Taxpayers for 1863, District 8, Anderson County, Tennessee

My primary interest in the 1863 tax records for Anderson County, Tennessee in District 8 is the entry for 121 acres where the taxes were being paid by Wm. Cross heirs. The land had been owned by my fourth great grandfather William Cross who had died in 1844.

District 8 of Anderson County encompassed what would be described today more or less as downtown Oak Ridge, Tennessee. District 8 also extended north over Black Oak Ridge and was bounded to the north by the Brushy Fork of Poplar Creek. State Route 61 (also known as Oliver Springs Highway) follows Brushy Fork from the Oak Ridge Turnpike east of Oak Ridge to North Illinois Avenue north of Oak Ridge.

The intersection of modern day Scarbrough Road and Illinois Avenue in Oak Ridge was part of the farm owned by William Cross. The farm consisted of 174 acres. It was listed as 121 acres in 1863 because the taxes were being paid multiple heirs. Other heirs were paying taxes on portions of the 174 acres in their own names rather than as a part of the collective of Wm. Cross heirs.

There were 11 heirs at the time of William's death. That left each heir with an undivided 1/11 interest in the land. Taking mathematical approximation into account, that means that the heirs still living on the land in 1863 were paying taxes on an undivided 8/11 interest in the land.

William Cross left a will that was proved in court on 3 Jan 1845 and ordered to be recorded. However, it was never recorded. Based on what happened with the land after William's death, it appears that the will declared that each of William's 11 heirs was to receive an equal undivided 1/11 share of his land. It also appears that three women named Elizabeth Cross, Mary Cross, and Amanda Melvina Cross were to be allowed to reside on the land in their lifetimes. It appears that the land thereafter was to be sold with the proceeds distributed to William's heirs at that time. Mary Cross sold her undivided 1/11 share to Jesse Cross in 1847. Jesse also was an heir. After purchasing Mary's undivided 1/11 share, he owned an undivided 2/11 share.

Beginning with the death of her husband Addison A. Leath in 1860, the taxes due on Nancy Ann Cross Leath's undivided 1/11 share were paid by her father-in-law Willis Leath. There does not appear to be a recorded deed that transferred Nancy's interest to Willis, but in effect that is what appears to have happened. Therefore, we have a 1/11 share of the taxes on William's land being paid by Willis Leath, a 2/11 share of the taxes on William's land being paid by Jesse Cross, and the remaining 8/11 share of the taxes on William's land being paid by "Wm. Cross heirs". The 121 acres is not exactly an 8/11 share, but much of the arithmetic as associated with William's land was rounded and therefore approximate.

It is not clear if the three women living on the farm in 1863 paid the whole 8/11 share of the taxes on their own, or if they were able to gather some of the funds from the other heirs. The tax collector would not have cared where the money came from as long as he received the payment. Immediately after William's death, taxes on the entire 174 acres were paid collectively by "Wm. Cross heirs" Again, we don't know how the heirs gathered up the money among themselves, and the tax collector would not have cared as long as all the taxes were paid.

If an individual owned multiple parcels of land, it was typical in tax records from this era that the multiple parcels were combined together. Therefore, if a person owned a 100 acre parcel and a 50 acre parcel, then the tax book would have had one record for 150 acres. Therefore, Jesse Cross's 409 acres probably represented the farm where he lived which was probably about 389 acres plus his undivided 2/11 interest in the land of William Cross deceased which was about 30 acres. Willis Leath's taxes were recorded as two separate records, one for his own land and one for his undivided 1/11 share of the land of William Cross deceased. This was an unusual way to record taxes, but it was not unprecedented.

The William Cross who was listed as the guardian of the Chiles children was a different William Cross from a different Cross family. He was a lawyer and his name appears frequently in Anderson County tax records and court records in his role of representing his clients. Therefore, his appearance in these records does not represent familial relationships. He was the son of Brittain Cross and Mary (Polly) Parks.

The John H. Cross who was listed in the 1863 tax list was extremely likely to have been the grandson of the William Cross who had owned the 174 acre farm. Namely, he was the son of the Mary J. (Polly) Cross who had sold her 1/11 undivided share of William Cross's land to Jesse Cross. It's possible that Mary was William's daughter. But it seems more likely that she was William's widowed daughter-in-law. Either way, John H. Cross would have been William's grandson. John H. Cross was not in the tax list because of any interest in William's land. Rather, John H. Cross was in the tax list because he had become of age to pay the poll tax.

The England family is one of my Anderson County families. But I do not believe that the Mary England who was listed in the 1863 tax book was one of mine. She was Mary P. McKamey who married Frederick C. (Fred) England. Fred died in 1854, leaving Mary as a widowed land owner and taxpayer. I believe that Fred had sisters Isaballa England and Barsheba England. But if so, I cannot identify their parents nor can I connect them to my England family. Both England families came over the mountains from North Carolina to Anderson County, and they may be part of the same England family. But if so, then I have not yet been able to make the connection between the two branches of the family.