My understanding is that the personal property tax lists (1782+) record every free head of household and any taxable personal property they owned. Those lists do not report what was paid or not paid, only what was owed.
The sheriff might report the names of persons who had not paid their taxes. Such lists might appear in the county court minutes. If the list was not recorded there, it may only exist as a loose paper among the county records.
The law allowed that free colored persons who owed taxes might be forced to work to pay them off. 1814 [Acts of the Assembly]. Chapter XX. "In case any free Negro of mulatto shall neglect in any year to pay all taxes, poor rates, and levies, he may be hired out for so long a time as will raise the said taxes, provided sufficient cannot be raised on his estate, and provided the Negro has been first summoned to show cause, if any, against making such order." [June Purcelll Guild, _Black Laws of Virginia_ (Whittet & Shepperson, 1936; reprinted, New York: Negro Universities Press, 1969), 137]
Donald L. Wilson, Virginiana Librarian,
Ruth E. Lloyd Information Center
for Genealogy and Local History (RELIC),
Prince William Public Library System,
Bull Run Regional Library,
8051 Ashton Avenue, Manassas, VA 20110-2892
703-792-4540 www.pwcgov.org/library/relic
-----Original Message-----
From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Pudding
Sent: Tuesday, November 17, 2009 10:21 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: VA Tax lists
Is it correct to say that persons who appear in the personal property tax lists, says 1700-1800s actually paid taxes and that the lists did not include those who could not afford to pay taxes? I asked because as I was looking at 1840-1850s county minutes for Rappahannock County, I found numerous entries where the sheriff asked that delinquent tax and levies lists be accepted into court. In some cases the names were recorded and in other cases they were not. I ask in conjuction with research I am conducting on free negroes. In 1851 for example I found a list of 17 free negroes who could not pay their taxes but cannot remember if any of their names appear in the personal property tax list for that year, so I am wondering if someone does not appear in the tax list, that does not mean they were not in the county but could mean that they did not pay taxes.I have also wondered if those lists of delinquents exist somewhere - I have not seen them in the microfilm for the personal property - But wonder if they are still at the court house or if they were sent to the Public Auditor.
Ruth Solomon
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