On the 1798 tax list exactly what does Poll mean. Is this the number of people in the household including him/herself that were taxed or did it exclude the head of the household.

It's the number of taxable people whom the named person reported, and for whom they were liable to pay the tax. It didn't necessarily include everyone in the household; sometimes sons still living at home were listed, and taxed, in their own right (how well they got on with their father might have been a factor). From 1784 a poll was defined as "freemen and male servants twenty one years old and upwards, and slaves male and female between the age of twelve and fifty years." From 1801 free males over the age of fifty were exempted from tax and in 1817 this was lowered to forty five. Prior to 1776 the lower age limit for taxation for white men was 16 but between then and 1784 the rules for who was taxable varied quite a bit. White women were not taxable at any time. Phil Jones -----Original Message----- From: Suzan [mailto:katiesue1@msn.com] Sent: Monday, March 25, 2002 9:42 PM To: NCBERTIE-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [NCBERTIE] Tax List On the 1798 tax list exactly what does Poll mean. Is this the number of people in the household including him/herself that were taxed or did it exclude the head of the household.