Tracing Virginians of the 18th Century

The original 1790 census of Virginia is said to have been destroyed when the British burned Washington during the War of 1812. The loss of these records has been a severe blow to genealogists on the trail of 18th-Century Virginia ancestors.

The federal government published the 1790 census schedules for all the states in 1907. For Virginia, state enumerations taken between 1782 and 1785 were substituted. Less than half of Virginia’s counties had them, and the ones that were available covered different years. In 1940 two genealogists published a sequel made up of the tax lists of the missing counties. They used the first tax list available for each county, ranging from 1782 to 1787.

In 1786, the Virginia General Assembly passed a law providing for 1787 taxes. A special form to be used by the tax commissioners was part of the law. Virginia repealed this tax law a year later. Amazingly, almost all of the 1787 tax lists survived but they had never been published. Recently Netti Schreiner-Yantis and Florene Speakman Love--with the help of a computer--tackled the project.

One column contains the date of the receiving list from individuals. The law dictated that the commissioner was to call on every person subject to taxation, so it’s obvious that persons whose lists were collected on the same day were neighbors. This is important because your great-great-grandfather probably married a girl from a nearby farm.

Another column lists names of white males over 21. It includes the names, not only of heads of households, but of sons, sons-in-law, apprentices, grandsons, fathers, hired workers--in the household in which they resided.

Individual books covering the counties of what was 1787 Virginia--including the ones that are now in West Virginia and Kentucky--are available. Prices vary from $2 for Warwick County to $10 for Loudoun County. The entire set, in a three-volume, hard-bound composite edition, is available for $179 (including postage). Each county’s book contains a map of the area as it appeared about the time of the census and is indexed by surnames and first names.

These tax lists sometimes give information that was not required by law. (This data is under a “notes” section.) One particularly helpful notation often made by the tax commissioners was the identification of two people with the same name. This is a problem genealogists frequently encounter. Since the commissioners also needed to differentiate between two John Smiths, they indicated “son of Elijah,” “blacksmith,” or “Beaver Creek.”

If an ancestor was not liable for the poll tax, he may have been old and infirm--in which case a researcher should be able to find in the county Order Books a law making him exempt--or was a woman, or had an occupation such as clergyman or a profession. Certain political jobs, from constable to governor, also made one exempt.

White males between 16 and 21 were subject to a county parish tithe, but not the state poll tax. Indians were exempt. Persons living out of the county may be listed because they owned property in the county, but they themselves were exempt except in the county in which they resided.

The 1787 Census of Virginia is a great new source. It is an invaluable aid if your roots go back to Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky.

For complete information and price list on the individual counties, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to “The 1787 Census of Virginia Books,” Genealogical Books in Print, 6818 Lois Drive, Springfield, Va. 22150.

Q: I am an adoptee and had great difficulty in obtaining the names of my parents. At 68 years of age I would like to finally know the origin of my roots. Can you tell by my names?

A: You have English ancestry. Cole is English, (descendant of Cole, a pet name for Nicholas--people’s victory), while Roberts is English and/or Welsh. It means son of Robert (fame, bright).

Q: An entry in an old family Bible gives the date of my ancestor, Simon Doyle, as Jan. 20, 1768, in “Old Virginia.” Can you determine what county or locality in Virginia this might be?

A: If I knew where your ancestor migrated to after he left Virginia, I might be able to narrow down the locality for you, Unfortunately, you did not provide me with enough information.

According to “Virginia Vital Records” a Martin Doyle’s obituary appeared in the Norfolk Gazette and Public Ledger newspaper April 17, 1813; a John Doyal appears in the 1781 Henry County, Va., military lists; and a John Doyle (also of Henry County) was a private in the Illinois Regiment under Gen. George Rogers Clark, according to Virginia Military Records. Check those locales for your Doyle families. These two excellent Virginia record books, published by Genealogical Publishing Co. of Baltimore, Md., contain about 1,700 pages of records and cost $41 each (postpaid).