While researching in Prince William County, I have used property tax
lists to "recreate neighborhoods." Many of our PWC tax lists ask
"Distance from the Courthouse" and taxpayers responded 6NW or 6 NE, etc.
I used a piece of graph paper to plot out who lived where, using the
Courthouse as a central position. (I had to write really small!)
I've also done the same thing, using Excel, typing in part of the tax
lists then sorting by direction, or by family name, or by milage,
accordingly. Quite a few family relationships popped out in the mix.
A word of caution -- make sure that you know where your Courthouse was
at any given year! Prince William County has had 6 to date, in 6
different places.
Always looking for Brentsville connections,
Pamela Myer Sackett
Vice Chairman, Brentsville Historic Centre Trust
www.brentsville.org
-----Original Message-----
From: Rose Schooff [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, July 09, 2003 11:18 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Personal Property Tax Lists
Information on Tax Records can be found on the Library of Virginia
website at this URL:
http://www.lva.lib.va.us/whatwehave/tax/index.htm
-----Original Message-----
From: Herb Farmer [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, July 09, 2003 11:15 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Personal Property Tax Lists
In an effort to get this moving again, I would like to suggest that the
Personal Property Tax Lists is an excellent resource that a lot of
people ignore thinking that it is mundane. If you search each year for
surnames of interest and then look at the data in collectively a lot can
be gleaned. As an example, in Fauquier Co where excellent records can be
found at the Public Library in Warrenton you will find the Personal
Property Tax List Records from 1782 through 1850. These, plus records
after 1850 can also, be found at the LVA. I believe some may be
obtainable through Inter-Library Loan. In Fauquier Co. there were three
tax lists: "A", "B", & "C". They were not always microfilmed in the same
order every year so it is important to record or rearrange your data so
that you know which list it came from. List "A" was fro Southern
Fauquier Co. below Warrenton; "B" was for Northwest Fauquier Co. above
Warrenton, and "C" was for Northeast Fauquier Co. above Warrenton. I
found my John Hefferlin, Revolutionary War Soldier, first listed in 1787
on list "A" and also listed in various years up to his death in 1837.
His sons were identified in the lists when they became of age (16-21)
when they were "tithed" and tax had to be paid. Women were only listed
if they were responsible for paying the tax (a widow with horses or
tithable males for example). Please don't short change yourself by
ignoring these lists. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
Phyllis
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