The Ancestor Hunt regularly adds and updates new collection links, as well as searches for and fixes broken links.
(This page's most recent update is January 2025)
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Another type of genealogy record that provides tremendous value is tax records. Like city directories and voting registers, they provide information for us between federal censuses. They also can go back to colonial times.
Types of Taxes
- Income tax
- Federal direct tax
- Poll or head tax
- Real property, e.g., land
- Personal property, e.g., livestock, equipment, carriages, enslaved persons
- Other, such as special levies for roads, schools, etc.
Types of Information
- Date
- Residence address; property, license, or goods; value; tax amount; possibly profession, occupation, or trade
- Name of the taxpayer, usually white adult males
- Town/township/city, county, and state of residence
- Owner and/or renter of the property
- Number of white adult males in the home
- Type and value of property
- Livestock owned
- Personal property owned
- Amount of tax owed
- Profession, occupation, or trade
- Number of school-aged children
- Number of enslaved persons
Derivative information, such as birth date, death date, and date of marriage can often be estimated or determined from the presence or absence of a person in a tax list.
Good primers regarding the genealogical value of tax records and more details can be found in these articles:
- The Genealogical Benefits of Tax Records
- Using Poll Tax Records for Genealogy
- Genealogy 101: Tax Records
- Back to the Basics with Tax Records: Part 1
- Back to the Basics with Tax Records: Part 2
- Back to the Basics with Tax Records: Part 3
- United States Taxation
- The Value of Using US Tax Records in Genealogy Research
Below, listed by the state are links to tax records that are available for free online for the region:
- Free Alabama Online Tax Records
- Free Arkansas Online Tax Records
- Free Florida Online Tax Records
- Free Georgia Online Tax Records
- Free Kentucky Online Tax Records
- Free Louisiana Online Tax Records
- Free Mississippi Online Tax Records
- Free Missouri Online Tax Records
- Free North Carolina Online Tax Records
- Free Oklahoma Online Tax Records
- Free South Carolina Online Tax Records
- Free Tennessee Online Tax Records
- Free Texas Online Tax Records
- Free Virginia Online Tax Records
- Free West Virginia Online Tax Records
Good Luck and Happy Hunting!