County Tax Rolls
One of my favorite record sets for 19th-century research is county tax records. There is no doubt that this process can be a bit tedious, but very few items can give us such a clear picture of a person's movements and life events year-over-year than tax records.
There is one simple tip that I can share with you that will make county tax rolls some of the most powerful records that you can use in your genealogy research: People will not pay taxes if they don’t have to pay taxes. Ok, yeah, duh. We don’t like paying taxes today and Americans didn’t like paying them two hundred years ago.
But what’s that got to do with genealogy?
Application 1: A person isn’t going to pay taxes twice in one year.
A few of examples of how this breaks down – First, if there are three John Smiths listed in a county tax record, then there are three men named John Smith in that county for that given tax year. Why? Because John Smith isn’t going to pay taxes three times. He didn’t want to pay them one time.
Second, if Henry Peebles is paying taxes in Warren County, Georgia in 1817 and Henry Peebles is also paying taxes in Jefferson County, Georgia in 1817, then there are two men named Henry Peebles in Georgia in 1817 and one lived in Warren County and the other lived in Jefferson County. Why? He didn’t want to pay his taxes if he didn’t have to pay his taxes. Because Henry Peebles paid his poll tax in Warren County, he’s not going to pay a second poll tax in Jefferson County. He’s not going to double-pay his taxes.
Henry Peebles on the 1817 Warren County, Georgia Tax Roll. He paid his poll tax once, taxes on 72 enslaved persons, 1058 acres in Warren County, and 1596 acres, also in Warren County. United States, Georgia, Warren - Taxation; Tax digest, 1794, 1801, 1805, 1817-1818, 1849-1850, 1858; "Georgia, Tax Digests, 1787-1900", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS4K-2Q3Z-W?cc=4130006 : 28 November 2022), > image 227 of 480.
Henry Peebles on the 1817 Jefferson County, Georgia Tax Roll. He paid his poll tax once, taxes on 2 enslaved persons, and 230 acres in Jefferson County. United States, Georgia, Jefferson - Taxation; Tax digests, 1796-1920; "Georgia, Tax Digests, 1787-1900", "Georgia, Tax Digests, 1787-1900", FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSKK-C3MZ-5?cc=4130006 : 28 November 2022), > image 430 of 529.
So, which Henry Peebles is the correct Henry Peebles? Obviously, more research would be needed. I found the Henry Peebles in Warren County first as my Montgomery ancestors were in Warren County (later McDuffie County) in the later part of the 1800’s, but tracing the Montgomery’s backwards, I found my 5th great-grandfather, Hugh Montgomery, living in Jefferson County. And I saw the other Henry Peebles living there, very near him. Same time, but different county from the other Henry Peebles. I knew that Henry Peebles’ daughter, Mary Peebles, married Hugh Montgomery’s son, Robert Montgomery, in 1832 per a Bible Record. Hugh Montgomery and the correct Henry Peebles both lived in Jefferson County, very near each other in the early 1800s. This was a clue and then further research using probate records helped me detremine which one was my Henry Peebles.
Third, if a man owns property in multiple counties, he will pay the taxes for all the land owned in the county of his current residence. Why? Same logic: he’s only going to pay his poll tax once, and he’s going to pay it in the same place where he’s going to cast his vote.
Thomas Peebles on the 1803 Jefferson County, Georgia Tax Roll. He paid his poll tax once, taxes on 7 enslaved persons, 200 acres of 3rd quality land in Jefferson County, 400 acres of piney lands in Jefferson County, and 200 acress of piney land in Montgomery County. The tax digests for 1803 in Montgomery County, Georgia do not exist, so I can not confirm a negative search, but Thomas Peebles would not have paid double taxes on the same acreage. United States, Georgia, Jefferson - Taxation; Tax digests, 1796-1920; 1796, 1799, 1801-1804; FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSKK-C9F5-T?cc=4130006 : 28 November 2022), > image 345 of 471.
Application 2: A person isn’t going to pay taxes if he is not old enough to pay taxes as required by law.
You’ll have to look up the tax laws/requirements for whatever state you are researching, but in my experience, the age that taxes must start being paid by white males in the 1800s has been either 16 or 21. This depends on the state and the date of the taxes. Some states started requiring taxes at age 16, but then changed later in the 1800s to require taxes to be paid at age 21. This is especially helpful when doing pre-1850 research. When tracking my Peebles family in McDuffie County, Georgia, I could literally go through the tax records year by year and watch as each son turned 16.
Boom. I’ve got a pretty good estimate of the year of birth. In fact, I prefer to use this year of birth over other years calculated by the 1850 or later censuses – especially when those ages are all over the place. Why? Because he wasn’t going to taxes if he didn’t have to pay taxes. Thus, a person is not going to pay taxes at age 15. He will wait until the tax collection date after he first turns 16.
Application 3: People will only pay someone else’s taxes if there is a strong relationship between the two parties.
I have seen this play out a couple of ways. First, the administrator of somebody’s estate will pay the taxes for the estate while it is in probate (this also allows you to narrow it down to a year of death). A stranger will not be the administrator of a deceased person’s estate. This can be especially helpful in burned counties. Probate records are often kept at the county level and if the courthouse burned, the probate record may no longer exist. If the tax rolls were kept at the state level, which they often were, we can see who administered the deceased’s estate. Now that we have a known relationship between the deceased and the administrator, we can start our collateral line research into the administrator.
Second, 16-year-olds may be old enough to pay taxes, but for land ownership, young men did not often reach their majority until age 21. Thus, they owed tax money that they had no income to pay. The person who paid the poll tax for the teenager is often noted on the tax roll. You can be assured that person is most likely to be the young man’s father. Why? Because nobody is going to pay someone else’s taxes if they don’t have to. Of course, there are scenarios where the tax is paid by an older brother, an uncle, a brother-in-law, or a grandfather if the young man’s father has already passed. This requires additional research. But in the end, you can put this young man in a family group at the very least. If the person paying his tax isn’t his father, then we confidently theorize that his father is already deceased.
James M Bates is my 5th great-grandfather. Fleming Bates is the father of James M Bates, and my 6th great-grandfather. Fleming Bates and James M Bates are both listed on the 1817 Tax Roll for Warren County, Georgia. On the first line, you can see the taxes paid by Fleming Bates. The second line says “for James M Bates” which notates that Fleming Bates paid the taxes for James M Bates in 1817. Note that James M Bates owns no property or items of value to be taxed. His father, Fleming Bates, is paying James M Bates’ poll tax. United States, Georgia, Warren - Taxation; Tax digest, 1794, 1801, 1805, 1817-1818, 1849-1850, 1858; "Georgia, Tax Digests, 1787-1900", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS4K-2Q3N-G?cc=4130006 : 28 November 2022), > image 214 of 480.
Application 4: A person isn’t going to pay taxes if he is too old to pay taxes as required by law.
Again, you’ll have to look up the tax laws/requirements for whatever state you are researching in, but in my experience, the age that white males no longer had to pay a poll tax in the 1800s has been either 50 or 55 or 65. This depends on the state and the date of the taxes. Again, this is almost as good as a birthdate when dealing with folks before 1850. It is remarkable how many of my ancestors do not have known gravestones. The early 1800 federal censuses give me age buckets, and comparing where an ancestor falls in the buckets on the various censuses, can give me a birth range. But if I look at the tax rolls year after year, I can see exactly when he stops paying his poll tax. This means that he turned age 50 or age 55 or age 65 (depending on the tax laws for that year in that state). Boom. Birth year obtained. Why? Because he’s not going to pay taxes if he doesn’t have to pay taxes. So, he’s not going to pay that poll tax if he’s reached the age where he no longer owes it.
Allen Weeks on the 1861 Lafayette County, Florida tax roll. All men aged 21 and over, but under age 50 were required to pay the poll tax. Thus, Allen Weeks was under age 50 in 1861. familysearch.org Catalog “United States, Florida”; Taxation; Tax rolls of Florida counties, some are incomplete, 1839-1891, Author: Floroda Tax Commission; Lafayette County, 1858-1864, 1866-1880; https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSYZ-39LG-N?cat=298085
Allen Weeks on the 1862 Lafayette County, Florida tax roll. All men aged 21 and over, but under age 50 were required to pay the poll tax. Thus, Allen Weeks was age 50 in 1862. This puts his date of birth right around 1811-1812. The 1850 and 1860 censuses report him as being quite a few years younger. familysearch.org Catalog “United States, Florida”; Taxation; Tax rolls of Florida counties, some are incomplete, 1839-1891, Author: Floroda Tax Commission; Lafayette County, 1858-1864, 1866-1880; https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSYZ-39L2-B?i=103&cat=298085
Application 5: A person isn’t going to pay taxes on land that he doesn’t own.
If a person is paying taxes on a certain number of acres in a given county year after year and then stops paying taxes on that land in a subsequent year, go check the deed books.
This tip is especially helpful in counties where the deed books are not indexed. I’ve certainly flipped through thousands of pages of unindexed deeds and chancery court records over the years, but using this tip allows you to focus on a specific year to two-year period of time. This saves hours of research time.
Additional Applications
I have some tips about tax records that don’t quite fit under the umbrella of “a person won’t pay taxes if a person doesn’t have to pay taxes”.
If a person is paying taxes in a given county year after year and they are paying more than just their poll tax (i.e., they paid taxes on livestock and/or land), and then in a subsequent year they are no longer paying taxes in that county, but no one is administering their estate, then they probably moved. If they were only paying a poll tax and then no longer show up on the tax rolls, it is possible that they passed away during the previous 12 months. But if they had “stuff,” there should be a probate in the court records.
Or an administrator paying taxes on the estate (the thing to remember with this is that the taxes are recorded under the administrator’s name and if his last name is not the same as the deceased, you will want to scan all the taxpayers in that year to see if the taxes are being paid by the estate’s administrator). But if there is no record of an estate, you might start looking at the tax rolls of the next known county of residence. The Federal Census records can help with this. Or look for county boundary changes.
Sometimes it looks like folks have moved, but really the county boundary lines were just redrawn or created from older counties. And so, your ancestor is in the exact place that they have always been. There will be no deed records because it’s the same property, but now it’s in a different county.
Women can sometimes be found on tax rolls as well. This usually indicates that her husband, father, grandfather, or some other male left her property at the time of his death. Or that she is the administratrix of her deceased husband’s estate and is paying taxes on the said estate while it is still in probate.
Also, if your ancestor doesn’t show up on the tax roll for a given year, check at the end of that year’s tax roll because they might be listed there as a “defaulter”.
My own personal tax records expertise is in the states of Georgia and Florida. Both can be found on FamilySearch. When dealing with Georgia Tax Rolls, I have found that for the most part, they are housed in the catalog for each county if they exist. There are a few Georgia county tax rolls in the catalog for the state of Georgia and they can be found here.
Florida tax rolls are housed in the catalog for the state and then listed by county. Unfortunately, the Florida county tax rolls are locked records, which means that they can only be viewed at your local Family History Library which can be a minor inconvenience, but the information contained in them is so rich, that I don’t mind carving out some time to pop over to dig through them.
