Norma, Thus far, I have seen only a handful of reasons why anyone is exempted from taxes in the 18th century in Pittsylvania Co.: 1. advanced age 2. debilitating health 3. mental health problems The Personal Property Taxes were charged and collected separately from Land Taxes (and people who owned land paid both types of taxes). Thus the argument that John Brawner wasn't taxed because he owned land somewhere else doesn't apply to the Personal Property Taxes which the Court Order is referring to. The law mandated that every white male over 21 pay a head tax on himself and any other male that age or older who lived in his household in the county where he resided. Other items of personal property were then taxed (horses, cows, etc) and those items sometimes changed from year to year. Just curious--did John Brawner own land elsewhere? For strength of proof, it would seem the whole argument falls apart on that point alone if the other researcher has no land records to back up their assertion. Good luck; hope you get other responses so we can compare our understanding of these court orders. Melanie Crain