On the 27 rolls of this
microfilm publication are reproduced 55 volumes containing
signatures of and personal identification data about
depositors in 29 branch offices of the Freedman Savings and
Trust Company; 1865-74.
The Company was incorporated
by an act of Congress approved March 3, 1865 (13 Stat. 510),
as a banking institution established in the city of
Washington, District of Columbia, for the benefit of freed
slaves. The military savings banks at Norfolk, Va., and
Beaufort, S.C., were transferred to the Company soon after
it was founded. From 1865 through 1870 a total of 33
branches were established, including an office that was
opened in New York, N. Y., in 1866.
In 1874 the Company failed
and by the terms of an act of Congress approved June 20,
1874 (18 Stat. 132), the trustees were authorized to select,
with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, three
commissioners to take charge of the effects of the Company
and to report on its financial state to the Secretary of the
Treasury. The arrangement was altered by an act of Congress
approved February 21, 1881 (21 Stat. 327), whereby the
Secretary of the Treasury was authorized and directed to
appoint the Comptroller of the Currency to administer the
affairs of the Company. The Comptroller was made
commissioner ex officio and he submitted annual reports to
Congress. The final report on the trust company was
submitted in 1920.
The information contained in
many of the registers is as follows: account number, name of
depositor, date of entry, place born, place brought up,
residence, age, complexion, name of employer or occupation,
wife or husband, children, father, mother, brothers and
sisters, remarks, and signature. The early books sometimes
also contain the name of the former master or mistress and
the name of the plantation. In many entries not all the
requested data are given. Copies of death certificates have
been pinned to some of the entries. In each case the
certificate has been filmed immediately after the page that
shows the registration of the person's signature.
The registers are arranged
alphabetically by name of State. The entries are arranged
alphabetically by name of city where the bank was located,
thereunder chronologically by date when the account was
established, and thereunder numerically by account number.
Many numbers are missing, a few are out of numerical order,
and in some cases blocks of numbers were not used. Many
registers seem to be missing. The volume for Philadelphia,
Pa., dated January 7, 1870, to June 26, 1874, contains
signatures of officers of societies.
Filmed after these
introductory remarks is an index that gives the location and
the date of the organization of the branch. The first part
also gives the account numbers and the numbers of the rolls
of microfilm on which the registers are filmed. There are no
account numbers or registers available for the branches
listed in the second part.
The records reproduced in
this microfilm publication are part of the records in the
National Archives designated as Record Group 101, Records of
the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
Closely related records in
the same record group include indexes to deposit ledgers (42
vols.). The ledgers are arranged alphabetically by name of
State, thereunder by name of city, and thereunder by name of
depositor. As the indexes to the deposit ledgers include the
depositor's account number they can serve as a finding aid
to the registers of signatures reproduced in this microcopy,
which are not indexed. Other related records include loan
and real estate ledgers and journals, 1870-1916, arranged
alphabetically by name of city and thereunder by depositor's
account number; and letters received by the commissioners of
the Company and by the Comptroller of the Currency as ex
officio commissioner, 1870-1914. Interspersed among these
records are legal papers, canceled checks, payrolls, expense
checks, and passbooks.
Other record groups
containing related documents are Record Group 105, Records
of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands,
and Record Group 94, Records of the Adjutant General's
Office, 1780's-1917.
The records reproduced in
this microcopy were prepared for filming by Lockwood Wright,
who also wrote these introductory remarks and provided the
other editorial material. |
**********************************************************
National Archives
Microfilm Index
For
Freedmen’s Savings &
Trust Co.
Branch
Location |
Organization
Date |
Account Number |
Microfilm
Roll |
Atlanta ,
GA |
Jan 1870 |
1-4518 |
6 |
Augusta ,
GA |
Mar 1866 |
2167-6701 |
7 |
Baltimore,
MD |
Mar 1866 |
1-4; 220-6768 |
13 |
Baltimore , MD
|
Oct 1866 |
2732-5989 |
20 |
Charleston , SC |
Jan 1866 |
1-319; 2151-3824 |
21 |
- |
- |
3833-6626 |
22 |
- |
- |
6627-11103 |
23 |
Columbus, MS |
Aug 1870 |
9-927 |
14 |
Huntsville , ALA
|
Dec 1865 |
1-1698 |
1 |
Lexington ,
KY
|
Nov 1870 |
1-1928; 5122-7336 |
11 |
Lynchburg , VA
|
Sept 1865 |
153-215 |
26 |
Memphis , TN |
Dec 1865 |
1-1995; 2000-6298 |
24 |
Mobile ,
ALA |
Jan 1866 |
777-1567; |
- |
- |
- |
1572-2326 |
- |
- |
- |
4287-9173 |
2 |
Nashville , TN |
Mar 1870 |
4174-6189 |
25 |
Natchez , MS |
Oct 1865 |
1-7007 |
14 |
New Bern , N.C.
|
Jan 1866 |
4174-6189 |
25 |
New Orleans , LA |
Jan 1866 |
5-1017; 4365-8569 |
12 |
New York , N.Y.
|
July 1866 |
1422-6943 |
17 |
Norfolk ,
VA |
Jun 1865 |
3950-5424 |
26 |
Philadelphia , PA |
Jan 1870 |
1-3004 |
19 |
Raleigh, NC |
Jan 1868 |
9-15 |
18 |
Richmond , VA
|
Oct 1865 |
232-1582 |
- |
- |
- |
1591-3948; |
- |
- |
- |
4005-7691 |
27 |
Savannah , GA |
Jan 1866 |
1-1137 |
- |
- |
- |
1298-4947 |
8 |
- |
- |
4948-9868 |
9 |
- |
- |
9869-14558 |
10 |
Shreveport , LA |
June 1868 |
149-1320 |
12 |
|