Created by Eileen Phelps

Tithables

What It Is
This database was derived from selected references found in Volume 1 of  Norfolk County, Virginia Tithables, by Elizabeth B. Wingo. © 1979. Family History Library Call No. 975.5523 R4w v.1-3.

Mrs. Wingo found the original records in a fragile state in a shed behind the courthouse and transcribed them into three volumes. The records are not complete. Many year’s worth of records were not found and some were unreadable. The originals are too fragile to be available for public viewing. There are no images for the range of years that were transcribed and  the transcriptions have not been digitized for the Internet as far as I have been able to determine (as of 2010).

Tithables were individuals who were subject to taxes (tithes). Tithables were all males of the age of 16 and up, and "all Negroes, Mulatto, and Indian Women of the same Age, except Indians Tributary to this Government, and all Wives of Free Negroes, Mulattos, and Indians..." Each tithable owed 7½ pounds of tobacco as the tax, the money going to the established church as well as toward the usual government expenditures. White females were not taxed and do not appear in the record, except where they were heads of households and thus responsible for paying the tax on any white males between the ages of 16 and 21 and any slaves in the household.

Why It Matters
Tithables lists are the best census substitute for this time period, and have the advantage of being created yearly.

We have reason to believe (from other sources) that our Joseph Taylor Sr. came from Norfolk County, that his father was a Richard Taylor and his mother’s name was Dinah. We have for many years tried to tie Joseph to the Richard Taylor who bought land from him, part of the Granville Grant that is now in Edgecombe County, North Carolina, but so far no wills or DNA evidence support that claim.

As it stands, only the Norfolk Tithables lists show a Joseph Taylor living on the Western Branch of the Elizabeth River as distinguished from the Southern Branch-Julian Creek area, where the Richard Taylor, purchaser of Joseph’s land, appears to come from.

In addition, there are other Taylor names in the Western Branch precinct that are possibly related to our Joseph Sr. None of these Western Branch Taylors appears to have been landowners, at least according to later years in the Tithables, in Volumes 2 & 3. Also a number of the surnames found in the Western Branch match those found in the Edgecombe-Martin County area in North Carolina, strengthening the idea that a migration of neighbors took place. Because these people did not own land in Norfolk County they do not appear in deeds, and very few made wills, which means they have not been easy to find.

How to View It
You will need a copy of the Legacy Family Tree program. Copy this database to C:\Legacy\Data if you have not changed the default Legacy installation. Open Legacy and chose File > Restore Family File.

The best view to use with this database is the Index View. Choose the Index tab and click on the bar above the columns for the arrangement of names you prefer (not on the header at the top of the specific column). This view is best because this database is not one connected family. To see the Individual’s Information screen, which will look more familiar to you, double-click on the name in the Index list. While you are on that screen, click on the Source icon (a set of books) and you will get a window that shows the exact text that was in Mrs. Wingo’s transcription.

No assumptions have been made as to relationships unless specifically stated. I have not merged any two listings together, either. For example, we believe that RINs 879, 1190, 1312, 1489, and 1696 are all our Joseph Taylor Sr., who moved to North Carolina, but I have listed the Joseph Taylor listings as five separate individuals. The probable birth dates do not match, either, because they only assume that each Joseph Taylor listing where no woman’s name appears indicated he was of legal age by the year of the entry. If “son” appears, as in the case of widows who are listed as head of household who are paying for their sons, I have created a family with “,Taylor” as father and added a death date as “before xx.” I have created a given-name-only listing for the mother and an alias under her married name. This only occurs when the source specifically states a relationship. Browsing in the list of custom events and in the source text will make this clear. In the case of women who are heads of households but the word “son” does not appear I have indexed them under their surname and added a note that the source does not indicate whether the surname is a maiden or a married name and I have not grouped them into families.

If you have the Norfolk Tithables binder from our collection, or are looking at Volume I in the Family History Library you will want to select the Index View and click on RIN (Record Information Number). The RIN order corresponds (with few exceptions) to the order in which the names appear in the book. It will be helpful in some cases to pull the death date column into view at the right.

Another way to use the Legacy Index is to click on Surname on the bar and type in “Taylor.” Aliases of “Taylor” have been created for all entries with variant spellings of that surname and will have a ~ in front of them. You will see all the entries for that name without having to know all the Taylor variant spellings. When two variants appear in the same source an alias appears for the second variant as well. Since standardizing involves assumptions on my part, all standard spellings that don’t appear in the original source are commented on in the notes. Another surname whose spelling ought to be standardized are the variants of “Wallace.” That’s a future project.

There is one other potential problem in viewing this database. If you have the free version of Legacy instead of the deluxe version, you will find that you can’t view everything. The missing columns in the Index view are not important and are mostly blank, but there may be additional areas in the sources that are not visible. When I learn more about this, I will add to this document.

I hope that the listings in these volumes will someday be added to Ancestry.com or FamilySearch, or another online resource.

Notice these Individuals:
-Richard Taylor of the Western Branch, possibly the father of our Joseph Sr.
RINs: 115 (listed in 1730); 190 (1731); 310 (1732) 414 (1733)
-Dinah Taylor, listed as the head of household paying for Joseph Taylor:
RIN: 878 (listed in 1750)
-Joseph Taylor of the Western Branch, possibly our Joseph Taylor Sr.:
RINs: 879 (listed under Dinah Taylor in 1750); 1190 (1751); 1312 (1752); 1489 (1753); 1696 (1754)

Binders

What It Is
This is a database file of the Norfolk County binders in the collection now in the possession of Brian Taylor in Farr West.

How to View It
Follow the example above for Legacy..

TaylorAssociation.org