Hello Jim and All,
I very much appreciate Jim's post below because that answers a bunch of
questions I hadn't asked, but to which I am sure there are many of us here
who wanted the answer.
As the person who began the discussion though...my question was WHETHER,
regardless of whether they (or their sires) were dunned/exempted for
anything, they would be ROUTLINELY REQUIRED TO BE listed (with 0 tithe) on
the Tithables lists (in their father's household if need be) IF during the
Rev War they were "abroad" in their service and not "at home" BEFORE they had
been old enough to establish their own households.
My best regards, Janet Hunter
In a message dated 10/18/2002 3:00:02 PM Eastern Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
> 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
> [log in to unmask]
>
>
>
> -----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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