Ditto marks are used by some commissioners as place markers in spaces 
that would otherwise be blank. However, these are usually easy to 
identify as such since they are typically placed in every space that 
would otherwise be blank. Be careful about assuming that there were no 
houses or buildings on property because the amount for buildings was 
left blank. If so, many of my ancestors apparently lived and raised 
their families in haystacks.

Barbara Vines Little, CG, FNGS, FVGS

PO Box 1273
Orange, VA 22960
[log in to unmask]
540-832-3473

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

On 5/30/2014 12:16 PM, Lyle E. Browning wrote:
> The ditto is under both. This is for Stafford County. I have a will that states that the daughter who has been living on a parcel with her husband, is to inherit it if she wishes to continue living there. That indicates a house on the property. But the ditto's appear instead of building values. The building value appears to be some dollars and cents figure so as the entries are alphabetical, I don't see that the dittos would mean identical building values. In the columns where there are distance and bearing from the courthouse and where there are alphabetical designations, then the ditto, as has been pointed out, makes sense, but not in the building values column. In other counties, the cell (if one looks at it like a spreadsheet), would be blank.
>
> Lyle Browning
>
>
>
> On May 30, 2014, at 11:31 AM, Lewis Burruss <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> It is "ditto" meaning that the number is the same as the one above. (or the
>> word is the same as the word above the ")
>>
>>
>> On Thu, May 22, 2014 at 6:22 PM, Lyle E. Browning <[log in to unmask]>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> In reading the Land Tax Records, I often see " for several entries below a
>>> number. I have interpreted this as being an equals mark such that if the
>>> number equalled 1200, then the values for the buildings also equalled 1200.
>>> But I have also noted that there are entries for which there are no "
>>> listed. That brings up the issue of whether the " means equal to the value
>>> above or whether it means no buildings. Where there are no " marks in the
>>> column, I am working under the interpretation that it means no buildings.
>>>
>>> What's the standard interpretation for this little wrinkle?
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>>
>>> Lyle Browning
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