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Were your ancestors born in Pennsylvania, but you do not have a clue where? This 12 volume collection of Pennsylvania Tax Lists from the Third Series of the Published Pennsylvania Archives may hold a clue as to which Pennsylvania county and township your ancestor resided in during the 1760s to the early 1790s. These Pennsylvania tax lists were transcribed and compiled from original tax lists by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for their permanent preservation in the late 1800s. The years and type of tax vary from county to county. Taxpayers are listed by township and often the lists include the number of acres, horses, and cattle owned, along with a count of servants and African-Americans per taxed household. The county tax lists published in the Third Series of the Published Pennsylvania Archives are as:
- Allegheny County (Western Tax Lists: Vol. XXII): 1791
- Bedford County (Western Tax Lists: Vol. XXII): 1773, 1774, 1775, 1776, 1779, 1783 and 1784
- Berks County (Vol. XVIII): 1767, 1768, 1779, 1780, 1781, 1784, and 1785
- Bucks County (Vol. XIII): 1779, 1781, 1782.1783, 1784, 1785, 1786, and 1787
- Chester County (Vol. XI & XII): 1765, 1766, 1767, 1768, 1769, 1771, 1774, 1779, 1780, 1781, and 1785.
- Cumberland County (Vol. XX): 1778, 1779, 1780, 1781, 1782, and 1785
- Fayette County (Western Tax Lists: Vol. XXII): 1785 and 1786
- Huntingdon County (Western Tax Lists: Vol. XXII): 1788
- Lancaster County (Vol. XVII): 1771, 1772, 1773, 1779, and 1782
- Northampton County (Vol. XIX): 1772, 1785, 1786, and 1788
- Northumberland County (Vol. XIX): 1778, 1779, 1780, 1781, 1782, 1783, 1784, 1785, 1786, and 1787
- Philadelphia County & City (Vol. XIV-XVI): 1769, 1774, 1779, 1780, 1781, 1782, and 1783
- Washington County (Western Tax Lists: Vol. XXII): 1781.
- Westmoreland County (Western Tax Lists: Vol. XXII): 1783 and 1786
- York County (Vol. XXI): 1779, 1780, 1781, 1782, and 1783. Of special interest to Pennsylvania genealogy researchers are the 1783 list of taxpayers for York and York counties and the 1784 list of taxpayers for Bedford and Bucks counties. These lists itemize the acres per taxable, along with tallying the number of white and black inhabitants. As a result these four tax lists serve as a compete census for the four counties. It is worth noting that many of the present day Pennsylvania counties were once comprised of one or more of the above counties at one time or another. For example Somerset County, Pennsylvania was formed from Bedford County in 1795. Therefore, taxpayers prior to 1795 living in what is today Somerset County would be found in the tax lists for Bedford County tax lists. If you are a Pennsylvania genealogy researchers looking for early Pennsylvania families from the mid 1760's to the early 1790's, this CD of the Pennsylvania Tax Lists from the Third Series of the Published Pennsylvania Archives might just assist you in locating them. (10021 pp, including maps) Internet or mail-in authorization of the CD is required initially.
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