Virginia Tax Lists
Womacks found in VA Tax Lists, 1782 - circa 1810
I abstracted Womacks found in Virginia tax records. I looked at 32 counties and 2 cities, starting with the first year available, which was usually 1782. I stopped at different years per county, but tried to get through the year 1800 for most. Click the links under Regions, below.
Regions
Virginia Counties circa 1806, with Womack regions colored. Womacks not found in all colored counties; in particular none were found in Amherst, Albemarle, Buckingham, Louisa, Powhatan, Surry and Sussex. Also, none found in City of Richmond.
The Virginia State tax lists that began in 1782 are distinct from the Virginia State Censuses conducted 1782-1785, as well as the decennial Federal Censuses of Virginia, which began in 1790. Some counties are missing some of the early years, but most counties, including "burned counties", have very good sets of tax records. These were kept in the state capitol, Richmond, so they survived various county-level courthouse disasters. There were two lists taken for each county, Land Tax and Personal Property tax. Personal Property included a tithe tax on males over 16, as well as slaves, horses, cattle, etc.
The tax lists are important for a number of reasons:
The Virginia State Censuses from 1782-1785 are missing for several counties.
The 1790 Federal Census of Virginia is lost for all counties.
The 1800 Federal Census of Virginia is lost for all but two counties (no Womacks in either).
The 1810 Federal Census of Virginia exists for most counties, but is lost for 18 counties, including two important Womack counties:
Halifax
Pittsylvania
The 1810 Federal Census of Chesterfield Co, VA was seriously undercounted, resulting in some Womacks missed. The following are the Federal Census totals for Chesterfield Co, VA from 1790-1820; note the large dip in 1810. There is no real explanation for this, because Chesterfield after its formation in 1749 only lost small amounts of territory to a few independent cities, and this was long after 1810.
1790 - 14,214
1800 - 14,488
1810 - 9,979
1820 - 18,003
Availability
These Virginia tax lists are on microfilm available at the Library of Virginia, and I examined several via Interlibrary Loan. A subset of the microfilms are also available via FamilySearch.
Additionally, Binn's Genealogy has some years for many counties, including their free online lists, circa 1790 and 1800. The following are the spellings of Womack in their 1790 and 1800 master indexes:
1790 - Walmark [should be Walmack], Wamack, Wammack, Wammock, Wamock, Womack, Wommack
1800 - Wamack, Wamarck [should be Wamack], Wammack, Womack, Wommack, Wommax, Wommock, Wormack
These tax lists have been abstracted in books and magazines:
Virginia Tax Payers 1782-1787, Other Than Those Published by the US Census Bureau [meaning the Virginia State Censuses], by Augusta B Fothergill and John Mark Naugle.
The 1787 Census of Virginia: An Accounting of the Names of Every White Male Tithable Over 21 Years, the Number of White Males Between 16 & 21 Years, the Number of Slaves Over 16 & Those Under 16 Years . . ., by Netti Schreiner-Yantis and Florence Speakman Love
Various issues of The Virginia Genealogist magazine.
The following are Womacks from the book Virginia Tax Payers 1782-1787.
Index to book The 1787 Census of Virginia
Amelia County
Josiah Womack, 363
Thomas Womack, 362
Brunswick County
Henry Wammack, 251
Campbell County
David Wamock, 260
Richard Wamock, 260
Charlotte County
William Wamack, 321 [Estate]
Chesterfield County
Sarah Womack, 1390
Thomas Womack, 1394
William Womack (2), 1390
Culpeper County
Peter Womack, 716
Cumberland County
Nathan Womack,334
William Womack, 334
Fluvanna County
Richard Womack, 622
Greensville County
William Wommock, 780
Halifax County
Abraham Wamack, 415
Charles Wamack, 426
William Wamack, 415
Hanover County
Henry Womack, 973
Henrico County
Abraham Womack, 1087
Lunenburg County
Alexander Wammock, 1236
William Wammock, 1236
Pittsylvania County
William Womack, 475 [Allen Womack missed]
Prince Edward County
Massao Womack, 1300 [Massanello]
Willm Womack, 1301
Prince George County
Burwell Womack, 917
Hanah Womack, 918
Isham Womack (2), 918
James Womack, 918
Jane Womack, 917
John Womack, 918
Mary Womack, 918
Shadrick Womack, 918
William Womack, 917
Abram Woomack, 916
Ephram Wammock, 918
Southampton County
Carter Wammack, 1135
James B Wammack, 1135
Thomas Wammack, 1135
Virginia Cities with tax records before 1850 at Library of Virginia, with first year available
Alexandria 1787
Fredericksburg 1787
Lynchburg 1817
Norfolk 1783
Petersburg 1787
Portsmouth 1831
Richmond 1787
Staunton 1802
Wheeling 1838
Williamsburg 1783
Winchester 1787