Chester County History Center - Chester County Archives and Record Services - Chester County Board of Relief

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  • Original Format = Correspondence
  • Subject = Social Welfare

About This Collection

This collections represents all extant records of the Chester County Board of Relief from 1861 through 1865. The Chester County Board of Relief was set up by the Act of May 15, 1861 P.L. 749, 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 Board to assist their families although the Board did not always agree to help and the township boards assisted families without assistance from the county. The materials in this collection document the actives of the Board of Relief and provides detailed information on the families who sought its assistance. This collection is divided into four record series: account books, applications, correspondence, and administrative records. A full index to the account books, applications, and correspondence can be found here: https://www.chesco.org/1702/Board-of-Relief-1861-1865.
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Board of Relief Correspondence
Board of Relief, Civil War, Social Welfare, Poverty, Child Welfare, Correspondence
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 a small collection of miscellaneous correspondence between the members of the various township boards. Of particular interest is a small collection of letters submitted by wives of soldiers, either directly to the Board or through their representatives, describing their untenable circumstances in an attempt to receive aid or additional support. For an index to this collection please see the following link: https://www.chesco.org/1702/Board-of-Relief-1861-1865
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