Thanks, Vince, That was one I wasn't familiar with. The question then 
become one of was the tax recorder making an error or was there another 
individual in the household who was being taxed when he there is a poll 
tax charged. I don't see the law in the 1819 code but I may have missed 
it in a quick search.

Barbara Vines Little, CG, FNGS, FUGA, FVGS
PO Box 1273
Orange, VA 22960

540-832-3473
[log in to unmask]

CG, Certified Genealogist, is a service mark of the Board for Certification of Genealogists, used
under license by board-certified genealogists after periodic evaluation; the board name is
registered in the US Patent & Trademark Office.

On 4/5/2023 8:52 AM, Brooks, Vincent (LVA) wrote:
> According to:
>
> Sawers, B. (2017). The Poll Tax before Jim Crow. The American Journal of Legal History, 57(2), 166–197, 259. https://www.jstor.org/stable/48545052
>
> "From 1816 to 1850 there was no poll tax on free Blacks [in Virginia]."
>
> This statement is footnoted: Act of December 21, 1814, 1814 VA Acts 3, 8; Tipton Ray Snavely, The Taxation of Negroes in Virginia, at 13 (1916).
> ________________________________
> From: Lois M. Leveen <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Tuesday, April 4, 2023 7:19 PM
> To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] 1840 city property tax categories
>
> I appreciate the responses to date, but I remain a bit befuddled because I have multiple documents indicating taxes due from the same household, for different years in the 1840s, and only one indicates “poll” along with other applicable taxes.  This was a household of free African Americans, with at least one adult male householder (the same head of household) for the various years for which I have found extant documentation.  So it seems if it were a head tax, it would be levied EVERY year.
>
> Am I missing something?
>
> -Lois
>
>
>> On Apr 3, 2023, at 7:06 AM, Tarter, Brent (LVA) <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>> For many decades by the 1840s, Virginia had taxed economically productive residents, including white men and enslaved men, women, and children. It was called a poll tax because it was a tax on people enumerated by head (poll) but not then a prerequisite for the franchise.
>>
>> Brent
>> ________________________________
>> From: Metz, John (LVA) <[log in to unmask]>
>> Sent: Monday, April 3, 2023 9:11 AM
>> To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
>> Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] 1840 city property tax categories
>>
>> I am guessing that this is the tax per head represented in the household. Poll, after all, is an archaic reference to “head.”
>>
>> From: Lois Leveen <[log in to unmask]>
>> Date: Monday, April 3, 2023 at 9:05 AM
>> To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
>> Subject: [VA-HIST] 1840 city property tax categories
>> Howdy colleagues,
>> I am looking at receipts for Richmond city property tax assessments from
>> the 1840s.  The form lists various types of taxable property:
>> Lot
>> House
>> Horse
>> Dog
>> Carriage Wheel
>> Poll
>>
>> I understand what most of those refer to, but I'm stumped by what "polls"
>> are in this context (poll tax as a voting tax I understand, but this is
>> property tax on a household whose Black members would not be eligible to
>> vote for decades to come).  I look forward to someone on this list
>> educating me on what exactly this household had two of, that were treated
>> as Polls for the purpose of taxation.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Lois
>>
>> Lois Leveen, PhD
>> she/her/hers
>>
>> ______________________________________
>> 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).
>>
>> ______________________________________
>> 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).
>
> ______________________________________
> 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).