1772 Tax Assessment, Brothers Valley
...so they decided to collect all applications for locations, place them in a box or trunk, and after mixing them well together, draw them out one at a time and number them. In this way they determined the preference to the vacant land which was just purchased from the Indians.
Legal titles were issued by the provincial government to the early settlers at the following prices per 100 acres:
From 1765 to 1784 five pounds,
From 1784 to 1792 ten pounds,
From 1792 to 1814 two pounds, ten shillings,
After 1814 ten, pounds.
The "Tomahawk Rights": Before the lawful land titles were issued in 1769, the first step necessary for the early settler to obtain land, was to establish what they called a "Tomahawk Right." This meant for the settler to deaden a few trees near a spring and cut his name or initials in the bark of the trees near the spring. This showed the settler's intention to hold and occupy the land which was usual1y surrounded by blazed or deadened trees.
These "Tomahawk Rights" gave the settler no legal title unless followed by occupation or a warrant and a patent secured from the land office. But the "Tomahawk Rights" were quite generally recognized by the early settlers, and many of them were purchased cheaply by other settlers who did not want to enter into a controversy with the claimants who made them.
Assessment Lists. - The names of the settlers of what is now Somerset, County, are found on seven different assessment lists, which cover a period of about twelve years. (These names are spelled as they appear on the original lists.) Alphabetical order is the arrangement for convenience. They will help to determine who the early settlers were and about when they made their settlements. We must remember that Somerset County was not yet organized at the time these assessment lists were made, and that all of what is now Somerset County was then a part of Bedford County.
The First Assessment List.- This assessment list was taken for Brothersvalley Township of Bedford County (this township included all of what is now Somerset County lying west of the Allegheny Mountain) in 1772 for the 1773 taxes.
Taxables:
Abrahams, Henry, 100 acres, 12 acres cleared
Adams, Samuel, 200, 5
Adams, Solomon, 200, 3
Ambrose, Frederick, 200, 8
Barrick (Boude), Ludwick, 100, 2
Baxter, John, 200, 8
Benuch, Christopher, 200, 3
Biggs, Benjamin, 300, 2
Bridges, John, 200, 3
Brown, Richard, 300, 6
Cable (Keble), Abraham, 200, 10
Campbell, James, 200, 12
Catta, John, 200, 4
Cefar (Cesar), Frederick, 100, 3
Cefar (Cesar), Michael, 100, 6
Claypole, James, 200
Cracart, William, 200, 4
Death, Toscape (Toescape), 600, 5
Dilliner, John, 100, 2
Dougherty, James, 200, 10
Drake, Oliver, 100, 2
Dwier (Dwyer), William, 150, 10
Enslow (Enlows), Henry, 100, 8
Enslow (Enlows), John, 100, 6
Estep, Robert, 100, 3
Ferguson, John, 300, 4
Fisher, Jacob, 200, 12
Flick, Adam, 100, 1
Flick, Michael, 200, 4
Friend, Andrew, 50, 10
Friend, Augustine, 100, 2
Friend, Charles, 200, 10
Friggs, John, 200, 1
Frowman, Paul, 700, 18
Fry, John, 100, 1
Glassner, John, 200, 8
Greathouse, William, 200, 10
Green, Thomas, 100, 6
Greenwalt, Joseph, 100, 7
Hendrix, Andrew, 200, 10
Hite, Walter, 200, 8
Hoagland, Richard, 350, 71
Huff, Michael, 300, 6
Jennings, Benjamin, 200 acres, 36 acres cleared
Johnson, William, 200, 3
Kessinger, Soloman, 100, 4
Kimble (Kemble), Philip, 300, 8
Kimble (Kimball), George, 100, 5
Lout, Daniel, 100, 3
Lout, Valentine, 100, 2
Markley, John, 200, 10
McClee, William, 300, 7
McMullen, James, 45, 9
Miller, John, 300, 10
Ogle, Joseph, 200, 10
Peters, John, 300, 12
Polen, Adam, 100, 5
Polen, Francis, 200, 3
Pursley, Benjamin, 100, 12
Pursley, Danes, 100, 3
Pursley, John, 60, 7
Reed, John, 100, 7
Rhodes, Gabriel, 200, 10
Rhodes, Henry Jr., 400, 10
Rhodes, Henry Sr., 200, 21
Rhodes, Jacob, 100, 5
Rhodes, John, 100, 1
Rice, John, 400, 21
Robinson, Hugh, 100, 8
Rose, Gotlieb, 100, 8
Sappington. John, 200, 6
Sheaf, Frederick, 200, 4
Shells, Bastian, 100, 1
Shute, Solomon, 100, 2
Skinner, Nathaniel, 100, 5
Small, Adam, 300, 8
Smith. Henry, 200, 3
Spencer, James, 240, 21
St. Clair, William, 100, 6
Swiser, John, 100, 5
Tyshoe, William, 300, 12
Urie (Urey), Thomas, 100, 12
Vaughan (Vaun), Abraham, 100, 4
Wagaly, Philip, 200, 10
Waller, Thomas John, 100, 1
Wallis, Samuel, 300
Weimer (Wimer), John, 100, 2
Weimer (Wimer), Frederick, 200, 4
Wells, George, 50, 4
Wells, Richard, 300, 10
White, Aquilla, 200 acres. 3 acres cleared
Winard, Peter, 100, 5
Winsel, John, 100, 1
Single Freemen:
Abrahams, Gabriel
Black, James
Bowman, John
Bruner, George
Bruner, Henry
Haskin, William
Hay, Francis
Henderson, Edward
Hendrix, John
Higgins, Edward
Hinkbaugh, John
Hogland, James
Jennings, Joseph
Judy, Mathew
Ogle, Thomas
Pursley, Daniel
Shidler, George
Shidler, Henry
St. Clair, John
Stoy, Casper
Wells, Richard
Wingart, Jacob
Worrell, Atwell
Inmates :
Aker, Frederick
Booker, Peter
Cefar (Ceser), Martin
Ditch, Mathias
Friend, Nicholas
Greenwalt, Lodowick
Grimes, Edward
Moore, James
Morgan, Felix
Penrod, John
Pulclut, Robert
Pursley, James
Stimton, Thomas
Tassey (Tessey), Ephraim
Vandoux (Vandres), Frederick
Wells, James
Winler, James
Worrell, Samuel
(end)
Contributed for use by the Bedford County Genealogy Project (http://www.pa-roots.com/~bedford/)
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