Hi folks, I just had to stick in my tuppence. "The tax law of 1749 defined those taxable as: 'All and every white person, male of the age of sixteen years, and upwards, all negroes, mulattoes, male or female, and all persons of mixt blood, to the fourth generation, of the age of twelve years, and upwards, and all white persons intermarrying with any negro, mulatto, or mustee, or other person of mext blood, while so intermarried, and no other person or persons whatsoever, shall be deemed taxables.... Every master or mistress of a family, or overseer of a plantation, of which there is no master or mistress, although not summoned, is hereby required to appear before one of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace, and to give in his or her List of Taxables, setting forth in such List the name and sex of each Taxable Person, whether white or black, bone or free, and distinguishing such male Slaves as are Sixteen years of age, and upwards.'" "Many researchers have been under the mistaken impression that a man was relieved of taxes once he reached age sixty. It is true that on reaching age sixty a man was relieved of militia duty. However, only the General Assembly could relieve a man of paying taxes." [ source: Ms. Jo White Linn; "Rowan Co. North Carolina Tax Lists 1757-1800" pp vii-viii] I note in court records the justices recommending indigent men for tax relief, but the recommendation had to go to the gen. assembly for approval. Rowan County had 1,343 taxables in 1758, and 1,576 taxables in 1759. Using Ms. Linn's same book, the tax list for 1759 [pages 22-35 and page 36], I counted roughly 935 men listed. I have noticed a list on the internet which is basically the same list used by Ms. Linn, with the addition of many men who appeared in NC records as going on scouting or ranging expeditions during 1759, but who do not appear on extant 1759 tax lists. On the internet site those men are noted by an asterick. It appears to me that the 1759 tax list as currently circulated is incomplete by about one-third. A lot of men are not listed. I also note that in Rowan County court records for October 18, 1759, Squire Boone Senior transfers his two parcels of land, to his sons Daniel and Squire Junior. Dan was on a jury that week, which seems to indicate that part of the Boone family had not yet left for Virginia. Only a few days later, on October 21, 1759, the court required the constables and justices to collect taxes from 1,576 taxables. Since the Boones had been in county all year, one would think they would be on somebody's taxable list. Squire Senior probably wouldn't have qualified for tax relief, as one condition required the petitioner to be worth less than forty shillings (two pounds), and Squire sold the land for 40 or 50 pounds. Old Morgan Bryan certainly wouldn't have qualified for tax relief. Myrna, have you checked the Draper mss for your Drakes? I am pretty sure there's a lot about 'em in there. Could "Long Hand" in your Gen. GR Clark ref. be "Long Cane"? There was a famous Long Cane area in Northern Ky near Louisville - Shelby Co. area, and GR Clark was in that neighborhood quite a bit. Kathryn [email protected] wrote: > > Subject: > > ROWANROOTS-D Digest Volume 05 : Issue 59 > > Today's Topics: > #1 email address [[email protected]] > #2 Re: [RowanRoots] poll tax ["Myrna Madigan" <[email protected]>] > #3 DRAKE ["Myrna Madigan" <[email protected]>] >