Conditions Governing Use

This collection has no use restrictions.

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research.

Preferred Citation

Amherst County, Virginia Tax Ledgers, MSS 16467, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

These volumes were purchased from David M. Lesser, Fine Antiquarian Books, by the Special Collections Library on November 13, 2020.

Biographical / Historical

These two ledgers were passed down through the Larkin and Dillard families of Amherst County, Virginia.

Content Description

This collection consists of two large manuscript volumes of tax records for Amherst, Virginia from 1819 to 1820, bound in leather. These ledger's identify enslavers and taxes paid for unnamed enslaved laborers among other things. Each volume lists hundreds of taxpayer names on the left side with comments about payments on the right. An alphabetical index in the front of each volume lists the page on which each name appears on the page in the volume, referring to tax transactions. The amount of tax is itemized for each taxpayer's land, enslaved laborers, horses, "muster fines," and levies. Volume one documents 1819 and contains 26 unnumbered pages and 271 utilized pages. Volume two documents 1820 and contains 23 unnumbered pagesand 224 utilized pages. Front endpaper indicates the records were compiled by George Holloway of Amherst for 1819 and his name is found on the end papers for 1820.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Amherst (Va.)
• Enslaved laborers
• Enslavers
• Ledgers (account books)
• Taxation
• Virginia -- Amherst County