 10,000 files with a brief description of each claim available for each of the first six Congresses in the series (39th Congress through 44th Congress), which cover Reconstruction (1865–1877). The file title list is available in the National Archives Building’s Research Center and in the Center for Legislative Archives.

In the last post on Federal legislative petitions, I’ll discuss the genealogical value of petitions in the Territorial Papers of the U.S., American State Papers: Claims, and the U.S. Serial Set.

Today, guest blogger Nancy Maxwell covers federal legislative petitions and the types of information that can be found in them. Yesterday’s post introduced Nancy and provided background details for understanding these petitions. Please leave comments for her!

Nancy Maxwell

Researching federal legislative petitions can be done at The Center for Legislative Archives in Washington, DC. It is located in the main National Archives Building in downtown Washington, DC. The Center maintains a Research Room to provide on-site reference assistance to Congressional scholars, historians, attorneys looking for legislative intent, and genealogists searching for petitions and claims. Resources include material referred to and generated by many congressional committees.

Of great interest to genealogists are records of various congressional pension committees. Pension committees of the House of Representatives dealt primarily with private legislation concerning claims and pensions. Claims and pensions contain information relating to the private lives of individuals more than any other Congressional documents. Laws passed in favor of petitioners for pensions were considered private laws, and applied to specific persons or groups. These committees granted pensions, authorized payment of claims, or allowed some other form of relief to an individual or legal body.

During its first 150 years, the House created a number of standing committees to report on the merits of petitions claiming the right to relief from federal government. Research involving private claims against the federal government can be complicated and time-consuming. To conduct a thorough search for records relating to claims of individual, it’s often necessary to examine indexes and records of both houses of Congress.

Claims were brought before the House by petition or memorial from the claimant, or as bill or resolution passed by Senate. It was common for a public representative or prominent citizen to present the claimant’s case in front of Congress. It’s not unusual to find documentation relating to a claim had been charged out of records of one Congress to be used as supporting materials for claim submitted by the same claimant at later Congress. Claims and petitions submitted to the claims committee of the House have, on occasion, been located among records of Senate and weren’t always returned.

Role of Court of Claims

The Court of Claims was created in 1855 (10 Stat. 612) to hear claims against the United States. It relieved pressure on Congress by providing some claimants with an opportunity to present certain types of claims against the government. Before the establishment of this court, the only way to settle claims was to apply to the Treasury Department and petition Congress for relief only if the claim was rejected. Records of this court from 1855-1966 are located at the National Archives buildings in Washington, DC and College Park, MD. The finding aid to these records is Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the United States Court of Claims, PI 58 (1953) by Gaiselle Kerner.

American Memory Century of Lawmaking

House and Senate Journals mention federal petitioners and identify their claims up to 1875 and refer petitions or bills to committees. These journals can be found on the free Library of Congress American Memory web site, A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation.

Following are two examples from the House Journal of petitioners, Samuel Aborn and William M’Kee, and their claims. Samuel petitioned for compensation of services rendered to the late Continental Army. It doesn’t specify what services and supplies he rendered and furnished, but it does tell us his place of residence in Rhode Island and from which army post he operated.

Source: A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation, Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States, Volume 2, p. 52, January 31, 1794

William M’Kee’s petition tells us a great deal about him and his claim. We have a demonstrated father-son relationship, knowledge that the father is deceased, and the father’s late residence. William is specific about his claim, even giving the year his father’s corn was appropriated for the Continental Army. If William had stated how much he thought the corn was worth, we would have an idea from the petition about the price of that food item during the war.

Source: A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation, Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States, Volume 2, p. 51, January 31, 1794

We can tell that consideration of William’s petition was either postponed or suspended. We can also check the Century of Lawmaking site for further mention of the fate of these two petitions.

So petitions can contain varying amounts of information. In these cases, both provide significant genealogical and historical details and information that may not be found anywhere else.

I mentioned earlier that over the years, Congress crated several claims committees. The following committee descriptions tell you something about those committees and how long they existed:

Claims, 1794-1946. Documents consist mainly of petitions and memorials submitted by claimants, but sometimes documents supporting their claims are included.

Pensions and Revolutionary War Claims, 1813-1825. This committee eased the burden of the Committee on Claims. It was changed to the Committee on Revolutionary War Pensions in December 1825. Many of its files contain not only the original petition or memorial, but also additional documentation submitted to substantiate the claim.

Military Pensions, 1825-1831. These claims were similar to other early 19th-century claims petitions. For each Congress they are arranged in alphabetical order, and generally contain original petitions or memorials as well as assorted supporting documents.

Invalid Pensions, 1831-1946. Before 1865-1867, petitions and memorials came mostly from persons seeking pensions or private legislation to correct administrative problems. Between 1867 and 1901, petitions and memorials dealing with private legislation were removed from committee’s petition and memorial files and incorporated into the general accompanying papers file. After 1901, records relating to private claims will be found in bill files for each Congress.

Revolutionary Pensions, 1831-1880. Petition and memorial files contain original petitions of claimants, and committee papers files consist primarily of original committee reports on individual private claims. In many cases petition and memorial files contain additional documentation submitted along with petitions or memorials as proof of claim. If you’re conducting a search for records relating to claim of a specific person, you should search both series. In some cases, original petitions, memorials, or associated documentation are filed along with committee report. Both committee papers and the petitions and memorials are arranged in alphabetical order by the claimant’s name.

Pensions, 1880-1946. Petition and memorial files are sparse–less than ½ inch per Congress.

Revolutionary War Claims, 1825-1873. Many files contain not only original petitions or memorials referred to the committee, but also additional documentation submitted to substantiate claims. As above, both series of records (petition and committee report) should be searched.

War Claims, 1873-1946. This committee was created in 1873 when the name of the Committee on Revolutionary Claims (1825-1873) was changed to Committee on War Claims, and its jurisdiction expanded to include “claims arising from any war in which the United States has been engaged.” The majority of records of this committee are of the post-Civil War Southern Claims Commission.

Private Land Claims, 1813-1911. Petition and memorial files before the 39th Congress (1865-1867) contain original petitions and memorials along with supporting documents. Petitions and memorials are arranged alphabetically by the name of the claimant. In some cases claimants from particular geographical areas were grouped together and relief measures were indexed under the name of the state, territory, or city. Many petitions included supplemental documentation offered in support of claims. After the 37th Congress (1861-1863), petition and memorial files are almost non-existent. Their documents were filed in the accompanying papers file from 1865-1905, and after that, in committee bill files. Sometimes they contain a significant amount of legal arguments and evidence, including documentation of the origins of claims, examination of claims and town sites, maps, testimony, notarized affidavits, decisions of the General Land Office, decisions of Surveyor General, and copies of House and Senate bills, committee reports, and printed documents.

Judiciary, 1813-1986. From 1813-1865, records relating to claims are primarily among petition and memorial files. Between 1865 and 1903 Judiciary Committee claims files may be found in either its committee papers or petitions and memorials files, but in most cases they were removed from the Judiciary Committee and included in large alphabetical accompanying papers files.

Tomorrow, I’ll share examples of the availability and genealogical value of accompanying papers, congressional committees that dealt with various types of petitions and claims, and three additional federal sources of petitions: Territorial Papers, American State Papers: Claims, and the U.S. Serial Set.

I am excited to introduce the first guest blogger on Empty Branches, Nancy Maxwell. She is one of my oldest genealogy buddies from back when we first started down the genealogy addiction trail and we’ve never looked back. She’ll be presenting a multi-part series on legislative petitions and the genealogist. Please leave some comments and feedback about this guest series. It’s definitely a resource that is underused by genealogists and I’m learning a lot.

Nancy Maxwell

Nancy has been doing her family genealogies since 1981. Her ancestry is East European Jewish and Turkish Armenian; researching both of which have been extremely challenging and rewarding.

She received her B. A. in English from California State University, Fullerton, M. S. in Library Science from the University of Southern California, and M. A. in History from the University of North Texas. She will begin her Ph.D. studies in history at UNT in August 2017.

Nancy caught the genealogy bug in 1981 and has been at it ever since! She has been the genealogy librarian at Grapevine Public Library since July 2001. She gives talks to the local genealogy interest group as well as outside groups. She is a great believer in getting young people to take up genealogical research and has spoken to kids ages six to 17 about the joys of genealogy.

Nancy has compiled two books that have been published by Heritage Books; Washington County, Arkansas Sheriff’s Census for 1865 and Washington County, Arkansas Miscellaneous Record Book, 1841-1879, as well as a few genealogical periodical articles.

Since the days of Magna Carta, the right to petition the government for redress or for grievance has been one of the most cherished rights in English constitutional history. This belief was carried to Britain’s North American colonies as part of the inherent right of Englishmen to maintain direct access to their government and later became embedded in the United States Constitution. Legislative petitions are one of the lesser-known sources of genealogical information and may be helpful in some instances where other records don’t exist. They are an unexplored treasure of American history as experienced through stories of ordinary people (like our ancestors!) across the country.

Magna Carta
Source: Wikimedia Commons

Why should genealogists know about these petitions?

First, these documents reveal a great deal about our ancestors and what mattered to them. Second, they provide context on our ancestors’ neighbors and neighborhoods. Third, the results of many petitions are now available in books, periodicals, and on-line, and are becoming ever more accessible to researchers.

Some of the things we can learn from petitions include the following: If your ancestor signed a petition to ask that a new county be formed, you know where he was living then. If he protested the building of a mill near him, you know something about where he lived. If he was a Quaker and petitioned for the freeing of slaves, you know his religious affiliation and something of his beliefs. Lastly, If your ancestor signed any kind of petition, you may have his original signature, something very special for 1800 and earlier when such records are harder to find.

American legislative petitions have a long history. The right of English citizens to petition their government was for many years a jealously guarded one. When these people arrived in America, they brought the right to petition with them. As they gradually became Americans, they already knew that the origin of the right to petition was in Magna Carta. Though that right was recognized only indirectly when the charter was drawn up, Magna Carta always serves as the right’s ultimate source. This can be seen in what was later designated as Section 61. Paraphrased, it indicates that if any of King John’s barons violate the great charter’s terms, four barons may petition the remaining twenty-one to redress grievances against the offending barons.

In colonial Virginia petitions appeared as early as the first session of the General Assembly in 1619. They were further codified in English Common Law, written down as Number 5 in the English Bill of Rights on 16 December 1689 which stated, “That it is the right of the subjects to petition the King and all commitments and prosecutions for such petitioning are illegal.” Originally petitions were for asking favors or redressing wrongs, but they came to serve many other purposes.

Petitions tell us a lot about what our ancestors considered to be important. When reading these documents, it’s important to understand why certain things mattered so much to them. This is why petitions have to be seen in historical context. We’ll see examples of different petitions in the next few blogs.

Eventually the right to petition government was defined in the First Amendment of the Constitution: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, of the right of the people peaceable to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Source: National Archives.
Enrolled original Joint Resolution passed by Congress on September 25, 1789, proposing 12-not 10-amendments to the Constitution. Right to petition is the third amendment here.

Petitions often followed a similar format. The first section humbly beseeches governing body and praises the government. The second section generally spells out the law or action citizens wish to change. The third section usually begins with word “therefore” and presents the rationale for change, often suggests changes, and includes signatures of supporters. When our ancestors petitioned the federal government, a typical procedure was to have a public representative or prominent citizen present their case in front of Congress. Some of the many subjects covered by petitions on both the federal and state level included public improvements, military claims, divorce, manumission of slaves, name changes, division of counties, incorporation of towns, religious freedom, and taxation.

The genealogical value of legislative petitions can make it worth the time spent locating them. They may contain one signature or hundreds, making them a most useful tool in genealogical research for that reason alone. Signatures could even be in the thousands. For example, 2,735 Slovak citizens from Cleveland, Ohio signed a petition protesting that they were classed as Hungarians in the 1910 federal census. Petitions could also be generated by groups and businesses. They frequently contain supplementary support documents useful in research, including maps, wills, naturalizations, resolutions, deeds, affidavits, judgements, and other items. If you find an ancestor in a legislative record, chances are that it was due to a petition.

As genealogically valuable as petitions are, they do have limitations. Not all petitions resulted in legislative acts. Legislative acts were passed without submission of petitions. Petitions may have been returned to petitioners and so are not available for examination. House of Representatives and Senate Journals are the only constitutionally mandated records of floor proceedings, including, among other things, the introduction of bills and the referral of petitions or bills to committees. We’ll see some examples of these journal entries when I discuss petitions presented to the House and Senate in tomorrow’s post.