Iberian Publishing Company's On-Line Catalog:
Clarke County Virginia

FREE BLACKS ON THE CLARKE COUNTY, VIRGINIA PERSONAL PROPERTY TAX LISTS, 1836-1862
compiled by Joy MacDonald, 2014.11x8 1/2, vi, 65 pages. Paperback; printed on acid-free stock.

The author has abstracted the information for free African-Americans in Clarke County City, Virginia and has arranged them into seven categories:
Year;
last name;
first name;
age;
occupation [only given infrequently on the rolls];
property description & value;
memo [oftentimes describing the exact location of the taxpayer or his former owners if freed in recent decades].

This volume is provided in three separate arrangements to facilitate genealogical research by African-American families; 1) chronologically by year; 2) sorted by last name of the individual; and 3) sorted by first name.

Similar volumes are available for Frederick County and the City of Winchester

Information recorded in Virginia personal property tax records provide a wealth of information regarding the social status of an individual. The early laws required the tax commissioner in each district to record in "a fair alphabetical list" the names of the person chargeable with the tax, the names of white male tithables over the age of twenty-one, the number of white male tithables between ages sixteen and twenty-one, the number of slaves both above and below age sixteen, various types of animals such as horses and cattle, carriage wheels, ordinary licenses, and even billiard tables. Free Negroes are listed by name and often denoted in the list as "free" or "FN." By the 1850s, the personal property tax records contained detailed descriptions of personal property owned.

The most frequent use of personal property tax records is for the direct information recorded: name of the property owner, type and quantity of property owned, and amount of tax paid. Comparative analysis of personal property tax records from year to year may lead to conclusions about social, economic, and agricultural history, as well as the status of certain individuals or groups of property owners within a locality.

For genealogical researchers, personal property tax records may provide important data. Individuals with the same names in a locality may be distinguished by a junior or senior, or residence (often listed by street). Parentage may be expressly or implicitly stated by either the name or number of male tithables between the ages of sixteen and twenty-one in the household of the taxpayer. The names of women appear occasionally when owning property in their own right or as the widow of a property owner. By studying the lists from year to year, researchers may trace an ancestor to determine the date of departure from a locality, or possibly the year of death. The name of a taxpayer will continue on the tax list, noted as "deceased" or "estate," until the estate is settled.

GREEN HILL CEMETERY TOMBSTONES AND BURIALS, BERRYVILLE, CLARKE COUNTY, VIRGINIA (Fifth Edition - 2015) Donald R. and Mary L. Royston. Fifth edition, 2015, 11 x 8 1/2 format, ii, 383 pages, map. The authors have updated their survey of this major Clarke County cemetery and have faithfully recorded more than 8,700 burials. This brings the cemetery records up to date as of 2011. In addition to the recording of the stones, hours were spent by volunteers from the Clarke County Historical Association combing through the journal records of the cemetery and copying the names of people interred there who had no grave marker. Included for each entry (when available on the tombstone or family plot) is the name of the deceased, date of birth, date of death, cemetery lot number, burial date, and miscellaneous notes. The latter includes any recorded military service, relationships (e.g., wife of, husband of, etc.) and age at time of death, if noted. Arranged alphabetically throughout for easy reference.

CONNECTIONS AND PARTINGS: ABSTRACTS OF MARRIAGE, DIVORCE, DEATH, AND LEGAL NOTICES REGARDING CLARKE COUNTY, VIRGINIA 1857-1884 FROM NEWSPAPER ACCOUNTS Mary Thomason Morris. 210 pages, index. This book presents a broad panoply of genealogical data on families of Clarke Co. during the nineteenth century, and it is an indispensable source book.

For more records pertaining to CLARKE COUNTY, VIRGINIA see also:

• MEN IN GRAY INTERMENTS series
• Guide to Virginia Militia Units in the War of 1812
• Chart on the Formation of Virginia Counties
• Atlas of County Boundary Changes in Virginia, 1634-1895
• Index to the 1810 Virginia Census