Buckingham County Records
Randolph Jefferson, 1782, Personal Property Tax. Buckingham County, Virginia.
Courtesy Library of Virginia.
When a county courthouse burns, as was the case in Buckingham County, Virginia in early 1869, research concerning the county’s history can be very challenging. Despite the local loss, many county records during the 19th century were submitted to Richmond. Some have survived, including land and personal property taxes. Images of the original records, like the one above, are available to view at the Library of Virginia.
Years ago, Roger G. Ward created three indispensable volumes of “implied deeds” using land tax records for Buckingham County, which typically indicated both grantee and grantor when land was transferred. His books have been invaluable to Buckingham County researchers and remain in print. Click here to find them online at Iberian Publishing: BUCKINGHAM COUNTY, VIRGINIA LAND TAX SUMMARIES & IMPLIED DEEDS.
Following in Ward’s footsteps, Randy F. McNew Crouse has published an initial collection, transcribing (line for line) Buckingham County’s earliest personal property taxes, including the surviving fragment from 1764; 1773-4; and 1782-92. His book, Personal Property Tax Lists of Buckingham County, Virginia 1764-1792, contains a 160 page index of surnames and appendixes, including a brief biography of Buckingham County Clerks Rolfe Eldridge and Rolfe Eldridge, Jr. Crouse also offers helpful hints for alternate spellings of names.
Unsurprisingly, Crouse has roots in Buckingham, including patriarchs: Abraham Childress, Matthias Nichols, and Archelaus Reynolds. A curious man of many specialties, Crouse has long been interested in history and genealogy. He describes himself as a “husband, father and grandfather, scientist, botanist, astronomer, ornithologist, entomologist, naturalist, artist, musician, cook, backpacker, kayaker and author.” Having finished his first compilation of Buckingham records, he moved on to Volume 2, which will cover 1792-1802 and will be available later in 2017.
Click here to learn more or purchase a copy at Lulu:
Personal Property Tax Lists of Buckingham County, Virginia 1764-1792.
slate river ramblings . . . . 
I, too, am thankful for the notice about the Property Tax books. I just placed an order for the first one, and will get the next when it’s available. I do own the Land Tax and Deeds book by Ward. I have spent innumerable hours with microfiche in Family History libraries in the past. These will be welcome in my home library.
Thanks for telling us about the new book available from Lulu. I hadn’t seen any other reference to it. My order is already in processing with them!
Eric, You are welcome! Joanne
Thanks to Joanne Yeck for posting the notice about my work. I am humbly grateful.
I hope everyone finds the book useful. Volume 2 is about 3/4 complete. Stay tuned.
For those who have purchased the book, please go to my Author Page (paste the link into your browser) at http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/rfloydc and leave a review to help others decide if this is what they want or need and to help me to meet your needs and to make the next book a better one.
Anyone who finds errors or has comments and suggestions, please write to me at rcrouse1116@gmail.com
Also, FYI my next project (after volume 2 of the Personal Property Tax Lists, will be the Land Tax Lists, which will be an unabridged, direct transcription.
This will hopefully supplement Roger Ward’s Land Tax Summaries.
It always surprised me that there were apparently three different/unrelated Davidsion/Davison families in the 1764 Buckingham tax list. My family included Edward (son was Charles), David and William Davidson. The Alexander Davidson who was there, however, was from a different family. There was a William Davidson, Senior and a William Davidson, Junior on that list. They were probably from two different families (“Senior” and “Junior” were often used on these old records to differentiate between two men with the same name). “Senior” was a member of my family, but “Junior” was almost certainly the William Davidson who married Martha Baker of Prince Edward Co., VA. My family was DNA Family 10, and Martha Baker’s husband was DNA Family 16. The Davisons of DNA Family 5 lived in next-door Prince Edward Co., VA, and the Davisons of DNA Family 7 were also eventually in both counties.
Bill, Thanks for your comment. DNA projects are going a long way to help solve old mysteries! Joanne.