Valley of the Shadow
The Eve of War
Fall 1859–Spring 1861

Fire Insurance Policies

Staunton Fire Insurance Depositions (1850–1860)

The “Mutual Assurance Society Against Fire on Buildings of the State of Virginia” sold insurance policies from 1796 through 1861. In addition to collecting the information included in the search, company agents drew sketches of individual insured buildings, which helped us map them at a later date. Included are building owners who took out (or, usually, renewed) policies on their homes and businesses between 1850 and 1860. These are linked to preliminary drawings of the buildings on their blocks.

Numbers not highlighted are for policies taken out before 1850, and do not appear on the maps. In most cases, however, these are previous policies for those renewed in the 1850s. (You will see these previous policy numbers pencilled in next to many of the buildings in the maps.)

Please note: These are sketched drafts and were not originally intended for web use; please forgive the image quality.

North is always to the top of the maps. Names written in brackets are those of neighboring property-owners, and are indicated by an “N->” (for “next to”).

For similar property information and maps of Chambersburg, search the Chambersburg Building Claims.