New York State Adjutant General's Office War of 1812 Veterans' Certificates of Claim Awards and Related Records

Organized into five subseries: 1. Claims correspondence (ca. 1860-1876), arranged alphabetically by sender's last name; 2. Certificates of claim and supporting documentation (ca. 1860s-1870s, bulk 1869-1875), arranged numerically by claim number; 3. Lists of New York State claimants and related correspondence (ca. 1859-1875), arranged alphabetically by name of town, village, or city; 4. Lists of out-of-state claimants and related correspondence (ca. 1859-1875), arranged alphabetically by state and therein alphabetically by name of town, village, or city; 5. Books of certificates of claim (ca. 1858-1861), arranged by claim number.

New York militiamen and volunteers who served during the War of 1812 became eligible to receive reimbursement for supplies, clothing, and equipment furnished for the war effort by the Laws of 1818, Chapter 270 and Laws of 1819, Chapter 117. It was not until 1857, however, that the State of New York created an administrative "board of commissioners," consisting of the Adjutant General and Inspector General, to examine and approve claims submitted by War of 1812 veterans, their widows, or other legal claimants (L. 1857, Ch. 597). Legislation passed two years later (L. 1859, Ch. 176) amended the previous law, and authorized the board of commissioners to issue certificates to claimants stating "the amount which [the commissioners] shall have found to be due." Under the 1859 law, 17,228 claims were audited and approved, and an additional 44 claims were approved in 1872.

Claims totaling $2,250,000 were eventually reviewed by the board, and certificates for about that amount were issued to the claimants by the State of New York. Despite the large sum of money owed to claimants, the State Legislature was only able to appropriate a total of $250,000 to redeem the certificates (L. 1869, Ch. 470; L. 1870, Ch. 524; L. 1874, Ch. 350), leaving a balance of about $2,000,000 to be paid. Probably as a result of the shortage of funds, the 1869 legislation provided that the Comptroller's Office make payments on certificates held by New York State residents only, pro rata, in the following order, until the federal government appropriated funds to pay off the remaining balance (State statute dating back to 1819 held that the federal government was ultimately liable to appropriate funds to pay these claims.): (1) principal on certificates held by surviving War of 1812 veterans; (2) accumulated interest due upon the certificates held by surviving veterans; (3) principal on certificates held by surviving widows of veterans; (4) accumulated interest due on certificates held by surviving widows of veterans; and (5) certificates held by legal representatives of veterans.

According to two reports, one published by the New York Assembly Ways and Means Committee (1885), cited below, and the other by the State Agent for War of 1812 Claims (1905), the State of New York never received any monies from the federal government to pay the outstanding claims. Research conducted by the Comptroller's Office as late as 1987 also confirms that funds were never received to satisfy these claims.

Citation: New York State Assembly, "Committee of Ways and Means Relative to Contingent Expenses of Volunteers and Militia of the State Called into Service of the U.S. in the War of 1812," Assembly Document No. 146, 1885.

This series is one of two that extensively document the War of 1812 claims application and settlement process. The primary difference between the two is that records in this series (A0020) consist mostly of affidavits documenting a claimant's right to reimbursement from War of 1812 service in a New York militia or volunteer unit, as well as certificates issued to claimants after the Adjutant General's Office reviewed and adjusted their claims. Because of an 1869 law that restricted payment on War of 1812 claims to residents of New York State, the bulk of the series documents in-state claimants. By contrast, records in related series A3352, Claim applications for service in the War of 1812, were submitted to the Adjutant General's Office by, or on behalf of, War of 1812 veterans who served in New York militia or volunteer units as the first step in applying for a claim. These applications, which authenticated a veteran's military service and "expenses incurred" for the war effort (L. 1859, Ch. 176), were submitted by claimants who resided in New York State and in other states before the 1869 law restricted payment to in-state claimants only.

This series consists of claims certificates issued to veterans of the War of 1812, their widows, or other legal representatives by the Adjutant General's Office; supporting documentation pertinent to claims reviewed by the Adjutant General, such as affidavits relating to a veteran's military service; and correspondence and other records concerning the submission and processing of claims. The series is organized into five subseries.

Series A1182 Index to War of 1812 Claim Certificate, indexes this series.

Series A3352 War of 1812 Veterans' Claims, Affidavits of Service, and Powers of Attorney contains related records.

Series A1303 Record of Certificates and Affidavits of Veterans of the War of 1812 (1869-1870) contains related records.

Series A1183 Opinion of State Agent for War of 1812 Claims contains related records.

Series B0810 War of 1812 Abstracts of Payrolls for New York State Militia contains related records.

Series B0811 Transcriptions of War of 1812 Payrolls for New York State Militia Units contains related records.

Index of Awards on Claims of the Soldiers of the War of 1812 (Comptroller's Office: 1860; rev. 1969). This work has been digitized and is searchable in Ancestry.com New York.

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