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