I have seen tax lists that show "John Doe's hands."  I always figured that
meant an absentee land owner whose slaves were working the distant
plantation.  Is that right? 


MWF

-----Original Message-----
From: Research and writing about Virginia genealogy and family history.
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Tarter, Brent (LVA)
Sent: Friday, July 31, 2009 11:49 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: About Taxes

It is important to remember that there were two kinds of taxes after 1783,
on land and on people. The owners of land were taxed in the county or city
where the land was, which showed up on the land tax books; and the people
were taxed where they resided, which showed up on the separate personal
property tax books where they resided. Enslaved people were also taxed, but
because some enslaved people lived on land in a different county than the
owner lived, and some were hired out to people who may have lived in other
counties or cities, and some lease agreements specified that the owner paid
the tax and some that the renter pay the tax, there was no uniformity about
which personal property tax list on which the enslaved property was listed.
 
Brent Tarter
The Library of Virginia
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