Virginia Tax and Rent Rolls: A checklist of Evidence: A variety of tax lists were generated before they became more standardized in 1782. This checklist will enable you to spot these valuable lists:
__Military Bounty (1759)
__Clothing, Uniforms
__Civilian Subsistence
__Damage Claims
__Bills of Credit (1777)
__Tithables
__Tobacco, public levy
__Treasury Notes
__Wheeled Carriages (1762)
(Except farm wagons)
Coach
Chariot
2-wheeled chaise or chair
__Marriage Licenses (1775)
__Liquor, Cider
__Court Writs, Subpoenas, Petitions
__Ordinary Licenses
__Slaves(1770)
Free Negroes, Mulattoes, Indians,
Women aged 16 and above, all
Wives exempt)
Added 1777-78:
__Income
__Annuities
__Quitrents (Northern Neck)
__Horses
__Mules
__Cattle
__Plate (Silver)
__Salaries
__Profits
__Exports
__Debts
__Manors
__Messuages, Tenements
__Mulatto Servants
__Money in Hand
Exemptions:
__Dower Rights
__Provisions to Wounded Soldiers
__Parish Poor
__Families of Soldiers
__Double tax on citizens who refuse
To take oaths of allegiance
Triple tax in 1778
Added 1779:
__Commodity Tax:
Bushel wheat
2 bushels Indian corn, barley, rye
10 pecks of oats
15 lbs hemp
28 lbs tobacco
__Rum, brandy
__Distilled Spirits from Grain
__Imports into VA:
Salt
Blankets
Iron
Steel
Arms
Munitions
Added 1780:
__Land Warrants
__Flax
__Inspected Flour
__Riding Vehicles (included wagons)
__Conveyances
__Glass Windows
__Factor’ Stock in Trade
__New Bills of Credit, Bank Notes
(All money was recalled)
Added 1781:
__Billiard Tables
__Wine
__Land Patents
__Customs on sugar, coffee
3 copies of tax lists made:
__Public Accounts Auditor
__Sheriff or Tax Collector
__County Copy
Added 1782:
__Buck Skins
__Mares, Colts
__”Covering Horses” (studs)
__Stage Wagons
__Phaetons
Taxes could be paid in any medium or currency: skins, tobacco, hemp, flour, Johannes Coins, Guineas, Moidors, Doubloons, Pistols.
Joan W. Peters. The Tax Man Cometh: Land and Property in Colonial Fauquier County, Virginia. Tax Lists from County Court Loose Papers, 1759-1782. 1999. Available Willow Bend Books, 100 Railroad Ave, Suite 104, Westminster MD 21157-5026. Introduction is one of the most complete treatments of taxation in Virginia I have read. I recommend it as essential reading if you have an ancestor during the Revolutionary War years.
Your favorite Virginia genealogist, Arlene Eakle http://www.arleneeakle.com
PS See new content on website–and please excuse my “bad hair day” at the county courthouse searching tax rolls. I knew I needed to have a hair cut!