Some tax lists from years 1791 through 1804
John Robertson
Important: Taxes were recorded in the county that the
payer lived and not the county where the property was located. Also, often owners leased their land to
others to farm with the agreement that the lessee pay the taxes. In this case it is the lessee name that
appears on the tax list and not the owner.
Guide to researching tax lists from the Kentucky Land
Office
These lists are from
microfilm at the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives in Frankfort,
Kentucky. The roll and page numbers were not recorded.
1791 – List of Ttithables of Capt. William Skaggs Company of the Nelson County Militia in Kentucky District of Virginia. This list shows William Gill, John Robison (Robertson) and William Skaggs. William Skaggs and John Robertson are shown on the last page which is likely the list of officers. Since the militias were the social unit at that time and all males 18 and older were required to participate, we suspect that this John Robison is John Robertson who met Sally Gill the daughter of William Gill and married in the following year in Nelson County. Further, a William Skaggs was a chain carrier with John for the survey of his land in 1796 in Barren County.
1792 – Nelson County Tax list: Two John Robertsons are shown on this list. Other records show that two John Robertsons lived in Nelson County in that time frame. The one who is single with no property is at the top of the page is believed to be our John. He later married Sally Gill that year. The other John Robertson was listed to a William Robertson and had 6 slaves with 4 horses and 19 head of cattle. He and William are found later in other documents and we have found no connection to our John.
1799 – Barren County Tax list: John Robertson is shown with 400 acres on Blue Spring and 100 acres on Green River. It shows one Black, two horses and 1 ordinary license (tavern). He apparently added an additional 200 acres to his original grant of 200 acres in 1796 on Blue Spring. We know from other documents that his father in law, William Gill, had land in Green County and it is likely that the 100 acres on Green River is part of that which he acquired from William Gill.
1801 – Barren County Tax list: John Robertson is shown with 600 acres on Blue Spring and 100 acres on Green River. It shows one Black and three horses. He has acquired tax liability for and additional 200 acres for a total now of 700 acres. Since he has only one Black and three horses, he is not likely farming all of that land. He may be renting it out or holding it as an investment. At this time he has two children, a daughter 4 years old and a son 2 years old.
1802 – Barren County Tax list: John Robertson is shown with 400 acres on Blue Spring and 400 acres on East Fork of Big Barren (where William Gill also had land) and the 100 acres on Green River. It shows three Blacks and four horses. He has disposed of 200 acres on Blue Spring and acquired the 400 acres on East Fork of Big Barren for a total of 900 acres. Deeds for the 400 acres on the East Fork have been found that show the transfer from William Gill to John Robertson.
1803 – Barren County Tax list: John Robertson is shown with 400 acres on Blue Spring and 400 acres on Peter Creek. Peter Creek is near the East Fort of the Big Barren and the we suspect that the land was located between the two and that would account for the change of location from 1802 to 1803. It shows one Black and three horses which is less support than the previous year. He no longer shows the 100 acres on Green River and now has a total of 800 acres. We presume he sold 100 acres but have not searched for the transaction documents at this time.
1804 – Barren County Tax list: John Robertson is shown with 400 acres on Blue Spring and 400 acres on East Fork of Big Barren. The location name has reverted to East Fork from Peter Creek. It shows two Blacks and three horses. It shows that the 400 acres on East Fork was surveyed for William Gill which is consistent with other documents. In 1804, John had only two children, Nancy age 8 and William age 6.
We have not found any tax records for John after 1804. In 1804 William Gill wrote his will and he died before 1809 but we do now know the exact year. The will left 1300 additional acres to John and Sally. Those acres were on Sandy which is probably the Sandy creek in Hardin County. William’s brother had land not far from that location and we suspect that was owned from earlier times. Gill family history puts William and John Gill in Kentucky early, 1881 and 1883 time frame.
We know that in the 1810 to 1818 time frame John was living on the East Fork property and this children grew up there and found their mates among the Stinson, Morris, Howard and Russell settlers there. Further that those families all moved to the same area of Missouri in the years 1818 through 1828. William, the oldest son was the last to move to Missouri and according to family tradition continued the farm the family land in Kentucky for about 10 years after the others moved. He married there than his first children were born there.
|
Tax year |
Number Acres |
Number Blacks |
Number Horses |
|
1791 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
1792 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
1799 |
500 |
1 |
2 |
|
1801 |
700 |
1 |
3 |
|
1802 |
900 |
3 |
4 |
|
1803 |
800 |
1 |
3 |
|
1804 |
800 |
2 |
3 |