This article is from Rootsweb Review. 1a. Editor's Desk: Taxing Times The census taker might have missed your ancestors, but the taxman seldom did. Since every property owner of real estate, personal property (such as a horse or carriage), and eligible voters in most areas in the United States appear on some tax rolls, you might find your ancestors in the tax records even when they appear nowhere else. Tax records aid in such genealogical research problems as: --Tracing the moves of families from place to place --Identifying taxpayers of the same name --Finding clues of relationships that resulted from inheritances See: http://rwguide.rootsweb.com/lesson11.htm Don't despair if your ancestors never lived in America, the taxman was everywhere and taxed all sorts of items. For example. once upon a time in England our ancestors were taxed for using hair powder. (I'll bet my bewigged ancestors groused about that). "Persons wearing hair-powder to take out a certificate annually, chargeable with a stamp duty of 1l.1s. 1. That from and after May 5, 1795, there shall be raised, levied, collected, and paid throughout Great Britain, unto and for the use of his Majesty, his heirs and successors, the stamp duty following: every person who shall use, or wear any powder, commonly called hair-powder, of whatever materials the same shall be made, shall previously enter his or her name, or place of abode, and take out a certificate annually, as herein mentioned; and that upon every piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, upon which any certificate to any person shall be ingrossed, written, or printed, there shall be charged a stamp duty of one pound one shilling." --from "The Register of the Times" April/May, 1795 http://www.printsgeorge.com/Jane_Austen-law.htm#powder See also: "The Taxman Cometh" http://www.ancestry.com/learn/library/article.aspx?article=8292 and taxing links by locality (includes England, Scotland, Norway, Canada, as well as various locales in the United States): http://www.cyndislist.com/taxes.htm#Locality Sally Rolls Pavia sallypavia2001@yahoo.com "A conscience is what hurts when all your other parts feel so good." List Owner: GENEALOGYBITSANDPIECES-L-request@rootsweb.com Archives: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/GENEALOGYBITSANDPIECES "All incoming and outgoing email checked by Norton Anti-Virus"