Tax Records

Have you ever tried to identify households living in an area prior to the census? If so, you’ve likely turned to tax records. While I’ve used these records extensively, I often struggle to connect a name in a tax record to a name in my family tree.

My Crawford research is particularly challenging because it involves multiple men with the same name of the same approximate age, as well as several different family lines living in the same area. This makes it difficult to identify and verify family relationships.

My ultimate goal is to find the parents of my ancestor, James Crawford (1772-1854). However, my research also involves two other James Crawford lines: James (1758-1836) and James (1770-1833). To identify these families in the Virginia records, I will not only look for James Crawford but also branch out to records involving some of my Kentucky FAN (Friends, Associates, and Neighbors) club members:

• James Crawford (1758-1836) – wife Rebecca Anderson [LZ6S-RWZ]
• Bazaleel Maxwell – brother-in-law of James Crawford (wife Rebecca Anderson)
• John Crawford – husband of Rebekah Douglass – probably parents of James Crawford (1772-1833)
• George Douglass – brother to Rebekah Douglas

James (1758-1836) and John Crawford are likely brothers. Since I already have two records from Montgomery County, VIrginia (a marriage record for James Crawford to Rebecca Maxwell and a will for John Crawford), I’m starting my Virginia research with Montgomery county. Fortunately, the FamilySearch wiki for Montgomery County, Virginia identifies several sources for these early tax records.

The source, Virginia Tax Payers, 1782-1787, is proving valuable since it combines the information from these tax records for several Virginia counties including Augusta, Botetourt, Montgomery and even Lincoln County, Kentucky. Unfortunately, this book does cover every Virginia county.

Using screenshots and the Chrome extension, Sider, I as able to quickly copy the list of names into Excel. Now I have a list of Crawford taxpayers in various Virginia counties prior to1800:

Page 	Name	Poll	Slaves	County
30	Crawford, Alexander	1	2	Aug.
30	Crawford, David		1	  	Aug.
30	Crawford, George	1	1	Aug.
30	Crawford, George			Aug.
30	Crawford, George 	 	 	Aug.
30	Crawford, James		3	10	Aug.
30	Crawford, James		1	5	Aug.
30	Crawford, John		1	4	Aug.
30	Crawford, Nathan	1	 	Aug.
30	Crawford, Patrick	2	7	Aug.
30	Crawford, William	1	4	Aug.
36	Douglass, William	1	1	Aug.
36	Dooley, George		1	1	Bed.
36	Dooley, John		1	1	Bed.
36	Dooley, John		1	 	Bed.
36	Dooley, Joseph		1	 	Bed.
36	Dooley, Rebecca	 	2		Bed.
36	Dooley, Stephen		1	 	Bed.
36	Dooley, Thomas		1	 	Bed.
36	Dooley, Thomas, Jr.	1	 	Bed.
36	Douglass, David		1	4	Bed.
36	Douglas, John		1	1	Berk.
36	Douglas, William	1	1	Berk.
81	Maxwell, John		1	 	Berk.
81	Maxwell, John		1		Berk.
30	Crawford, Andrew	1	 	Bot.
30	Crawford, Andrew, Jr.	1	 	Bot.
30	Crawford, Archibald	1	 	Bot.
30	Crawford, James		1		Bot.
30	Crawford, John		1	1	Bot.
30	Crawford, John, Jr.	1	 	Bot.
30	Crawford, Josiah	1	 	Bot.
30	Crawford, Rev. Edward	1	3	Bot.
30	Crawford, Samuel	1	2	Bot.
30	Crawford, Samuel	2	 	Bot.
30	Crawford, William	1	1	Bot.
30	Crawford, William	 	 	Bot.
30	Crawford, William	1	 	Bot.
36	Douglass, John		1	5	Buck.
36	Douglas, Sarah		1	1	C.Geo.
36	Douglass, William	1	1	C.Geo.
36	Douglas, Robert, Sr.	1	2	Camp.
30	Crafford		2	7	Cul
30	Crafford, Archelus	1		Cul
30	Crafford, Gideon	1	2	Cul
30	Crafford, Oliver			Cul
81	Maxwell, Thomas		2		Cul
81	Maxwell, John	 		 	Cul.
30	Crawford, William	1	 	Fau.
36	Douglass, Thomas	1	1	Fau.
81	Maxwell, Alexander	1	 	Fay
30	Crawford, James		1	2	Fay.
81	Maxwell, John		2	2	Fay.
81	Maxwell, Thomas	 		 	Fay.
81	Maxwell, William	 	 	Fay.
81	Maxwell, William	2	 	Fay.
30	Crawford, John		1	2	Hen.
36	Dooley, Thomas		1	2	Henry
36	Douglass, Andrew	1	1	Henry
36	Douglas, John		1	8	K.&Qu.
36	Douglas, Robert, Jr.	1	3	K.&Qu.
30	Crawford, Rebecca	 	 	Lin.
36	Douglass, Alexander	1	1	Lin.
36	Douglass, George	1	1	Lin.
81	Maxill, John Jr.	1	1	Lin.
36	Douglass, Hugh		1	1	Lou.
81	Maxwell, George		1	 	Loud.
30	Crawford, John		1	5	Loui
30	Crawford, Peter		1	3	Loui
36	Douglass, Rev. Wm.	1	37	Loui.
30	Crawford, Edward	1	 	Mont.
30	Crawford, James		1	 	Mont.
30	Crawford, Robert	1	 	Mont.
36	Dooley, Abraham		1	 	Mont.
36	Douglass, James		1	3	Mont.
81	Maxwell, Bealeel	1	 	Mont.
81	Maxwell, Elisha		1	 	Mont.
81	Maxwell, James		1	 	Mont.
81	Maxwell, John		1	 	Mont.
81	Maxwell, Thomas		1	 	Mont.
81	Maxwell, William	1	 	Mont.
81	Maxwell, William	1	1	Mont.
36	Douglass, Mrs. Cato	1	20	Pr.Wm.
30	Crawford, James		1	 	Rock.
30	Crawford, William	1	 	Rock.
30	Crawford, William	1		Rock.
36	Dooly, Valentine	1		Rock.
81	Maxwell, John		2	 	Rock.
30	Crafford		7		So'n
30	Crawford, Christopher	1	 	Spots.
30	Crawford, James		1	 	Spots.
30	Crawford, James, Sr.	1	6	Spots.
30	Crawford, Andrew	1	9	West.
30	Crawford, Presley	1	1	West.
36	Douglass, Joseph	1	3	West.