This is an excellent question!

   - In my own experience, I have found that one of the most important
   rules of genealogy is to "follow the money".  All of our ancestors had to
   account to someone - tax collectors, property, wills, probate, etc.
   - Census takers came around every ten years, and sometimes missed your
   ancestor.
   - Tax collectors came around every year, and rarely missed anyone.  If
   they didn't collect the tax, they could be thrown in jail.  A good example
   of this is in "A Midwife's Tale - The Diary of Martha Ballard", by Laurel
   Thatcher Ulrich.  Martha was a midwife who lived in Maine during the latter
   part of the 18th century.  Her husband was a tax collector.  Part of her
   diary includes her visits to the jail to bring his dinner.
   - According to the laws of the state/county, you can tell when a young
   man comes of age, when he begins to pay tax, when he acquires land and
   property, when he may be exempt (minister, caretaker of the road, or too
   old), and when his widow is listed as a taxpayer, giving an estimated death
   year.


Oh, I definitely believe in using tax records!


On Thu, Jul 12, 2012 at 1:11 PM, Carole D. Bryant <[log in to unmask]>wrote:

> I've heard it said that using personal property tax lists is NOT a  good
> source for determining the neighbors of any particular tax-payer.  The
> reason
> given was that personal property taxes weren't collected by going  door to
> door, as a census-taker would have done, but were submitted by  mail.
>
> Yet, many folks use the personal property tax lists as they would a census,
>  assuming family relationships according to who else was listed on the same
>  page.
>
> So, which is correct? OR, did the method of vary for different years? If
> the latter is the case, which years can be used like a census?
>
> THANKS !
>     Carole D. Bryant
>
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