For years, maybe even for over a decade, I thought Littleberry Wade Sr. died in 1804. After all, why wouldn't I think that? The St. Paul's Parish personal property tax list indicates that Littleberry Wade Sr. was no longer taxed for being a free male above the age of twenty one, or as owning any taxable personal property as shown in the below transcription. It would appear that he had died in 1804.
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| Hanover County Taxpayers Saint Paul's Parish transcribed by William Ronald Cocke, III |
Other interesting information gleaned from the personal property tax transcription is that minors Hampton and Robert Wade were both listed as having lived with Littleberry Wade. We know from the below snippet image from the Daughters of the American Revolution transcribed version of the Robert Waid (Wade) Bible that Robert's father was Berry Wade. So, perhaps Hampton Wade was also a son.
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| Bible Record of Robert Waid (Wade) Family of Hanover County, Virginia DAR Genealogical Records Committee |
The other detail provided in the personal property tax transcription for Littleberry Wade Sr. is that he was identified as "Long" in 1788 and 1789. Cocke, the personal property tax list transcriber, noted that "Long" may have been used to indicate the taller of two men with the same name. Note that in the following 1788 personal tax transcription for Littleberry Wade Jr., he is listed as "Short".
Like the transcriber of the St. Paul's Parish personal tax list, I thought it made perfect sense for Littleberry Wade Jr. to out live Littleberry Wade Sr. It also made sense that when Littleberry Wade Sr. seemingly died in 1804, Littleberry Wade Jr. then became Littleberry Wade Sr (see below transcribed years between 1807 and 1812). The transcription shows that Littleberry Wade Jr. died about 1814 with his "estate" being taxed in 1815.
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| Hanover County Tax Payers Saint Paul's Parish transcribed by William Ronald Cocke, III |
It would appear from the 1783 and 1784 entries that Littleberry Wade Jr. had a close connection to Moses Wade (who was 21 years of age or older) and John Wade (who was under the age of 21). By 1785, Moses and John were no longer listed, but Walter Turner, an adult, was listed as the taxable responsibility of Littleberry Wade Jr. Turner may have lived and worked on Wade's farm, or he may have been married to one of Wade's daughters.
The 1793 personal property tax entry adds more color to Littleberry Wade Jr.'s life by stating that he possessed an "Ordinary license". According to the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation study entitled,
"A Study of Taverns of Virginia in the Eighteenth-Century with Special Emphasis on Taverns of Williamsburg", an ordinary could also be referred to as a tavern or inn, and was typically located at a cross-road in the country. This information would be useful to a researcher who was interested in attempting to locate Littleberry Wade Jr.'s property.
The above personal property tax transcription scenario of Senior dying before Junior made perfect sense to me. But was that really what happened? Did Littleberry Wade Sr. die before Littleberry Wade Jr.? Or were the personal property tax records for the two Littleberry Wades entangled? In a county where so many important records have been lost to time, the St. Paul's Parish land tax records are the only other available documents which may provide more information about the lives of the two Littleberry Wades.
St. Paul's Parish, Hanover County VA Land Tax Records
Just like the above personal property tax list transcriptions, the land tax lists for St. Paul's Parish began in 1782. This initial land tax record was enumerated in much the same way as an early census. The person (or persons) chosen to make the 1782 land tax record would have carefully laid out a plan of how to navigate throughout the entire area of St. Paul's Parish in order to identify all taxable tracts of land. Once the plan was set, the enumerator would have begun making their way through the parish by recording each tract of land by owner, size and taxable amount. This was no easy task and must have been very time consuming. The enumerator was only able to record the tracts of land that he could visit during available day light hours. The first day of recording the taxable tracts of land in St. Paul's Parish was on March 12, 1782, and the last was April 26, 1782. Surely, the almost month and a half that was taken to make this recording was due to the vast area involved and springtime weather delays. With this recording process in mind, the importance of the names listed by each day is invaluable to the St. Paul's Parish researcher. These names represent a group of land owners within a geographic area or agrarian neighborhood.
Littleberry Wade Sr. was recorded in the 1782 St. Paul's Parish land record on April 23 with 14 other adjacent and nearby landowners. He was listed as "Berry" and recorded as being taxed for 250 acres, as shown in the below image.
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| Source: 1782 St. Paul's Parish Hanover County VA Land Tax Record |
Littleberry Wade Jr. was recorded on the following day, April 24, with 19 other land owners, 4 of whom were Wades. He too was identified as "Berry", and taxed for 285 acres.
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| Source: 1782 St. Paul's Parish Hanover County VA Land Tax Record |
It is the recording of these two tracts of land that may enable us to trace the two Littleberry Wades forward in time, until their individual demise.
A follow up blog entry will examine Littleberry Wade Sr.'s 250 acre tract and Littleberry Wade Jr.'s 285 acre tract. Each tract will be analyzed separately to see if any further clues can be obtained to either confirm or disprove the approximate death dates suggested by the St. Paul's Parish personal tax list.
copyright©2019 Deborah Thurman Parks
