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I'm browsing the Binns Virginia Personal and Land tax records from 1780s, 1790s, and 1800s and often the month is very hard to read. For example, I think William Samples is July 12, 1799, but very hard to be sure. Looking at prior dates around this, it appears prior listing is May and June is skipped.

I try and use nearby legible months to decipher a month that is not clear. Are entries always in chronological order, for example, do months get skipped? What was the method actually used to collect the taxes, why was everyone spread out on different days of the year? Is the date you paid just random as they got to you? Did the collector go around the county in alphabetical order?

In summary: How can I use the method and process of tax collection to inform me in reading months in the tax records that are difficult to read?

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  • I worry that your question contains a LOT of questions when usually we try to focus down to a single question. Would it be possible for you to review your question to see whether you might be able at reduce it down to the most important one(s) to you. I know they appear related, so please treat this as working towards our goal of focussed questions, and don't be afraid to split any out into separate questions if they are only loosely related. I greatly appreciate the questions that you ask here that are helping us towards our goal to graduate. – PolyGeo♦ Jul 9 '17 at 23:21
  • I just saw your earlier question and realize now that you are already starting to try and break up your question. Thank you for doing that first split, and perhaps just think about whether the number of question marks in each can be reduced further. If not, then at least Jan and I have alerted you to the desirability of trying not to have multiple questions per questions. – PolyGeo♦ Jul 9 '17 at 23:26
  • @PolyGeo Question updated. – WilliamKF Jul 10 '17 at 21:15
  • See comments on your earlier question. – Jan Murphy♦ Jul 11 '17 at 7:22

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