AUS-Tasmania-L Archives

From: "Meryl Yost" <>
Subject: Re: ASSESSMENT ROLL?
Date: Wed, 5 May 1999 22:22:13 +1000

Hi everyone,
Further to Douglas' information on Assessment Rolls. Quoting from
'Local & Family History Sources in Tasmania' compiled by Anne M.
Bartlett, p70.
"The assessment (or valuation) rolls for each municipality or district
were published annually (more or less) in the Tasmanian Government
Gazette until the middle of this century. The first roll, published
in 1847, was for Hobart. Lists for Hobart and Launceston appeared in
1853 and those for other areas appeared from 1858 onwards."
regards,
Meryl Yost, Launceston, Tasmania
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Joint Listowner: AUS-Tasmania mailing list
http://www.vision.net.au/~tashistory/mailist.htm
E-mail:
Mainly Tasmanian, Meryl Yost's Genealogy Home Page
http://www.speed.net.au/~yostie
Tasmanian Family History Service
http://www.vision.net.au/~tashistory/
Joint Co-ordinator: TasmaniaGenWeb
http://www.vision.net.au/~tashistory/tasgenweb.htm
-----Original Message-----
From: Douglas Burbury <>
To: <>
Date: Wednesday, 5 May 1999 2:56
Subject: ASSESSMENT ROLL?

>Hi,
>
>I posted a message recently which mentioned Assessment Rolls, and
someone
>on the list sent a message back to me asking what these were.
>
>The purpose of Assessment Rolls was mainly to provide a list of
individual
>parcels of land and their values for taxation purposes. The lists
were
>published at periodic intervals in the Hobart Town Gazette (later the
>Tasmanian Government Gazette). Assessment Rolls for Hobart Town, for
>example, were published about once a year.
>
>The information contained in these rolls includes:
>* Street and house number
>* Owner
>* Occupier
>* Area
>* Assessed annual value for rates purposes
>
>A sample of the kind of information they contain can be seen at the
>following URL on the Tasmanian Family History Service website:
>
> http://www.vision.net.au/~tashistory/value.htm
>
>The Assessment Rolls are an invaluable resource for family
historians. They
>are available on microfilm at major libraries and at the State
Archives (as
>part of the microfilmed editions of the Gazette), and some districts
even
>have bound hard copies. Indexes to the Gazette are usually available
too,
>so that you can easily find which editions of the Gazette contain the
Rolls.
>
>I believe the Assessment Rolls for Hobart Town were first published
in the
>early 1850s, and other districts gradually appeared from then on.
>
>The message I posted earlier illustrated how these Assessment Rolls
can be
>used. The birth certificate for Isabella Grace BURBURY said that she
was
>born at Goulburn Street, and that her mother was Ann (nee) KING and
the
>informant was her grandmother Hannah KING. By looking at the
Assessment
>Roll for Hobart Town for 1866, I found that there was a James KING
living
>in Goulburn Street. The Tasmanian Pioneer Index also gives the birth
of a
>child Ann to James and Hannah KING about 20 years before Isabella's
birth,
>along with other children.
>
>So the initial hypothesis to be drawn from this is: Ann nee KING was
the
>daughter of James and Hannah, and she went back to her parents' house
for
>the birth.
>
>The Assessment Rolls then give a bit more information: They list an
Ann
>BURBURY as the occupier of 255 Murray Street in January 1866.
>
>I have no further information on who this Ann might be, and she
doesn't
>appear in any other documents that I've been able to find. Isabella's
birth
>certificate merely gives her mother's name as Ann KING, so it could
still
>be open to conjecture whether Ann and Isabella's father Arthur were
in fact
>married. (As I've pointed out previously, the only Arthur BURBURY I
know of
>was already married to someone else.)
>
>So by using the Assessment Roll entries in this way, I have not
exactly
>solved a problem; in fact, they have created a problem. But without
them, I
>would not have been aware that there was a problem to be solved. ;-)
>
>Hope this explanation helps.
>
>Note that if anyone wants to ask for a "lookup" in these Assessment
Rolls,
>it is better if you already have a pretty good idea of what you're
looking
>for. i.e. if you're looking for a John BROWN who lived in Hobart Town
some
>time during the 1860s, it could take a fair bit of effort to find
him. But
>if you're looking for, say, a Thomas WHITNEY who you know was a baker
in
>Elizabeth Street, then it's a bit easier to find him and to pinpoint
how
>long he was there. And if you then find a Christiana WHITNEY a few
doors
>along, and if you already know that Christiana is a name which
appears
>later on in the WHITNEY family, then you can start drawing some
interesting
>hypotheses. (This is another actual example.)
>
>DOuglas
>
>--
>E-mail: ------------------ Launceston,
Tasmania
>http://www.vision.net.au/~dburbury/burbury.htm (Burbury family
page)
>http://www.gunpowder-plot.org/gun-plot.htm (Gunpowder Plot
page)
>Listowner: BURBURY Mailing List Co-owner: GUNPOWDER-PLOT Mailing
List
>
>
>==== AUS-Tasmania Mailing List ====
>Ausflag - Tasmanian Flag, picture and history
>http://www.ausflag.com.au/flags/tas.html
>
>

This thread:

• ASSESSMENT ROLL? by Douglas Burbury <>

  • Re: ASSESSMENT ROLL? by "Meryl Yost" <>