Tax records and old census/tax districts. HELP! Pretty please?

[Dem2theMax]

Well, the bane of my existence, Augustus Heinze, still refuses to appear, even after about five years of hunting for him.
Either he was VERY good at playing hide and seek, or I'm really bad at searching. Hoping for the former.

So now it is on to tax records. Problem is, I have no clue where to start. Have never gone this route before.
I have found someone who 'could' be my Augustus in tax records in Maryland, during the time I know he lived in Maryland,
but the taxable district has no town/city/county name. So I don't know if I'm looking at the records of MY Augustus, or someone
who lived elsewhere in the state.

Has anyone found a resource that explains tax districts, heck, even census districts would help. Right now, my time line is
the 1860's and 1870's in Allegany County, Maryland. Frostburg, to be specific. I have found tax records for an A. Heinze, living in Maryland
in 1864, paying taxes in District 3. Boy, THAT helps. :sarcasm: Where the heck was District 3 in 1864 Maryland?

Any guidance toward good research materials, web sites, actual information, anything would be helpful.
I'm about ready to do this :banghead:
and I don't look good with a bashed in forehead. ;)

Thanks ahead of time for any replies!

Dem

[Rosie1223]

1. Is this him?

Name: Auguste Hientze


Age in 1860: 36
Birth Year: abt 1824
Birthplace: Preußen
Home in 1860: Frostburg, Allegany, Maryland
Gender: Male
Post Office: Frostburg
Value of real estate: View image
Household Members:
Name Age
Auguste Hientze 36
Mary Hientze 25
Frances Hientze 5
Flora Hientze 2
Loretta Hientze 2/12
Sarah E Hardie 15

[Dem2theMax]

2. Yeah, that's him. I should have said I did find him in the census,

only took 1 1/2 years, due to the wonderful spelling of his last name. Hientze? You should see it in 1870. Hinty.
No wonder I couldn't find them. That, and all the kids were listed by nicknames that no one had ever heard of, till I found
the darned census records. AAARRRGGGGG! LOL. That, and we only knew of ONE kid up until the census records were found!
We had no idea of where these people lived, their ages, birth places, nothing. So it was hard going.

Yeah, I have Augustus in 1860/70 census, and his widow in 1880. I can find the kids everywhere.
What I can't find are any birth, marriage or death certificates/burial info, anything other than census records for Augustus and his wife,
Mary Ellen (Chambers, we think) Heinze. She was b. 1835 in either PA or MD, depending on which census you are looking at. Nothing like consistency. :crazy:

I want to find tax records to try to put them at some exact place so I can get some idea of where to start looking for the birth/marriage/death/burial records.
I've done all the 'look in every obvious place' searching. Can't find zip on them. So now I've got to go another route. Tax records seem
a good place to start, unless anyone has other ideas? I'm game for anything at this point.

I should also say that I cannot positively find Augustus in any immigration records. I can find an Augs. Heinze who came to the US in June of 1854. Problem is, Augustus' first child, born of an American woman, (Mary Ellen,) was born in Dec. of 1854. If those dates are correct, then this particular Augs. Heinze is not my ancestor. I have not been able to find a birth or death certificate or even a burial place for first born child, so that is causing problems as well. Double :crazy: :crazy:

And I just found this:

http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/MDALLEGA/2006-12/1167151892

The hilarious part is, there is a Mary Ellen Chambers posting in this forum. I see her name all over the place. Too bad she isn't 176 years old. If she was, she'd be the woman I'm looking for! LOL.

[Rosie1223]

3. Ah, yes, the mangled spelling. I know it well!

Do you know what kind of tax list it is? I don't see Augustus owing real estate on either the 1860 or 1870 census so he may not be liable for property taxes.

The Feds did start the income tax to help pay for the Civil War. Here is some information about this:
http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1986/winter/civil-war-tax-records.html

There probably is information in the national archives somewhere that lists where the IRS districts were. But you had to be fairly wealthy during that time to pay income tax. As a miner and not owning property, Augustus may not have had to pay this either.

I, personally, have not had much luck with tax rolls other than a general location of an ancestor.

Have you tried this book?
http://isbndb.com/d/book/index_to_the_wills_of_allegany_county_1784_1960.html

You may be able to get it on inter-library loan or thru the Family History Library (LDS). I see it is at the Newberry Library. They will do lookups and photocopies for a fee.
http://www.newberry.org/collections/photodup.html

Good Luck!