In addition to the different requirements for counting persons for the
census and tithables, or people subject to the personal property tax, for
the state, people who hired slaves sometimes paid the tax and sometimes
compounded with the person who received the labor to pay the tax; and I
have long suspected that census enumerators sometimes listed all the people
an enslaver claimed but that tax assessors counted only the enslaved people
on particular pieces of property. All of which has made me very suspicious
about exact calculations and tabulations respecing slavery.

Brent Tarter
[log in to unmask]

On Mon, Nov 8, 2021 at 7:30 PM Leveen, Lois <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

> Howdy,
> This is a very nitty gritty question for folks who have worked on documents
> regarding enslavement, specifically regarding the number of enslaved people
> held as property by particular enslavers.
>
> I'm discovering some pretty significant discrepancies between the number of
> enslaved people listed in the 1850 and 1860 slave schedules, and the number
> listed in the State Auditor Property Tax records.  With the latter, I am
> able to see reported numbers of enslaved people for a particular enslaver
> year by year, not just decade by decade.  But the numbers are WAYYYY off.
> For example, somebody listed with over 20 enslaved people on the slave
> schedule has only 4 or 5 enslaved in the property tax listing for roughly
> the same time period.  I keep seeing this, over and over.
>
> I suspect someone who has more experience/knowledge working with these
> types of records might be able to explain the discrepancies.  If that's
> you, please school me -- I am all ears (or eyeballs, as I"ll be reading
> your answer).
>
> Thanks so much,
> Lois
>
> Lois Leveen, Ph.D.
> she/her/hers
> Virginia Humanities Fellow
> Library of Virginia
> 800 East Broad Street
> Richmond, VA 23219
>
> ______________________________________
> To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at
> https://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html
>
> This list is made possible by a grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum
> and Library Services (IMLS).
>

______________________________________
To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at
https://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html

This list is made possible by a grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).