Re: Tax List Records
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In reply to:
Re: Tax List Records
8/24/00
To amplify on a point Susan made about "the neighbors" in her fine post.Tax lists often give a rather precise location of land that an individual owned.By knowing that, one may then determine the town where that individual bought supplies, went to church and attended social functions.From this we can then build a "short list" of people the individual might've come in contact. It is from this list that we find a majority of references to the individual in "other people's records."For example: a buyer at an estate sale, a witness to a deed or will, things of that nature.Some times it is very neccessary to establish that a person was at a particular place at a particular time and what better way than to find that he "bought a saw at the estate sale of a neighbor" or "was a witness to a deed."
To give you an idea of the importance I place on Tax Digests, after an individual is found in a census record, Tax Digests both before and after the census are the next record group that I peruse.
Hope this helps,
Lee