VAFREDER-L Archives

From: <>
Subject: Re: [VAFREDER] PP taxables & Payees
Date: Wed, 08 May 2002 09:35:45 -0400

cheryl;
I don't know the "rules" for sure, but my experience in looking at a number of PPTLs leads me to observe:

- generally the deceased father is only listed one year after death, the listing is as an estate of the deceased person, and the estate is charged with the tax.
- often, in my experience, the widow is then listed the following year - you'll recall that she does not pay tithes... sometimes this goes on for several years, and then, as they become of age, the eldest males are listed separately.
- usually a young male will need or be assigned a guardian - sometimes the mother, sometimes an uncle - or sometimes they were bound out to learn a trade from someone else. when the young male became 16 they were counted (and sometimes named) with the mother, uncle, guardian, etc. paying for their tithes.
- I've not run into a case where a 5 year old was listed (the lists are for 21 and over)

Hope this helps;

Jim Bartlett

On Wed, 08 May 2002 08:44:29 -0400 singhals <> wrote:

BACKGROUND: I know from the 1850 and 1860 Slave enumerations that persons
as young as a year can "hold by inheritance" -- that is, I found 5-yr-old
slave holders on those census and was told by a highly reliable source that
one can inherit property at any age and thus _might_ appear as the
under-age owner.

It has been my understanding that those under-21 (prior to 1960s) could not
be held legally responsible (which made it difficult for a 20-year-old with
a job to rent an apartment or get credit-cards).

NOW: Let's say that 5-year-old inherited not only a slave or two, but also
other personal property (a horse, a watch, whatever) from a grandfather.
Under WHOSE name would those items appear on the 1700s PP tax lists --
Granddad's name, Granddad's Estate, Father's (or step-father's) name, or
child's name? (This answer then brings up other awkward questions, such
as, is there then no minimum age at which one pays taxes, and so Granddad
may actually be dead for 20 years before his name vanishes from the tax
rolls?)

As is probably obvious, I've got some serious anomalies between the facts
as I know them from other papers and what I'm seeing on the PP tax lists.
Before I can make any judgments about those other papers, I need to
understand the workings of the PP tax lists in the 1750-1850 time period.

All advice welcomed.

Cheryl


==== VAFREDER Mailing List ====
Address all of your Frederick County
messages to:

This thread:

• Re: [VAFREDER] PP taxables & Payees by <>