Not appearing in the tax lists can also mean that they had been exempted  
from paying taxes by the county court because of infirmity, disability, or 
old  age. Check the county court order books or minute books for such 
exemptions by  court order. Disappearing from the tax lists doesn't necessarily mean 
death or a  move out of town.
 
Some county copies of the tax records do indeed appear in courthouses --  
the originals for the late 18th and early 19th century in Fairfax  County, 
for example, resided in the Virginia Room of the county library system  when I 
worked there until they were transferred to the county archives in the  
late 1980s. There can be missing pages in either copy, so if something appears  
to missing in one place checking for the second copy (if they exist) is a 
good  thing to do. Transcription errors and names being skipped by the scribe 
did  happen.
 
Eric Grundset

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