John Blankenbaker's Germanna History Notes

Note 680

I have been noting, as we have gone through the minutes of the meetings of the vestrymen of St. Mark's Parish, the growth in the number of tithables. I will give these numbers in a more systematic way.

In 1731, the levy was 35 pounds of tobacco on each of the 704 tithables.
In 1732, the levy was 69 pounds of tobacco on each of the 755 tithables.
In 1733, the levy was 85.25 pounds of tobacco on each of the 816 tithables.
In 1734, the levy was 80.50 pounds of tobacco on each of the 981 tithables.
In 1735, the levy was 38 pounds of tobacco on each of the 1,112 tithables.
In 1736, the levy was 22.5 pounds of tobacco on each of the 1,317 tithables.
In 1737, the levy was 19 pounds of tobacco on each of the 1,527 tithables.
In 1738, the levy was 15 pounds of tobacco on each of the 2,507 tithables.
In 1739, the levy was 22 pounds of tobacco on each of the 1,904 tithables.
In 1740, the levy was 12 pounds of tobacco on each of the 2,107 tithables.

The growth rate for the first six years was about 23% compounded.

The drop in the number of tithables from 1738 to 1739 could have come about because St. Mark's was divided. There is no mention of any such event in the minutes of the vestry for 1738 or 1739. In 1740 there was a division of St. Mark's parish with St. Thomas being the new parish. The impact on the parish of St. Mark was very noticeable.

In 1741, the St. Mark's parish levy was 53 pounds of tobacco on the 979 tithables.
In 1742, the levy was 40 pounds of tobacco on each of the 1,067 tithables.
In 1743, the levy was 45 pounds of tobacco on each of the 1,141 tithables.
In 1744, the levy was 44 pounds of tobacco on each of the 1,200 tithables.
In 1745, the levy was 26 pounds of tobacco on each of the 1,271 tithables.

In 1752, St. Mark's was divided again, with the new parish being Bromfield parish. At the same time some of the boundaries of established parishes were changed. The Robinson River Germans were then in Bromfield parish as this new parish consisted of present day Madison County, most of Rappahannock County, and a small fraction of Culpeper County. The Mt. Pony and the Little Fork Germans remained in St. Mark's parish.

The collection of the parish levies was done by a man appointed by the vestry to do the work. He was paid a small percentage for his efforts.

We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.