This book contains a reproduction of the land tax lists for King and Queen County, Virginia for the years 1782 through 1807. It has been created from online copies at FamilySearch.org. For the years 1783 through 1786, only alterations were made to the 1782 and subsequent lists. The earliest list in King and Queen contains the name of the owners of the land (as the person taxed), the number of acres owned, the rate of value from which taxation was calculated, and the total value of the land. Initially the local sheriff(s) created the list.
In October 1786, an Act of Assembly established districts in each Virginia county, positions for Commissioners of Revenue, and for recordkeeping of land taxes to include persons' names owning land, the number and yearly rent of lots where a town was involved, quantity of land, rate of land per acre, total value of land exclusive of lots, and amount of tax at 1½ percent of the value.
Recordkeepers often made notations to distinguish multiple persons with the same name. Entries for the same owner through the years may shift to including "Estate" or "Est." to indicate a recent death of the owner, and may remain on the list until the estate is settled.
For genealogical researchers, land tax records may help distinguish between individuals by the same name living in a locality at the same time. Land ownership may be tracked between family members. Some references, notations and estate divisions may be found here when not readily located in any of the few court records that have survived multiple fires at the King and Queen County courthouse. A full-name, place and subject index adds to the value of this work.
Wesley E. Pippenger
2021, 8.5" x 11", paper, index, 440 pp.
ISBN: 9780788406454
101-P0645
