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Archiver > MDCAROLI > 2002-07 > 1026492389


From: Genevieve <>
Subject: [MDCAROLI] 1783 Tax Assessment - Fidelity Oath
Date: Fri, 12 Jul 2002 11:46:29 -0500


Historians - please help.

I found this 1783 Tax Assessment on the Maryland Archives. It lists
three District Hundreds - UPPER Choptank District, RIVER District and
LOWER Choptank District. I found my ancestor, Henry Stubbs (great X 4
grandfather) in LOWER CHOPTANKk HUNDRED, along with Collisons, Framptons
and Wheelers who married into my families.

My questions:
(1) WHERE is the LOWER Choptank District IN RELATION TO TOWNS TODAY?

I would call "UPPER river" as meaning closer to the river SOURCE; "LOWER
River" would be near the OUTLET. That would mean to me: UPPER would be
Greensboro, Goldsboro, Henderson area. RIVER hundred would be Denton
area: LOWER would be Federalsburg and Preston area.

But I have other reasons to suspect that my above named ancestors were
in the Greensboro area.
Please help me with the geography.

(2) WHO were listed - land owners only, (some are stated as "tenants") ?

(3) The Maryland Archives site calls it the "ASSESSMENT OF 1783".
Ancestry.com refers to it as "FIDELITY OATH".
So my questions: Who ordered this "event"? the Colony/State of Maryland?
Was it a means of taxing Marylanders of the colony/state of Maryland?
Was it a means of asking residents to "pledge fidelity" to the new
"state"? In 1783 the Revolutionary War with England had been negotiated.
(Declaration of Independence was in 1776. I think the Revolutionary War
lasted for six years - 1776 to 1782. - Historians, correct me if I am
wrong.)

(4) Did other states have a comparable "Assessment", which would be a
Pre-1790 Census.

As I research my families, I realize how little HISTORY I learned. So
now I am filling in the gaps.

Genevieve Bundy



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