Massachusetts, Boston Tax Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

General Information About These Records
Tax records are based on the property owned by people. Only the person who owned the taxable property was listed on the tax record; other residents, living on the property, were not listed.

Tax records are considered a primary source. They are usually reliable because they are kept by the county clerk in the local courthouse, who usually recorded the event at or very near the time it occurred.

The information given in town land records is generally reliable, although there may be errors made in transcribing the town’s copy from the original deed. For a guide to these records see Boston Tax and Assessor's Records

What is in This Collection?
This collection contains tax records, transfer books, tax books, and assessor's lists from the Boston City Archives. The records in this collection cover the years 1822 to 1918. (Parallel tax book series for years before 1822 when Boston was incorporated as a City, are at the Boston Public Library, Rare Books and Manuscripts Division.)

What Can These Records Tell Me?
The following information may be found in these records: • 2

How Do I Search This Collection?
Before searching it is helpful to know:
 * The name of your ancestor
 * The residence of your ancestor

How Do I Analyze the Results?
Compare each result from your search with what you know to determine if there is a match. This may require viewing multiple records or images. Keep track of your research in a research log.

What Do I Do Next?
When you have located your ancestor in the assessment rolls, carefully evaluate each piece of information given. These pieces of information may be new details that can lead you to other records about your ancestors.

I Found the Person I Was Looking For, What Now?

 * Add any new information to your records
 * Tax assessments identify the name and residence of the taxpayer. This information can help you locate land records and census records
 * The description of the real estate, number of acres owned, types of buildings, identifiable personal property, and the farm animals can help you determine an occupation: someone living at a church is probably a minister; someone with several acres of land or many farm animals is probably a farmer; someone living on the same property as the school may be a teacher; someone living above or behind a store is probably a merchant
 * Known occupations can lead you to other types of records such as employment, school, or church records
 * Following an ancestor through the assessment rolls can help you establish a family migration pattern or identify the year an individual moved into an area or left the area
 * The assessment rolls can also indicate that an individual died. Use the last known tax year as an approximate death year. Use the death year and residence to locate death or probate records
 * It is often helpful to extract the information on all individuals with the same surname in the same general area. If the surname is uncommon, it is likely that those living in the same area were related
 * Other family members may have lived nearby so you may want to search an entire town, neighboring towns, or even a county
 * Additional searches may be needed to locate all members of a particular family in the assessment rolls

I Can't Find the Person I'm Looking For, What Now?

 * Look for variant spellings of the surnames
 * Look for an index. There are often indexes at the beginning of each volume. Local genealogical and historical societies often have indexes to local records
 * Search the indexes and records of nearby localities

Research Helps
The following articles will help you in your research for your family in the state of Massachusetts.
 * Massachusetts Guided Research
 * Massachusetts Research Tips and Strategies
 * Step-by-Step Research

FamilySearch Catalog

 * Boston, City Assessors, tax records, pt. 1 : Assessors' lists, tax books, and transfer books, 1822-1918.
 * Boston, City Assessors, Boston, tax records, pt. 2 : valuation books, 1822-1918
 * Massachusetts and Maine direct tax census of 1798
 * Property valuations and taxes, 1760-1771 (approx.)
 * Massachusetts. General Court. Valuations, 1780-1792, 1810-1811.

FamilySearch Historical Records

 * Massachusetts Land Records, 1620-1986
 * Massachusetts, City of Boston Voter Registers, 1857-1920

FamilySearch Digital Library

 * Assessors' "taking books" of the town of Boston, 1780
 * At a legal meeting of the freeholders and other inhabitants of the town of Boston : holden on the 14th day of January, A.D. 1822: voted--That the selectmen be requested to cause to be published ... a correct list--stating the amount of real and personal estate ... taxed for the year 1821--and also all abatements that have been made from the estimation, if any, previous to the first day of January, 1822. Attest ... Thomas Clark, town clerk. Boston, Massachusetts : True & Greene, 1822
 * List of persons, co-partnerships, and corporations who were taxed on six thousand dollars and upwards in the city of Boston : in the year .., specifying the amount of tax on real and personal estate, severally, conformably to an order of the city council.
 * List of persons, co-partnerships, and corporations who were taxed on ten thousand dollars and upwards in the city of Boston

Citing This Collection
Citations help you keep track of places you have searched and sources you have found. Identifying your sources helps others find the records you used.