The Further Adventures of the Womble Neighborhood Land Search

I was able to resume my search for John Washington Womble’s neighbors earlier this year.  The microfilm that I’d requested last fall and resulted in a minor snafu with the FHL was resolved in February.  I was able to make copies of the tax records for Civil District 12 for the years 1869-1872 and took note of the amount of acreage the neighbors owned.

I then used this information when imputing the information into the spreadsheet I created about John Washington Womble’s neighbors.  The spreadsheet lists out the individual land plots that the neighbors owned and whether or not it’s been platted out.  Then I listed out what plots of land I’m still missing.  The list also contained the land acreage based on the findings from the tax records I viewed.

After I’d viewed the tax records, I ordered the next deed books that I felt I needed to read through in order to find the remaining neighbors’ land. While waiting for the microfilm to arrive, I checked out topographical maps on the U.S. Geological Survey's website at http://www.usgs.gov/. Maps can be searched for and downloaded for free from their site. I've wanted a more detailed map and one that I knew the scale or a least could determine the scale better that I could place my plats on.
I selected the section of Hardeman County, Tennessee that I'm interested in and then began downloading. I selected 4 maps and then needed to find a way to piece them together. Once they were downloaded, I used a graphic editing program to clip away the white borders surrounding each of the map images. Then pieced the images together and created a larger image or map which was then imported into DeedMapper.
Hopefully this new background map will help me more when placing the plats.

Part of Hardeman County, Tennessee topographical map

Hardeman County, Tennessee Tax Records

In my review of the roll of Tax Records for Hardeman County, Tennessee, I discovered something I’d missed on my earlier viewings of this roll—a section titled, Additional Tax Reported. These lists cover only the years 1870-1872 and lists out what I’ve theorized only as people that were missed on the previous lists or perhaps they’re delinquent tax payers. I somehow doubt the latter and more believe the earlier theory.

The people are listed in non-alphabetical order, so are basically randomly listed. The civil district they lived in was noted by their name and then the other usual information was given as on the other tax lists. These lists are categorized by year, but that’s really the only organization to them.

Excerpt from Additional Tax Reported section.