I'm from Alabama. I remember my mother, as a widow, paying the poll tax in the early - mid sixties. C. Horton ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, November 01, 2004 7:23 AM Subject: Poll Tax >A "poll tax" is just what it says, a tax on the poll. > Poll has several meanings in my Merriam-Webster > but the NUMBER ONE definition is "HEAD." In fact, > when I was a youngster I often heard this tax referred > to as a "head tax." This refers to the "head" which > sits atop your neck and shoulders. It was a tax paid > by each male in thecommunity to cover basic > operating costs for the government. A male had to pay > it for the privilege of voting (females didn't vote). > Bob COOK > > ______________________________

If you have ancestors in Thyatira Cemetery Presbyterian Cemetery check out; http:/home.earthlink.net/~waltv/ (a free site) Click: "Genealogy" to reach that subject. Click: "Residents" for a survey of the cemetery. Click: "Families" for who is related to who. Each page has a table of contents giving your three methods of finding names. The entire file in GEDCOM format should fit on a 1.4 floppy disk. There were 20% of the names who were never connected to anyone. If you enjoy recreational reading try the PaPaPress pages. They are the result of 20 years of recreational writing. If you find pop-ups or spam, let me know and I'll complain to the web provider. I never made a dime off the work and I don't want anyone else to make any. waltv

Regardless of what "Poll Tax" may have meant in the 20th century, as it applied in the 17th and 18th centuries was as a form of personal property tax, not a voting tax. Poll Tax, as it was applied in Colonial times, was a tax placed on all males over a certain age -- the age of which varied by state and timeframe. Additionally, the vast majority of the time, all slaves -- male and female, regardless of age -- were assessed for a poll tax against their owner. Needless to say, slaves couldn't vote -- yet they were subject to "Poll Tax" -- so clearly Poll Tax as applied then had nothing to do with voting. In fact, Voting certification was for the most part confined to Land Ownership, not Poll Tax. If you owned land in a district, and your Land taxes (not Poll taxes) were current in payment, you were eligible to vote in that district. Unlike today, if you owned land in more than one district, you were allowed to vote multiple times -- one per district in which you owned land. There are many contemporary diaries and memorials written that describe landowners making the rounds on voting day to the various districts that they owned land in to vote at each election station. Paying Poll Tax in the 17th & 18th century most often did not allow you to vote -- owning & paying taxes on land did. Today, you must live in Cook County Illinois to vote multiple times :-) From a Poll Tax list, what you can obtain is: 1) the head of household and their condition / employment -- many categories were exempt from poll tax, at various times & locations specifically elderly & infirm, ministers / clergy, militia officers, militia members on duty / deployed, public servants (judges, clerks, sheriff, etc.), lunatic / mental illness, paupers, disabled, and widows & orphans. 2) number of slaves -- most locations charged poll on the total number of slaves, although it may also be found to charge on slaves over a certain age, usually based on the slave being old enough to effectively provide work. 3) number of white males over a particular age -- if a non-related person was living at a household, say as a field hand or overseer, the head of household was still almost always responsible for paying that person's poll tax. Typically this non-relative, and for that matter any males over the threshold age -- were listed in the same tax line as the head of household. 4) Widows with males over the threshold age, but not heads of house themselves, may or may not pay poll tax depending on the location and timeframe. Some places exempted widows & orphans altogether -- others exempted widows, but not any sons over the minimum. Widows generally had to pay poll on any non-related males over the threshold who were working / boarding with them. They generally had to pay all polls on slaves. As noted, the exact age cutoffs, exemption clauses and categories change between localities & timeframes, so it is always a good idea to check what rules were in effect for a particular tax list. Sincerely, Ken Shelton > Karen-- > > As a "victim" of unjust voting laws in TX back in 1960 at age 21, I was > denied the privilege of voting in my "first" election due to the fact > that my husband was in the Air Force and registered in the State of MD. > I was in my last trimester of pregnancy with my 1st child and was unable > to travel back there to register in MD and the State of TX said I > couldn't vote because I didn't own property--i.e. land, house, etc. > Poll taxes made it so only Rich White Males could vote. There were many > other restrictions depending on which state you lived in. In other > words, only the "educated elite" could vote. > > Ann Propst, Brevard, NC > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: Sunday, October 31, 2004 11:40 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [RowanRoots] Early NC poll tax > > What exactly is a poll tax? If someone had poll written behind their > name > in 1778 does that mean someone is paying poll tax on them or are they > paying > poll tax on someone? Thank you. Karen > > > > > ==== ROWANROOTS Mailing List ==== > To unsubscribe from RowanRoots-L send a message from the address you subscribed > from to [email protected] with the word unsubscribe in the > message body. >

A "poll tax" is just what it says, a tax on the poll. Poll has several meanings in my Merriam-Webster but the NUMBER ONE definition is "HEAD." In fact, when I was a youngster I often heard this tax referred to as a "head tax." This refers to the "head" which sits atop your neck and shoulders. It was a tax paid by each male in thecommunity to cover basic operating costs for the government. A male had to pay it for the privilege of voting (females didn't vote). Bob COOK

Karen-- As a "victim" of unjust voting laws in TX back in 1960 at age 21, I was denied the privilege of voting in my "first" election due to the fact that my husband was in the Air Force and registered in the State of MD. I was in my last trimester of pregnancy with my 1st child and was unable to travel back there to register in MD and the State of TX said I couldn't vote because I didn't own property--i.e. land, house, etc. Poll taxes made it so only Rich White Males could vote. There were many other restrictions depending on which state you lived in. In other words, only the "educated elite" could vote. Ann Propst, Brevard, NC -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Sunday, October 31, 2004 11:40 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [RowanRoots] Early NC poll tax What exactly is a poll tax? If someone had poll written behind their name in 1778 does that mean someone is paying poll tax on them or are they paying poll tax on someone? Thank you. Karen

What exactly is a poll tax? If someone had poll written behind their name in 1778 does that mean someone is paying poll tax on them or are they paying poll tax on someone? Thank you. Karen ----- Original Message ----- From: "Betty A. Pace" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, October 31, 2004 3:53 PM Subject: [RowanRoots] Early NC poll tax > For information: > > According to Helen Leary in her book NORTH > CAROLINA RESEARCH, p 232, free white males were > required to pay poll tax as follows: > > 1715: Age 16 and up (no age limit) > 1777-1784:Various requirements and exemptions. > 1784: Age 21 and up (no age limit) > 1801: Age 21-50 (inclusive) > 1817: Age 21-45 > 1868: Age 21-50 > > Betty Pace > > > ==== ROWANROOTS Mailing List ==== > To unsubscribe from RowanRoots-L send a message from the address you subscribed from to [email protected] with the word unsubscribe in the message body. > >

For information: According to Helen Leary in her book NORTH CAROLINA RESEARCH, p 232, free white males were required to pay poll tax as follows: 1715: Age 16 and up (no age limit) 1777-1784:Various requirements and exemptions. 1784: Age 21 and up (no age limit) 1801: Age 21-50 (inclusive) 1817: Age 21-45 1868: Age 21-50 Betty Pace

Researching E.W. M. KING born abt 1808 married SARAH in Tenn. E.W.M. born in South Carolina happy hunting :) sheri

Dan: Do you have any Brauns or Browns that came from SC in your database? My husband's 3rd great grandfather was Robert Brown from SC and he eventually went to mid Tennessee, Rutherford Co... somewhere in the early to mid 1800s... Ellie S.

For info on many Braun/Brown families in and out of old Rowan County, NC please view www.GoRowan.com/rowanroots Dan Patterson Rowan County Information On-Line P.O. Box 241 Spencer, NC 28159 www.RowanCounty.Info <http://www.rowancounty.info/> www.GoRowan.com <http://www.gorowan.com/> Tour our historic county www.GoRowan.com/rowanroots My family history www.High-Rock.com <http://www.high-rock.com/> High Rock Lake Recreation www.DanTana.com <http://www.dantana.com/> Travel Services www.SalisburyPrison.com <http://www.salisburyprison.com/> Civil War Prison www.RowanMuseum.com <http://www.rowanmuseum.com/> Local history www.Spencer-Inn.com <http://www.spencer-inn.com/> Turn of the century B&B www.Centralina_Orthopaedic.com <http://www.centralina_orthopaedic.com/> www.1490WSTP.com <http://www.1490wstp.com/> Local sports radio "It is the soldier, not the reporter, Who has given us freedom of the press. It is the soldier, not the poet, Who has given us freedom of speech. It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, Who has given us the freedom to demonstrate. It is the soldier, Who salutes the flag, Who serves beneath the flag, And whose coffin is draped by the flag, Who allows the protester to burn the flag."

LAND ENTRIES FOR JACOB GROVE/GROFF I understand that there is a book by Enochs that has Rowan County Vacant Land Entries for the 1780s. If someone reading this message has easy access to this book, I would very much appreciate your looking up Jacob Grove (or Jacob Groff) to see if there are some entries for him. Thank you kindly for your help. Dwayne Wrightsman Lee, NH [email protected]

I have completed a book on my NC ancestry, which delineates the Rowan and other Piedmont county families of Casper, Cauble, File, Foster, Fulenwider, Krite, Leonard, and two Miller families, with additional information on allied families. Permission has been granted for me to post this item on the page. Do not discuss this issue on the list, but contact me by clicking on the following link: <http://www.geocities.com/proudpedigree/pedigree.html>. If there is a problem finding my web page, please contact me at <[email protected]>. Thanks! Barbara Longwell -- ___________________________________________________________ Sign-up for Ads Free at Mail.com http://promo.mail.com/adsfreejump.htm

Friends, We have just updated our online database, adding more than 12,000 new names since our last update. This brings our online total to more than 397,000 linked names. Most of the names in our database are of Pennsylvania Dutch extraction found in Pennsylvania, Maryland, North Carolina, Missouri, Illinois and Kansas. You can take a look at the database at: _http://midatlantic.rootsweb.com/familyhart/_ (http://midatlantic.rootsweb.com/familyhart/) > < Thanks! Don & Jeanine Hartman FamilyHart _http://midatlantic.rootsweb.com/familyhart/_ (http://midatlantic.rootsweb.com/familyhart/) Administrators for the following lists at Rootsweb: Pennsylvania, PADutchGenONLY, Penna-Dutch, PAYork, PA-York-Gen, MD-Fred-Gen, MDWashin, Burket, Dierdorff, Gotshall, Glattfelder, Hartman, Kohr, Kaufman, Sturm

Indexes of Testators NC - Rowan Vol 2-3 (1881-1903) PA - Philadelphia Vol. T (1781-1787) NY - New York (Manhattan) Vol. 50-51 (1811-1814) Indexes of Naturalization Petitions NY - Cayuga - Petitions for Naturalizations Vol. 30-41 (1939-1964) NY - Allegany - Petitions for Naturalizations Vol. 2-3 (1915-1930) These are not only ones. There are more counties and states in the indexes Just that these ones are newest additions. http://www.sampubco.com/ W. David Samuelsen SAMPUBCO

Too late I guess.  I just tried the site and there is a letter saying the owner is going out of business.  You can browse, I think, but no more sales.  Says he may sell some occasionally on e-bay. Jackie

http://www.antiquemapsandprints.com/lancashire-illustrated.htm There is a link her to old U.S. maps, especially the Civil War engravings. This message came from an English mailing list and I was surprised to see the U.S. entries. Betty Pace

--------- Forwarded message ---------- If some of you are interested in seeing some original state atlases..there are some at www.genealogyatlas.com . So far they have them for 1814, 1845 and about 60% of 1795. I guess they will be putting other years up eventually. Use the PDF format because you can zoom in and out and print them easily from your computer I printed two maps out but they could be slow to load if you have a dial up. But they are worth the wait. From Davidson mailing list

In a message dated 10/7/2004 12:09:49 AM Mountain Standard Time, [email protected] writes: I am in the process of applying to DAR for membership. I know my ancestor, William KNOX, served with the 2nd Reg., NC Continental Troops as a Capt. He died very early in the war, July 19, 1776, so his wife didn't qualify for a pension (or never applied for one). I am unable to find proof of his service. I have looked at books about regiments from NC & his name isn't in any of them. He could possibly have been in a regiment from Rowan Co. Does anyone have any idea where I can go from here? Does anyone have any records; lists, books, etc. about the NC officers/soldiers? Dianna.. By separate email, I am sending you a list of William KNOX patriots from the DAR Patriot Index.. There are 8 combinations.. I think one might be yours. Let me know if I can help further. Ellie Swanger, Regent & VIS volunteer for DAR online lookups Zebulon Pike Chapter, NSDAR Colorado Springs, CO

Dianna, North Carolina Revolutionary War Soldiers Description: From the years 1776 to 1783, approximately 36,000 men from North Carolina served in the American Revolution. This database is a roster of these individuals, which has been compiled by various sources, such as: the North Carolina Daughters of the American Revolution, U.S. War Department Report of Pensions, Pierce's Register, records of the 10 regiments, company rosters, Army Accounts, and State Records. Source Information: Ancestry.com. North Carolina Revolutionary War Soldiers [database online]. Orem, Utah: Ancestry, Inc., 1998. Original data: Roster of Soldiers from North Carolina in the American Revolution, Durham, NC: The North Carolina Daughters of the American Revolution, 1932. Volume X page 258 No.: 1254. To whom granted and rank: John Knox, Heir of William Knox, Capt. killed No. acres: 3,840 Service in months: 84 : John Knox This is at Ancestry.com in the "North Carolina Revolutionary War Soldiers" database. This isn't really obvious from the information, but based on this entry, it would be a bounty land grant. It is from "Roster of Soldiers from North Carolina in the American Revolution, Durham, NC: The North Carolina Daughters of the American Revolution, 1932", so from Volume X of that series, it would presumably have the pointer to where the land grant was recorded -- it is probably one of the North Carolina Grants in Tennessee or the like. Also, the grant went to his son John -- thus the widow is apparently not alive when the grant was made. Sincerely Kenneth Shelton -----Original Message----- From: Dianna Lafferty [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, October 06, 2004 2:03 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [RowanRoots] William KNOX Revolutionary War Service I am in the process of applying to DAR for membership. I know my ancestor, William KNOX, served with the 2nd Reg., NC Continental Troops as a Capt. He died very early in the war, July 19, 1776, so his wife didn't qualify for a pension (or never applied for one). I am unable to find proof of his service. I have looked at books about regiments from NC & his name isn't in any of them. He could possibly have been in a regiment from Rowan Co. Does anyone have any idea where I can go from here? Does anyone have any records; lists, books, etc. about the NC officers/soldiers? Thank you for any help. Dianna Lafferty ==== ROWANROOTS Mailing List ==== To unsubscribe from RowanRoots-L send a message from the address you subscribed from to [email protected] with the word unsubscribe in the message body.

I am in the process of applying to DAR for membership. I know my ancestor, William KNOX, served with the 2nd Reg., NC Continental Troops as a Capt. He died very early in the war, July 19, 1776, so his wife didn't qualify for a pension (or never applied for one). I am unable to find proof of his service. I have looked at books about regiments from NC & his name isn't in any of them. He could possibly have been in a regiment from Rowan Co. Does anyone have any idea where I can go from here? Does anyone have any records; lists, books, etc. about the NC officers/soldiers? Thank you for any help. Dianna Lafferty