This list provides information about land holdings by residents of Tuscarawas County in the year 1816. It is transcribed from microfilms made from the originals by the LDS (LDS film #0514195, available on microfilm at the Family History Library and through local Family History Centers).

Each of the 14 pages has been transcribed in a format similar to the original, except that the column for penalties is not included. Rather notes are used for the few places where this column had an entry. In addition, I did not include 1/100th of cents in the amount of taxes. Since the handwriting is sometimes difficult to read, occasionally I had to guess at the reading. The column containing the names of the original landholders proved particularly difficult. If a name were impossible to decipher, a question mark is added in brackets. Beer's History of Tuscarawas County (1884) was consulted for help in deciphering names, but there were inconsistencies within that volume (e.g. both Bonde and Boude) as well as between that volume and the tax records (Boud for the same person). And the same name was sometimes rendered in different ways within the tax record (Rech, Reich, Rich). I have tried to retain the original used in the records, even though that spelling may have been in error. It is possible that I introduced additional typos. View a Sample Page from the Tax Records

Proprietor's Name. Names of landholders are listed by the first letter of the surname, but not alphabetically within each letter. I have kept the original order, so if you are looking for a particular name, you must search through all the names beginning with that letter.

Quantity of Land and Rate. This is the amount of land in acres. Apparently there were three classes of land, with that in the 1st column having the highest tax rate and that in the 3rd column the lowest. This probably reflects how much the land has been improved.

Range, Township, and Section. These describe the location of the land. See Some Notes on Tuscarawas County Land for further information.

No. Lots/Quarter of Section. Some parts of Tuscarawas County were sold by the quarter section (160 acres), while other parts were divided into 100 acre lots. This column gives either the number of the lot or the location within a section. If the proprietor held several lots, they may be listed on the same line but separated by dots. For example, "19.20.21" indicates lots 19, 20 and 21.

County and District. Most of the land listed is within Tuscarawas County, but apparently some residents owned land in other Ohio counties and were taxed by Tuscarwas. The district refers to the land office that had jurisdiction (either Zanesville or Steubenville for Tuscarawas County). "Do" means ditto and is used freely in these columns.

Original Proprietor and Quantity of Original Tract. These name the person who originally purchased the land and the amount of the original holding. For some reason, the amount column is always blank after page 8, and may not have been consistently filled out.

Amount. This is the amount of taxes paid for the year. This includes any penalties (which were uncommon). The column for penalties in the original record is not included here. Hundredths of cents were also listed, but I have truncated the amount to the nearest cent.

Philip Ritter, December 2000

Please send any corrections or comments to Phil Ritter philr@stanford.edu

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