Tomorrow is Juneteenth, a federal holiday enacted to commemorate June 19, 1865, the day when enslaved people in Galveston, Texas learned that they were free.
Here are two free resources to learn more about enslaved ancestors:
Enslaved: Peoples of the Historical Slave Trade is a searchable collection of 700,000 people and events pertaining to those who took part in slave trading, including the enslaved, their owners and those who profited from their suffering.
The 3D videos of slaving vessels which show the construction of the ships, villages in Africa from which the enslaved were taken and the route to North America.
Both of these websites offer valuable resources for genealogists, but also provide excellent learning experiences.
Tax records are among my most favorite resources when doing genealogical research and I know from experience that Virginia has some of the best personal property tax records to be found anywhere.
What do these tax records have to do with African-American family history research?
Totally by chance, I happened upon two different categories of information to be found.
First, as the American Revolution was drawing to a close, Virginia legislators decided to collect very specific data about owners of enslaved people – not only the ages of the enslaved, but also the names of each!
Enslaves persons were considered property and they were enumerated in the Personal Property Tax Lists for each county.
I’ve purposely left the images in large format to make them easier to read.
Here is a sample page from Cumberland County, Virginia in 1783:
Among my husband’s collateral lines are Thomas and Samuel Williams, listed together on the left side of the image:
Thomas had to pay taxes for himself as one white male over 21 and for one enslaved person, Friday. The marks in the columns on the right indicate one white male over 21, one black male over 21 and 14 cattle.
Samuel, Thomas’s son, was considered well-to-do, sadly measured by the number of enslaved persons for whom he paid taxes.
It’s a big jump back from emancipation after the Civil War to the close of the Revolutionary War, but if you are fortunate enough to document your line back into the 18th century in Virginia, be sure to look at ALL the tax records for the appropriate years.
My second tip pertains to the Personal Property Tax Lists in the 1800s. All adults – males regardless of race and female heads of household – were subject to taxes.
While recently viewing and saving tax records, I noticed lists which often (not always) appeared at the very end of each tax book. The tax collectors first noted those who had licenses (which were taxed) for businesses) and eventually the lists expanded to those who owned carriages, mirrors, etc.
However, another separate list appeared – names of free blacks who lived in the county!
Here is 1827 Washington County, Virginia:
The first column indicates males over the age of 21. The numbers in the fourth column I believe refer to number of horses owned the the last column is the amount of tax paid.
Here is another page, much later in time, for 1845 in Scott County, Virginia:
The bottom of the page lists six “free negroes and mulattoes.” Th first column identifies those over 16 years of age. As the Civil War grew closer, there had been social unrest and the government wanted an accurate count of males over 16, which was generally the militia age for boys to begin service.
I don’t know for sure why two of the males are taxed for being over 16. Perhaps they were elderly in their 60s and exempt from the tithe.
Personal Property Tax Lists extend well into the 1800s, sometimes available online until near the start of the 20th century.
If your ancestors were free blacks living in Virginia and you know their county of residence, you will want to delve into these tax records digitally available on FamilySearch. All of the county tax lists which I’ve come across have been accessible to view from home.
