Board of Relief Administrative Records

Board of Relief
Civil War
Social Welfare
Poverty
Child Welfare
Administrative Records

The Chester County Board of Relief was set up by the Pennsylvania General Assembly’s Act of May 15, 1861, entitled "An Act to Create a Loan and to Provide for Arming the State" to aid local families of Civil War soldiers. Funded by state appropriations, its members included the County Commissioners and Court of Common Pleas Associate Judges. Township boards of relief were set up individually without legal precedent when townships felt the County Board did not meet the need for aid. Townships could petition the County Board to assist their local families, but the county did not always agree to help which motivated the township boards to aid families without county assistance. This series contains miscellaneous records relating to the administrative function of the Board of Relief including minutes and resolutions, pay roll records, and committee books. The three small Committee books have one township per page. Each page lists one to three members of the township board of relief and the names of resident soldiers who are receiving county relief. Also listed are references to which volume and page in the set of three account books the soldier's account is on. The pay rolls of West Chester are for families of soldiers in West Chester receiving aid from the Board but they are a separate sequence from the vouchers. They include the date, pay order number, and a list of person’s signatures by the amount of money they received. Pay rolls include many names per page.

Chester County Board of Relief

1861-1865

Chester County (Pa.)

Text

Administrative Records

application/pdf

RG1000.034

eng

Rights assessment is your responsibility. This material is made available for noncommercial, educational, scholarly, and/or charitable purposes. For other uses or for more information please contact the Chester County Archives and Record Services, 601 Westtown Road, Suite 080, West Chester, PA 19380.

Chester County Archives, ccarchives@chesco.org

Chester County Archives and Record Services

This Digital Object is provided in a collection that is included in POWER Library: Pennsylvania Photos and Documents, which is funded by the Office of Commonwealth Libraries of Pennsylvania/Pennsylvania Department of Education.