Tennessee, Gibson County Tax Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

Record Description
This collection will include records from 1825-1900.

Images of poll tax lists, delinquent lists, and trustee reports from the Gibson County.

Record Content
Tax records vary in content and may contain the following information:
 * Name
 * Acres of land owned
 * Value of land
 * Amount of taxes due
 * Description or location coordinates of real estate

How to Use the Record
As you are searching, it is helpful to know such information as:
 * Full name of ancestor
 * Identifying information such as residence and family relationships.

Search the Collection
To search the collection you will need to follow this series of links: ⇒Select "Browse through images" on the initial collection page ⇒ Select the 'Record Category' category ⇒ Select the 'Record Type, Volume, and Year Range' category which takes you to the images.

Search the collection by image comparing the information with what you already know about your ancestors to determine if the image relates to them. You may need to look at several images and compare the information about the individuals listed in those images to your ancestors to make this determination.

Using the Information
When you have located your ancestor in the assessment rolls, carefully evaluate each piece of information given. These pieces of information may be new details that can lead you to other records about your ancestors. For example:


 * Tax assessments identify the name and residence of the taxpayer. This information can help you locate land records and census records.
 * The description of the real estate, number of acres owned, types of buildings, identifiable personal property, and the farm animals can help you determine an occupation: someone living at a church is probably a minister; someone with several acres of land or many farm animals is probably a farmer; someone living on the same property as the school may be a teacher; someone living above or behind a store is probably a merchant. Occupations can lead you to other types of records such as employment, school, or church records.
 * Following an ancestor through the assessment rolls can help you establish a family migration pattern or identify the year an individual moved into an area or left the area.
 * The assessment rolls can also indicate that an individual died. Use the last known tax year as an approximate death year. Use the death year and residence to locate death or probate records.

Tips to Keep in Mind

 * It is often helpful to extract the information on all individuals with the same surname in the same general area. If the surname is uncommon, it is likely that those living in the same area were related.
 * Other family members may have lived nearby so you may want to search an entire town, neighboring towns, or even a county.
 * Additional searches may be needed to locate all members of a particular family in the assessment rolls.

Unable to Find Your Ancestor?

 * Check for variant spellings of the names.
 * Search the records and indexes of nearby localities (or military units, counties, parishes, etc.).

General Information about These Records
The original Gibson County Tax Records 1867-1884 are kept at the County Courthouse. In 1976, TSLA microfilmed these records. Governments created tax records that vary in content according to the purpose of the assessment. Most are based on personal property, real estate, and income. Taxes were collected to raise money for a variety of purposes. The tax assessments were made to determine how much money each property owner must pay. Tax records are usually reliable as they are kept by the county clerk who recorded the event at or very near the time it occurred.

Related Websites

 * Tennessee State Library and Archives
 * Gibson County, Tennessee GenWeb]
 * Tennessee GenWeb Project
 * Gibson County, TN History, Records, Facts and Genealogy
 * Gibson County Official Website

Related Wiki Articles

 * Tennessee Taxation
 * Tennessee Court Records
 * Gibson County, Tennessee Genealogy
 * Tennessee Online Genealogy Records
 * Tennessee Genealogy

Citations for This Collection
When you copy information from a record, you should list where you found the information; that is, cite your sources. This will help people find the record again and evaluate the reliability of the source. It is also good to keep track of records where you did not find information, including the names of the people you looked for in the records. Citations are available for the collection as a whole and each record or image individually. Collection Citation:

Image Citation: