Livingston County

This page udated 4 Jun 2020

Tax Lists

The records below focus on entries involving the following persons. I have endeavored to find all entries involving them from the establishment of Livingston County on 21 May 1799 until Eddyville and surrounds became part of newly formed Caldwell Co. 1 May 1809. Because the records are not indexed, and are handwritten and difficult to read, some were no doubt missed.

The tax lists were made annually, listing the various items subject to tax. Note that the sequence of the columns in the right half of the chart is different in some years. The terms "ditto" it's abbreviation "do," and "same" generally mean "the same as above," though in the "in whose name surveyed/patented" columns it apparently means same as the column to the left.

The three "rates" for acreage reflect land with different value; different tax rates were applied to the three grades of land.

The "in whose name entered" column is supposed to record the name of the person who requested a survey of a parcel to be claimed under rights obtained for military service or by purchase from the Commonwealth. Such rights were frequently sold or transferred, often multiple times, before a specific parcel was defined by a survey. If the rights were sold after the entry, but before the survey was issued, the "in whose name surveyed" is supposed to record in whose name the survey was issued. If the rights were sold after the survey but before the patent (deed from the state) was issued, and the "in whose name patented" column is supposed to record the name in which the patent was finally issued. It was most commonly left blank, presumably indicating that the patent was issued to the same person who had the parcel surveyed.

The "rate of covering" column, also known as "rate per season," refers to the breeding of horses. The tax payer had to pay taxes on the amount he charged for stud fees.

It appears that some items supposedly subject to tax were not recorded each year. For example, the County Court Orders show Gideon D. Cobb obtaining his tavern license many more years than recorded below. In the later years below, the date column is present, but not populated. In some cases the images are unclear, and ink bleeding through from the reverse side makes reading difficult. Therefor some of the information below may be in error, particularly the names in the "in whose name entered" columns.

More on taxation and tax lists in this period can be found in an article by Kandie Adkinson on the Kentucky Secretary of State website.

1800:

None of the above persons found.

1801, Upper District:

1802, Upper District:

1803, Upper District:

1804, Upper District:

1805:

Only one of the two districts appears on the film. The Clerk of Court's certification says it is for the Upper District, but the names and water courses listed match those of the Lower District. None of the above names appear.

1806, Upper District:

* The first entry above that is not "do" is Henderson, but it seems likely the writer intended these to refer to Livingston instead.

1807, Upper District:

1808, Upper District:

1809, Upper District:

1810:

Eddyville and the surrounding area became part of Caldwell Co. effective 1 May 1809. None of the individuals listed above appear in 1810

I have copies of each of the pages extracted above. Please contact me for clarification or copies, using the link below.

Source: Abstracts were made from Family History Library films of Livingston Co. Tax Lists, FHL #8119

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