It is not that marriage records don't exist from 1878 to 1885, it is the fact that the Commonwealth did not require a license to marry. That changed in Oct. 1885 when the counties began to issue them. Prior to 1885 one needs to look at registers from many sources such as a church or parrish record, or that of an alderman or Justice of the Peace. Sometimes you can get lucky and find an announcement of marriage in a newspaper of the day, or an important anniversary (25th, 30th, or 50th); sometimes even unusual anniversary dates (13th, 18th, 31st...) made the newspapers for unexplainable reasons. Such work is tedious and often doesn't bear fruit however. As to tax records, if it is your hope to find them listed as man and wife, you will surely be disappointed. IF the records still exist, they would be like an accountant's ledger. There is not much of genealogical value contained in them, but they can sometimes suggest solutions to mysteries. Such lists may indicate that several brothers showed up similtaneously where otherwise you have no proof of connection; a notation may indicate that a person moved, or died, since the previous assessment. Usually only men were taxed as they owned property. Freeholders (property owners), tennants, and single men are the common categories given in the annual state and county tax registers, along with a description of the property and its assesed value. One clear lot, a small wood frame house of good condition, male dogs, a watch, horses and buggys were among items that were taxable, as was income. Often they would list if the person was elligble to serve in a local militia. Triennnial State assesments were perfomed every three years (1841, 1871, 1892 are among the years that I have seen in records from Dauphin and Schuylkill county). There are tax lists at the PA State Archive for some of the Luzerne county communities, but none for those places which later became part of Lackawanna County. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jason Ferguson" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2005 7:13 AM Subject: [PA-LAC] Scranton/Lackawanna Tax Lists: Do They Exist? > As far as I can tell, no marriage records seem to exist from 1878 to > about 1885, but I am wondering if there are any tax lists for that > period? I'm still trying to find Thomas Ferguson and Martha Connor > (who married in 1884) any way that I can. I tried the local Catholic > Church (St Patrick's), but had no luck and don't know which other one > to try. > > Jason > > > ==== PALACKAW Mailing List ==== > Search the Lackawanna pages: http://www.rootsweb.com/~palackaw/search.html > To unsubscribe: http://www.rootsweb.com/~palackaw/mailist.html#unsubscribe > > >