Tennessee, Gibson County Tax Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

What Is in the Collection?
This collection consists of images of poll tax lists, delinquent lists, and trustee reports from Gibson County for the years 1825 to 1900.

Collection Content
The original Gibson County Tax Records 1867-1884 are kept at the County Courthouse. In 1976, TSLA microfilmed these records. Governments created tax records that vary in content according to the purpose of the assessment. Most are based on personal property, real estate, and income. Taxes were collected to raise money for a variety of purposes. The tax assessments were made to determine how much money each property owner must pay. Tax records are usually reliable as they are kept by the county clerk who recorded the event at or very near the time it occurred.

What Can this Collection Tell Me?
The following information may be found in these records:
 * Name
 * Acres of land owned
 * Value of land
 * Amount of taxes due
 * Description or location coordinates of the land parcel

How Do I Search the Collection?
Before searching this collection, it is helpful to know:
 * The name of your ancestor
 * The place where your ancestor lived
 * The description or location of the land
 * The years your ancestor owned real and personal property

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 Who I was Looking For, What Now?

 * Use the names and residence to search for the family in census records
 * Use the names and residence to search for the family in land records
 * Use the names and residence to search for the family in church records
 * Use the names and residence to search for the family in additional county and state 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. 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 along with the 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 Who I'm Looking For, What Now?

 * Look for variant spellings of the names. You should also look for alias names, nicknames and abbreviated names
 * 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 research your family in the state of Tennessee.
 * Tennessee Guided Research
 * Tennessee Record Finder
 * Tennessee Research Tips and Strategies
 * Step-by-Step Research

Citing This Collection
Citing your sources makes it easy for others to find and evaluate the records you used. When you copy information from a record, list where you found that information.