In December of 1835, the State of Tennessee mandated each of the counties at that time to draw district lines within the bounds of the county. At the time of the 1836 tax, the monies were to be collected within these districts. The districts were also used for voting and schools areas later on. The commissioners were to submit a diagram of that county, but they could not use any professional help in doing so. A written description was to accompany the drawing. In the case of Shelby, this description is missing. The first tax list for Shelby is the 1837 that has survived. The listing of persons living in that district will help the researcher know where the persons live. In case a deed is given, these are usually noted per district and so when there are multiple individuals of the same name in a given area, the deed plus district designation will help to distinguish which individual one is referring to in their research. Also, the tax list will frequently given more names than the census as the tax collector would not have missed anyone in their gathering of information.
In this listing, we have given only the number of acres and/or lots a persons owns for taxing purposes. The original has more details, but no more names than this. A careful examination of the records will reveal that some individuals own lands in more than one district, also.
2002, paper, 28 pp.
ISBN:
110-TN1233
