It's an interesting situation. A very slightly different way of viewing and interpreting the information is to note that the lists were created for the purpose of assessing personal property taxes according to legislation for 1788. With one exception, the column headings designate taxable personal property for all adult male residents. White males were not personal property, black males were. John Starky had 2 horses as his only personal property. Did John Starky "Old" have to pay any personal property tax on his two horses? He probably did unless the notation "Old" was the commissioner's method of showing John Starky was exempt due some age limitation. But an actual amount of money assessed on each individual isn't shown. The 1787 Pers. Prop. Taxes for Franklin were compiled and published by Nettie Schreiner-Yantis & Florene Speakman Love in 1987. They listed John Starky's name in the standardized column as "self" by virtue of he being the principal subject of taxation, and his only personal property listed was 1 horse, mare, colt, or mule (the category). The 1787 lists had a column for white males above 16 and under 21. Starky wasn't shown with any. In 1787 the tax commissioners were told to get the number of free white males between 16 and 21, and their names. Apparently they were somewhat inconsistent in following the directions because the names weren't routinely shown in 1787. Without knowing the specific VA law for Pers. Prop. Taxes year over year it's difficult to say anything with certainty. Then we have the very human situation where the county tax men took the form they had been given and proceeded to "do their own thing". According to T. L. C. Genealogy's 1991 publication on Franklin Co. Wills 1786-1812, there is only 1 John Starky (Starkey) listed and his will was written Jan. 22, 1807, probate date of Jun 1, 1807, and his wife was Polley; children were Austin, John, Anna, and Joshua, mentioned as "when they shall arrive at age or married". [Franklin Co. WB1, p. 335] I hope others can join in and expand our understanding. People with our "addiction" have to spend as much time learning how to interpret the old records we find as we do in finding them! Maybe more. Regards, Bill Hunt ----- Original Message ----- From: "Yvonne and Steve" <ysbinns@yspcbdesigns.com> To: <VAFRANKL-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, August 17, 2001 4:02 PM Subject: Re: [VAFRANKL] Starky-1788 Tax List A > There is the possibility that "0 whites over 16 in John's household" means > that John (Old) is exempt from taxes for himself and there are no other > mailes above 16 in his household. Usually the tax list has a comment as > "levy free", "tax free", "tax exempt", etc, for people who do not have to > pay a tax for themselves. There is no reference in this list for that. > > Yes the females were not taxable as individuals like the males were. However > if a widow had to pay taxes on the property left to her then she would be > listed with her property and she would be charged the amount for that > property. But not for herself. > > Steve and Bunny > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Roy Harris" <mrh3b@virginia.edu> > To: <VAFRANKL-L@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Friday, August 17, 2001 11:55 AM > Subject: [VAFRANKL] Starky-1788 Tax List A > > > > Can anyone situate Joel, Joshua, and William into the family of Old John > > Starky in this tax list? > > > > INDEX > > Virginia - Franklin County -- 1788 Personal Property Tax List A > > Copyright 2000,2001 Binns Genealogy, L.L.C. > > > > Last, First (notes){comments} Page > > ----------------------------- ---- > > Starky, Joel 17 > > Starky, John (Old) 17 > > Starky, Joshua 17 > > Starky, William 17 > > > > There was 0 whites over 16 in John's household. I would assume that the > > count of whites excluded females. If that's so, would that mean that his > > wife (widowed?) would have payed the taxes? There was 1 each white males > > in the other three households. > > > --------- > Subscribe to BINNS-L surname email list: > mailto:BINNS-L-request@rootsweb.com?subject=subscribe&body=subscribe > > American Binns Families and Individuals: > http://www.yspcbdesigns.com/americanb/index.htm > > 1790/1800 County Tax Lists of Virginia: > http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~ysbinns/vataxlists/index.htm > > > > ==== VAFRANKL Mailing List ==== > Franklin Co., Va. List Archives > http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl?listname=VAFRANKL > > ============================== > Visit Ancestry's Library - The best collection of family history > learning and how-to articles on the Internet. > http://www.ancestry.com/learn/library > > >