Bradford County Historical Society -Board of Members and Officers

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Inventory of Bradford County's
Assessment Books (1813-1981)

By tracing a name through the tax records, one might be able determine when an ancestor moved into an area, left a township, married or died. Although the exact form of the tax records may have varied from year to year, most of them provide such data as the name of the taxable inhabitant (usually male), the number of acres owned by the person and the amount of the assessment or tax. Also noted may be the taxpayer's occupation, the number of horses and cattle owned, and, occasionally, information about the structures on the property. Within each township, the names of taxable persons commonly are listed in alphabetical order under two categories. First, you will find the names of married landholders or of their estates. If a person died within the year prior to the date of the record, the notation "Est." or "Estate" may be made after his name or the widow's name might be given as the taxpayer. This designation may appear in the tax records for several years after the death of the landholder until the estate no longer was responsible for payment of the taxes on the property. At the end of the enumeration for a particular township will be the names of unmarried, single men aged 21 years or older who did not own real estate. This section often is headed by the designation "freemen." Such individuals paid an established fee not based on a property assessment. When you observe that the name of a single man moves from the "freemen" list one year to the landholder list the next, you may assume that the man married within the year. Many of the township assessment records also contained a section entitled "poor children." This section lists the name of the father (and sometimes the mother) and the children and ages who they could not afford to school. You can use tax lists to trace ancestors who might otherwise be undocumented.

The earliest tax list that has been found, covering what is now Bradford County, was made for “Up The River District,” County of Westmoreland, Connecticut, in 1776. The “Up The River District” was the settled upper section of the Susquehanna River Valley, in what is now Bradford, Wyoming and upper Luzerne Counties (Source: Clement F. Heverly). There were sixty taxables on the 1776 list and thirty-two on the 1777 list. The lists for 1776 and 1777 are here given. Both lists are dated August of that year. Click on each year to go to the list.

Example of a page from an assessment book
Valuations used for the 1836 assessment year

Name	Established	Yrs Available	Yrs Missing
Alba Boro	1864	1865-1981	1926, 1930, 1935, 1940
Albany Township	1824	1824-1981	1851, 1926, 1930, 1935, 1940, 1945,1950, 1955
Armenia Township	1843	1843-1981	1926, 1930, 1935, 1940, 1950, 1955
Asylum Township	1814	1816-1981	1815, 1818, 1820,1835, 1890, 1926, 1930, 1935, 1940, 1945, 1950, 1955
Athens Boro- 1st Ward	1831/1895	1832-1981	1849, 1850, 1893
Athens Boro - 2nd Ward	1895	1895-1981	None
Athens Boro - 3rd Ward	1895	1895-1981	None
Athens Boro - 4th Ward	1901	1901-1981	None
Athens Township	1797	1813-1981	1817
Barclay Township	1867	1868-1966	1926, 1930, 1935, 1945, 1950, 1955
Burlington Boro	1867	1855-1981	1900, 1924, 1926, 1930, 1935, 1940, 1945, 1950, 1955
Burlington Township	1802	1804, 1813-1981	1852, 1926, 1930, 1935, 1940
Canton Boro - 1st Ward	1864/1914	1865-1981	1926, 1930, 1935, 1940, 1945, 1950, 1955
Canton Boro - 2nd Ward	1914	1914-1981	1926, 1930, 1935, 1940, 1945, 1950, 1955
Canton Township	1804	1806, 1813-1981	1855, 1926, 1930, 1935, 1940, 1945, 1950, 1955
Columbia Township	1813	1814-1981	1926, 1930, 1935, 1940, 1945, 1950, 1955
Durell Township	1842-1859	1844-1859	1843, 1849
Franklin Township	1819	1820-1981	1854, 1855, 1926, 1930, 1935, 1940, 1945, 1950, 1955
Granville Township	1831	1832-1981	1926, 1930, 1935, 1940, 1945, 1950, 1955
Herrick Township	1838	1838-1981	1890, 1926, 1930, 1935, 1940, 1945, 1950, 1955
LeRaysville Boro	1863	1864-1981	1926, 1930, 1935, 1940, 1945, 1950, 1955
LeRoy Township	1835	1836-1981	1837, 1926, 1930, 1935, 1940, 1945, 1950, 1955
Litchfield Township	1821	1824-1981	1858, 1926, 1930, 1935, 1940, 1945, 1950, 1955
Monroe Boro	1855	1856-1981	1857, 1859, 1861, 1926, 1930, 1935, 1940, 1945, 1950, 1955
Monroe Township	1821	1822-1981	1827, 1828, 1830, 1832, 1834-1840, 1845-1849, 1857, 1868, 1926, 1930, 1935, 1940, 1945, 1950, 1955
New Albany Boro	1879	1880-1981	1926, 1930, 1935, 1940, 1945, 1950, 1955
Orwell Township	1802	1804, 1813-1981	1820-1825, 1828, 1831, 1929, 1933, 1936, 1940, 1945, 1950, 1955, 1967
Overton Township	1853	1854-1981	1926, 1930, 1935, 1940, 1945, 1950, 1955
Pike Township	1813	1813-1981	1824, 1844, 1926, 1930, 1935, 1940, 1945, 1950, 1955
Ridgebury Township	1818	1819-1981	1862, 1926, 1930, 1935, 1940, 1945, 1950, 1955
Rome Boro	1858	1868-1981	1870, 1926, 1930, 1935, 1940, 1945, 1950, 1955
Rome Township	1831	1832-1981	1834-1840, 1842-1844, 1848, 1849, 1852-1860, 1863, 1865, 1926, 1930, 1935, 1940, 1946, 1950, 1955
Rush Township	1801	1802
Sayre Boro - 1st Ward	1891	1892-1981	None
Sayre Boro - 2nd Ward	1895	1895-1981	None
Sayre Boro - 3rd Ward	1895	1895-1981	None
Sayre Boro - 4th Ward	1901	1901-1981	None
Sayre Boro - 5th Ward	1925	1925-1981	None
Sheshequin Township	1820	1821-1981	1822, 1839, 1926, 1930, 1935, 1940, 1945, 1950, 1955
Smithfield Township	1804-10 era	1813-1981	1926, 1930, 1935, 1940, 1945, 1950, 1955
South Creek Township	1835	1836-1981	1880, 1928, 1930, 1933, 1938, 1940, 1945, 1950, 1955
South Waverly Boro	1878	1879-1981	None
Springfield Township	1813	1814-1981	None
Standing Stone Township	1841	1842-1981	1890, 1926, 1930, 1935, 1940, 1945, 1950, 1955
Stevens Township	1926	1929-1981	1930, 1935, 1940, 1945, 1950, 1955
Sylvania Boro	1853	1854-1981	1926, 1930, 1935, 1940, 1945, 1950, 1955
Terry Township	1859	1860-1981	1862-1867, 1872, 1890, 1926, 1930, 1935, 1940, 1945, 1950, 1955
Tioga Township	1790	1796, 1808
Towanda Boro - 1st Ward	1826/1895	1813-1981	1815-1817, 1819, 1830, 1831, 1940
Towanda Boro - 2nd Ward	1895	1895-1981	None
Towanda Boro - 3rd Ward	1895	1895-1981	None
Towanda Township	1808	1812-1981	1813, 1814, 1818, 1820-1829, 1830-1839, 1849, 1862, 1957, 1958
North Towanda Township	1851	1853-1981	1926, 1930, 1935, 1940, 1945, 1950, 1955
Troy Boro	1845	1847-1981	None
Troy Township	1815	1817-1981	1926, 1930, 1935, 1940, 1945, 1950, 1956
Tuscarora Township	1830	1831-1981	1832-1869, 1890-1898, 1926, 1930, 1935, 1940, 1945, 1950, 1955
Ulster Township	1797	1802, 1813-1981	1926, 1930, 1935, 1940, 1945, 1950, 1955
Warren Township	1813	1814-1981	1816, 1926, 1930, 1935, 1940, 1945, 1950, 1955
Wells Township	1813	1814-1981	1926, 1930, 1935, 1940, 1945, 1950, 1955
West Burlington Township	1855	1856-1981	1926, 1930, 1935, 1936, 1940
Wilmot Township	1849	1851-1981	1870-1879, 1890, 1926, 1930, 1935, 1940, 1945, 1950, 1955
Windham Township	1813	1814-1981	1926, 1930, 1935, 1940, 1945, 1950, 1955
Wyalusing Boro	1887	1888-1981	1926, 1930, 1935, 1940, 1945, 1950
Wyalusing Township	1790	1796, 1813-1981	1945
Wysox Township	1795	1796, 1812-1981	1839-1842, 1855, 1900, 1910, 1920, 1926, 1930, 1935, 1940, 1945, 1950, 1955

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