The early Virginia land tax laws required the tax commissioner to record in “a fair alphabetical list” the name of persons owning land or town lots, the quantity of land owned, the value of the land or lots, and the amount of tax owed. Each tract or lot owned by an individual was to be entered separately. Beginning in 1814, a brief description of the location of the land, distance and direction from the courthouse were included. The records may also include from whom transferred and when and how the owner derived the land.
1808 tax not taken