Relatively Speaking Blog

Some years ago when visiting the Jefferson County courthouse I copied several property tax lists for my ancestor Abraham Ludwick and some of his sons. 1837 was the first tax year I copied for Abraham in Young Township; he had moved his family to Jefferson County sometime in the mid-1830s. By the early 1840s Abraham’s sons John and George, now adults, were also listed on the tax rolls for the county in Gaskill Township. By the 1850s more of Abraham’s sons who had reached adulthood and owned land appeared on the tax rolls, now in Winslow Township. It’s possible that the Ludwick families never moved, but the townships around them changed as new ones were formed. In 1855, which is about the time Abraham and Mary moved back to Allegheny County, Abraham’s name was scratched out with a note that property should be assessed to Samuel Ludwick.

Although different from income tax, the past several years during tax month in April I have included a sampling of property taxes from a Pennsylvanian county. However, this year due to Covid-19, the IRS and many states and local governments have moved their deadline for filing personal income tax to July 15. In keeping with my past tradition, I have delayed posting my tax extracts to July 2020 for tax month. Below are extracts of these property taxes from Jefferson County, PA. Sometimes other names appeared on the pages I photocopied. In those instances, I have included those taxpayers and their details, though the focus is on Abraham Ludwick and his sons.

1837 Young Township, Jefferson County, PA
Property	Rate	Valuation	Amount	County	State
Lewis, Stephen unimproved
124 1/2 acres	4	155.625	155.625	0.93	0.47
Ludwig, Abraham
300 acres	5	300	300
2 Horses	7	100	100
			400	2.4	1.2
Ludwig, Abraham  [added to above]
303 acres	8	378.75	378.75
			778.75	4.66	2.22
McConely, Margaret
1841 Young Township, Jefferson County, PA
Property	Rate	Dollar/Cents	Valuation	Amount	Tax
Law, Robert
117 acres	14	2.50	292.5
2 horses	8		60
3 cows	4		37.5	390
Ludwick, John
300 acres	8	1.50	450
225 acres land	8	1.50	337.5	787.5
Ludwick, Abraham
300 acres	14	2.50	750
3 horses	9		60
one cow	4		12.5
				822.5
Ludwick, George SM			100
				100
Lampton, John
20 acres	13	3.00	60
one cow	4		12.5
				72.5
1842 Young Township, Jefferson County, PA
Property	Rate	Valuation	Amount	County	State
Law, Robert
117 acres	13	3.51
2 horses	0.4
3 cows	0.3
			4.21	2.52	0.42
Ludwick, John   Gaskill
300 acres
land 225 acres
Ludwick, Abraham    Gaskill
300 acres
Ludwick, George    Gaskill
Lampton, John
20 acres	11	80
one cow		10
			90	0.54	0.9
1854 Winslow Township, Jefferson County, PA
ws/Property	Valuation	Total	County	State	Militia
Ludwick, G.W.
3849/111 acres	200
1 saw mill	100
1 yoke of oxen	40
1 cow	8
age 35		348	3.48	1.04	0.5
Ludwick, Abraham
211/200 acres	500	500	500	1.5
Ludwick, Levi
211/100 acres	150	150	150	0.45
1855 Winslow Township, Jefferson County, PA
Property	Valuation	Total	County	State	Militia
Ludwick, G.W.
111 acres	200
1 saw mill	100
50 acres/1 saw mill	75
2 cows	16
		391	3.91	1.17	0.5
Ludwick, Abraham [Name scratched out with note:  Land [assessed] to Saml Ludwig]
200 acres	500	500	500	1.5
Ludwick, Levi
100 acres	150	150	150	0.45
Louder, Adam
80 acres	160
one cow	8	168	1.68	0.5
Lewis, Jacob
house & lot	100	100	1	0.3
Ludwick, Samuel
200 acres	500
one horse	40
one cow	8
		548	5.48	1.64