Just thought I’d give a thumbs up to
www.scotlandsplaces.gov.ukNot only does it have maps and lots of information about places in Scotland, but the pages and pages of Historical Tax Rolls are also about people.
There are 13 different taxes (nothing changes!) covering from 1645 to 1831. A large proportion of them are from the end of the 1700s, which is useful if you have people in the 1841 Census and can’t find them before that.
While they don’t give you genealogical data, they do put those shadowy people into real situations, and help you to begin to draw a picture of their lives.
I have found several of my ancestors in them – a chink of light through my ‘brick walls’.
The ‘Farm Horse Tax’ of 1797-1798 is free to view – you get to see the actual registers, and can download the images. It’s always exciting to see your ancestor in a contemporary original document!
The other rolls, like the Cart Tax from 1785 to 1798, (this is for those people who had a two wheeled cart – which of course many people did, especially if they worked on the land), is pay to view the original register, BUT you can view the transcriptions for free. When you have decided which Volume to look at, go to ‘Read the whole transcription for this volume’ instead of looking at a particular page. I found one of my brick walls there from 1785 until 1797, living and working in a small village in West Lothain, plus other members of the same family.
If you want to view images it’s £15 for three months sub.
Hours of happy browsing!