I am cleaning out my inbox this morning. This includes reading e-mails that I have saved so that I can delete them. My entire focus this weekend has been to file "stuff" where I can actually access the "stuff". The Virginia Genealogical Society sent me a newsletter this month that is of interest. It is a website that has maps for the tax districts in Botetourt County from 1770 to 1780.
Here is what Botetourt county looked like in 1770
Taxation in Colonial Virginia
For taxation purposes, the county courts in colonial Virginia subdivided their territory into discrete units— tithable districts. The courts appointed county magistrates—list owners—to generate lists of all potential taxpayers residing within each district. The list owners were required to submit their completed tax lists to the court by 10 June each year. Rather than affecting only land and property owners, this tax was imposed upon all individuals of a certain age who lived within a specified area, and therein lies the usefulness of these lists.
Here is the URL for the new website:
Later in the newsletter VGS added the definition of a tithable which is very helpful for research purposes:
Definition of a Tithable
In 1748, the Virginia legislature consolidated its previous laws defining tithables with an amended definition: “That all male persons of the age of sixteen years and upwards, and all negroe, mulatto, and Indian women of the same age, except Indians tributary to this government, and all wives of free negroes, mulattos, and Indians, except as before excepted, shall be and are hereby declared to be tithable, and chargeable for defraying the public, county, and parish levies, of this colony and dominion...”.1 The act went on to specify several conditions for exemption.
1 William W. Hening, ed. The Statutes at Large: Being a Collection of All the Laws of Virginia, from the First Session of the Legislature, in the Year 1619...[1809–1823], V6, Chap. XXI, 41-44.
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