Tax records are a valuable but often overlooked source:
- They can help to fill in the decade between census enumerations and before the first federal census of 1790.
- In burned counties tax records are often the only information you may find on your ancestor.
- Tax records sometimes contain specific residence information, giving an exact physical location of an ancestor at a specific time.
- Tax records can point to an ancestor’s occupation, give descriptions of land and animals owned and of personal property.
A few interesting taxable items:
- If you owned a billiard table or a silver plate or cutlery, a carriage or wagons, you owed the government some tax. If you manufactured boots and shoes, bonnets, collars or sold miscellaneous clothing, you had to pay a tax on those too.
- In 1862 in Michigan, Albert B. Judd was taxed on 8 coffins. I sure hope he was an undertaker or perhaps a manufacturer of coffins because I can’t imagine any other reason someone would have 8 coffins lying around.
- John G. Burnell of Trenton, New Jersey was taxed in 1862 on his 1316 lbs. of ground coffee and spices. He had to pay individual taxes on cinnamon, pepper, mustard, cloves, allspice, and ginger.
An example of an 1862 tax record from New York:
Tax records are worth the effort to track down as they can add rich detail to your ancestor’s life.