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Posted By: J Hull

The revenue laws since the late 19th century had required tax agents to maintain a list of tobacco manufacturers (which was defined very broadly and included every kind of processed or commercialized tobacco product) and to assign them factory numbers. Other revenue and tariff laws and state tax laws required other factories (tobacco manufacturer or not) to be numbered and tracked also. I haven't been able to determine whether 649 means tobacco factory number 649 or just plain factory 649 of the revenue district.

All good questions, but I guess I really can only answer #2. The districts were revenue districts created to help organize the collection of internal revenue (taxes).