Lake County Ohio GenWeb
Tax records are an under-utilized source of wonderful information for genealogy and history. Although they is not the usual birth, marriage and death information, they can provide many clues and prove residence. They can point out likely time period of a home being built on a property. Widows show up paying taxes so that the time of the husband's death may be estimated. Remember that the taxes are paid for the year before, so the 1840 tax duplicates cover 1839. These records add much to the life story of a family-land ownership, livestock, merchant capital, financial situation, modes of transportation, and much more later on. Even if the family owned no land, they may appear in personal property taxes. There was also a special tax on Physicians and Lawyers, listed at the end of the county.
Lake County's tax duplicate records are available on microfilm at the treasurer's office at the Lake County Administration Building at 105 Main Street, Painesville, Ohio 44077. There is a year or two years on each roll, at least early on. They begin in 1840 when Lake became a county from Geauga and Cuyahoga counties. The people are listed alphabetically on the duplicates (alpha copies of the originals), but the townhips are not alphabetical. They seem to go from east to west, with a southern township before the northern one. Below are the page numbers for the first roll of film to speed your research. Other rolls seem to be in similar order.
First Roll filmed 1955.
Treasurer Tax Dup.
1840- Madison-Wilby
1841- Madison-Wilby
+ Personal Property
[Note there is a recapitulation for each township following the records, accounting for the missing page or two. Personal property includes homes, cattle, merchants' capital and money at interest for these years.]
Page 1-29 Madison Property
30-41 Madison Personal Property
43-53 LeRoy Property
54-57 LeRoy Personal Property
59-72 Perry Property
73-77 Perry Personal Property
79-90 Concord Property
91-95 Concord Personal Property
97-112 Painesville Property
113-149 Painesville Town or Village Lots Property
150-157 Painesville Personal Property
159-178 Kirtland Property
179-181 Kirtland Town & Village Lots Property
182-188 Kirtland Personal Property
190-204 Mentor Property
205-209 Mentor Personal Property
211-226 Willoughby Twp. Property
227-232 Willoughby Village Lots Property
233-242 Willoughby Personal Property
243 List of Physicians & Lawyers in Lake Co. & tax
244 County Recapitulation
1841 (for year 1840)
1-32 Madison Property
33-45 Madison Personal Property
47-58 LeRoy Property
59-63 LeRoy Personal Property
65-78 Perry Property
79-85 Perry Personal Property
87-99 Concord Property
100-105 Concord Personal Property
107-130 Painesville Property
131-172 Painesville Town lots Property
[Includes villages of Painesville, Grandon, Richmond, Newport]
173-181 Painesville Personal Property
183-204 Kirtland Property
205-212 Kirtland Personal Property
214-228 Mentor Property
229-234 Mentor Personal Property
237-260 Willoughby Property (filmer's break here, but continues)
261-269 Willoughby Personal Property
271 List of Physicians & Lawyers
272 County Recapitulation
The Family History Library holds microfilm for the Lake County ax Duplicates 1840-1871 and 1928. Some of this film has been digitized, including 1840-1853 and 1927 and is found in the catalog of FamilySearch.org. It is much easier to read than the copies at the Treasurer's office.
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Last updated 22 April 2018 |
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