From a Google search:

"Many court order books state that a person was exempt from paying his
taxes.
At various times and not all the time, the following people were exempt from

paying their taxes: high ranking officers of the state, the Governor and his

servants, clergymen,  older males who were either infirm physically or
mentally, those who were in the military service and those who were settling

new land.

Non-tithable - [Exempt from tithe, Exempt, Ext., Expt, Ex., Cleared of
levies, L. Free, levy free, clear'd poll tax, etc.] - Reasons for being
exempt from the tithe included: (1) Being a white woman; (2) Not being a
citizen of Virginia; (3) Being a political employee - everything from a
constable to state governor; (4) Being a professor at a college; (5) Being a
minister of the Gospel; (6) Being a soldier or sailor; (7) Being old or
infirm -- the person was exempted by applying to the county court so records
of those exempt for this reason can be found in the court order books; (8)
Being a ferryman; (9) Being a non-resident - the tax was imposed only once,
so if a man owned property in two counties, or in two different "quarters"
in one county, he was exempt from the tithe except at his place of
residence."

Reasons for being exempt included being a woman; being old and infirm; and
an occupation of clergyman or professor.  Certain political jobs - from
constable (at the county level) to governor (at the state level) made one
exempt.  White males sixteen to twenty one were subject to a county parish
tithe, but not to the state poll tax.  Indians were exempt.  Levy free and
not tithable are synonymous.  However, when the tax commissioner wrote levy
free, he probably meant the person had been legally exempted from paying the
tax by the county court.  Any time a person's name did not appear in the
column to be counted as a poll, we have indicated this by inserting not
tithable in the notes.  Some of these were no doubt levy free because of
court orders, while others were exempt from the poll for other reasons."

Jim Greve
Archivist
The Library of Virginia
800 E. Broad Street
Richmond, Virginia 23219
(804) 692-3752
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-----Original Message-----
From: Patricia M. Seaver [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, October 18, 2002 3:01 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Personal Tax Lists


>Assembly imposed. These people were subject to the tax: all free caucasian
>males age sixteen or older; some adult female caucasians (usually widows)
>who were heads of households; all slaves age sixteen or older; Native

I would caution anyone examining these lists to check the categories
for each year.  In some years, the first column was males 16+; in
other years, the first column was males 21+; in other years the first
column was males 16+ and the second column was males 16-21; some
years simply say "whites" for the first column, although the numbers
suggest that only males over 16 or 21 were included.  In some years
the second column was slaves; other years specified slaves over age
16.  Some years had the second column for slaves over age16 and the
third column for slaves between ages 12 and 16.  In the (few) years
where I found the whites divided according to those over 21 and those
between 16 and 21, then the third column was slaves.  Beginning in
1821, most of the Halifax County lists had only two columns--one for
slaves and one for horses.  I found two years in the 1820s when the
tax commissioner for the northern district enumerated only slaves and
horses, while the commissioner for the southern district had four
columns (whites over age 21; slaves over age 16; slaves between 12
and 16; horses).

Moral of the story:  check the headings for each year.

In spite of these problems, these lists are a treasure of information
and a rich supplement to census records.  You might be able to
estimate when someone died or when someone turned 16 or 21.  Although
the Halifax lists are semi-alphabetized beginning in 1787, most
include the month and day, which can give a hint about where one
person lived in relation to another.  Do not, however, assume that
someone died or moved without checking several years beyond; I found
a gap of 8 years for one individual, who then reappeared; the name
was unusual, and there were other indications that the person had not
died or moved.  I have found several instances of someone appearing
in the census, but not on the tax lists or vice versa.

I have a question:  one of my Halifax County ancestors was listed in
1783 with the notation "levy free"; he does not appear in 1784, and
the inventory of his estate was in 1785.  We do not have a reliable
estimate on when he was born.  Does anyone know when a person would
have become levy-free?  Were there reasons other than age to declare
someone levy-free?  Can anyone recommend a reference where I might
find the information?

Pat Seaver

--
Patricia Moorefield Seaver
Knoxville, Tennessee

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