Tax Records

No thorough survey has yet been attempted to locate all the annual tax lists for New Hampshire towns. They can be found in manuscript collections in public libraries, in town clerk's offices among the pages of the annual town meeting minutes, and at the archives and other repositories. Both residents and nonresidents who owned property or businesses might be listed on the annual assessment, which would indicate the number of voting-age males as polls, and such items as the type and acreage of land, animals, and milling products. Following annual tax lists can provide important clues for ages of males (nearly always 21-50 and occasionally 16-60) and for men moving to or leaving a town, since non-landowners were listed as well, although a few officials were usually exempt.
One important collection of tax records, which has been microfilmed from the originals held at the New Hampshire Records and Archives, is the multivolume nonresident tax lists from 1849-74.
In 1798 a U.S. direct tax was ordered.