|
LESSON THREE
|
| This Lesson will cover:
RESOURCES TO USE WHEN CENSUS RECORDS ARE LOST Sometimes census records are not
available or you may need to determine the whereabouts of someone
during the ten years prior to the federal census records. In this
case, if they exist, state or county tax records can help. Tax
records are often replaced after a courthouse fire because people
don�t want to pay their taxes twice. Over twenty states have been formed out of what was originally the state of Virginia. This means that there is a potential for many people who have been in the United States since the colonial period and who have ancestors from the midwestern states or the southern states, to find themselves sooner or later in Virginia records. Yet many of the early census records of Virginia have been lost. Other states which have lost census records are found in the class textbook. Can you name the four states which have lost their early census records? Check your book if you cannot remember. TECHNIQUES FOR ANALYZING TAX RECORDS According to your readings for this week's assignment, why should you look at a tax list alphabetically, chronologically, and comparatively? By studying the examples below you may see some clues they can provide. 1844 TAX: VA, Patrick County, Personal Tax Lists, A. H. Carter Dist. FHL 1870194: Joshua Vaughan 21 May 1844 1 titheable 1 horse paid 12 1/2 he was in the same district with Joseph Vaughn on the same day. [This is the first year he showed up in the tax records.] 1845 TAX: VA, Patrick County, Personal Tax Lists, A. H. Carter Dist. FHL 1870194: Joshua Vaughn, 1 tithable, 2 horses 1846 TAX: VA, Patrick County, Personal Tax Lists, Martin Spencer Dist. FHL 1870194: Joshua Vaughn, 1 tithable, 2 horses 1847 TAX: VA, Patrick County, Personal Tax Lists, A. H. Carter Dist. FHL 1870194: Joshua Vaughn, 1 tithable, 1 horse 1848 TAX: VA, Patrick County, Personal Tax Lists, A. H. Carter Dist. FHL 1870194: Joshua A. Vaughn, 1 tithable, 1 horse No Joshua, Joshua A, or Jos. appeared in these tax lists after this year. No Joshua by any name variant was found in the 1850 census in Virginia, and his wife was living with someone else that may have been her daughter in the 1850 census.
Discuss with fellow students in the discussion area what you determined from these tax records. |
|
Did
Joshua have any sons between 16 and 21? If he did, they would also
be tithables because boys from 16 upward had to pay taxes. This tax
record indicates that Joshua was most likely unmarried or was
married with very young children. The fact that Joshua appeared in
the same district with Joseph Vaughn may indicate that Joshua is
Joseph�s son. He also may have just moved into the county. By
searching the county records for other clues as to Joshua�s birth
place, we may be able to build some stronger hypothesis.