Content Note

The 6 registers included in this series contain accounts of payments made during the period 1821-1870 for three distinct groups: pensioners, pupils residing in charitable institutions and state officers receiving salaries. Initially, state accountants recorded these payments in a single volume but later used separate account books for each type of payment. Below are descriptions of the accounts by type of payment, followed by an item list. Following the Contents list, the payments recorded in this series are listed in alphabetical order by the name of the pensioner, pupil or state official. [NOTE: Items 2 & 6 of this series (State Pensions Payments Books B & C) are available on microfilm. The remaining volumes will be filmed shortly.]

State Pension Payments, Books A, B & C [Items # 1, 2 & 6]. These volumes contain accounts of payments made during the period 1821-1870 on personal pensions granted by the state legislature. With the exception of only a few, these pensions were granted for relief of Revolutionary War and War of 1812 veterans or their widows (prior to federal legislation allowing general pensions for surviving veterans of these wars). The following information is usually included: name of pensioner, county of residence, date pension granted, and pension amount. Payment entries then record the date of payment, period covered, pension rate, date paid to, and payment amount. Frequently a note is also included recording the death date of the pensioner.

Abstracts of the legislative acts for all of the Revolutionary War state pensions granted in New Jersey were published by Russell B. Rankin in the Genealogical Magazine of New Jersey, VII:74-81, 1932-33 (and correction, IX:136). While the abstracts do not include specific payment information or pensioner’s death date, they do include the pension amount and the pensioner’s county of residence. The abstracts also include information on three one-time relief payments made to Revolutionary War veterans John Mapes, (1837), Josiah Hunt (1838), and Joseph Parker (1944).

Payments for Pupils in Charitable Institutions, Books A & B [Items #1 & 3]. These volumes contain accounts of payments made for the instruction of indigent deaf, dumb and blind children for the period 1821-1848. Payments for the deaf and dumb begin in 1821 as provided for by “An Act for the instruction of indigent deaf and dumb persons, inhabitants of this State,” (P.L. 1821, p. 3). Payments for blind children begin in 1836 as a result of additional legislation providing for their education (PL. 1836, p. 305). The information provided includes: student name, charitable institution; date of admission; amount paid; time period the payment covered; and name of person paid (presumably an officer of the charitable institution). The pupil’s New Jersey county of residence, date of discharge or the date of death is also occasionally noted.

State Salary Payment, Books A, B & C [Items 1, 4 & 5. These volumes record the salaries paid to state officers for the period 1821-1865. The information provided includes: name; office held; salary amount; date paid; and time period payments covered. The positions of those listed include governors, attorneys generals, judges, secretaries of state, treasurers, and moral instructors of the State Prison and others.

1.  Institutions included are: New York Deaf and Dumb Asylum/New York Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, the New York Institution for the Blind, the Pennsylvania Deaf and Dumb Asylum/Pennsylvania Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, and/or the Philadelphia Institution for the Blind].