Hi Carolyn,

The first name, Mary Woolf, is the name of the person that is charged with paying the tax. Females are not taxable, however they do pay a tax if they are considered the 'head of the household' and have taxable property. Only males are considered taxable property. The second name, Augustine Woolf, is the name of a taxable white person living with the person that pays the tax, in this case Mary. The column with the "1" in it is the column that states the "No. of White Tithables" in this household. You can see the column headings on page 1 of the 1789 B tax list. There is only 1 taxable white tithable in this household and that is Augustine. I am not sure what the minimum age is for White Tithables in 1789. It could be either 16 or 21. Not sure when the law changed.

A good possibility for the above household is that Mary is a widow and Augustine is her son. But there is no proof stated in this tax list that this possibility is true. The only facts stated in this entry is that Mary, a non-taxable female, is the person that pays the tax and Augustine is a taxable White Tithable that resides with Mary, and she pays the tax on Augustine. If you were to go backwards through previous years you may find some notation that would state "Son" or something that would indicate a relationship.

By the way, the number "3" column is for "Horses, Mares, Colts and Mules". So Mary's household has 3 of these items and each is considered taxable property.

Steve (and Bunny)

Binns Genealogy dot Com
Scanned Virginia Microfilm Images on CD
Virginia Tax List Club
http://www.BinnsGenealogy.com/


From: John Johnson 
Sent: Tuesday, June 07, 2011 9:08 PM
To: [log in to unmask] 
Subject: Re: [VA-ROOTS] Binns Genealogy-tithables


Larry,

Thanks for giving us the Binns Genealogy site with the online VA tax lists.

In the 1789 Personal list for Shenandoah Co., found by searching in the "1790" Master Index, I found several instances where there were two or more names in the first blank. Example:

Woolf Mary Augustine Woolf. In the next column is a "1" and in the 4th a "3." Does this mean Mary Woolf and Augustine Woolf both lived here and were charged with taxes, or is Augustine supposed to be in the column of "names of white male persons above the age of 21 years?" Did he also pay taxes or was Mary Woolf the only one taxed?

Carolyn

To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at
http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-roots.html