Online Catalog - State Archives of Florida - Florida Department of State

State Archives of Florida Online Catalog

The Online Catalog allows searching and browsing of information about the Florida State Archives’ holdings of over 48,000 cubic feet of state and local government records and historical manuscripts. The catalog provides descriptions of over 3,400 collections and lists the contents of containers and folders in many of those collections. For assistance with accessing and using State Archives collections, call our Reference Staff at 850.245.6719 or email us at archives@dos.myflorida.com.

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	Record Group Number:	000101
	Series/Collection Number:	.S 2713
	Creator:	Florida. Treasurer's Office.
	Title, Dates:	United States Direct Tax Commission records, 1860-1895.
	Amount:	14 v. .1 cubic ft.
	Medium Included:
	Organization/Arrangement:	By subject, then by county, then chronological by date.
	Restrictions:
	Terms Governing Use:
	Biographical/Historical:	During the Civil War, the U.S. Federal government attempted to raise financial support in Florida's northeast section which was occupied by Union troops. The areas affected were St. Johns County and the city of St. Augustine, Nassau County and the city of Fernandina, Duval County and the city of Jacksonville, and Monroe County and the city of Key West. An Act of Congress approved August 5, 1861 authorized agents of the U.S. Treasury Department to collect a direct tax in the state. Property of citizens in the occupied areas was subject to seizure in payment of the $77,000 levied on Florida. In some instances, property abandoned in places like Fernandina and St. Augustine was sold to the tax agent or his associates. The U.S. direct tax was eventually ruled unconstitutional and thirty years after its passage, an Act of Congress approved March 2, 1891 stated that the U.S. government would reimburse all affected states and territories. The money appropriated for reimbursement was to be paid to the governor, but not until the state legislature authorized acceptance of the amount appropriated in full satisfaction of claims against the U.S. In Florida, Joint Resolution No. 6 of the Laws of Florida, 1891, accepted the appropriated amount. Claims of individuals for direct tax reimbursement were to be filed with the governor within six years after the passage of the Act (March 2, 1897). The applicant for reimbursement was required to prove that he or she was the legal owner or heir to the legal owner of the property. Once the claim was validated, the governor issued a state voucher drawn upon the Merchants National Bank of Jacksonville.
	Summary:	This series consists primarily of books of abstracted information from books of recorded lots sold or assessed for taxes and revenue lists. These books cover lots in Fernandina, Nassau County, St. Augustine, and, to a lesser extent, Jacksonville, Key West, and Duval, Dade, Madison, Volusia, and Monroe counties. Also included are various unbound materials produced by the U.S. Direct Tax Commission. The majority of these are revenue records for counties across Florida in the 1860s and 1870s.
	Finding Aids:	Box and volume listing available.
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	General Note:	This collection consists of found materials with unknown provenance.
	Electronic Records Access:
	Subject Access Fields:	Land sold or redeemed for taxes. Revenue Florida Tax assessment Florida Tax-sales Florida Tax records. aat Financial records. aat Reports. aat Fernandina (Fla.) Nassau County (Fla.) Saint Augustine (Fla.) Jacksonville (Fla.) Duval County (Fla.) Key West (Fla.) Dade County (Fla.) Monroe County (Fla.) Orange County (Fla.) Sumter County (Fla.) Escambia County (Fla.) Gadsden County (Fla.) Taylor County (Fla.) Madison County (Fla.)
	Added Entries