Bowie County
1846 Poll Tax
Short History of the Poll
Tax
(Elias White arrived 1847)
In 1836 the new Republic of Texas found itself in need of many things. With only about 34,000 people and a vast land empire they needed to find a way to bring new settlers to Texas. The people of Texas refused to return to the impresario system as they feared the wrong type of settler.
The Congress of the Republic, possibly because of this, enacted a liberal land policy. This policy provided that heads of families (Blacks and Indians excepted) living in Texas on March 2, 1836 might receive free a first class Headright of 4605 acres and white males over the age of 17 and unmarrieds would receive 1476 acres. They then enacted measures that extended the land grants. A person (Head of Household) arriving in Texas between March 2, 1836 and October 1, 1837 would receive a second class Headright of 1280 acres while 17 year old males would get 640. For those who came for land between October 1, 1837 and January 1, 1840 a third class grant of 640 acres and 320 acres was rewarded, and a fourth class grant provided 640 and 320 acres for those that came between January 1, 1840 and January 1, 1842. The only requirement placed on the fourth class grant was the people must place at least 10 acres into cultivation.
In all the Republic granted 36,876,492 acres in Headright Certificates. In this way the population grew from the estimated 34,000 in 1836 to 142,009 in 1846. Now it was time to do something about the money it took to run the new nation.
In 1836 the Republic enacted a poll tax. This tax imposed a charge of $1.00 on every white male over the age of 21 and on women, regardless of age, who were Heads of Households (usually widows). The maker of the "Roll" was required to prepare two copies, in alphabetical order, of the original. One copy was sent to the Treasurer's office and the other to the Sheriff of the County to make the collections. These records, from 1836 to 1901 are located in the Archives Division of the State Library in Austin. There are over 5000 books and most of them are in very bad condition.
Now a few ideas on using this list.
As the names were usually rendered according to sound, and many people did not read or write then, you should check all variations of the name, for example if you are researching the Akin family look also at Adkins, Atkins, Aiken, and Akin.Many of the people on these lists have only initials. This is the way they were rendered in the original. However you can locate the one you want if you know the full name.
Many of the names appeared on several different lists. The reason seems to be that they owned lands and homes in different counties. An example of this is Collin McKinney, in both Bowie and Collin County and H.A. Moore in Bowie and Cass County.
In 1846 there were only 64 counties. Many of the present day counties are to be found and the names included in these lists.
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1846 BOWIE COUNTY POLL LIST Contributed by Noah Moody
Ben White, Lewis & Samuel Bobo,
Sarah Nix with their Families. |
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| Akin,
Collin M.
Akin, Akin, Alfred, B.D. Alfred, Allen, Brazell Askew, John Barkman, James D. Barkman, James W. Barkaman, John Barkman, John Jr. Bassett, John Bateman, Isaac Battle, J.R. Battle, James W. Battle, O.D. Battle, R.J. Baxter, E. Bayless, Hezekiah Bayless, Elisha Bennett, C. Bingham, Benton Birdwell, E.M. Bishop, Thomas Blythe, Samuel K. Bobo, Lewis Bobo, Samuels Booth, A.J. Boothe, S.S Bowman, Jesse B. Bowman, Joseph Bowman, William A. Boyce, J.J. Boyce, William H. Boyd, Eliza A. Boyd, Robert Brinley, George Bullock, James M. Butridge, R.E. Byers, J.C. Byrnside, John Brynside Campbell, E.H. Carbow, H.B. Carrol, Charles Carson, Charles Caton, Cynthia Caton, O.S. Caton, W.R. Cawley, James C. Christian, John Cornelius, Abslom Cornelius, Margaret Cornelius, Margaret Cornelius, G.G. Cornelius, J.H. Conelius, John Cornelius, Jonathan Collom, Catherine Collom, Charles Cooper, S.A. Dalby, Anne Dalby, J.C. Dalby, P.A. Dalby, Thomas D. Dalby, W.K. Davis, James Daniel, J.B. Daniel, Jesse Daniel, John Daniel, W.C. Daniel , W.C. Deaton, John Demre, John DeWitt, Benedict Dickey, Jacob Dillard, John Dillard, J.B. Doty, J.W. Douthett, Ambrose Downey, John D. Downign, Tiney Drennen, David Drennen, Thomas Duke, Woodson E. Ellet, A.K. Ellet, John W. Ellet, Joseph Ellet, Joseph W. Ellet, William Ellis, Richard Ellis, Stephen
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Elliott,
B.E.
Elliott, S.L. Elliott, William A. Elliott, William M. Epperson, Caro(Cass) Epperson, Mark Estill, James Everett, J.B. Ferguson, Joseph Ferguson, Thomas Fleming, J.W. Floyd, J.B. Fort, J.W. Fort, James Freese, Gerd Freese, T.H. Garrison, P.S. George, Presley Glass, J.B. Glass, John C. Glover, G.H. Glover , Martin Glover, William Gordes, G. Gordy, Catherine Gordy, Liston Greenwell, William Grooms, R.E. Gro, W.G.F. Gunn, F.B. Harper, Elizabeth Harper, James Harris, R.C. Harrison, J.P. Hays, William J. Hegman, Joseph Herring, John S. High, James Hill, Margaret Hines, R.E. Holbert, Thomas Holoway, James Holoway, William House, L.W. Hudson, John Hughes, Samuel Hughes, William B. Hulme, A.L. Hulme, William B. Janes, John E. Janes, M.H. Janes, M.H. Janes, S.H. Jarrett, David Jiles, Thomas Johnson, E.J. Jones, William Jordan, A.M. Kimbell, J.M. Kittrell, John Lacy, J.R. Lansdell, John LaPrelle, John Legg, G. Lewis, Charles Lindsey, R.M. Logwood, T.Y. Looney, David Looney, J.A. Loop, John Lupton, J.W. McAdams, George McAdams, Samuell McAdams, William McAdoo, William C. McChristian, J.S. McCracken, Samuel McFarland, Jacob McFarland, S.H. McGonigill, J.C. McGuire, H.T. McKinney, Collin McKinney, William C. McKinney, Y.X. McWhorter, J.B. Maulding, P. Mayfield, Sanders Moore, Elizabeth Moore, H.A. Moore, J.C. Moore, Samuel Moores, Anderson R. Moores, Charles Moores, E.H. |
Morgan,
J.L.
Morris, George Morris, Lee Morris, Mary Morris, R.D. Morris, Seth Nesbit, Samuel Nix, Sarah Parham, James Patton, James Paxton, W.G. Peters, James Peters, Lemuel Peters, R.F. Poer, James Poer, John C. Poer, Martin A. Poer, Nancy Poer, Solomon Power, Pool, O.L. Proctor, N. Proctor,W.S. Rains, J.H. Reed, Charles Reeves, John H. Rice & Mason Rice, Elizabeth Rice, George C. Rice, L.M. Rice, Levi M. Richardson, R.M. Robertson, S.B. Robertston, Thomas H. Runnels, E.S. Runnels, H.A. Runnels, H.R. Runnels, H.R. Runnels, H.W. Runnels, Martha B. Russel, A.J. Sanders, J.H.T. Scott, Benjamin Shafles, C.R. Sherwood, A.B. Sherwood, J.W. Siedikum, F. Simmons, W.T. Simmons, J.W. Slaven, Robert Smith, James N. Smith, James Richard Smith, Sterling Smithers, J.H. Stewart, G. Stewart, Isabella Stewart, J.N. Street, Sarah Talbot, J.A. Tapp, William S. Thompson, Wiley Thompson, William Tiller, G.W. Tyson, Isaac Waddle, A.C. Waddle, C.M. Walker, Jeremiah Walker, Lewis Walker, Samuel Wallace, W.N. Wamble, J.W. Watson, Cary Watson, Coleman Watson, E.T. Watson, John Watson, Orrin D. Watson, Rhoda Weir, John Wernell, N.G. Wever, J.W. Whitaker Whitaker, Willis White, Ben Wilkins, John Williams, W.B. Woods, Thomas Wooten, W.W. Wright, J.P. Wright, S.D. Wright, Wilson Wyse, James Wyse, Patience C. Young, William |
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