Relatively Speaking Blog

One of my goals this year is to confirm the parents of my 4th great grandfather, James Blackston. According to family, James was a widower with a large family when he came to Westmoreland County PA from either Maryland or Delaware. After his arrival, James married Elizabeth West. A bill of sale in that county in December 1819 revealed James sold a mare, a horse and a cow harness.

James lived in Unity Township and had a total of eight in his household for the 1820 census. James appeared on various tax rolls for the county during the 1820s and 1830s and one listed an age that indicated he was born about 1783. In 1840, Elizabeth Blackston is listed in the census, but not James. Family tales report around this time James took a trip back to Delaware for family business and he disappeared without a trace.

Some believe James is the son of Joseph Blackiston, a descendant of George Blackiston from England who settled in eastern Maryland in the 1600s. The descendants of George, primarily those who settled in Maryland and Delaware, are listed in several genealogical books; references to wills and deeds often verify their lineage. A similar paper trail to prove James’ connection to this Blackiston line has yet to be discovered. I visited libraries in Delaware and Maryland but did not find any relevant information. Since this is tax month, I decided to peruse online tax lists for possible clues to James’ origins.

Taxation rolls that have survived can provide valuable information for a genealogist. Using these I hoped to establish James’ residency and a timeline of when he lived in a particular area. Details of taxable items show whether an individual owned land, and if he did, deeds could provide additional information. Looking at the value of other property a person might own can indicate his estimated wealth and success in his occupation. I was curious what I might find for James.

To find the appropriate tax list, one must know the locality to search, but I was not quite certain where to begin. According to some researchers, the Blackiston family lived along the Maryland/Delaware border in Kent County. At some point the state line was redrawn, and some of this family were suddenly living in the other state. I did a quick search for James in 1810 census for both Delaware and Maryland to get an idea of where to start.

A handful of results were returned near the Kent County areas. Only one fit the approximate age category of James, who would have been about 28 years old. This was for St. George’s Hundred in New Castle County, DE. Fortunately, tax rolls for this county and its municipalities were online, so I began looking for Blackiston and its spelling variations through the available tax rolls. There were gaps in years, and some of the existing years appeared incomplete, but despite this, I located a few listings for Blackstons.

In 1804 in St. George’s Hundred, there were two listings for John Blackston about 10 lines apart. It’s unclear if this was a duplicate listing, or perhaps a father and son. No property was listed for either, only a flat personal tax rate. The next two years James Blackston was in this locality; he had no personal property but was taxed for his person each year at 2.50. John had moved to another district—Appoquinimink Hundred.

In 1807 James was not in St. George’s but James Blaxton was listed in Appoquinimink Hundred along with John Blaxton. Assuming this is the same James, he had acquired some property taxed at 9.00 but no description of this property was indicated. John Blackston returned to St. George’s in 1808. The relationship between these men has not been determined, but it is thought there is some family connection between them.

Searching the online records for Appoquinimink Hundred, several years seem to be incomplete. Since I had found a James in the 1810 census in St. George’s Hundred, I wanted to see if he had moved back there, but records for this year were not available for any municipality. James Blackston was next found in 1813 in Appoquinimink Hundred. He was a farmer taxed at 87; he had acquired 2 horses with a tax value of 30, and 1 cow with a value of 7. On another page he was taxed for 1 dog. His total valuation was 171.87.

After another gap of several years, James Blackiston was listed in the 1816 Appoquinimink Hundred records with livestock; the livestock he owned was not itemized, just a total of 116, and a personal tax of 150. In this vicinity was Elizabeth Blackiston a minor with 569 acres of land that she received a few years earlier from Seth Fling. Another probable relative was Benjamin Blackiston’s estate with “211 acres of good land near the Kent line.” How James is connected to either Elizabeth or Benjamin is unknown.

In 1818 only the tally sheet was available and listed James Blackeston with a valuation of 177. With no itemization, it is difficult to know whether his number of livestock fluctuated or how to gauge his financial condition. In 1819 James Blackeston had livestock valued at 57.84, person rate of 134, for a total tax value of 191.84. He is not found in 1820 or 1821. I attempted to look at some tax rolls after this time, but they were not organized or clearly demarcated as the earlier rolls, so I paused this effort.

Although the tax lists do not offer any conclusive evidence, they will assist future research. James moved to Westmoreland County, probably in the later part of 1819 when he sold 2 horses and a cow, livestock he possibly brought with him from Delaware. He was not found in subsequent tax rolls in Appoquinimink Hundred or St. George’s Hundred after 1819 and this suggests there is a good likelihood that the James above is my ancestor. The tax details indicated James did not own any land in Delaware, so deeds will not be useful. But knowing James lived in these communities provides guidance of where to focus my search for additional records in my quest to prove his connection to the Blackiston line.