Research


Scope and Content Note

This series contains lists of persons upon whom real and/or personal property taxes were levied in response to State tax legislation passed in 1779, 1786, 1787, and 1788. All of the tax lists in the series pertain to districts within Albany County. Lists vary slightly in format from year to year and even within the same year. All, however, feature the names of persons taxed in each district, in no discernible order, and the total amount of taxes owed by each person.

Ballstown is the sole district for which 1779 lists are present. The 1779 lists include a separate enumeration of those individuals that had not in the opinion of the assessors "suffered by the calamities of war" and therefore were directed to pay taxes on "their whole property." This list includes the assessed value of each person's real estate, in addition to the total amount of tax owed.

Most lists created in 1787 and 1788 denote the amount of tax levied upon each person's real and personal estates in separate columns, followed by the total amount of tax due. Lists from 1786 forward are endorsed and signed by the supervisor overseeing the raising of taxes within the district. These endorsements include date, total amount of taxes levied within the district, and name of tax collector to whom the list was delivered.