Edward H. Nabb Research Center for Delmarva History & Culture Enduring Connections: Exploring Delmarva's Black History

Source Information

Somerset County, Maryland Board of County Commissioners: Assessment Ledger 1852-1866 (Barren Creek District)

Tax Assessments • 89 Records • Uploaded October 13, 2022

This source is an abstract of the 1852-1866 Somerset County, Maryland tax assessment ledger for the Barren Creek District. This assessment also includes what became the Sharptown District. In 1867, both districts became part of the newly-formed Wicomico County.
These assessment records include taxable property, such as land, livestock, household goods, and (at the time) enslaved people, as well as the assigned values. Property information for free Black individuals is recorded in this abstract in its entirety; for slaveowners, only the information regarding enslaved individuals is included in this abstract. In addition to the debit portion of the ledger (left side) showing the taxed property, the credit portion (right side) indicates property that is being removed from the assessment. Sometimes the credit may include the reason – such as sold, runaway, exported, died or manumitted – including, in 1864, “gone into army” and, in 1865, “emancipated by the State.”
This was abstracted from Maryland State Archives citation numbers C1733-15 by Donna Messick.

View Records

Fields Included

The list below shows the data fields included in this source. If a field is marked as Indexed, it is searchable.

  • County
  • Tax Ledger Page
  • Taxpayer Indexed
  • Tax Years (1852-66 property debits) Indexed
  • Abstract Indexed
  • Tax years & Items subtracted (credits) from assessments in other years Indexed
Download Original Dataset