Pennsylvania State Archives Collection

Images of outgoing letters of the Comptroller General. Information in the letters might relate to matters regarding the settlement of accounts, collection of taxes and financial matters of the state, reports to the General Assembly, duties on slaves, Pennsylvania's quota of the national debt, salaries of government officials, and state debt. Correspondence about such matters was sent to private citizens and government and military officials on the local, state, and national level. Notable government officials and bodies to whom correspondence was sent include the Supreme Executive Council, federal treasury officers, county tax collectors, the General Assembly, and the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. This collection is part of the Office of the Comptroller General which was created in 1782. Disclaimer: The Pennsylvania State Archives provides digital access to a wide variety of historical documents, some of which may be considered offensive by current standards. The Archives does not endorse views expressed in these historical collections, but presents these collections to aid in scholarly research.

Images of militia receipts, returns, operations documents, and lists of white males between ages eighteen and fifty-three for Allegheny, Bedford, Berks, Bucks, Chester, Cumberland, Dauphin, Delaware, Fayette, Franklin, Huntingdon, Lancaster, Luzerne, Montgomery, Northampton, Northumberland, Philadelphia, Washington, Westmoreland, and York counties. The information entered varies with each type of document. Returns of absentees are dated, and normally list the name and company (or battalion) of the soldier, the officer to whom he was attached, the number of days that he mustered, and the number of days that he was absent. In addition, some operation accounts also mention the dates that the militia members were ordered into and released from service. This collection is part of the Office of the Comptroller General which was created in 1782.

Images of records that pertain to various militia men or their widows petitioning for pensions from the Commonwealth. Generally, the service men petitioning for pensions had been injured during the war and were thus incapable of working. Many times, the court petitions give descriptions of the injuries and the battle at which they occurred. Widows of militia men generally filed petitions in Orphan's Court in order to obtain pensions for support of their children. However, most widows were only awarded either one half or one quarter of their deceased husband's salaries. Also contained in this collection are some receipts for payments of these pensions. Additionally, there is correspondence between the "House of Employment" and the Comptroller General regarding various state pensions who were invalids at the House. The collection of images if from 5 volumes of pensions for disabled soldiers and pensions to widows and children of soldiers killed in the Revolution. Most of these volumes are also indexed. Some volumes contain records of warrants issued to recipients. This collection is part of the Office of the Comptroller General, which was created in 1782. Disclaimer: The Pennsylvania State Archives provides digital access to a wide variety of historical documents, some of which may be considered offensive by current standards. The Archives does not endorse views expressed in these historical collections, but presents these collections to aid in scholarly research.