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Plat Maps
These maps detail the locations and owners of property in a township. They are not only interesting but are also helpful because your ancestor’s neighbors may have been related or may show up as witnesses in your ancestor’s wills, deeds, etc.
How to find plat maps:
Put in your place of interest in a place search in the Family History Library Catalog www.familysearch.org (try the township, county, or state) and go to “Land and property - maps.”
Tax Records
Tax records can be used as a type of yearly census record. If your ancestor was considered adult (generally age 21), you can find him in yearly tax records and know where he was living. Sometimes a woman was listed in tax records as “So and So’s widow” and you know her husband died recently. If you are looking for a young ancestor, you can discover when he turned 21 (or whatever the legal age was in that state) and thus the year he was born. Remember, though, there were different types of taxes and not every person was taxed even if they lived in the area.
Types of Taxes
Poll tax: Each head of the household paid a tax just for living in the area. This would be somewhat similar to income tax today.
Personal property: Tax levied on things like cows and horses. These are good lists because not every person owned land, but they often owned at least a cow.
Real property: Tax on land.
How to find tax records
Go to the library catalog at www.familysearch.org. Put your ancestor’s township or county into a place search and go to “Taxation.”
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