A subscriber wrote: > If you are looking for a continous record of a person, I would suggest the Land Tax books. They are not completely accurate as to the year the event happened, but you do get a lot of interesting data which in conjunction with the census and the personal property taxes gives you a great deal of info. Many people do not know that they even exist. I believe that VA was the only state to have two sets of tax books. These books are on microfilm in Richmond. Some of the books are already missing from the courthouse in case you go there to research. ------- I've found deed and personal property tax records to be extremely helpful, too. If visiting Richmond or Lee Co. isn't an option, the Mormon Church has microfilmed a large number of these types of records for Virginia counties and the microfilms can be ordered at your near-by Family History Center. You can check what is available by going to http://familysearch.org/ and clicking their online Family History Library catalog. I just now checked Lee Co. and found the following Taxation Records are available: (1) Personal property tax lists of Lee County, 1795-1850 (2) List of taxes payable under the act of Congress of January 1815 on lands, lots, & dwelling houses and slaves within the first Collection District (3) Southwest Virginia tax assessments, 1815 : Grayson, Lee, Scott, Russell, Washington and Wythe counties (4) Deeds by sheriff, v. 4 1/2, 1803-1860 Virginia. Superior Court of Law (Lee County) They have also microfilmed records for birth, marriage, death, probate, census, land & property, poor house and the like. All can be ordered. Margaret