Tax Records Locate an Ancestor and Illustrate Their Life StoryBy Connie Lenzen, CGSM |
When do you use tax records?
Most people do not use tax records until they have exhausted everything else—published literature, censuses, vital records. In other words, tax records are used when all else has failed. The following example illustrates how tax records can be used to locate people and to give them a character. If you would like me to research tax records for your project, send an email to me, and we can chat about your needs.
Value of tax records.
Tax records are some of the most valuable records you can use. They can tell you the following, and a lot more.
Types of taxes:
Sometimes these taxes are found in separate registers; sometimes, they are found in the same volume.
An example of how tax records bring individuals and their families to life.
The 1865 Clackamas County, Oregon Tax Book, located at Clackamas County Historical Society, Oregon City, Oregon, includes a listing for Allen Mattoon.
- The agricultural products were taxed as personal property.
- 8 acres under cultivation
- 36 bushels wheat
- 100 bushels oats
- 6 tons hay
- 100 bushels potatoes
- 100 bushels apples
- 80 lbs butter
- 40 lbs wool
- 20 sheep
- 6 hogs
- 2 horses
- 15 cattle
A census of occupants was included with the tax record. Individual names are not given, but it still provides a view of the family.
- Census of occupants:
- 1 male 25+
- 1 male 10-21
- 2 males under 10
- 1 female 18+
- 2 females 10-18
- 1 female under 10
Allen Mattoon's donation land claim was in sections 14, 15, 22, and 23 of Township 3 South Range 3 East, Willamette Meridian. The 1865 tax record narrows down the location of his farm because he had eight acres under cultivation and paid taxes on the land in section 22. This land in section 22 borders on what is known as Redland Road.
Out of 260 acres in his claim, only eight acres were under cultivation. These eight acres were carved from an area containing old growth and second growth forest. A description of preparing the land in the 1850s and 1860s is found in a Clackamas County history, Free Land for Free People:[1]
"It was said that the only way to see daylight was to look straight up. If the settlers were to survive, the forest must be destroyed. One method of destroying the many huge trees was to burn them down. This was accomplished by boring two holes in the trunks near the ground, one hole angling down and the other angling up until they met. Hardwood coals were then pushed down the upper hole to where it met the lower hole and the latter was fanned until a small blaze was started. After one to three days, depending upon how large the tree was, the amount of heartwood and pitch in it and the velocity of wind, the tree would usually fall. The boring and burning process was then repeated at intervals on the log until the parts were small and light enough to be pulled together and dry enough for further burning.
"The next step was to get rid of the stumps which was a much more difficult job than disposing of the trees. There was no blasting powder, no stump pullers, and no bulldozers. The grubbing had to be done with axe, shovel, and grub hoe. It was slow, hard work and many of the early settlers became prematurely infirm and worn out struggling with these mighty stumps.
"A method of bringing into production land covered with second growth thickets was to slash it in May or early June and then burn the debris in the fall. . . Sometimes quite a complete burn was accomplished, but usually there were a great number of blackened poles that had to gathered up."
"After the burning of slash, wheat or timothy was 'jumped-in.' Jumping is meant scratching the ground between stumps with a one-horse, one-shovel plow, jumping the plow over stumps and other obstacles. Surprisingly good crops were often produced in this way."
The products listed on the assessment roll provide a glimpse into the Mattoon family's life. The land where they lived was fertile. Every household in Oregon depended, in great part, on vegetables from their gardens for food. Carrots, squash, potatoes, corn, cabbages, and other vegetables were probably grown in the kitchen garden and placed in a cold cellar for winter use.
The wheat may have been been ground at Fischer's Mills on Clear Creek near Viola.
"Another [flour mill] is Fischer's Mill on Clear Creek near Viola. It was built by Alwin Harding who also had one at Viola. High water took out the Viola mill."
"Harding had invented a new type of water wheel which he installed in both mills before he applied for a patent. The mill on Clear Creek now known as Fischer's Mill and still running as a stock feed mill, was sold to Mathias Kirchem in 1867 before the patent papers arrived. Harding died in 1869 and the papers came some time later. The Kirchem family ran the mill. 'There was always a market for flour and bran and shorts made a side profit as feed. Many farmers brought their wheat to the mill and traded it on shares.'"
"Going to the mill was one of the chores of a pioneer boy. A bushel of wheat slung over the back of his horse came home as flour for his mother, and shorts for the cattle. The oats were hulled and crushed for household use and stock feed."[2]
It is unusual to see apples on an assessment list. However, apples were an important commercial crop in early Clackamas County.
"[They] were the first widely known fruit and could be shipped a greater distance. . . . In 1853 a few boxes were shipped to San Francisco where they were sold for two dollars a pound. By 1856 as many as 20,000 boxes were shipped to San Francisco where they brought as much as $60 a box; and even in Portland more than $100 was paid for three boxes of Winesaps.
"Edwin Markham, the poet, in his Recollections wrote, 'I well remember going again and again with a group to gather baskets of hazelnuts in the flaming Autumn woods. And even more vivid is my memory of the delectable apples I ate in an orchard in a high mountain valley. I picked them up from the cool grass, the dew still upon them. Were there ever such apples anywhere else in the world? The tang and smack of them had the keen flavor of the apples of Hesperides.'
"He did not specify the variety, probably at his tender age he did not know. Apple trees in the pioneer orchards included some which are seldom seen today except in old orchards — Astrakan, Baldwin, Bellflower, Early Harvest, Golden Sweet, Gravenstein (an exception), Pearmain, and Wealthy."[3]
The apples may have been used to prepare apple butter. A description of apple butter making appears in Free Land for Free People.
"Preparing a bed of coals in a pit beneath the andirons kept the boys busy, while the girls were paring pans of apples. Freshly pressed cider was heating in the huge kettle swung over the coals, Granny brought out the long-handled maple paddles for stirring. She made frequent trips from the kitchen to see if the apples were soft. Then she added the sweetening and spice.
"Stir, turn and turn about, the boys standing as far away from the kettle as possible to escape the spatters that came from the volcano-like heaves of the boiling mixture which caught the unwary. Everyone was provided with a spoon for testing. 'Does it need more sugar, does it need more cinnamon or nutmeg?' (Remember the nutmeg grater in grandmother's pantry?)"[4]
Or, the apples may have been used to make "AppleJack." (An alcoholic beverage.)
The 40 pounds of wool were probably sold to the woolen mill in Oregon City. The Oregon City Manufacturing Company was opened in 1864[5] and used the power of the Willamette Falls to generate 85 horsepower for the looms[6]. In 1870, the mill employed 50 males, 1 female, and 20 children and paid $50.000 in wages. It used 500,000 pounds of wool to produce fabric.
Potatoes were a staple for Oregon farmers. However, 100 bushels of potatoes is a lot of potatoes. This suggests the Mattoons sold part of their potato crop. A depot for shipping potatoes was at New Era, near Canby.[7]
"Potatoes were the most favored vegetable. . . . Two warehouses and a dock for the riverboats handled the shipments in the early days. Later a railroad siding at the back of the warehouses shunted the freight cars for loading."
N Andrews [sic] in 1865
In 1868, Nelson Andrus will wed Nancy Mattoon, Allen's daughter. A listing for Nelson is found in the 1865 tax book. This entry is particularly important for it gives an approximate date of arrival in the county for him.
Real Property: T3S R1W; 40 acres, valued at $50
(Note: it is unknown when Nelson Andrus purchased this land for there is no deed recorded in 1865 for him at the Clackamas County courthouse.)
Clackamas County, Oregon 1867 Tax Book, located at Oregon State Archives, Salem, Oregon.
Allen Mattoon still had 260 acres, and the value had gone up $50. The farm was in Section 23 which was closer to present-day Mattoon Rd. He was assessed tax on his personal property. Three hundred thirty dollars was a significant amount. He may have had a reaper or other farm machinery used to harvest his crops. The Clackamas County history mentions reapers.
"At first all grass and grain was cut with scythe and cradle. In the 60's or early 70's, reapers began to appear.[8]
"Few of the early settlers made more than the barest living. It cannot be remembered that anyone as late as 1880 had an organ, a piano, or a buggy. A few had hacks but most family travel was in heavy wagons designed for generally farm use.
On 13 July 1868, at the age of 40 years, Nelson Andrus married Nancy Mattoon in Viola, Clackamas County. The 1868 tax book provides a comparison of Nancy's birth home and her marriage home.
Clackamas County, Oregon 1868 Tax Book. Located at Oregon State Archives.
The Mattoon farm was listed in Section 22. The switch from Section 22 to Section 23 suggests the farm was on the border of Section 22 and Section 23. The personal property was down to $146, and he had an indebtedness of $300.
1869 Clackamas County, Oregon Tax Book. Located at Oregon State Archives.
No Nelson Andrus listed.
Tracking Changes
We can watch the changes in the farms as we extract the Nelson Andrus and Allen Mattoon entries from the Clackamas County tax books located at the Oregon State Archives in Salem, Oregon.
1874
Note: all taxpayers were granted the $300 exemption. The improvements to the land are continuing, and the debt is being paid off. The family is not raising sheep for wool.
This is the first time that money, notes, accounts, and shares of stock are listed.
[1] Vera Martin Lynch, Free Land for Free Men, A Story of Clackamas County (Portland, OR: Artline Printing, Inc., 1973), 393–4. (Hereafter called Free Men.)
[2]Free Men. p. 392.
[3]Free Men, p. 420.
[4]Free Men, p. 499.
[5]Free Men, p. 401.
[6]1870 Special Census Schedules. Clackamas County Products of Industry. Microfilm located at Oregon State Archives, Salem, Oregon.
[7]Free Men, p. 392.
[8]Free Men, p. 395.
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Connie Lenzen, CGSM
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