These legal documents belonging to James Barnes Whitaker include mortgages, leases, quitclaim deeds, indentures, warrants issued to the Marshal's office, tax and other receipts regarding Whitaker's real estate business. There are also Internal Revenue licenses for various occupations, records on pension and war claims, including forms from the War Department, Treasury Office, and Department of the Interior Pension Office. Bound volumes include a notebook of war claims and a county surveyor field notebook. James Barnes Whitaker had a long association with the territory and state of Kansas. He came to Tecumseh, Shawnee County, Kansas, in 1856 from Boston, Massachusetts, and worked as a surveyor there. In 1857, he moved to Topeka where he remained, serving as county sheriff, surveyor, and Topeka city engineer. He was also commissioned a deputy U.S. Marshal. He owned an abstract and real estate business in Topeka and was an attorney, representing numerous Civil War veterans in obtaining disability pensions, many of whom served in Kansas units.
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