Details on annotation and abbreviation in the tax records

The town tax lists (1798-1826) were transcribed and annotated by Liam Riordan, University of Maine. and report total assessed value recorded in dollars (except for 1776, pounds). They are the amount that was to be collected from each individual. The key thing about this data is to see where people rank in comparison to others and to see if they changed place over time.

"est." is an abbreviation for an estate/property owned by an individual who does not reside in the same tax district as the property--often, they are wealthy people who live in Wilmington but own local land in New Castle.

Riordan examined Tax Assessment Records on microfilm at the Delaware Public Archives in Dover to compile the databases. The 1776 list is for NC Hundred, while all others (1798-1826) are for the smaller and more urban New Castle Town. These microfilm tax records are organized as Record Group 2535 at Dover.

Individual religious affiliation was drawn from many sources. The most important sources were the complete Anglican-Episcopal parish register in Christopher M. Agnew, ed. God with Us ... The Vital Records of ... Immanuel Church, New Castle, Delaware(New Castle, DE, Immanuel Church, 1986) and Presbyterian pew and communion lists and financial recors for New Castle at the Presbyterian Historical Society, Philadelphia. The Presbyterian records for the 1770's are incomplete.

For more details, see Many Identities, One Nation, especially pp. 273-77 and Table 5 on religious affiliation and economic rank in New Castle, pp. 285-88.

For further information, contact Prof. Riordan directly. (Liam.Riordan@umit.maine.edu).