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Record Group Number: 001025
Series/Collection Number: .S 1775
Creator: National Archives Microfilm Publications.
Title, Dates: Freedman's Savings and Trust Company depositors' signature registers, 1865-1874.
Amount: 27.00 microfilm reels 35mm
Medium Included:
Organization/Arrangement: Alphabetical by name of state, then by name of city in which branch bank was located, then chronological by date account established, then numerical by account number.
Restrictions:
Terms Governing Use:
Biographical/Historical:     The Freedman's Savings and Trust Company was established in New York City in 1865 by a group of philanthropists and businessmen led by Congregational minister John Alvord.  Their purpose was to provide former slaves and their descendants, and particularly the many African American Civil War veterans receiving back pay and enlistment bounty payments, with a secure banking institution in which their savings could be protected.
    A bill to incorporate the bank was passed by Congress and, on March 3, 1865, signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln. Between 1865 and 1871, the bank opened 37 branch offices in 17 states and the District of Columbia, patronized by about 70,000 depositors.
    A combination of management problems, fraud, and fallout from the Panic of 1873 brought the bank close to collapse, and it closed on June 29, 1874.  Misled into believing that their deposits were protected by the federal government, depositors lost their savings, and only about half were eventually partially compensated for their losses.
Summary:     This series consists of microfilm copies of 55 volumes containing signatures of and personal information about thousands of depositors who maintained accounts in 29 branch offices of the Freedman's Savings and Trust Company.  The bank collected detailed information about depositors and their heirs in order to protect their interests in the event of the depositor's death.
    The series includes registers for the Tallahassee, Florida branch office from 1866-1872 (Roll 5).  Although depositor information varies from branch to branch, the registers generally provide name of depositor; account number; date of application; place of birth; place brought up; residence; age; complexion; name of employer or occupation; names of spouse, children, father, mother, brothers, and sisters; remarks; and signature of depositor. Some early volumes also provide name of former owner or mistress and name of plantation.  In addition, copies of death certificates were attached to some entries.
Finding Aids: Microfilm listing available.
Additional Physical Form:
Reproduction Note: Microfilm.
Location of Originals/Duplicates: Originals held by the National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D. C.
Associated Materials:
Language Notes:
Ownership/Custodial History:
Publication Note: National Archives Microfilm Publication M816, Registers of Signatures of Depositors in Branches of the Freedman's Savings and Trust Company, 1865-1874.
General Note:
Electronic Records Access:
Subject Access Fields: Freedman's Savings and Trust Company.
Slavery Florida
Freedmen Florida
Freedmen United States
African Americans History 1863-1877. Florida
African Americans History 1863-1877. United States
Slavery United States
Registers (lists) aat
Added Entries Freedman's Savings and Trust Company.