1856 Land Tax for Northampton County, Virginia

Transcribed by Doris Adler 104 pages, Index The Land Tax Records, compiled yearly, provide perhaps the most reliable indication of the ownership of land in the county, and the location, assessed value, and improvements made on all privately owned real estate. Copies of the annual Land Tax Lists are on file in the State Library in Richmond, but the manuscript of the 1856 Land Tax List, compiled by the then sheriff, Teackle Jacob, has remained on the Eastern Shore of Virginia in the possession his great grandson Ridgway Dunton, who has graciously shared it with us. This document provides a wealth of information beyond the obvious “who owned what and how much was it worth.” The list provides the name and residence of absentee landowners, the names of familiar estates some of which no longer exist, owners and locations of mills, storehouses, and taverns, and the names of little valued and now non-existent islands, many of which were assessed .25 an acre. The tax records indicate yet-to-be settled estates, ownership acquired through marriage to the right woman, and assignees in complex land settlements.