Hi All,

Not having much else to do this Labor Day weekend I decided to do a 
comparison of one of our tax lists to the Federal Census, just to see what 
similarities and differences I could find. It was an interesting experiment. 
My subject was the 1810 City of Fredericksburg Census and Personal Property 
Tax List. I used my index of our Tax List scans compared to the Ancestry.com 
index. To make this a short study I only did the surnames from A to E.

First, we should realize that these two lists will not be the same. People 
come and go. Different times will result in different lists. If they did not 
have property then they won't be on the tax list. If they were not the head 
of the household then they won't be on the census. So, just how different 
are these two documents? I was a bit surprised !!

Tax List:
Total names: 70
Same names: 50
Different names: 20

Census:
Total names: 90
Same names: 50
Different names: 40

What I discovered is that there are a lot of additional names. The Census 
gives me 40 names not on the Tax List and the Tax List gives me 20 names not 
on the census. When I combine the differences of the two lists I get an 
additional 60 names. That's 120% more than the names that are the same on 
both lists !!

So if you cannot find your ancestor on the Census do not assume they are not 
there. The tax lists are very important to look at also. They just might be 
hiding there !!

By the way, I did a similar study years ago comparing the Land Tax Lists to 
the Personal Property Tax Lists. I got similar results. So don't forget to 
look at them too.

Steve and Bunny
Binns Genealogy CD Series
http://www.BinnsGenealogy.com/