Do you know the tax process that states instituted to collect taxes from their citizens over the past 200 years? First the county compiled a list of taxpayers and their taxable property, then then they valued the property in order to calculate the tax. After that, the taxes were collected and the county compiled a list of the defaulters – those who did not pay. The records that you will find from this process are not usually the tax receipts, which were given to the taxpayer, but the assessment lists, which are typically available at the county or state level. This is just one of the topics Peggy Lauritzen, AG, will be sharing with us at our eConference next Saturday, June 6.
Peggy will also be discussing the evidence that tax records can provide, including a person’s location, real estate, economic status, family relationships, and occupation. Tax records can provide a plethora of useful information. However, since the tax process was unique in each state, it can be difficult to learn how to research in tax records. They are handwritten and often in poor condition.
Peggy shares a great list of further reading about tax records in her handout. One of the resources she shares is an article from the National Archives magazine, Prologue. The article is called “A Discovery: 1798 Federal Direct Tax Records for Connecticut,” by Judith Green Watson, and discusses a group of valuation slips for a couple towns in the county of Litchfield, Connecticut that were discovered by an archivist in 2004. The valuation lists contain an inventory of all real property and provide a unique look into life in 1798. They discuss the dwelling houses and identify the owner and occupant. They discuss the dwelling’s number of stories, materials of construction, the number and size of windows, number and type of outhouses, and so forth. The only other state that has records from the 1798 Federal Direct tax is Pennsylvania. These are fascinating and unique tax records that are not microfilmed, and have to be accessed by researching directly in the NARA-Northeast Region (Boston) facility. To read more and see examples of the valuation slips, go to the article here: A Discovery: 1798 Federal Direct Tax Records for Connecticut.
America: Our Records and Our History – June 6, 2020, eConference
We hope you will join us on Saturday, June 6, to learn more about tax records! Tomorrow, May 30, is the last day to register. You can register by clicking here.
Schedule (Arizona time, currently PDT):
8:00 a.m. Welcome
8:15 a.m. Michael L. Strauss – Introduction to the Records of the National Archives
9:15 a.m. Break
9:30 a.m. Peggy Clemens Lauritzen – United States Tax Lists and Records
10:30 a.m. Break
10:45 a.m. Michael L. Strauss – Military Research: Providing for the Common Defense
11:45 a.m. Break
12:00 p.m. Billie Stone Fogarty – Bounty Land and the American Soldier
Recordings of the presentations will be available for 30 days following the broadcast.
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