Thursday, February 5, 2015

Treasure Chest Thursday - Post 249: 1798 Direct Tax List Record for Benjamin Sever and Sarah Sever

It's Treasure Chest Thursday - time to look in my digital image files to see what treasures I can find for my family history and genealogy musings.

The treasure today is the  1798 Direct Tax List for Massachusetts and Maine record for Benjamin Sever and Sarah Sever in Westminster, Worcester County, Massachusetts:


The section with Benjamin Sever's entry, and Sarah Sever's entry, is:


The extracted information from this document includes:

The heading on the page says:

"General List of Lands, Lots, Buildings and Wharves, owned, possessed or occupied on the 1st day of October 1798, within the Assessment District No. 4 in the south Division of the State of Massachusetts, excepting only such Dwelling Houses, as, with the Out-Houses appurtenant thereto, and the Lots on which they are erected, not exceeding two Acres in any Case, are above the Value of on hundred Dollars."

a)  The columns with pertinent information for Benjamin Sever are:

*  Names of occupant or possessers:  Benjamin Sever
*  Names of reputed owners:  Sever Benjn
*  In what County, Township, Parish, Town or City, in the Assessment District situated:  [Westminster]
*  Quantities of Lands, Lots, &c. exempted from Valuation (Acres-Perches-Square feet):  [none]
*  Quantities of  Lands, Lots, &c. subject to and included in the Valuation (Acres-Perches-Square feet):  157 [acres] 120 [perches]
*  Valuations as determined by the Principal Assessors including Dwelling Houses, &c. not exceeding One Hundred Dollars in Value (Dollars-Cents):  1014 [Dollars]

b)  There is a second line for Benjamin Sever with:


*  Quantities of  Lands, Lots, &c. subject to and included in the Valuation (Acres-Perches-Square feet):  52 [acres]

*  Valuations as determined by the Principal Assessors including Dwelling Houses, &c. not exceeding One Hundred Dollars in Value (Dollars-Cents):  300 [Dollars]

c)  here is a line for Sarah Sever, with the following information:


*  Names of occupant or possessers:  Sarah Sever
*  Names of reputed owners:  Sever Sarah
*  In what County, Township, Parish, Town or City, in the Assessment District situated:  [Westminster]
*  Quantities of Lands, Lots, &c. exempted from Valuation (Acres-Perches-Square feet):  [none]
*  Quantities of  Lands, Lots, &c. subject to and included in the Valuation (Acres-Perches-Square feet):  20 [acres] 

*  Valuations as determined by the Principal Assessors including Dwelling Houses, &c. not exceeding One Hundred Dollars in Value (Dollars-Cents):  195 [Dollars]

The source citation for this record is (cited for Benjamin Sever):

"Massachusetts and Maine 1798 Direct Tax," indexed database and digital image, American Ancestors (http://www.americanancestors.org), Volume 14, page 296, Westminster town, Benjamin Sever entry.

From this record, I can see that Benjamin Sever had two land parcels in Westminster that were eligible to be taxed, with 157 and 52 acres respectively, valued at $1014 and $300 respectively.  I believe the larger parcel is the home lot that he inherited from his father, Norman Sever in 1787.  The second parcel is the land he bought in 1794 and 1795 in Westminster.

His mother, Sarah Sever, widow of Norman Sever, had one parcel eligible to be taxed, 20 acres valued at $195.  

This list for Westminster is in semi-alphabetical order, so a researcher cannot determine who the neighbors are.  

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2015/02/treasure-chest-thursday-post-249-1798.html

Copyright (c) 2015, Randall J. Seaver



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