In a message dated 8/17/01 11:46:14 PM Eastern Daylight Time, [email protected] writes: > http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~ysbinns/vataxlists/1790index/1790pipy-index.h > tm > > While the admonition to look for variant spellings is not a whit less > urgent and valid, I suspect that in this instance at least the Mr. or Ms. > Binns who compiled the list on the web was/is one of those souls who do not > recognize the "symbol" for "ss" and recorded it incorrectly from the > orginal source (whatever it may have been). > > I first took this identical information from a printed page in the Clayton > Library in Houston. That transcriber apparently had no problem with the > names. Then I transcribed corrolary information myself from source > microfilm in the LVA. In both cases Poythress was clear as a bell, the > only question being a single William with one "s" which is fairly common. > > Both are listed below. I suppose a second admonition might be in order: be > cautious with genealogists sporting masses of what is possible (maybe even > likely) to be indiscriminatly collected information. Obviously, this is > not universally true but it sometimes seems that accuracy is sacrificed for > "volume." From the Clayton: > Prince George County, 1790 Personal Property Tax List (printed page in > Clayton > Poythress, Elizabeth > Poythres, William (sic) > Poythress, Joshua, Est. > Poythress, Mary > Poythress, William > > Notes: > > 1) this list incomplete insofar as rate and amount of tax not included. > (Purely as a guess, personal property will not be itemized when original is > located in LVA either). > > 2) land taxes for 1790 for comparison with above (LVA reel # 255) > Name Acres > Peter Poythress 100-1000-400-225-100-290 > Mary Poythress 100 > Joshua Poythress 404-200 > William Poythres 184-120-850 > Mary Poythress 293 > > Binns shows Personal Taxes on "page 11" and Property Taxes on "page 12". He or she is perhaps correct. In the LVA Personal Taxes is microfilmed on one reel and Property Taxes on another. In comparing the two LVA reels there are numerous omissions of Personal Property tax that would imply that some people paying Property Tax either had no Personal Property (doubtful) or it was not taxable for some reason. The disparity between the two LVA reels would almost imply that the two kinds of taxes were collected on separate "administrative tracks, a matter which Binns' "layout" would disprove. It is also possible that errors arose as a function of trying to make one "ledger" into two microfilm reels as the two were "separated" for the LVA reels. Contradicting the above, it does seem strange that Binns transcribed all the personal taxes with correct spellings and land taxes with incorrect spellings (transcriptions). Just maybe the thing WAS in two books and Binns was transcribing one and a collaborator the other. My guess is that these distinctions are irrelevant anyway. A contemporaneous error vs. an ancient error is an error all the same. Notes to self: Remainder of project (which likely can only be done at LVA): 1. finish the land property records in reel # 255 for the years following 1798. (already have years 1782 - beginning of the tax - thru 1798) 2. record ALL of the years beginning 1792 for personal property taxes. Summation: But, for this instance in any case, Mr. or Mrs. Binns simply seem to be victims of either haste or unfamiliarity with the penmanship conventions of the era. The identical information is very clear in two other sources, one primary and one secondary. > > > > > > > We HAVE recorded (see: Virgina Land Tax Records, Prince George County) the > land taxes from 1782 thru 1798 (microfilm reel 255 in LVA, 1782-1811) > > REMAINDER OF PROJECT (which likely can only be done at LVA) > > a) finish the land property records in reel 255 for years following 1798 > > b) record all of the years beginning 1782 for personal property tax records >

Thanks, Maynard. There is no substitute for looking at the primary source. The old admonition about the computer--garbage in, garbage out--seems never more true as I look through the pages on the internet. I still think you put it best when you said I should look at internet information in most cases as "hints." But I have found some mighty good hints, so I guess I am hooked. I try to remain skeptical. Diana