1773 Barree Township

Tax Assessment ~ Part 1

 

This image includes the top portion of the first page of the original 1773 tax assessment return for Barree Township, within Bedford County, showing Residents' names "Anderson" through "Caldwell". Notice that the name of John Armstrong was written on the return as the actual first name, but then was crossed out. Each tax assessment was begun by essentially copying the previous year's return, and then the tax collector would take the return and physically travel over the county's roads, up the hills and through the valleys, to collect the taxes from the residents. If the tax collector did not locate a particular person or family, he would draw a line through the name. Sometimes the word "gone" would be written beside the name.

 

Note: This image was scanned from a photocopy of the original 1773 tax assessment for Barree Township, within Bedford County. The originals of the tax assessment returns were stored, for many years, in Vault #1 in the basement of the Bedford County Court House. The webmaster of this site was given permission by the officials of the Bedford County Court system to photocopy the original returns in the 1980s. A year or two after the original returns were photocopied, a pipe burst in the vault in which the returns were stored, causing water damage to many records, and the original tax assessment returns were subsequently transferred to the Pioneer Historical Society of Bedford County for storage.

   The following is a transcription of the names of the Residents which appear on the 1773 Barree Township, Bedford County tax assessment return, as shown in the image above. It is as accurate as possible. The published Pennsylvania Archives includes transcripts of tax assessments from Bedford County for the year 1773, but the township of Barree is not included.

Armstrong, John (crossed out)
Anderson, Samuel
Anderson, Daniel
Beaty, Edward
Beach, Waldren
Caldwel, Robert
Crawphes, Nicholess
Coapher, Petter (crossed out)
Caldwel, Charls