Hello Tammy, I suppose you've had many personal replies by now, as I've seen none so far on the "Franklin List" but I thought I'd add my 2 cents. "Number of tithes" meant number of individual males who had reached the taxable age set by law for the year 1786. It referred to a Poll tax (head tax) collected by the county. Usually the age for poll tax was 16 and up. But to be absolutely certain, one needs to know the specific law for 1786. Laws changed then, just as they do now. When we read, "Samuel Underwood - 2 " we immediately know 2 males were taxable, and one, presumably, was Samuel Underwood himself. The other could have been younger or older than Samuel. It also means the principal person named, in this case Samuel, was the man responsible for paying the tax. If you can find and read the 1786 tax list for yourself you are likely to find the "number of tithables" was a total written in a column which preceded several other columns -- and if that's all you have, then it was probably extracted from a Personal Property Tax List which often combined poll taxes with personal property. Personal property was slaves, horses, cattle, billiard tables, carriages, and a few other things. Personal Property Tax Lists have nothing to do with Land taxes. Females were never taxable themselves, but they might have had a male of tithable age in their home. In 1787 the tax law set 21 as minimum age for Personal Property Tax. This allows the deduction that each man named as the principal & responsible for the taxes was born by 1766. I understand the value to genealogical research is: 1) proving residence on date in a location; 2) indication of estimated age bracket; 3) calling attention to the intriguing question of identity of other males in the same household. Obviously Samuel might have had a son of age for poll tax. But on the other hand the additional male could have been a brother, etc. Sometimes the Tax Commissioner or the Sheriff made a note stating the relationship if there was one. I think this is a reasonably correct explanation, but others who are experts might disagree or else add even more complications I've never heard of. BILL ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tamara Hudson" <ldhudson02@sprynet.com> To: <VAFRANKL-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, July 31, 2000 12:32 AM Subject: [VAFRANKL] 1786 Franklin Co. Tax List > Dear List, > I have found a Samuel Underwood on the 1786 Tax List and I was wondering if > anyone can tell me what "Number of tithes" means. > Number of tithes for this Samuel is "2". > Thanks, > Tammy Tolbert Hudson > > > ==== VAFRANKL Mailing List ==== > The Franklin Co VAGenWeb "Family WebPage" list is located at URL: > http://www.rootsweb.com/~vafrankl/fran-web.htm > >