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

Source Information

Somerset County, Maryland Commissioners of the Tax: Assessment Ledger 1823-1829 (Election Districts 1 & 3)

Tax Assessments • 821 Records • Uploaded September 6, 2022

There were three tax districts in Somerset County, Maryland during this time period. It appears that only records from Districts 1 and 3 are extant; District 2 is missing. 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 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. It also appears that several of the credit pages, especially in District 3, may no longer exist and are noted as missing.

This was abstracted from a photocopy of Maryland State Archives citation numbers C1732-4, C1732-5 and C1732-6 by Donna Messick.

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Fields Included

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

  • County/Election District Indexed
  • Tax Ledger Page
  • Taxpayer Indexed
  • Tax Years 1823-1829 Property Debits Indexed
  • Abstract Indexed
  • Tax years & Items subtracted (credits) from assessments in other years (due to sales, deaths, extraditions to other areas, etc.) Indexed
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