A deed exists in the courthouse for the county in which each tract is and was situated (except in SOME cases of primogeniture), or at least a deed WAS there at one time (in some instances, the Yankees burned those down), and virtually all deeds recite the home county of the grantor.  Moreover, if a grantee was foreign to the county of the land, very often his county of residence also is set forth.  Notice also how the money was designated, since that currency that was to be used to pay the grantor often was recited and required, e.g., "payable in current money of Virginia", "to be paid in New York Gold Coin", "consideration is L__?__ Proclamation Money of NC", etc., etc. 

You also should remember that the land was taxable to the owner at HIS place of residence and could be a lien on the land no matter where he lived.  So, if that residence was different from the assessing county, very often the residence was set forth, as was his known whereabouts at the last taxing period.

(Oh yeh, "etc." usually means that the writer ran out of knowledge, and the reader is on his/her own to supply that additional info.  hahahaha).        
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: [log in to unmask] 
  To: [log in to unmask] 
  Sent: Wednesday, July 14, 2004 12:43 PM
  Subject: Taxes


  I am confused about the value of tax lists to us.  If an ancestor owned
  property in several counties or states, wouldn't they appear on tax lis from all
  these areas?
  How do we know where they actually lived on a certain year?

  Nancy

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